In response to the tough economic conditions facing our nation these days, HardcoreRaceFans.com partnered with Lowe’s Motor Speedway to help send two fans to the historic 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600. Fans were asked to nominate someone they knew that were going through tough times and deserved a day at the races on us.

After looking through the nominations, the HardcoreRaceFans.com staff chose to honor Amber and Shaun Simpson of Kannapolis, N.C. While they battled the rain throughout the weekend, both Amber and Shaun explained they had a great time while escaping reality for a few hours.

“It was great,” Amber explained. “We thought it was a good thing because Shaun’s been out of work, so we can’t really afford to do much, so we thought it was really nice. We thought it was really cool that someone nominated us.”

While the couple has worked in the gift shop at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway a few times over the years, this marked the first time either of them had actually seen a race from the grandstands.

“We had good seats, we really liked where we were sitting and it was just fun,” Amber added. “We liked everything about it.”

Fairly new to the sport, the Simpsons explained they enjoyed the atmosphere of the race and never experienced anything like it before.

“It was great. It was an experience I never had,” Shaun said of his first trip to the race. “I’ve never been to anything like that. That was the first time I’ve been to something like that.”

Unfortunately for the Simpsons and the rest of the Hardcore Race Fans at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 rain dominated the weekend. The race was postponed to Monday afternoon, but in the end rain won out giving the victory to David Reutimann.

Amber and Shaun refused to let the rain dampen their experience and both look forward to getting another chance to head back to the track.  “We’re on it now,” Shaun said. “We just need to find someone to root for now.”

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