Spring Into Sports: A Day at the Races

A month or so ago, I was invited by Thomas Chevrolet of Bedford General Manager Stephanie Martz to attend a Chevrolet Media Day at Pocono Raceway, which took place this past Friday. The event took place alongside the first of two annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekends at the track known as the "Tricky Triangle." I accompanied Thomas salesman Casey Shoemaker for the trip.
Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to be treated like "journalism royalty" for a day. I grew up very much a NASCAR fan, having watched races weekly that featured the likes of the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Kyle Petty, and others. While I don't watch or get to many races nowadays, I still do try to follow what's going on in the sport.
   The weather forecast wasn't good all week due to Tropical Storm Andrea making its way up the East Coast, and as we had it, it was raining pretty hard when our chartered bus pulled into Long Pond. After the buffet lunch, we were given our itinerary for the next few hours. The event was centered around Chevrolet's introduction of many new models for the coming year, and dealership personnel from across the Mid-Atlantic region was invited along with selected media guests.
   As you can see in the pictures below, Chevrolet had models of its new Impala, SS Sedan, and Silverados, as well as a coupe and a convertible edition of the 2014 Corvette Stingray. By the way, the pricetag for the Stingray coupe begins at $56,000, with the convertible at about $61,000.
   Unfortunately, the weather closed the track all day, wiping out practice and qualifying for the Sprint Cup race. It also squashed part of our planned activities, to ride in a Chevrolet Camaro at top speed around the raceway with one of four NASCAR drivers.
   That said, the rain and mud did provide for a great atmosphere in the Silverado performance area, which included a drive or ride in a Silverado while towing a 3,500-pound trailer with 2,200 pounds of stone in the back to see the starting, stopping, turning, and towing capabilities of the vehicle. We all agreed that it wouldn't have been the same with the sun shining and no mud to be found.
   We also got an up close view of Pocono's garage area for the NASCAR stars and a descriptive look at what happens each weekend on America's top motorsports circuit.
    All in all, a great day with a ride home from Pocono in a new Chevrolet Impala. And if you're interested in a new or preowned Chevrolet, visit Casey at Thomas Chevrolet, and tell him I sent you.