DAY 2: All-Star Fan Experience Hits History, Penske

By Ron Lemasters Jr.  

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – The second day of the Official NASCAR Members Club’s annual All-Star Fan Experience opened early on Thursday at the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame and Museum and ended at the ultra-modern Penske Racing shops a few miles away. 

In between, a buffet lunch at Fat Boys made everyone very happy.

The NC Auto Racing Hall of Fame and Museum, if you’ve never been, is a great place to go and see collected history. More than 40 cars are housed there, with a ton of photos, die-cast, specialty machines and much more. 

Don Miller, former right-hand man for Roger Penske in the stock car world, is one of the founding partners, and he made a special stop in to talk with our Members. Don is a world-class guy and has contributed much of his life to the sport, and his mission is simple: give the racing fans a good show and make some money for the foundation which presents the annual Stocks for Tots program.

Some of the more impressive machines in the building were older stock cars driven by the likes of Fireball Roberts, Rex White, Lee Petty and other heroes. A full-on 1991 Indy Car is at the entrance, along with a 1940 Ford tricked out to run ‘shine. It even includes the mason jars and storage pokes for such. Top Fuel dragsters, a Funny Car, a Bonneville Salt Flats racer and one of the old Grand-Am sports cars sit in the space as well.

Of the photos, there was a priceless photo of “Tiger” Tom Pistone, in full racing regalia, duct-taped to a bench in a pit area somewhere. I think it was a joke, but Tom tended to drive some folks crazy by talking non-stop.

The NCARHoF and Museum is a non-profit, costs just $6 to enter and is well worth the investment. Thanks to our tour guides, Bob Hissom and Larry Abruzzesa, for being fonts of wisdom and information and genuinely warm guys with a lot to share. Thanks also to Don Miller for his cameo and his caring.

From there, it was off to Fat Boys, a buffet establishment off Exit 36 that caters to folks who like a good barbecue/hushpuppie lunch chased with sweet tea and some killer banana pudding. We ate, talked, laughed and prepared for Penske Racing.

Once at the huge shop off Mazeppa Road, we were met and escorted to the auditorium, where Jim Beichler and his pit crew team talked to us about what it takes to be on pit road today. Not surprisingly, we had tons of info to work with, delivered with humor and panache. For instance, did you know that more than 40 percent of the crews today are made up of former college and professional athletes? Yep, it’s true, and the recruiting process is very similar to that of colleges and professional teams. Size, speed and athletic talent are watched as closely as aptitude for things mechanical.

After 45 minutes, we were led along the catwalk that extends from one end of the massive shop to the other, gazing below at the Team Penske machines of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Truex. We got to see the patriotic paint schemes the cars will run this weeked (very cool, by the way) and the test cars in matte black, as well as the Nationwide Series cars in all their glory.

Special thanks to Jim Beichler and all the folks at Penske Racing for allowing us the inside look at their operation. We’ve been trying to get to the shop for years, and it certainly was worth the wait!

Friday’s schedule includes visits to the NASCAR R&D Center and Chip Ganassi Racing in Concord, the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte and the ONMC Tailgate at the Speedway. Special guest Chelsea Bain and her band will play a private acoustic set for us again this year, and we certainly look forward to that!