06.29.09 - Finally... back at home! : It's amazing how much you'll miss home when you are away for almost two weeks. My girlfriend Janice and I had an awesome time traveling the country and I put 2,200 miles on my motor coach. Thankfully my trip home wasn't as eventful as our trip up to Milwaukee. We pulled out of Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday night and drove to the East side of Nashville and stopped to sleep at a Cracker Barrel. Got up Sunday morning and drove the rest of the seven hours home. I was done...parked the motor coach and was glad to be home. We have two kitties, Ali and Zoe, and man were they happy to see us. Always nice to come home to lots of love from your pets.
Well I'm off today to go to race shops, making a stop at Earnhardt-Ganassi, Key Motorsports and Billy Ballew Motorsports. Just want to check in with everyone after being gone for so long.
Not sure what my plans are for this coming weekend, but I wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July!
06.23.09 - On the road again...and with a stop in Graceland! :
06.17.09 - Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway... : Well...I got the word a couple days ago that I could come up to Milwaukee and race! So I loaded up my motor coach, my girlfriend and I hopped in and we've hit the road. We pulled out of Mooresville on Wednesday around noon and needless to say it's been an adventure. I won't go into detail but I'm a rookie when it comes to this business of driving a motor coach. Maybe I should have put a rookie stripe on my bumper. I have a new found appreciation for folks that travel the roads on a regular basis. We'll see how our trip home goes, but I should probably just stick to driving racecars! I'll keep you all posted on my Truck and Nationwide races in Milwaukee and how many hours it takes me to get home.
04.06.09 - Hickory Motor Speedway here I come... :
04.03.09 - WAY too close for comfort.... :
03.27.09 - Made it to Martinsville... :
03.17.09 - Happy St. Patties Day! : Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patties Day!
03.03.09 - Off to Atlanta :
02.06.09 - In a Normal Routine...Finally! :
02.03.09 - And We're Off... :
01.25.09 - Road Trip to New Hampshire : Hello everyone...signing in from Chester, New Hampshire! Let me tell you there is a bunch of snow up here, as far as the eye can see! My girlfriend and I left Mooresville on Friday afternoon and made the 14 hour trip to our friend’s house in Chester, NH. We drove because I had some parts and a seat for a car my buddy DJ is building. I had to bring the seat and we mounted it yesterday.
Today we went to the shop to finish up the seat and put in the belts. That way DJ can finish working on the rest of the car so it's ready for Easter weekend in Hickory Motor Speedway. Stay tuned and I'll put up more details about the race in Hickory.
As for the rest of our afternoon we went out sledding with DJ, his wife Jenn and his daughter Megan in their backyard. Talk about a workout to tromp back up the hill! Can't wait to enjoy dinner and a nice warm fire.
Tomorrow morning we will be heading back to Mooresville…back to work before we leave for Daytona.
01.19.09 - Wintery Days During the Off-Season : Hello everyone...Happy New Year! Sorry it's been so long since I've gotten on here and entered a blog. I'm sure if you are on this site you've heard about or have followed the roller-coaster I've been on this off-season. I hope that all if it will work out for the best and I'll be running 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2009. Thank you for everyone who has written in with words of encouragement and support.
I've been able to relax a little during the off-season and I've really been hitting the gym to be ready for a full season of 500-miles every Sunday! My trainer Alex Reynolds has been keeping me in the gym at least six-days a week. We've worked on endurance training, strength and conditioning and flexibility. He even has me complete a yoga DVD once a week!
My girlfriend and I were able to get away this week to the mountains in North Carolina. It's only a two-hour car ride up there from our house in Mooresville. And boy-oh-boy was it COLD! Being from Florida I'm not used to it being below freezing as the high for the day. At one point the actual temperature was -15 degrees. And it snowed every day we were up there! Too bad we had to come back, it was very nice to just get away and relax.
That’s all for now…I’ve made it my resolution for this year to get better at entering blogs. So stay tuned!
09.19.08 - Making his first Camping World Series appearance... : Making his first Camping World Series appearance, Aric Almirola set the fastest time in the second and final practice at Dover International Speedway. He timed in with a 24.174-second lap (148.920 MPH), followed by Brian Ickler, Peyton Sellers, Trevor Bayne, and Alex Kennedy. Camping World Series qualifying takes place on Friday, September 19th at 12:40 p.m. Stay tuned for qualifying results.
