Compared to my previous trip to Bristol, Tennessee, our visit to Richmond might as well have been a European vacation.  This is no knock on Bristol, which is the quintessential NASCAR town, but more of an indictment of the life that I’ve become accustomed to by living in Atlanta for almost all of my life.  By no means is Richmond a metropolitan hub, but I always enjoy coming here…you don’t have to worry about the hustle and bustle that you become accustomed to in a major city and there’s a real nice downtown area littered with all types of good local bars and restaurants. 

In addition to that, the track is actually located in the city of Richmond so there is never an issue with finding a hotel nearby (we stayed at the Crowne Plaza, which is fantastic) or getting to and from the airport.  Note: this definitely cannot be said about many of the tracks on the NASCAR circuit. I love the fact that it takes me 45 minutes to drive to Atlanta Motor Speedway when I actually live in Atlanta but whatever, I guess Hampton, GA doesn’t sound too appealing…(then again, they are NASCAR fans so you never know…that’s neither here or there though, I’m going to move on before I get into trouble) 

The story of the weekend was the weather.  Even before we made it to Richmond, we heard over and over again that there was going to be rain all weekend long and that NASCAR would be lucky to get the race in.  Needless to say, this is not exactly what you want to hear when you have to travel on a regular basis.  Even though I do enjoy visiting Richmond (as I mentioned above), life on the road makes you appreciate time spent back home and to take away a day in which you’re expecting to be there is quite a letdown.  Now I normally don’t ever put too much credibility in weather reports because they are usually way off more times than not but in this case they were dead on.  Just as predicted, the storms rolled in on a Friday night and carried over to Saturday (thank you Hurricane Hannah).  It did not take NASCAR long to push both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races back to Sunday from their original schedules of Friday and Saturday night, respectively.  While it was disappointing to hear that we would indeed be hanging around for one more day, our spirits were quickly lifted when it dawned on us that we had no work to do on Saturday. 

A day in which we originally anticipated to be working over 12 hours at the track transpired into several hours at the local Buffalo Wild Wings watching one college football game after another with other NASCAR workers who had nothing to do as well.  There have been many fun days on the road throughout the year but I would have to say that this Saturday might have topped them all. 

After our festive Saturday, we were ready for Sunday to be over with so that we could head out.  Luckily, the storm clouds had rolled out Saturday night and Sunday turned into a beautiful day for racing.  This particular Sprint cup race was crucial for several of the drivers as it was the last one before the Chase for the Sprint Cup and while it was make or break time for a few that were still on the cusp of being left out, the real story of the day (at least in our UPS world) was the impressive show put on by David Reutimann.  Although he finished the day in 9^th place, “Reutty” was in the lead for a race high 104 laps.  Following a slow start to the season, he has turned things around recently and his Richmond performance is further proof of how far he has come as a driver since the beginning of the year. 

We were finally able to head out first thing in the morning on Monday after a very long weekend.  I normally can’t ever fall asleep on a plane but I was out like a light before we even took off.  It was just that kind of a week…

Next week, Chris Argano is clipping his wings and flying solo up in lovely New Hampshire.  Meanwhile, I’ll be enjoying some time off before heading out to “the Monster Mile” in Dover, Delaware.  Until next time…

Tyler Hargrove

September 5, 2008

8:00am – All five alarms in my room are going off in unison and between Van Halen’s “Beautiful Girls” and that obnoxious “house” buzzer. I can’t decide whether to lay in bed and rock to the music or throw my clock through my window.  I elect to get up and get the day rolling.  I think about the day of non-stop sports ahead – two for work and one for pleasure.  I have the UGA vs. Central Michigan game to tee off the day, the Braves game back in Atlanta and then UFC 88: Breakthrough.

9:30am – I meet our SunTrust clients to pick them up and drive to Athens, GA via the infamous 316, where just a week prior, I was clocked doing 82 in a 55 zone and some cop decided that my speed should require a ticket because I was speeding on “his road.”  Needless to say….I drove a little slower this time.

11:30am – I set up our display outside of Gate 10, where SunTrust will be promoting UGA gift cards as well as registering fans for the opportunity to step on the famed Sanford Field during half-time to choose a UGA Gift Card with one of three dollar amounts on the back – $500, $1,000 or $1,500.  We meet some wild and crazy UGA fans who gave us our favorite line at an event, “Are you guys giving away free money?”  This time I could honestly say that we were and all they had to do was sign their life away on an entry form.

5:15pm – We have notified the winner, Jennifer, that she will be participating in the SunTrust UGA Gift Card Pick ‘Em and she has joined us on the field.  After UGA introduced almost every athlete at the school, we finally have a minute to run our promotion in front of the fans before Kevin Butler’s son punts a ball right through one of the oversized gift cards.

7:15pm – Arrived back in Atlanta and headed to Turner Field to make sure our ‘Win a Braves Suite’ winners’ night is going well.  I step into the suite and meet all of the winners, who are all very excited to be entertained by SunTrust and very thankful.  I just hope they sign up for My Cause Checking, SunTrust UGA Gift Cards, SunTrust credit products and money market accounts the next morning.  Thank goodness Kara helped our by organizing the gift bags and ensuring the food was delivered. 

