Leicht speed: Stephen Leicht's daily blog from Memphis, Day 1

By Stephen Leicht - Richard Childress Racing driver

Saturday, October 24, 2009

RSS Feed
Email to a Friend
Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size RESIZE
Share
- Facebook
- Del.icio.us
- DIGG This
- Reddit
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
0 Comments

Thursday was RCR’s 40th anniversary Fan Day. A ton of fans showed up and it was awesome being apart of it. Big thanks for everyone that came out and we raised a lot of money for the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma.

During the day, I was interviewed by Chocolate Myers and Rick Benjamin from Sirius NASCAR radio to talk about the significance of celebrating 40 years. We also discussed what next year holds for me and I’m hoping to run the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevy more next season.

After the interviews I went and worked out at the gym in our shop. Once I was finished, I headed down to the Nationwide Series shop for an autograph session at the Chevy display. Sean Caisse, Ty and Austin Dillon, Ryan Gifford, and I took part in that session.  

We had a great turnout. After signing for a few hundred fans, I headed to the airport to make my way to Memphis. Once we arrived I had dinner with a few team members and decided to call it an early night since Friday is a long day at the track.

Friday, we were greeted with a typical fall day at the track and we’re all ready to get out on the track. We’re on track for two practice sessions today and after we’re finished, I’m heading to the drivers autograph session on the frontstretch here at the track.

One of the coolest things about this weekend is Memphis is where the Holiday Inn got its start. The original Holiday Inn opened its doors 57 years ago and was started by a guy named Kemmons Wilson. Although his family doesn’t own the company anymore, his family just brought Holiday Inn back to its roots.

This past August his grandchildren opened a brand new Holiday Inn, located in downtown Memphis, that is complete with the new modern look our sponsor introduced this year. The lobby includes rare photos and memorabilia from the original hotel. I’m hoping to get over there Friday night to check it out.

Following my visit, I’m planning to have some Memphis ribs or barbeque and head to bed early. We qualify tomorrow morning and race in the afternoon so I’ll definitely need another good night’s sleep. We have a pretty solid No. 29 Impala SS this weekend and we’re hoping to have a good run.

Thanks for checking out my blog and I’ll be back tomorrow to keep you updated.