Source: www.eastseries.com/
08.25.08 - Bristol is becoming a favorite : To all the fans (and family) that continuously check my website and look for a new posted blog, I apologize once again for putting it off. In the last couple of months I’ve been keeping very busy testing about every week and traveling to the races.
The test sessions have been going well; it’s giving me a chance to be in a race the weeks that I haven’t been racing. We’ve gone places like Milwaukee, Kentucky, Nashville, VIR and Road Atlanta to help collect data. The VIR and Road Atlanta testing was supposed to help my road racing skills…I obviously have a long way to go on that.
Sonoma was a fun experience for me, but very challenging. And at the end of the day in Sonoma I had accomplished a lot, but really didn’t have much to show for it. It was nice to visit San Francisco, my girlfriend and I were able to go visit Alcatraz and see the city. Drove down Lombard Street at a whopping 5 miles per hour! And even ran across the Golden Gate Bridge with some friends of mine.
Watkins Glen was a lot more fun as a race track and lot more fast compared to Sonoma. Comparing the two road courses, Sonoma was more technical were Watkins Glen seemed easier to race but was harder to find speed. The coolest thing we did in Watkins Glen was going with Ron Fellows and his family to Bully Hilly Winery. It over looked one of the lakes in wine country and the food was wonderful! Besides going out to dinner, my crew chief Tony Gibson and his wife bought a Wii. So we would play the bowling game on the Wii every night. “Old Man” has a mean shuffle to his game!
Enough about road course racing…back to racing in a circle. Going into Loudon we had tested at Milwaukee and came away pretty happy with how the car was set up. To our surprise after a few good runs at Richmond and Phoenix with Mark in the car, we didn’t fire off as well as I thought at Loudon. We struggled throughout practice with a really loose car, and Gibson and the team finally hit on something that helped the car drive off the corner better in happy hour. The race went as good as it could be expected, considering we fired off in the rear of the field. The first run we moved through the field pretty good and picked up a lot of track position. Gibson and the guys just continued to work on the car each run to help it drive better. Towards the end of the race I ended up getting into the back of another car and it punched a hole in my oil cooler. Luckily for me the rain came and the race was called, so we finished 23rd instead of what could have been a lot worse.
Never mind about Loudon, let’s talk about the track that’s becoming my favorite. Bristol! I was really looking forward to going back to Bristol after my run earlier in the year. I feel like what we had learned from March until now has helped us make some gains. I just wish we could have cracked the top five. When we got there the car was good, but not as good as what it was in practice in the spring. The guys thrashed in practice on Friday night to get the car where it needed to be. With 15 minutes left in happy hour the car finally felt like it should. I can’t explain it, but there is something about going to a track you’ve been to before and you know what the car should feel like. Once we got it there at the end of happy hour I felt more confident in improving our 8th place finish from the spring. We missed it just a tick in qualifying, and that’s the different in starting in the front to starting in the back of the field. Starting 23rd the car was really good from lap one, but on a long run we would burn the rear tires off and the car would get really loose. As Harry Hogg would say in Days of Thunder, “loose is fast but on the edge of outta control.” That was the case for us, we went from 23rd and by halfway we were 8th. I spent a good majority of the race in the top 10. It’s unbelievable how competitive the race is…all night we had maintained track position in the pits. My guys are awesome and were laying down 13 second stops all night. On the last stop we got hung up and had a 15 flat, which in most cases is amazing that you can change four tires and put 18 gallons of gas in the car. But those two seconds put us from 8th back to 13th. Just wish I could have finished in the top 10, but I’ll take a solid run at a track that is famous for wrecks.
It was nice to race on a Saturday night and be able to spend a Sunday at home. My family was in town from Tampa and we were able to hang out on the lake and relax. But it was back to work on Monday, had a commercial shoot for a sponsor and a team meeting at the shop. A short week with the race in California, but to add to it we are going testing again in Milwaukee for the day on Tuesday. Back in Mooresville Tuesday evening and then wheels up early Wednesday morning for an appearance in LA. There’s no rest for the weary, but hopefully my next blog doesn’t take me months to write! Thanks to all that support me! Wish me luck in California!
