Looking Under The Hood

Looking Under The Hood
Originally uploaded by fredwilson.

As I was walking to work this morning, I saw two race cars sitting in front of the Flatiron Building.

It seems that Nextel is doing something called the Pit Stop Tour and these cars will be in front of the Flatiron Building all weeek.

If you live in NYC, you should stop by and look under the hood, like I did this morning.

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[John Risner]

Several years ago on the second Friday after Thanksgiving I came out of the elevators of the Waldorf after a bond roadshow. There was a huge crowd of people in various NASCAR regalia and I got pushed back into another elevator that went up to the Starlight room. Not being in a hurry I shuffled out with the crowd and found myself in a room being prepped for a press conference. There were tables loaded with books and materials. I am not a fan, but my brother in FLA is, so I loaded up on material and went back to the office. I sent it all down to my brother and forgot about it until he called the next week to thank me for the great stuff and ask where I got it.

When I told thim the Waldorf story he said that every year NASCAR holds their EOY Banquet and Party at the Waldorf on that Friday. They park the winning car in front of the Waldorf that weekend. His dream is to go to that party. He is not materialistic at all and very difficult to buy for at Christmas.

So in the spring of the next year I began to ask around about getting tickets. Being a PM at the time I was constantly being offered tickets to everything but rarely accepted. So I figured this should be a snap for one of the sell side firms.
One firm that had offered flights and courtside seats to the final four originally said no problem. By June they came back to say no way, no how, but to make it up would I like to go to the NBA finals? I declined, but after a little research found out that the banquet tickets have no face value and are distributed only to the racing teams - and no one ever sells.

I went to a regional firm that we did business with that had underwrote a bond deal for Speedway Motorsports. Again the early "no problem" followed by a no way, no how.

As a last resort I got in touch with an equity analyst friend who covered Quaker State. I finally got lucky in that Quaker State had sponsored the winning car that year (Terry LaBonte). They could not get me tickets to the Banquet, but the QS guy said it was boring anyway - three hours of guys standing up their thanking their tires and motor oil. The action was in the after banquet party, and traditionally this was hosted by the winning team sponsor. QS gave me four tickets to the after party.

So to wrap up the story, I flew my brother and his girlfriend up for the weekend and went with them to the Party.
I have been to some great NYC parties, but without a doubt this one stood out. I won't bore you with all the details, but when you have the Empire Room with Brooks & Dunn onstage, and full of NASCAR guys in Black tie (each carrying a bottle of Jack) and their wives and girlfriends with high hair and low necklines, well you get the picture...those guys know how to party.

So my brother had a great Christmas that year and hints every year he would like to go back. Alas as I have left the street I don't have the potential I once did, and these tickets will never be seen on stub hub. It is unlikely that we can go again.
So race fan or not, if you can wangle a ticket to this event, GO!

[jackson]

I saw 'em. Neato.