UPS RACING

This is the first half of David’s day. He went through safety equipment training and also met with the Thunderbirds’ doctor and his pilot to go over what to expect from his flight.

Be sure to check out the other two videos from David’s day:

Part 2: Getting Ready for Takeoff http://www.racing.ups.com/2010/02/part2thunder/

Part 3: Up, Up and Away http://www.racing.ups.com/2010/02/thunder310/

Be sure to submit your question for David here: http://www.racing.ups.com/2010/02/ask/

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to check in real quick before heading out to Phoenix. We’re making a special visit to a UPS facility on Thursday to recognize the UPS Desert Mountain team as a leader in service. We’re going to spend a good amount of time there visiting with UPS employees and signing autographs and taking pictures. They are also going to take me on a tour of the place and then I’m going to help award a trophy to the center, so we’ll be sure to put some pictures up on the site from our visit.

We got back from Texas on Monday, and we’ve been really busy this week testing and then getting ready for Phoenix. We had a pretty decent car in Texas and everyone really liked our Boys and Girls Clubs paint design. A bunch of fans and people in the garage were telling our team how good our car looked. We qualified 17th and then finished 17th, so we didn’t lose any positions, but we just couldn’t get our car as good in the race as it was in practice.

It’s hard to believe the season is almost over and we only have two more races! While our season is full with so many races, it always seems to fly by. We’re just looking forward to having two solid runs these next two weeks in our UPS Ford to end the season on a strong note.

- David

Hello from Texas!

We got out here early on Thursday since the Nationwide Series had tech at the track. We all fly together, so all of the Cup guys had the day off on in Texas to have some fun. Some of us did have to work as David had two sponsor appearances on Thursday, but it looks like some of the No. 6 team hit the golf course. I’m not sure what the rest were up to, but the weather was beautiful for the first day of the race weekend.

Last week we were in Talladega, Alabama. That was such a stressful weekend because things happen so fast there and you never know who is going to get caught up in a wreck.  We survived right up until the end when David got bumped and took a trip through the grass. We still finished okay and actually moved up a spot in the point standings. 

We also got to have a little fun in Talladega. I’m not sure if you’ve heard stories about the infield there, but it’s crazy. The wildest fans go to Talladega and camp out for the whole week! A lot of the crew guys make an annual trip to ‘cruise the infield’ to see what’s going on inside of the largest tracks on the schedule. The Zac Brown Band played a free concert to anyone with an infield pass on Saturday night before the race. Of course it had rained all day Saturday, but it stopped by late afternoon. Event though the weather cleared, it was definitely a muddy mess. The concert was really good and David even stopped by for the start of it. He left early since he had to get up and race the next day. 

Now back to Texas. We’ve got a really cool car this weekend and everyone is excited to see it on track. We’ve gotten to visit some Boys and Girls Clubs of America locations this year on behalf of UPS, and those visits are always a lot of fun. Our paint scheme this weekend is cool with a lot of the BGCA kids’ handprints on the car. I even tried to match up my hands with theirs on the car, and I actually fit a few. I’m not sure if they’ve got some growing into their hands to do or if my hands are just small!

Well, that’s about it from here for now. Hopefully we get a good run this weekend to make up for last time. David had such a good run going in the spring, but debris got caught on the grill and overheated our car…bad luck. Here’s hoping it’s all behind us!

- Nancy

Hey race fans, and thanks for checking in on the site!

Well, we’re back in Charlotte this week after our Saturday night race in Chicago. We had to deal with changing conditions throughout the race, but we made some good changes at the end to help us learn some things for the rest of the season.

This week, we don’t have a race, but we’ve still got a pretty packed schedule. Even when we’re not at the races, there is always a lot to be done.

One thing I’m really excited about doing is going to UPS Worldport in Louisville. The facility is pretty big and it’s the largest air hub for UPS, so most of the packages that you fans send via UPS go through this facility.

Worldport is something I heard about when we first started our sponsorship with UPS and I told them that I thought it would be a cool place to come see. This is where they direct all of their planes throughout the world and the place handles something like more than 300,000 packages an hour!

One thing that is a little different about Worldport than other UPS facilities that we’ve been able to visit is that this visit is overnight. They start working late in the night and into the early morning to handle all of the packages that come into the facility.

We’ll leave tomorrow and fly to the Louisville airport, which is where Worldport is located and I think we get in around 10:30 p.m. Our tour starts at 11 at night and we’re going to have a chance to see the whole facility and talk with the UPS employees that help keep that place running. We decided to do this visit during an off-week since we’re going to be up for most of the night.

We’re going to put up some videos and photos from our trip later this week here on the site, so be sure to take some time to check out all the fun we had during our all-nighter!

-David

See photos from UPS Road Code at the Boys & Girls Club, Chicago

QVC is a service mark of ER Marks, Inc.  The QVC.com domain name is registered to QVC, Inc.

UPS No. 6 DRIVER DAVID RAGAN TO APPEAR ON QVC’S FOR RACE FANS® ONLY BROADCAST

Race fans, start your engines! This Friday, June 5, No. 6 UPS Driver David Ragan is scheduled to appear live on QVC’s For Race Fans Only show from 8 PM (ET) to 9 PM (ET).

Broadcasting from the QVC studios in West Chester, Pa., Ragan will offer shoppers officially-licensed NASCAR® merchandise, including the brand new David Ragan 2009 No. 6 Autographed UPS Freight 1:24 Scale Car, which will only be available through QVC. The 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series “Rookie of the Year” will also give viewers an inside look at what it’s like behind the wheel of the UPS car.

For Race Fans Only, which is celebrating its 17th year of broadcasting, takes racing enthusiasts inside the world of motorsports with special programming that includes exclusive behind-the-scenes NASCAR footage, special guests and the newest NASCAR-licensed merchandise.

Ragan, who will be making his QVC debut this Friday, will join an elite list of drivers that have appeared on For Race Fans Only, including Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Richard Childress and more.

Viewers are encouraged to tune into QVC for this special show. To learn more about QVC’s For Race Fans Only programming and to order exclusive NASCAR merchandise, visit www.QVC.com/ForRaceFansOnly.

QVC is a service mark of ER Marks, Inc.  The QVC.com domain name is registered to QVC, Inc.