Me on Al Capone's Throne
Golden Gate Bridge
Lombard Street
08.01.08 - Pocono here I come! : Hey everyone! I just wanted to send out a quick note to all of you, letting you know that I will be doing some ARCA racing this weekend, driving the #29 U.S. Army Chevrolet on Saturday. This is pretty cool, I think, because it’s the only opportunity, besides the Cup Series, to race at this track. Finally, I get to see what the Tunnel Turn is like in real life (I’ve only played it on the video game). Be sure to watch my Pocono debut at 1 pm Eastern on Speed Channel. Hopefully, we’ll be able to give U.S. Army a win this weekend!
05.15.08 - New York City Here I Come : I haven’t forgotten about my blogs. I’m sorry for such a delay between writing. I don’t mean to be the world’s worst procrastinator but the truth behind that is I am! I tend to say “ah I’ll do that tomorrow.” Next thing you know it’s been like 4 weeks since I have wrote. Well anyways…. Since last time I’ve done a little more racing, I went on vacation to New York city, and I have watched Mark race as well.
I raced at Martinsville but not with as much success as Bristol. Our Army Chevy was really fast at Martinsville but I was a little too rough on it. Qualifying third was good and in the race the car was really fast but Martinsville is tough on equipment and so was I. In one of the numerous wrecks that happened in front of me, I ran into the car in front of me and it poked a hole in our oil cooler. So from that point on less oil was going in the motor and we eventually blew up. I was pretty bummed but at the same time was happy at how fast we were all weekend.
As part of my deal goes with sharing a ride with Mark Martin, I also had to sit out and watch the ole # 8 hit the race track without me. Boy was I jealous too! Mark has been running really well and both at Phoenix and Richmond had a car that was in contention to win all night. Everybody on our U.S. Army team has been working extremely hard to give us competitive race cars and it shows on the race track every weekend. I am very proud to be working with the team that I am surrounded by. I think that it is pretty awesome that we have a car that is flirting with getting into the owners chase with two different drivers. We are 14th in owner points right now. It’s become more popular in the Nationwide series but not in Cup. That says a lot about our team.
We had an off weekend not too long ago and a group of us decided to head for the city. New York City that is! We had a ton of fun. I had never been there so of course we had to do all of the tourist stuff. Right away when we got there my friends and my girlfriend wanted to go on top of the Empire State Building. Only problem is I’m scared of heights. I’ll do all sorts of crazy things on the ground (like drive 200 mph in circles) but you get me more than 20 feet off the ground and I’m nervous. Well a little persuading and a few adult beverages later and I was standing atop the Empire State Building. I’m glad I did, it was beautiful up there and it was just at sunset which made it better I guess. The Statue of Liberty was cool but not worth the wait. I have A.D.D. so a 2 hour wait to go look at a statue was not cool. But it’s one of those things you just have to do. The tourist stuff was ok like Times Square and all of that, but the food was unbelievable. We had to go shopping down 5th Ave. too but I thought it was a little overrated because we have all the same stuff here in Charlotte. But back to the food… I didn’t eat one meal that wasn’t delicious. I figured if I lived there I would have to buy bigger pants to accommodate all the eating, but then I remembered how much we had walked everyday. I think I lost weight on the trip and I ate like a pig. Huge lunch sandwiches from the deli’s, cleaned my plate at every dinner, and every place that advertised they had the best canoli’s I tested it. So needless to say I will be going back to the city for vacation, I’ll just scratch all the tourist stuff.
Back from New York and I was off to Talladega. Talladega is always a fun place to go and race. Our Army Chevrolet drafted pretty well. I started like 30th or something and in 10 laps I was riding around in the top 10. I continued to race in the top 10 until my right front tire went down. That ruined the rest of our day. I got caught speeding leaving pit road and now was 2 laps down. So that turned what could have been a good day into a bad one pretty quickly. Now for the important stuff! On Friday night I went across the street to the Talladega dirt track. I raced in a match race with some of my fellow Sprint Cup drivers and the one and only Red Farmer. I won! I was so excited; I was pumping my fist and acting retarded inside the car after I took the checkered flag. I was driving Jack Sullivan’s car and him and Wendell Wallace are team mates. I’m driving Wendell Wallace’s car at the Prelude to the Dream. It’s a dirt race at Eldora that Tony Stewart puts on every year. It’s pretty cool. Well that’s coming up June 4th and that is the next time I am racing anything. So I’m looking forward to it and hopefully you will cheer me on. Talk to you Later!
