Valvoline has recently partnered up with Hendrick Motorsports, and to celebrate the occasion the two joined forces to give new life to a pair of old trucks. It’s all a part of the Valvoline Reinvention Project, and I was invited out to Charlotte, North Carolina to examine the pickups first hand. One belongs to a fellow named Dale Earnhardt Jr. while the other has the name Jimmie Johnson on the title. Actually, it probably says James, but whatever.
A contest idea sprung to life and the goal was to figure out just how each guy would choose to customize their own truck. The winner will get a truck of their own, but for now it’s time to focus on these two beauties. Oh, it wasn’t just about the trucks though, as this trip took me to the actual Hendrick Motorsports compound, and saw an engine building competition unfold.
Hop the jump to see more…
Before I dive into the rest of the story, let me take a moment to tell you about these trucks. The blue one belongs to Jimmie Johnson, who wanted something a bit more classic than the boxy goodness of Dale’s orange work horse. Despite the trucks old age, it hides a modern secret. Wilwood brakes sit at all four corners, the suspension is modern, and under the hood sits an LS3 V8 engine plucked out of a Corvette.
Dale’s truck is, of course, no slouch either. In fact, it has the same running gear setup, which means it’s mighty quick. Each truck represents something personal for the driver to which it belongs. Dale picked the 1974 Chevy because that was the year he was born. I can’t fault either choice of era, and I’m a big fan of each. Still, if I had to choose, I’d opt to take home Mr. Johnson’s truck. The Earnhardt truck is certainly cool, but I like the massive fenders and old-school awesome of Jimmie’s pickup.
Now as I mentioned earlier, the trucks were prepped by the Hendrick team. I was invited down to their massive compound in Charlotte in order to see the two trucks. That wasn’t all that was on the agenda, however, as the group of journalists invited were split into two groups. Each group was then further split into partners, with each partner group relegated to putting together a certain section of a V8 engine. The building was supervised by four members of the Hendrick team, and the clock was running.
My team won… and we built the engine in just over 42 minutes. It’s not that hard when it’s on an engine dyno stand, all the parts are laid out, and you have supervision. Still, it was an awesome experience punctuated by the moment we fired both engines up and let them both rip. Loud is the sound you hear when an uncorked V8 sees its throttle held open, and it’s done so in an enclosed space.
After the building competition, I was given a tour of the facilities. I’m not talking about the part that the general public gets to walk through either. Our group was led through the actual garage space of all four Hendrick Motorsports teams, including the paint, repair, and fabrication sections. There were many cars in various states of build, and it was an amazing sight to take in.
As you would imagine for a top-level motorsports facility, the floors were clean enough to eat off of and I could’ve spent hours in just one of the rooms nevermind the entire place.
Eventually we wound up in Rick Hendrick’s private car collection. This is a place that the public is never allowed to see, as it’s an invitation-only area… and it’s stunning. I wasn’t allowed to photograph anything inside (same goes for the motorsports facility) but I can try to describe what’s in there.
You might be able to guess that Mr. Hendrick has a thing for General Motors products. More specifically, he loves Corvettes and he’s smitten with Camaros. Pretty much every important Corvette ever made can be found under the roof of his gorgeous garage space. It’s laid out like a small town square complete with a fire station (and truck), a mini-car dealer lot, and a drive-in movie theater. Pick any important Corvette, and he has at least one example of it, if not more. There are a few other machines floating around as well, but it’s 99% Corvette city inside this space.
Even the lobby is amazing with just four cars. There are two C7 Corvette coupes and two C7 Corvette convertibles. The build numbers are one and two for the coupes and the convertibles.
The entire facility is a must-visit if you’re a fan of NASCAR, and I’ll be honest in that I’m not much of a fan. Regardless, I found myself wildly impressed with the entire place. The cars are so much more complex than they appear, and everyone working there works hard to make sure a Hendrick car (or engine, which a lot of other teams run) wins come race day.
[Disclaimer: Valvoline flew me to Charlotte to learn more about its connection with Hendrick, and how the oil brand has evolved. I then spent a nice chunk of money on a Hendrick-branded zip-up hoodie because why not…]
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