IRWIN Industrial Tools® - Shelby 427 Weekend Live- Blog

NASCAR Race Mom will be "live-blogging" this Shelby 427 weekend. However, please note that the computer will not be monitored - 24/7. Nevertheless, you can leave your question and/or comment at anytime. As soon as we get back to the laptop, your contribution will be reviewed and added.

Click on the "Watch Now" play button to join the conversation.
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Ever Been Tempted To Enter A Contest?

Have you ever been tempted to enter a contest? You read the rules and marvel at the prizes; however then that little voice in the back of your mind scolds you. “Don’t waste your time. These things are always rigged – you, Average Joe, will never win a contest like this.”

Well I am here to tell you, do not listen to that inner voice. You can win that contest and earn a prize of a lifetime. My husband Paul entered the “Tell Us Your Vise Grip Story.” Of the approximate eight hundred and fifth entries, Paul’s was voted to be one of the top ten stories and he won a tool bag filled with IRWIN Vise-Grip pliers and wrenches with an estimated retail value of $550.00; a wonderful prize.

Then on January 9, 2009, he was notified that he made the cut into the top three contestants. This meant he would enjoy a trip for two to Las Vegas to watch the NASCAR Sprint Cup Shelby 427. Well the big event is almost here. Paul and I fly to Las Vegas tomorrow for the “Tell Us Your Vise Grip Story” Las Vegas Event.

We check-in to the hotel at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Paul and I will have to unpack in a hurry because at 6:00 p.m. we meet with some of the event staff and fellow contest winners at a Cocktail Reception. We will have to try to limit our entertainment that night because at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, we are scheduled to be in the lobby for our limousine ride to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Our son Moses races the #16 Hasa Pool Products Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Camping World Series West, so we have been huge NASCAR fans for a while now. What a perfect prize package for us!

The agenda states that we will be treated to pit and garage tours prior to the race. I will have my camera (with extra batteries) ready. We were also informed that we will meet Jamie McMurray and Jeff Hammond for a Question and Answer session. This is my favorite part of the package. If you have a question you think I should ask either Mr. McMurray or Mr. Hammond, leave that question in the comment section of this post. I will try to get it answered for you.

We top off this once in a lifetime race experience by enjoying the Shelby 427 from the infield. I will attempt to keep you all informed (text and photos) via the live blogging software I successfully tested yesterday (Cover It Live)


So next time you read about that contest with the awesome prize that would rock your world - go for it. Remember our story and our wonderfully generous prize package!

NASCAR Race Mom Heads To Las Vegas For The Shelby 427

As most of my readers know, my husband Paul is a finalist in the IRWIN Industrial Tools, “Tell Us Vise-Grip Your Story” promotion. (Click Here For Details) As finalists, IRWIN Industrial Tools®, a Newell Rubbermaid® company and maker of the most reliable and versatile locking tools is flying us out to Las Vegas for the Shelby 427 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race. We are thrilled to say the least. The Shelby 427 will be the twelfth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

NASCAR Race Mom will be ‘test driving’ a live-blogging software in order to provide the readers with “real-time” updates. Hopefully, this is the same format that will be utilized to provide readers with an interactive communication tool for the NASCAR Camping World Series West ‘At The Track’ updates.

The 2009 NCWSW season opener will be held at the Thunderhill Raceway, in Kyle, Texas on March 14th. Interesting fact: the first NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was a NASCAR Camping World Series West race, which was won by Ken Schrader on November 2, 1996.

There are fifty-one cars are on the entry list for Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is the second time in three 2009 races that more than 50 cars will attempt to qualify. Forty-eight were at Fontana, California last weekend.

Among the new entries for Vegas is Max Papis in Germain Racing's No. 13. You can follow Mr. Papis on Twitter. (Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates {known as tweets}). To follow Max Papis on Twitter click here. You can also follow NASCAR Race Mom (me) on Twitter (click here)

Who will be in Victory Lane on March 1st at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway? Take a moment and vote in the NRM poll (located in the sidebar to the right). Will it be Carl Edwards, the defending champion at Las Vegas; or will Matt Kenseth manage his third straight win after capturing the first two races at Daytona and California?