A short gallery of images from my vacation : pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 | pic 4
03.25.08 - I finally got to Race! : Sorry for the delay in my blogs. It seems like just yesterday I was in California where I wrote last. I was a spectator for much of the last few weeks so I didn’t want to bore you with that. California was ridiculously long thanks to Mother Nature. I got to play some golf in Phoenix on my way to Vegas. Las Vegas was fun as it usually is. Right after Vegas we went to Phoenix for a two day test. Atlanta was a pretty typical weekend. Then finally Bristol came. For a while there I didn’t think Bristol was ever going to come.
I don’t even know what to say about California. It was long, wet, and cold. It was the first race at a big track with the new race car. So everyone was not sure what to expect. To make matters worse we only got like 15 minutes of practice and the rain came, and it kept coming. So everyone went into the race with a lot of questions. The race started on Sunday afternoon and it finally ended Monday afternoon because of the rain. Our Army team did a good job and we left there with a decent run and now knew some more about this car on the bigger tracks.
So I got home late Monday night from California had a day at home, and then that Wednesday I was heading to Phoenix. I went to Phoenix and played golf in Kyle Petty’s golf tournament to raise money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp. It was one of the best golf tournaments I have played in. The course was beautiful and on every hole there was a competition to win a prize. After the tournament I flew right over to Vegas. I was pretty good this go around and didn’t manage to get into much trouble. I didn’t gamble much either (I figured I used up my luck at the test). As for the race it went well. We learned from California and applied it to Vegas. Mark qualified 3rd and ran in the top 10 all day before finishing 10th. So all in all Vegas was good.
Our team loaded up on the plane after the race in Vegas and we went straight to Phoenix for a two day NASCAR test. I was happy now because I got to drive both days at the test. The test went really well and it gave me another chance to work with Tony Gibson (my crew chief) and all the guys on our U.S. Army team. It is so much fun to be around all the guys on this team. We have really good chemistry together in such a short time together because of how fun they are.
A day after the Phoenix test and now we are in Atlanta. It felt so good to just be on east coast time again. Even though I wasn’t at home it was nice to have my internal clock be right. West Coast messes me up when it comes to eating times and sleeping. Not much to talk about with Atlanta. It was a typical race weekend. The Army Chevrolet wasn’t that great. It turned out to be a long day actually. The tire that Goodyear brought was not the best so everybody was hanging on for dear life. As much as I love to race I don’t think I missed much on this one.
We finally made it to Bristol Motor Speedway. I couldn’t wait to hit the race track Friday. I thought it was going to rain our practice out but luckily we got on the track for about half an hour. It was enough to figure out some things so Gibson and the guys went to work and made some changes for Saturday mornings practice. We didn’t get to qualify but I wasn’t worried because we got to start 16th because of it. The changes they made to the U.S. Army Chevrolet were good ones. We were 4th in the first practice and I think 15th in happy hour. We knew we had a good car. We were right, the car was really good and we just made minor changes all day to make it better. I managed to keep the fenders on it and we finished 8th. It felt good to just be on the race track racing. It felt awesome to be running up front. Tony Gibson and the guys on our Army team made my job fun Sunday and that’s all I could ask for. I was probably the second happiest person at Bristol behind Jeff Burton.
I have been enjoying a week off and this past Saturday I went to Mark Martin’s fan day in Batesville, Arkansas. It was nice to see all the fans that support us and the Army team. Other than that it’s been a lot of rest and relaxation (and a little working out). Now I’m pumped up about Martinsville. I hope that we can take the momentum from Bristol and keep it going. I really appreciate everyone’s support and look forward to seeing you at the track.
03.17.08 - Nascar.com Article : Make sure to check out this article about Aric on Nascar.com
02.20.08 - Man oh Man does it feel good to be Home! : It has been a hectic couple of weeks. I never understood people when I was younger when they would say “I just want to sleep in my own bed.” Now I do! The last couple of weeks have been busy to say the least.
The last time I wrote I was just back from Daytona testing. Well I’ve done a lot since then. I went to out west for Cup testing. First we went to Las Vegas for a two day test, then straight from Vegas to California for another two day test. When we got home from California it was just in time to watch the Super Bowl. A few days later we were heading to the Florida sunshine for Speedweeks.
Amazingly enough, for the first time in many of visits to Las Vegas (which I like to call Loss Wages) I didn’t help pay the lighting bill. I actually made some money gambling. That was the most exciting part of my Vegas trip because while I was at the track I had to watch Mark test our U.S. Army Chevrolet. That’s torture for me but I do learn a little even though I’m not in the car so it makes it worth while. The test went well and the ole Impala SS was pretty dang fast.
