Coca-Cola 600 Report

Garage and Pit Pass, just one of our passes!

No, I did not just drink 600 Coca-Colas, but I did attend the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway! Here's how that happened!

Kevin before the Drivers Meeting. This place was packed later! We sat in the 3rd row. 

Bob, Billy, and Kevin!

Oh yeah, Brad Paisley played a pre-race concert!

Brad Paisley PA speakers on wheels!

A month or two ago, an Army friend Billy Green called me up and asked me if I wanted to go. Specifically, he asked if I wanted to get infield/pit credentials, and hang out with him and his fellow Army Warrant Officer Craig Morgan! Mr. Morgan was going to be the National Anthem singer for the race, following a pre-race concert from another country music star Brad Paisley! 

I went in the Goodyear tire tent and talked with one of the head tire guys! They had 6 tire machines and 6 tire balancer machines. 

NASCAR uses 365/35R18 slicks, those are WIDE! Teams are free to use any tire pressures they want. 

Each team got 14 sets of tires for Charlotte, and Goodyear mounts them all. After that, the teams use power tools to make sure the mounting surfaces (circles above) are all cleanly drilled. 

Prepping the wheels. 

I'd like to think that mom and dad Nixon didn't raise any dummies, so I said YES to the invitation, and put COCA-COLA 600 on my calendar as fast as possible! 

It takes some gas to run in NASCAR!

Practice run for the National Anthem flyover. 

Walking the pits. Thousands of tires!

Craig Morgan served in the active Army and Reserves in the past, and came back on duty with the Reserves in 2023. For the past two years he's been a part of the Army Reserve Band in Red Stone Arsenal Alabama, and that's where my friend Billy Green got to know him. Billy is the commander of that band, and basically assists Craig with gigs like the NASCAR race! How cool is that? Anyway, I'd known Billy for a good while, and was really happy to hear from him, much less get an invite to the race! Billy had another set of passes, so another Army retired Bandmaster Kevin Pick came along too!

Practice for a military demonstration, there are soldiers on the rappelling lines hanging from both helicopters!

Just walking around the garages while the cars get pushed to the pit road. 

Time for a break with some free food! I even ate some asparagus, along with Bulgogi and rice dish. 

#88 is Connor Zilisch, a 19 year old young driver to watch, although he clipped a stopped car and got knocked out of this race. He drives for Trackhouse Racing.

Checking out the garages, team haulers on the left. 

This is on a Brad Paisley semi, so I'm guessing it might be his cowboy hat box and guitar case!

Kevin in the orange hat, and those folks sitting over there are the drivers at the Drivers Meeting. We were behind some politicians and the senior enlisted advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. 

The Drivers Meeting introduced some NASCAR and sponsors, included a salute to Kyle Busch, and then actually had a short video for the drivers to highlight the Charlotte specifics on pit-in, restarts, and cool driver stuff like that! Kevin and I were fully briefed, and ready to drive if needed!

Man, I'd hate to brag, but we got some serious VIP treatment! Free admission, infield parking, free food and drinks, access to the garages and pits, great views from the VIP rooftop just behind the pits! Along the way we met Craig Morgan, saw the inside of his bus, attended the Drivers Meeting, heard the Brad Paisley concert,  and saw a bunch of drivers and other dignitaries like Lee Greenwood inside the Driver Meeting! 

#33 was driven by Austin Hill, to take the place of Kyle Busch's #8. Kyle passed away just a few days before this race. 

Instead of a car number, Cole Custer's team uses this banana as a pit sign!

#24 William Byron of Hendrick Motorsport. 

Katherine Legge in the black baseball hat. She drove the Indy 500 earlier, and made it to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600!

#67 Corey Heim of Michael Jordan's 23XI team. 

Pre-race broadcast! They didn't want to interview us for some reason. 

We had a blast, so thanks to  Billy Green for making this possible! He and Craig had to hit the road right after the Anthem, and get up to Washington DC for a Memorial Day event the next day. 

Kevin and Bob do NASCAR!