9:30pm – Raced home to take a quick shower and Brenda picked me up and we finally arrived at Philips Arena for UFC 88.  We arrive just after the last undercard Kurt Pelligrino fight and before the actual pay-per-view begins.  The fights were intense and as exhausted as I am, I’m kept awake by Brenda’s screams for Matt Hamill that soon turn to cries and tears as Rich Franklin destroys her friend that she grew up with.  As Chuck Liddell enters the ring, Philips Arena is the loudest I have ever heard it, which is a shame because it’s even louder than the Hawks playoff game last year.  The only thing more shocking is when Chuck gets dropped by Rashad’s hook that knocks Chuck completely out.

What a successful day of events for our clients and I capped it off with a great event for me.  Life doesn’t get any better than that.

Mike

Ahoy! Happy Friday to everyone. The first half of this week was spent down on Tybee Island in south Georgia as a|i|m held it’s annual team retreat. We had fun, ate good food and learned a bit at the same time – not too bad!

Packing almost 20 people into one space would seem like a big chore, but when you have a three-story, seven-bedroom house, a lot can be accomplished. We had a pirate-themed retreat, so as you can expect, we were all decked out in our best pirate apparel. Enjoy the pictures below!

Pirates of the...dinner table?

Dinner: $37.00, Taxi: $14.00, Souvenir Skull Mug: Priceless.

Spanish Moss...according to our ghost tour expert, the moss is from the hair from the beard of a ghost. I didn't believe her.

We try our best to keep this blog from being egotistical, but it’s Friday, so all rules were thrown out the window this morning at 8:30 am. Last week, the #44 UPS Camry of David Reutimann, sported a pretty sweet paint scheme. The paint scheme is a reflection of the UPS philanthropic endeavor, Toys for Tots. Our very own Mark McEnaney a.k.a. “Creative Guy” was the mastermind behind the look, so today, we salute you, Mr. McEnaney.

We usually keep Mark in the bowels of the office with only a banana and Mac computer, but today we are going to vote on whether or not to let him join the team during our lunch hour – right now, it doesn’t look good.

Our trip to Bristol can best be summed up by our flight from Atlanta to the Tri-Cities Airport…on a propeller plane.  I didn’t even think that propeller planes were still in service but they are, and we took one.  All I could think about was that scene in the movie Major League where the players are waiting in the runway while one of the propellers on their plane gets repaired with duct tape.  Once on the plane, I (of course) found my seat directly next to one of the propellers so I got to feel the vibrations of the propeller for the duration of the flight.  Thank god it was only a 45 minute flight or I might have gone crazy…

Unfortunately, our offbeat travel excursions did not end with the prop plane flight.  My Avis reservation called for an SUV as my rental car and I somehow ended up with a Chevy HHR.  I’m not sure exactly how you can convince me that this is a sport utility vehicle but whatever…we took our faux PT Cruiser and were off.  (Note: we arrived on Wednesday and were stuck with an HHR, no telling what people arriving later in the week were given…)  Anyways, the biggest problem with traveling to Bristol are the hotel accommodations, or lack thereof.  We weren’t too smart about our travel arrangements and waited until about a month and a half before the race to book our hotel room, thus explaining why we ended up at the lovely Days Inn.  Now I normally don’t ever complain about our hotel accommodations but what the Days Inn was charging this week, given the quality of the stay, was absolute highway robbery.  We were there for four nights and our total cost for the stay was roughly $1,250, which comes out to $312 per night.  Just out of curiosity, Chris decided to look up how much a room there goes for on a non-NASCAR week; the answer, $49.99 per night.  I’m all for supply and demand and I understand that management is taking advantage of a great opportunity presented to them but to pay over six times the normal rate is pretty ridiculous, especially given the state of our economy.  And people wonder why NASCAR attendance is in a serious decline…

I’ve never claimed to be a huge NASCAR fan by any means but I must admit that I was in awe at the Sprint Cup race on Saturday night.  As much as I hate night races because of the terrible hours that we end up working, I’d have to say that I was more enthralled with this race than any other throughout the season.  Whether it’s the half-mile “bowl” track or the sight of 160,000+ rabid fans packed into what looks just like a very large college football stadium, there’s just something about Bristol Motor Speedway that separates it from the other tracks.  The fact that it is held at night only adds to the intensity and excitement (note: I’ve come to realize that this is true for any sport, just ask an LSU fan).  Often times, when there is so much hype and excitement built around a sporting event it ends up as a complete letdown but this race did nothing to disappoint the vast majority of the sold-out crowd.  It seems that they were going to leave happy if one of two things happened: a Dale Jr. victory or something bad happening to Kyle Busch.  Junior’s early mistakes quickly erased the possibility of the former but Carl Edwards immediately turned into a hero in the hearts of true NASCAR fans by taking care of the “Evil One”, Busch, in spectacular fashion to capture his sixth win of the season.  When I wrote last week about the growing rivalry between Busch and Edwards I wasn’t expecting anything like this to unfold.  With Kyle Busch basically insinuating that he would enact some sort of revenge on Edwards for his “bump” in Bristol, you can only imagine how good the competition between the two of them will be now that the Chase for the Cup is right around the corner.  Can’t wait…

Next week, I get to enjoy some time off as I head down to Auburn for the first game against the mighty Warhawks of Louisiana-Monroe.  Brandon Schnitzer (injured finger and all) will be reporting from Fontana, California for the Pepsi 500 at the Auto Club Speedway.  See you in a couple weeks.

Tyler Hargrove