UPS RACING

Sam at work during a UPS pit stop

Sam Gibson is the front tire carrier for the No. 6 UPS team. Before leaving for Talladega, Sam took some time to talk with UPS Racing about his job at Roush Fenway Racing.

How did you get into the sport?

I knew a friend working for a different team that got me a job in 2000. Five years later, I started at Roush with the No. 6 Truck. From there, I moved over to the No. 17 Nationwide team before moving up to the No. 6 Cup team.

What’s your favorite part about being on a NASCAR team?

My favorite part would probably be the traveling and getting to see different parts of the country.

What’s your normal “run of show” during the week?

During the week I work in the shop tearing down cars, building suspensions, puttin in motors, and have pit crew practice.  When I’m not working I enjoy just relaxing and hanging out and going to the movies.

What are your normal responsibilities once arriving to the track each weekend?

Once I get to the track, I prep the tires for the race, get them to the pit box, lay them all out, and clean them. After all my work is done, I help anyone else out that may need it.

What are you responsible for during the actual race?

I’m the front tire carrier

Anything significant about the upcoming weekend?

It’s a restrictor plate track where I a lot can happen fast, but David runs really well there.

If you weren’t working in racing, what do you think you would be doing?

I would probably be a chef at a restaurant or working at an auto dealership.

Where did you grow up?

Boone, NC

What’s your favorite thing to do on an off-weekend?

On off weekends, I go to the lake to go surfing.

Something interesting about yourself?

I enjoy yoga even though the guys make fun of me about it.

Favorite Movie: Any Vince Vaughn movie

Favorite TV Show: Californication

Favorite Cartoon as a Kid: Curious George

Favorite Pizza Toppings? Greek pizza

Favorite Place to Eat? Fusion Bowl

Favorite Music: Dave Matthews, Metallica, Korn, Chevelle

Sam during pre-race with the rest of the UPS team

Another cold and rainy weekend in Charlotte is behind us and we’re off to Martinsville this week. It always seems to rain wherever the race is, and this past weekend was no exception. We had rain on Thursday (qualifying day), which made for a long day, but we were able to get everything in. For the race on Saturday night, it was cold standing out on pit road, but we all had on lots of layers and even got some hot chocolate halfway through the race from our hauler driver Bill!

David had a good car until a tire going down hurt our track position, but ultimately, he ended on the lead lap in 20^th. This weekend is Martinsville, which is another race close to home. That is something that we always enjoy. Plus, it’s a short track, and David likes short tracks. Hopefully the weather will be warmer and we’ll get a good finish!

On Tuesday, David filmed an episode for CMT ‘Cribs.’ It’s funny how 5-7 minutes of what you see on the air takes about 10 hours to shoot. David wasn’t on camera that whole time, but he did take them on a tour of his house and his race shop. Once he was done, I stuck around with Alexis while the production crew took a lot of b-roll shots. It made for a pretty long day. I think it will all turn out really good and everyone will have to check it out in January when it airs. We don’t know what day it’s going to air yet, but we’ll keep you up to date when we find out.

Having 10 hours of filming creates some down time, so we had a little fun while waiting at David’s shop……check out some of our photos!

Nancy at Roush Fenway Racing

We are off to Richmond this weekend. It’s the final weekend to see who makes the Chase, unfortunately we’re on the outside looking in, but we wish the best of luck to our Roush Fenway teammates and hope the No. 99, No. 17 and No. 16 make the Chase. Last year we almost made the Chase, it came down to Richmond and we were sitting 13^th, but didn’t quite do well enough in the race to clinch a spot. At least Richmond is a good track for David, so we should have a pretty good showing. Last weekend in his hometown of Atlanta we had a decent UPS Ford, but two speeding penalties hurt our chances at a good finish. So everyone is ready to rebound this weekend.

As far as off-track stuff goes, I’ve been busy scheduling out sponsor appearances. We’ve got a bunch of stuff coming up and David has a few tests coming up as well. I actually ordered his 2010 firesuit this week. Crazy to think I had to do that already, but we’ve got our first photo shoot next month for Coke and need the new suit. David’s suits are from a company called Sabelt and they are located over in Italy. I like to give extra time for it to get produced and cleared through customs to get over here to me.

I saw Pedro this week! We were over at David’s shop filming a segment for Ford on their new 2010 Taurus. It’s a nice car and Pedro was welcoming and made his ‘donkey noise’ for the visitors to hear. He’s darkened up over the summer; I’ll have to take an updated photo to share with everyone before fall comes and he starts getting a thick winter coat.

That’s all for now!

-Nancy

Another off-weekend for the Cup Series! It’s nice, but seems like our off weekends are too close together. I think that they need to be spread out a little more. But, we’re on the home stretch now and there’s only 12 races left this season. Each year the season goes by faster and faster!

Things have been pretty normal back at the shop. David had a great run at Bristol in the Nationwide car and got his second victory of the season and followed it up with a 14^th-place finish in the Cup car. Overall it was a good weekend that hopefully kick-started some good luck for the rest of the year. Things haven’t exactly gone our way, but we’re all hoping that changes, especially heading to Atlanta next weekend.

Atlanta is home to David Ragan and UPS so we really want to get a good finish there. It’s also a big weekend for one of our other sponsors, Coca-Cola. Coke does a cool promotion each year where they have all their Coke Family drivers at the track with the Richard Petty Driving Experience. The Coke-sponsored drivers take contest winners around Atlanta Motor Speedway in two-seater cars. It’s pretty cool and last year I hopped in and rode with David around the track; it definitely gives you a different perspective of what he does every week. We’ll see what happens this year, I might do it again!

Well, I’m off to enjoy my last off-weekend of the season. Enjoy your weekend as well!

And one more important thing. Happy Founder’s Day UPS’ers! 102 years as a company is awesome and everyone at Roush Fenway loves working with all of you!