We left straight from Vegas and went to Fontana. When we got to Fontana that night I had a Chevy dinner to go to. At the dinner we listened to a presentation from the people at Chevrolet and they just told us about how the season went last year and what they are looking forward to this year. Do you know how many times an Impala SS went to victory lane last year? A LOT! The next morning was back to business. I got to test at California because I’m going to race the fall race there. The test went really well. It was my first test with all the guys on the Army team. I had a bunch of fun and we were fast too (being fast always makes it more fun). I got to work with Tony Gibson for the first time too. He’s an awesome guy and even better crew chief.
As for the Super Bowl, I was tired so I just sat on the couch and watched the game. No big parties or anything. The game was one of the best Super Bowl’s I have ever seen. I was so torn watching it because I really wanted to see history be made, but at the same time I went to college with a buddy of mine (Justin Riley) and he is the biggest Giants fan ever. So for his sake I was happy to see them win. When the Bucs won the Super Bowl I was in college and he cheered for them as much as I did so I guess fair is fair.
Speedweeks was long and boring for me. I watched a lot of racing, did the media day deal that we have to do every year, watched some more racing, and did several appearances. It’s not that I don’t enjoy any of that but I want to be in a race car so bad I can’t stand it. Following the Bud Shootout, I went to test at Lakeland on that Monday and Tuesday. That was fun and it was a good test. While in the “neighborhood” I went and seen the family. That was nice. Other than that Speedweeks was kind of a bummer.
Well I hope the next couple of weeks go well. I’m off for California so I’ll write back soon. I can’t wait until Bristol, my first race. I’m really excited to work with all the guys on this U.S. Army team and even more excited to drive the U.S. Army Chevrolet. Hope to see you at the track.
01.15.08 - Welcome! : Hello everyone and welcome to my updated website. Thanks for visiting aricalmirola.com and be sure to check in regularly as the 2008 schedule progresses for race updates and photos.
I’m looking forward to kicking off the 2008 season in the No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet for DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.). I’ve stayed pretty busy this off season with the holidays, testing and various media events.
As for the holidays, I hosted my entire family for Thanksgiving at my house in Mooresville (N.C.) following the Miami (Fla.) race. I decided that for Christmas I would drive the seven hour trip down to Tampa (Fla.) to stay with my family. It’s always nice to go home, visit with everyone and get some good home-cooked meals. It wasn’t long enough to relax before I was back in Mooresville and updating my schedule to get ready for testing in Daytona (Fla.).
Now a part of DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) I’ve had the opportunity to work with Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard, Regan Smith and of course Mark Martin, whom I will share driving duties with in the No. 8 Chevrolet. We were slated to test at Daytona (Fla.) in the first round of sessions; unfortunately I wasn’t able to test in the No. 8. Mark would drive the No. 8 the three days of testing and I was able to drive for some of the test in the No. 1 in place of Martin Truex Jr. All-in-all I thought the test went well and it was valuable experience to work with all the DEI guys and our crew chiefs, Tony Gibson and “Bono.”
Returning from Daytona (Fla.) I had the opportunity to visit Nashville (Tenn.) to attend the Sound & Speed charity event. Friday night there was dinner, a concert and an auction to raise money for Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Trace Adkins and Craig Morgan performed at the function. I walked away from the auction with a guitar signed by Brooks and Dunn. Following the event, some of my fellow competitors and I hit the streets of downtown Nashville and we had a blast. If anyone has a chance to visit Nashville, it’s a great town to see and I would highly recommend it.
We are home in Mooresville (N.C.) for a couple weeks and it gives me an opportunity to continue my workout routine and visit the guys at the DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) shop. Testing in Las Vegas (Nev.) followed by testing in California will be at the end of the month before we all head back down to Daytona (Fla.) for Speedweeks.
Please check into aricalmirola.com to read an updated blog from time to time. Once the season begins I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone and hope you all support the U.S. Army Team.
06.23.06 - On the Road Again...And with a Stop in Graceland! :
Well I'm off today to go to race shops, making a stop at Earnhardt-Ganassi, Key Motorsports and Billy Ballew Motorsports. Just want to check in with everyone after being gone for so long.
Not sure what my plans are for this coming weekend, but I wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July!
