Motorhome Service Time and Charlotte Motor Speedway

Last night we had some issues with the power at the first electrical pedestal we were hooked up to in the Freightliner parking lot.  My Progressive Industries surge protector told us one line of the power had low voltage.  In addition to the error message any time the voltage of either line goes below 100 volts it will shut off.  When that happens our motorhome automatically switches to the inverter and runs off the batteries except for one thing.  Every time this switch over occurs the TV's go off and then immediately come back on.  This is what was going on in Milwaukee but I wasn't sure what was causing it.  With the remote read out I installed in our kitchen I could sit and watch what the voltage on each line was reading continuously. Finally the power shut off and didn't come back on.  I went outside to the pedestal with my Multi Meter and checked to verify what I already knew and sure enough no power.  My neighbor, who was hooked up to this same pedestal was also outside.  I ended up adding a second power cord and going over to the neighbor on the other side of me to their pedestal.  My other neighbor without power backed straight up and connected on the back row of hook ups.  All was well for the rest of the night.

The next morning I learned the couple next to us without power was the sister of Joel and Mark Scrafton from Warsaw, Indiana and her husband.  I have known Joel and Mark for about 25-30 years since they both worked at Zimmer.  Her husband is a farmer from Greenwood, Indiana and they are on now their way to the Naples, Florida area for the winter.  The more we travel the more we learn how small the world actually is. 

The Freightliner service tech was at our door shortly after eight this morning.  We were ready for them with jacks up and slides in and the engine running.  One thing we did tell them was we wanted a different spot this evening when they finished so I didn't have to get out the second power cord to hook up the electricity. 

We loaded up the dogs and headed toward Charlotte, NC.  The only two things I really knew or thought I knew about Charlotte is that it is kind of the banking center of the south and it has a Nascar speedway.  I learned not only it is the banking hub of the south it is the second largest financial center in the nation.  Bank of America and Wachovia call it home.  The speedway however is actually in Concord, NC not Charlotte.  Concord is about 12 miles north of Charlotte.  So heading to Charlotte we could maybe take a tour of a bank or a Nascar speedway.  We choose the speedway.

We got to the speedway at around 10:00 and the next one hour tour for a party of two (Huli and I) was scheduled to leave at 10:30.  People here don't like the cold weather so nobody else showed up for the 10:30 tour.  We went to the gift shop and bought what we normally do.  A shot glass and a magnet.  We are convinced the weight of the magnets on our refrigerator will eventually pull the door off.  Our tour guide was Katrina and she was originally from Michigan.  She moved to NC in 2004 and is very happy here.  She works for the speedway as a tour guide and also works in the operations area during races.  In her spare time she inspects every seat in the stadium annually and creates a punch list for the operations people to repair.  She claims she can do this inspection fairly quickly since she has done it many times.  She is also a development driver which allows her to drive various new cars and she drives some kind of a truck around the track pulling a very heavy block to smooth the track out.  I know one thing for sure and that is she likes to go fast even in a tour van.

The site of the Charlotte Motor Speedway was once the site of a working plantation during the civil war.  The speedway is 1.5 miles long and has a seating capacity of 134,000 fans.  It also holds 113 box suites for the big money people and companies.  The first race was in 1960 and the speedway was built by Bruton Smith who still owns it today.  He is 87 years old and is worth around $1.5 billion.  Bruton owns eight speedways including Atlanta, Bristol, and Las Vegas.  Katrina says Bruton will still call her today and ask her about a purchase order she issued for soap she bought for the speedway.

Today we learned that there are seven race tracks at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Including dirt tracks, NHRA drag strips, go kart tracks, bandelero tracks(1200cc Kawasaki engine go karts), road tracks etc.  The speedway is used a lot.  Today the NC State Police had leased out one of the big parking lots and had set up some kind of a drivers skill course.  Every time Katrina would approach a state cop she would floor the tour van and then tell us they can't do anything to her inside the speedway.

After the speedway we drove back into Charlotte and hit the best Chinese restaurant we could find and then headed back to Freightliner where we found the motorhome done and in the parking lot.  Everything on the motorhome went well and nothing out of the ordinary was found.  They went through 46 different items that they either checked, changed, lubricated, or inspected.  Other than filters and oil changing the big thing on this trip was replacing the air dryer kit.  Glad to hear it was a routine service appointment. 

Below are some picture I took today for you picture lovers out there.  I took over a hundred today but narrowed it down to these.


This is the front entrance we went up to the second floor to sign up for the tour.  One of these vans is what we took our tour in.

The seats are painted multi colored so it appears people are in the seats when they aren't.  Attendance isn't what it used to be so they are tearing down one section of bleachers and are adding a motorhome park.

This is the hospital where nine doctors work during the race and they won't start the race until a helicopter is parked next to it on the helipad.

These are the garages

This is the garage to have.  I think Katrina said it is for the previous years points winner. 

This is the side of pit row that the pit row teams stand on..

How about an 80 foot by 200 foot tv that will withstand 200 mile per hour winds.

 

 This is part of the original bleachers from when the track was built in 1959.

 

 This is pit row.  Looks like somebody is doing some burn outs.

The start finish line.

This is when wild woman Katrina started to put the pedal to the metal.

At about this time we were approaching 100 miles per hour.

The turn is a 25 degree bank.

I hope she is not white knuckled.

 

  She brought us in hot and then slowed down to 45mph which is the speed limit in pit row.

This is the winner circle.

 

 This is wild woman Katrina saying she is number one and we agreed.  She made our tour very memorable and enjoyable.

This is me saying I'm something other than number one.  I am rocking that jogging outfit though. 

This is the side of the ZMax drag strip.

This is just before Katrina floored it and pushed our heads back against the head rests in the deluxe 11 passenger tour van.  At the finish line of the quarter mile we were going a whopping 88 miles per hour.  Katrina needs a heavier foot or more horses under the hood of the tour van.

This is the NC state police practicing knocking over the cones.

 

 This is the dirt track being resurfaced for some more muddin.