Kenseth has a serious chance to become the first driver ever to open a season with three consecutive wins. He already has two wins at Las Vegas (2003-2004) and has led 438 laps there, more than any other driver.

While the statistics do not support my choice, I cast my vote for #26 Jamie McMurray (sponsored by Irwin Industrial Tools). In his six cup starts at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, McMurray has one top-five and two top-tens. However, he and his new crew chief Wingo are really working well together. I will be rooting for McMurray to capture his first Las Vegas win.

The Shootout – The Field is Frozen at the Moment of Caution

White Flag Lap

According to the NASCAR Race Mom poll, the majority of the fans were not too happy with the changes made to the Budweiser Shootout this year. Only twelve percent of the voters in the NRM poll believed that it was time for changes in the shootout format. The remainder of the participants in the poll were evenly split (43.5%) between the notions, “Why break tradition” and “It is what it is.”

Rookies Joey Logano and Scott Speed were not allowed to showcase their skills, good or bad. They were wrecked out of Friday night's event at the Daytona International Speedway in less than five laps. The rookies were innocent victims of the first caution of the night that involve almost the entire twenty-eight car field.

"It sucks," Logano said after leaving the infield care center. "It's too early. I felt like we had a decent car for the first couple laps. I was just trying to get a feel for it before we went up there and mixed it up with everyone."

Another newcomer, A.J. Allmendinger turned in an uneventful but impressive run. Starting eighteenth, and avoiding multiple wrecks, Allmendinger brought his Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge to the finish line in fifth place.

I could not be more satisfied with my driver pick for the race, the #26 Crown Royal / Irwin car of Jamie McMurray. Well, I guess that is not quite true; a win would have been huge. However, as it is, McMurray, new Crew Chief Wingo and the entire Roush Fenway Racing team put on an impressive charge to the front from mid-pack. McMurray’s second place finish is his highest finish ever in the Shootout.

Jamie McMurray was leading at the white flag. The exciting “green, white, checkered” finish found Kevin Harvick’s car drafting past McMurray’s for the lead. Moments after that lead change, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears touched off a wreck, behind the leaders, that brought out the eighth caution of the evening and froze the field. This gave Harvick the victory in the non-points season opener.

Click on Photo for Video

photo & video from NASCAR site

UPDATE - IRWIN Industrial Tools, “Tell Us Vise-Grip Your Story”

The people at Irwin, Paul, and I are getting very excited as the planning for the IRWIN VISE-GRIP event progresses. The first bit of magnificent news came when the company announced that they could supply us with a more exciting trip by changing plans and hosting the event in Las Vegas, Nevada on the weekend of the NASCAR race. Just perfect for us!

Irwin explained that they thought they could provide a better prize package in the “Entertainment Capital of the World.” They plan to fly us into Las Vegas on February 28th, treat us to the NASCAR race on March 1st, and then fly us home on March 2nd!

Wahoo, we will be going to the Shelby 427. As you know, I love NASCAR and attend all of my son’s (Moses Smith) Camping World Series West races, including the Toyota All-Star Showdown. However, I must confess that I have never had the pleasure of attending a Cup race in person. The closest I have gotten was attending the Nationwide Series race in Phoenix last April (Thank You Mark and Gloria from Hasa Pool Products).

The trip details are still sketchy, but as we learn them, you will be kept up-to-date. The only fact I have as yet is that we will be staying at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. We have walked through the hotel during past trips to Las Vegas and were always in awe of its size and beauty. Now Paul and I will be staying there.

The Mandalay Bay Hotel boasts of 3,309 luxury rooms that are designed to show off world class elegance. Their casino is quite massive, covering 135,000 square feet of floor space and houses a wide variety of different games, from card games to slot machines. Mandalay Bay’s star attraction is the Shark Reef. This aquarium contains over one million gallons of saltwater and is an exotic scene where you can see a hundred different species of life. Included in these species are five of the twelve remaining golden saltwater crocodiles. As you can tell I am eager.