06.23.09 - On the road again...and with a stop in Graceland! :
While in Milwaukee I got the word that Billy Ballew Motorsports wanted me to race the #15 truck in Memphis. So following the Nationwide race, my girlfriend and I packed up and pulled out of Milwaukee on Sunday morning headed southbound for Memphis. We pulled in late Sunday night and the nice folks at Memphis Motorsports Park allowed us to park in the motor coach lot early. So it was Monday and we were all set up with nothing to do...
We wanted to go eat the famous Rendezvous, but unfortunately it was Monday and they were closed. So we walked around and found Blue City Cafe on the corner of Beale Street & 2nd Ave. Very good if you are ever in Memphis! My girlfriend and I each got a full rack of ribs and brought the rest back for leftovers!
We are all dressed and ready to go today to Graceland...the home of the world famous Elvis Presley. People say he's still alive, I'll let you know if I see him today.
06.17.09 - Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway... : Well...I got the word a couple days ago that I could come up to Milwaukee and race! So I loaded up my motor coach, my girlfriend and I hopped in and we've hit the road. We pulled out of Mooresville on Wednesday around noon and needless to say it's been an adventure. I won't go into detail but I'm a rookie when it comes to this business of driving a motor coach. Maybe I should have put a rookie stripe on my bumper. I have a new found appreciation for folks that travel the roads on a regular basis. We'll see how our trip home goes, but I should probably just stick to driving racecars! I'll keep you all posted on my Truck and Nationwide races in Milwaukee and how many hours it takes me to get home.
04.06.09 - Hickory Motor Speedway here I come... :
It's an off week for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams, but I'll still be racing this weekend. I'm going to race at Hickory Motor Speedway in a friend of mine's Super Late Model for the Easter Bunny 150. Keep checking http://www.hickorymotorspeedway.com/ for the weekend schedule.
My friend DJ Howard from New Hampshire is driving down with his friends and should be here later tonight with the super late model. Remember I drove up to New Hampshire back in January to take a seat and some other parts up to him so he could keep working on the car. I can't believe it's already time to race! If you can make it out the track this Saturday (April 11th) make sure you look for the red and black #14H.
Hickory Motor Speedway Ticket Prices:
Adults $10.00
Teens/Seniors $7.00
Ages 7 -12 $4.00
6 & under Free!
Family Passes $25 Admits 2 adults & their children under age 12
Special Event Prices may be more (or less)....call Speedway Offices for more information.
CALL HMS SPEEDWAY OFFICES (828) 464 3655
04.03.09 - WAY too close for comfort.... :
Man I hate when it comes to the situation I was in today. We're outside the top-35 so I had to qualify in for the race. I made it...but with just barely enough breathing room! When it came to qualifying time I walked down to my car on the grid and figured the best thing to help me clear my mind was to just get in my car, strap in and be with myself.
So we will race on Sunday, but we have some work to do tomorrow during practice and happy hour to get the car driving better.
03.27.09 - Made it to Martinsville... :
Well we got into Martinsville last night! My girlfriend and I drove up from Mooresville, not a bad ride up. Only two hours from home. And this morning when I woke up it wasn't raining! So hopefully we'll be able to get practice and qualifying in today.
Watch TRACKSIDE Live tonight on SPEED Channel! I'm going to be on talking about my sponsor this weekend...Guitar Hero Metallica!
03.17.09 - Happy St. Patties Day! : Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patties Day!
03.03.09 - Off to Atlanta :
Hello everyone...sorry for the delay! The month of February just flew by and we are already into March and I leave for Atlanta this week. To my surprise when we landed in Charlotte coming home from Vegas, there was about four inches of snow! Snow is not common in our area so everything was closed! And it's stayed cold enough that even today we still have snow on the ground!
Well I plan to leave for Atlanta on Thursday...so I'll be sure to log in and keep you up to date on what is going on at the speedway.
02.06.09 - In a Normal Routine...Finally! :
Man does it feel good to be in Daytona Beach! It was such a relief to drive through the tunnel for the first time this season. It's like a weight is lifted off my shoulders and I'm finally back into a routine.
Went through Media Day yesterday, which is an all day extravaganza! It started at 8:00 a.m. and I didn't finish up until 4:30 p.m. But I was able to do some really cool things that will hopefully air when the broadcast cuts to commercials.
