UPS RACING

David Ragan with Stockton employee, Greg Morse

 

Each week, the UPS ‘Maximum Center’ program recognizes a UPS operating facility or Freight Service Center for success in safety and service. Chosen facilities are recognized with its Standard Location Identification Code (SLIC) or Freight Service Center three-letter code on the wing of David Ragan’s No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion. 

The Stockton Center from the East Bay District was honored for its overall performance at the race this past weekend at Infineon Raceway. The center’s Standard Location Identification Code (SLIC) number 9520 was included inside the silhouette of a UPS package car on the UPS No. 6 Ford Fusion’s wing.

The center was selected as the Maximum Center as a result of ranking number one on the East Bay District Center Balanced Scorecard achieving 93 percent effective overall in April.

Greg Morse, a package driver out of the Stockton Center was at the race on Sunday with his father, Geary.

“Having our number on David’s car is unbelievable,” said Morse. “It’s such a great honor for all of our employees. It’s really cool to see. All of the guys at the building told me to represent them well out here this weekend.”

Stockton Center Maximum Center Photos

Joe making a special delivery to David Ragan

This past weekend at Infineon Raceway, Joe Wilborn, who works as a revenue supervisor in San Francisco was part of the UPS Trackside Services team. Joe took some time out of his busy schedule on race day to talk with UPS Racing about what he does both at and away from the track. 

During a normal workweek, I work with the UPS sales force to help set up programs that best suit our customers needs. But when race time rolls around, I get to be a part of the Trackside Services team.

I’ve been coming out to the track working with Trackside for six years and I really like the group of people that I work with every year. We are busy all weekend making sure that all of our customers get the packages they need to have a successful weekend. I also like being around the cars and seeing the mechanics and all the behind-the-scenes of the race.

I’ve been a race fan since I was a little boy, and I remember cheering for Richard Petty when I was young. And then when racing got more televised, I remember cheering for Earnhardt, too. But now, ever since UPS got involved in the sport, I’ve always supported our driver.

When I’m not working, I spend time with my family. I have daughter who is six and a son who is two-and-a-half, so they keep me pretty busy. We’re encouraging them to get involved in sports and we try to get out to some of the ball games when we can.

On Wednesday last week, I was lucky enough to help deliver the trophy for the race in Sonoma with David Ragan. It was out of the ordinary and really cool to do. It was a good opportunity for UPS to help out the track and get our brand out in front of fans and customers. 

Joe (r) with Dave and David Ragan after successfully delivering the trophy for the race

David Ragan at Infineon Raceway

David Ragan will be the first to admit that he’s still learning about racing at road courses. But, if you watched the race on Sunday at Infineon Raceway, you wouldn’t have believed that as David and the No. 6 UPS team spent almost the entire event racing inside of the top 12.

David started in the back of the field on Sunday after getting a little loose during his qualifying lap, but he started clicking positions off fairly quickly. His consistent lap times combined with great pit strategy and fuel tracking by Jimmy Fennig and the No. 6 engineers launched David up in the field.

Steady and smooth was the way David made his way around the 1.99-mile track in Northern California. As the laps began winding down and David was running seventh, a bump from behind by Carl Edwards sent David spinning in turn eight, allowing a majority of the pack to get by him. David recovered quickly, but there just weren’t enough laps left in the race to make up the lost ground.

“It was a bad end to the day of what could have been a great run,” said David after the race. “Still, I have a lot of confidence going to New Hampshire, but that just seems to be the way our season has been. We haven’t had a lot of good luck.” 

The UPS team has been spending a lot of time working on their road-racing program, having multiple test sessions over the past couple of months.

“We legitimately had a top-10 car and we just got it taken away from us with a racing incident at the end,” continued David. “We came in and got four tires and then during the green-white-checkered, people were running through the course, over the grass, over the curbs, it was just crazy. We just brought it back home in one piece and I’m proud we finished.”

David and the UPS team will head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next week for the 17^th race of the season.

The race this weekend at Infineon Raceway is the first road course event of the season. And while these types of tracks haven’t always been David’s favorite, he’s been doing a lot of testing to get ready for the race.

David started off the day with a solid practice session, spending more than half of practice in second place. After all drivers made qualifying runs during practice, David dropped a little bit on the leader board to 10^th.

“We were strong today in practice,” said David. “We’ve been putting a lot of extra work into our road-racing program, so it was good to come out of practice in the top 10.”

David and the UPS team were ready for a similar result in Friday’s qualifying, but David got a little too loose in one of the 11 turns on the track, resulting in a loss of speed and momentum.