However, the Shelby 427 race (formally known as the UAW-Dodge 400) has me all keyed up. What an honor it will be to watch the Cup Series maneuver around this one and a half mile “D” shaped oval. Moses raced at LVMS during his Formula Mazda days, but we have never been there when the 142,000 seats were filled with fans. The camaraderie, bone-rattling noise and the sense of speed are going to be awe-inspiring.

Of course being guests of IRWIN Industrial Tools, we will be rooting for their car and driver, the #26 of Jamie McMurray. I did my homework via Race News Digest. Mr. McMurray has six cup starts at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway including a fourth place finish in 2004 and a tenth place finish in 2007. It will be intriguing to see how Driver McMurray and new Crew Chief Donnie Wingo mesh. Paul and I can't wait to cheer the #26 team on.

I hope that I get the chance to meet the driver. I would love to get an interview with him for this blog. If you have a question you think I should ask Mr. McMurray if I get the opportunity, please just leave it in the comment section. I am also hoping that I can get an autographed item from the driver of the #26 Irwin Industrial Tools Ford. I would then run a contest and share that item to one of my readers.

Well that is all I know for now. Again as this exciting event unfolds, I will keep you informed. We will be blogging, complete with photographs, during this fantastic NASCAR Cup Race weekend! Thank you IRWIN Industrial Tools!

IRWIN Industrial Tools®, “Tell Us Vise-Grip Your Story”

Irwin has been sponsoring a “Tell Us Vise-Grip Your Story” Contest since July 1, 2008. The stories were limited to a hundred (100) words or less essay about how your Irwin Vise-Grip have saved the day. IRWIN Industrial Tools®, a Newell Rubbermaid® company and maker of the most reliable and versatile locking tools, offered many great prizes including Irwin tools, trips to New York, Cabela’s gift cards and a grand prize of either a Custom Chopper or $25,000 cash.

Moses Smith is the driver of the Camping World Series West #16 Hasa Pool Products/White Flyer Toyota Camry. His father Paul sent in a story. You guessed it, it was race related. Irwin officially announced today that Paul’s entry was chosen as one of the top three entries in the promotion. (Click here to view announcement)

By making it into the top-ten finalists, Paul had already won a tool bag filled with Irwin Vise-Grip pliers and wrenches (ARV: $550). I am sure the MSR team will make good use of these multitalented tools.

Paul’s move into the top-three promises even more rewards. In addition to the trip to New York, he will receive $500.00 spending money. Further, we are still in contention for the top prize!

The Top – Three Prize Breakdown:

• Grand Prize: Winner's choice of a) A custom all-new IRWIN Vise-Grip custom chopper (motorcycle) or b) $25,000.
  
  
• First Runner-Up Prize: $1,000 Cabela's gift card
  
  
• Second Runner-Up Prize: $500 Cabela's gift card

Boy that $25,000 top prize would sure help Paul and me with our 2009 race expenses. I could get that new laptop I need to do my ‘at the track’ updates. The readers would no longer have to hear complaints about my out-dated eight-year-old artifact. You can bet that the new laptop would be adorned with IRWIN Industrial Tools® stickers. Also, although the custom chopper is tempting, the cash would cover all our NCWSW travel expenses for 2009.

Hummm, talking about stickers, I wonder if the executives at Irwin would be interested in talking about sponsorship for Moses’ 2009 season? Do you think I should bring some autographed hats and t-shirts?

Paul and I are honored to be chosen one of the top three entries in the Irwin “Tell Us Your Vice-Grip Story” promotion and are looking forward to attending the IRWIN VISE-GRIP Tell Us Your Vise-Grip Story Press Event in New York, New York. The trip is to be completed by February 28th. This works perfectly into our schedule since Moses' first race, the Allstate Texas Racefest, in Kyle, Texas is not until March 14th.

We will be blogging about our trip and posting photos as well!