WOOO HOOO!!!!!!

[JagZilla]

I just got THE call from the Lowes/Dremel contest. My son and I won the grand prize for our age group!!!! I hope to meet other forum members in Charlotte on the 21st. Tomcat, I hope to see you there.

[FRANKLIN WHALEY]

Congrats!!! That's a good looking car, I can see why it won. You and your son have a right to be proud.

[pwdarchitect]

CONGRATS! AND NICE CARS!

J

[JagZilla]

Thanx guys. Unfortunately, my wife and kids are out-and-about, so I cant get in touch with them to tell them the good news (we're still living in the early 20th century...no cell phone).

[Pinewood Daddy]

CONGRATS!!!!

Post the link to the pics again.

[JagZilla]

Here it is:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thunderca ... /my_photos

[Tomcat14]

Congrats!!! You and your son definately deserved it!!!

[Nimrod]

Nice job. Your son must be proud of his Dad.

Steve

[jolly roger racing]

Congratulations Jagzilla I hope ya'll have a great time with the awards. The car looked really fantastic. As a former Crossgates resident I am truly proud.

We are running strong in Oxford.
Jolly Roger Racing[/img]

[Mike Doyle]

Outstanding! Congrats on a well deserved win. You'll have to report back here on what the whole experience was like attending the race ect. A true insider's story on the experience would be a good read.

[PinewoodPapa]

Was it this past weekends race you went to? How was it? Let us live vicariously!

[JagZilla]

Sorry to keep you waiting for a reply. Yes, we went to the All-Star race on the 21st. It was great! The ladies from Summit Marketing met us at the Charlotte airport (they were easy to spot because the sign they were holding was a photo of our car), and treated us like kings for the entire weekend. Summit handles the advertising for Lowe's and Dremel, and organized the contest.

All the winners arrived at the airport around the same time on the 20th, so we all went back to the hotel together. It was really neat to meet everyone and get to know them during the pizza party that night. We had at least one of every type pizza that Papa Johns sells. We all had our shirts for the race presented to us. These were very high quality polo type shirts with a checkered flag theme around the collar and cuffs, a stripe running down the (red for the dads and blue for the boys), and a special Derby Design Contest patch above the boy's name.

This was also the first chance everyone got to see the other cars. The seafood truck that Josh and his grandfather built is really impressive. The shark is carved from wood, not just some squeaky-toy they picked up at Wal-Mart. The four boys hit it off pretty quickly, and were soon outside playing basketball and swimming together, while us dads got to meet some of the people from Lowe's and Dremel who were instrumental in funding the contest.

The next morning we left for the speedway, where we were greeted by chauffer driven golf carts for each boy and dad. These shuttled us wherever we wanted to go around the track for the duration of our visit, including back to the RV that was set up for us at turn 3 in the infield. There we had a noon cookout, and all the drinks and snacks we wanted, and another cookout just before the race started that evening.

At 4:30 Jimmie Johnson presented the boys with their trophies onstage at the "Lowe's Zone". Each boy was asked to tell a little about their car, but I was surprised when Jimmie asked my son to hand him our car, then proceeded to point out to the audience some of the finer details that are not apparent on casual inspection. He was so impressed with the car that he asked if were interested in selling it. Needless to say, we will never part with the car. Before the ceremony, we all got Lowe's racing caps, and the boys got theirs autographed by Jimmie. They also met Jeff Gordon back stage, and had a chance to talk with him a little. Jeff was there to needle Jimmie onstage about who was going to win the night's race.

We had seats in the stands for the race, and were in those seats for the start of the qualifier, but by the time the race began, everyone discovered that the infield was the best place to be, and we went from one location to another in search of the ultimate view (easy to do when you have someone driving you around in your own golf cart). It was 2:00 am before we got back to the hotel due to traffic leaving the race.

We had an early wake-up call, as we had to leave for the airport at 7:00 the next morning. The first part of the flight home was filled with reminiscing about the big weekend we just shared, but soon enough the excitement took it's toll on Hunter, and he drifted off to sleep as he watched the pillow-soft clouds float past the jet's window.

It was a great weekend, which created wonderful memories for us, and served to strengthen the bond between my son and me. The only down side to the weekend was at one of the many photo sessions, when someone bumped my son, and he lost his grip on our car. The car crashed to the asphalt, where it snapped one of the rear fenders in half as it broke away from the body. The impact also broke the windshield frame, and took enough paint off various places to warrant a complete repaint. You may be surprised to hear me say that it doesn’t matter. You see, we built the car simply because we love to spend time together doing things like that. This car already served it’s purpose in that respect, and it also brought us joy beyond our wildest dreams. So you see, there’s no reason to be upset about the car breaking. Besides, we built the car once, we are certainly capable of rebuilding it.

I’ll post photos somewhere as soon as I edit them, including photos of the now-broken car.

[Stan Pope]

Outstanding! Thank you for sharing.

[RACER X]

That sounds like an un-believable time!!! Congrats to your son and you on a fine job and a well deserved great time.


Racer X

[Mike Doyle]

Thanks for the details, it sounds like an awesome experience!