03-03-2005 | TruckSeries.com Report
So the Nextel Cup cars are all qualified but you still have a bit of a racing jag left in you. What to do? What to do? Well, The Orleans Racing teams would like to help you unwind a little with a stop by the team's 30,000 square-foot shop for their first annual open house. The shop, located just outside Las Vegas Motor Speedway's turn one, will be host to all comers on March 11th, from 3 to 5 pm, who want to see the west coast's largest working NASCAR team race shop. The shop, fresh from a complete top to bottom spring-cleaning, will give the race fan a glimpse of what it takes to put a race winning effort together. "We spent a lot of time and effort putting the Orleans Racing back into fighting shape," says driver / general manager / co-owner, Brendan Gaughan. "We've already won again and we want to show everyone that we haven't disappeared off the face of the earth." Gaughan's got a lot to be proud of as his family's race shop is clearly the class of the field when you travel west of the Mississippi. From it's full service fabrication and painting facilities to final assembly areas Orleans Racing is a self-contained facility that is capable of tackling on any job that's needed to keep the #62 Orleans Racing Dodge and the #77 Jasper Engines and Transmissions Dodge in championship form. "We've cleaned the shop up; we've got our new 15,000 square-foot building about a quarter of the way done and we're working out of it," says 29-year-old driver Gaughan. "We want to show off what we have. "We'll have 10 trucks in the door. The new Steve Park banners and trophy from Fontana will be on display. We want the fans to come in and see where the last two consecutive Craftsman Truck Series Most Popular Drivers of the year work out of. We want the fans to see what the Orleans Racing team is all about. "If you have never had a chance to see a full blown NASCAR race shop come on out." Putting his family's well-known personal touch to the fan friendly affair Gaughan added, "Steve will be here, I'll be here. Come on by and we'll sign some autographs and hang out for a while. We're going to have some of the new 2005 apparel on hand as well as some of the classic stuff that the fans are always asking us for." Orleans Racing's facility is easy to find, and is located directly adjacent to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- an easy walk from the track that'll play host to next weekend's Nextel Cup event. The shop is located at 6975 Speedway Blvd., Building D-104 Las Vegas, NV 89115 Phone: (702) 644-7223.