“We got loose, and I guess the good side of things is that I didn’t spin it out,” said David after his qualifying run. “I thought we had a top 15 or so run going on through the first seven or eight corners, and then we just got loose being aggressive. I just got on the throttle a little early and got loose in turn eight. If you lose even a little bit of speed here, it takes a lot to get that back. I’m looking forward to Saturday’s practice; I think we’ve got a fast car. We’ll just have to do our job and pass a lot of cars on Sunday.”

While David technically qualified 43^rd for Sunday’s race, he will start 40^th based on owner’s points.

  

Sea Lions at Pier 39

Hello everyone! 

Things have still been busy (as usual) around here, but we’ve managed to squeeze in some fun. Michigan last week was a good run for us. We finished 15^th and the pit crew was on their game. They gained spots on pit road every time we pitted. One stop we even went from 10^th to fifth!  Hopefully everything carries over into this weekend at Sonoma. Road courses haven’t been David’s strongest tracks in the past, but he’s put in a lot of hard work testing and feels ready for this weekend. He’s been to Road Atlanta and was out in Sonoma here testing last week. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Sonoma is far away from home, but also is a fun place to come visit. We all flew out Wednesday morning to come to the track for a media event.  avid delivered the trophy for Sunday’s race to victory lane. The Coast Guard helicopter dropped the trophy off, where two men in suits and white gloves helped David pick it up and load it into the back of the UPS package car.

Studio in Los Angeles

David and the UPS driver took the trophy for a lap around the track and then delivered it to victory lane. There was a bunch of media here so David did some interviews and then we headed into San Francisco to the Comcast Studios. He did an on-air interview there and then had some radio call-ins to do. 

After all the media we had time for some fun. We went to Fisherman’s Warf and hung out down there. We saw the sea lions (really cool, but they kind of stink), went to the aquarium, and then had dinner downtown at an Italian restaurant. We called it an earlier night since our bodies were still on East coast time and we had to get up early the next morning.

Thursday morning we left the hotel at 5 a.m. and flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles. David was on a game show, which will air in the fall. I can’t tell you much else right now since the release didn’t go out yet, but it was cool and everyone will have to check it out when it airs. We’ll keep you updated!

Boats by the water in San Francisco

Now we’re off for practice, qualifying and maybe a little fun in Northern California wine country!

UPS Racing wants to know: Where is your favorite place to visit in California?

Infineon Raceway Press Release

U.S. Coast Guard, UPS, David Ragan Provide Ceremonial Delivery of Trophy

David and Dave transporting the Infineon Raceway trophy 

  (C) Mike Finnegan

Infineon Raceway received a special delivery on Wednesday, thanks to UPS and the United States Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco, the “Guardians of the Golden Gate.”

The Coast Guard arranged for safe delivery of the winner’s trophy for this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. A Coast Guard MH65C Dolphin helicopter, departing from an unknown location in the Bay Area, landed on the road course on Turn 11 with the trophy safely stored.

From there, two raceway handlers, dressed in black suits and wearing white gloves, and David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford, carried the trophy to an awaiting UPS Truck. The truck then drove to the Wine Country Winner’s Circle, where the two handlers and Ragan safely placed the trophy on a wine barrel after walking a red carpet.

Mission accomplished.

“What better hands to place the trophy in than the U.S. Coast Guard?” said Ragan, who took a ceremonial ride in the UPS Truck around the road course with the trophy. “It was pretty cool watching the helicopter land on the road course at Turn 11 and then taking the trophy to the winner’s circle. This is the closest I’ve ever been to a winner’s trophy before the race.”

“The crewman who hand-carried the trophy from the MH65C Dolphin was Petty Officer Second Class Bryan Patrick – a hardcore race fan,” said Sam Creech, Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Station, San Francisco. “When he is not flying on rescue missions or serving as a counter-terrorism precision aerial marksman/sharpshooter, he is a helicopter mechanic, responsible for tuning the Dolphin’s dual 1300 shaft horsepower engines – delivering the trophy was a truly a special treat for him today.”

The Coast Guard will return on Sunday as part of the ceremonial fly-by moments before the green flag is dropped on the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

“The Coast Guard is honored to serve our country and we are grateful when we are invited to showcase our service at national sporting events and venues like Infineon Raceway,” Creech said. “It was unique today – our helicopters usually deliver injured mariners from the perils of the sea, but today, we delivered the trophy for the all-American sport of NASCAR.”