But now that I have all the media obligations outta the way I can't wait to jump in my car for practice on Saturday. And as I'm sure you've already seen on the front page of my site, Guitar Hero is going to be the sponsor on my car for Daytona. It's awesome to have a sponsor that I can truly relate to! Not to discredit any of my past partnerships, because I've had some awesome sponsors in my career. But Guitar Hero is geared towards me and my interests.
Stay tuned for my thoughts following practice...
02.03.09 - And We're Off... :
Well the time has finally come...We leave for Daytona tomorrow afternoon. It's been a really long off season this year with no testing. I was thinking about today, I haven't been in a car on a track since Homestead. IN NOVEMBER! Man I'm ready to get back at it.
Went to the shop today and walked around to visit all the guys before we leave. Everyone is in the same boat as me...ready to go! There plan was to load the truck and it was heading out by lunch tomorrow. My #8 team was finishing up on the pull-down machine and was pushing the car to the final set-up plate when I left.
Stay tuned for updates from Daytona Beach!
01.25.09 - Road Trip to New Hampshire : Hello everyone...signing in from Chester, New Hampshire! Let me tell you there is a bunch of snow up here, as far as the eye can see! My girlfriend and I left Mooresville on Friday afternoon and made the 14 hour trip to our friend’s house in Chester, NH. We drove because I had some parts and a seat for a car my buddy DJ is building. I had to bring the seat and we mounted it yesterday.
Today we went to the shop to finish up the seat and put in the belts. That way DJ can finish working on the rest of the car so it's ready for Easter weekend in Hickory Motor Speedway. Stay tuned and I'll put up more details about the race in Hickory.
As for the rest of our afternoon we went out sledding with DJ, his wife Jenn and his daughter Megan in their backyard. Talk about a workout to tromp back up the hill! Can't wait to enjoy dinner and a nice warm fire.
Tomorrow morning we will be heading back to Mooresville…back to work before we leave for Daytona.
01.19.09 - Wintery Days During the Off-Season : Hello everyone...Happy New Year! Sorry it's been so long since I've gotten on here and entered a blog. I'm sure if you are on this site you've heard about or have followed the roller-coaster I've been on this off-season. I hope that all if it will work out for the best and I'll be running 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2009. Thank you for everyone who has written in with words of encouragement and support.
I've been able to relax a little during the off-season and I've really been hitting the gym to be ready for a full season of 500-miles every Sunday! My trainer Alex Reynolds has been keeping me in the gym at least six-days a week. We've worked on endurance training, strength and conditioning and flexibility. He even has me complete a yoga DVD once a week!
My girlfriend and I were able to get away this week to the mountains in North Carolina. It's only a two-hour car ride up there from our house in Mooresville. And boy-oh-boy was it COLD! Being from Florida I'm not used to it being below freezing as the high for the day. At one point the actual temperature was -15 degrees. And it snowed every day we were up there! Too bad we had to come back, it was very nice to just get away and relax.
That’s all for now…I’ve made it my resolution for this year to get better at entering blogs. So stay tuned!
09.19.08 - Making his first Camping World Series appearance... : Making his first Camping World Series appearance, Aric Almirola set the fastest time in the second and final practice at Dover International Speedway. He timed in with a 24.174-second lap (148.920 MPH), followed by Brian Ickler, Peyton Sellers, Trevor Bayne, and Alex Kennedy. Camping World Series qualifying takes place on Friday, September 19th at 12:40 p.m. Stay tuned for qualifying results.
Source: www.eastseries.com/
08.25.08 - Bristol is becoming a favorite : To all the fans (and family) that continuously check my website and look for a new posted blog, I apologize once again for putting it off. In the last couple of months I’ve been keeping very busy testing about every week and traveling to the races.
The test sessions have been going well; it’s giving me a chance to be in a race the weeks that I haven’t been racing. We’ve gone places like Milwaukee, Kentucky, Nashville, VIR and Road Atlanta to help collect data. The VIR and Road Atlanta testing was supposed to help my road racing skills…I obviously have a long way to go on that.
Sonoma was a fun experience for me, but very challenging. And at the end of the day in Sonoma I had accomplished a lot, but really didn’t have much to show for it. It was nice to visit San Francisco, my girlfriend and I were able to go visit Alcatraz and see the city. Drove down Lombard Street at a whopping 5 miles per hour! And even ran across the Golden Gate Bridge with some friends of mine.
Watkins Glen was a lot more fun as a race track and lot more fast compared to Sonoma. Comparing the two road courses, Sonoma was more technical were Watkins Glen seemed easier to race but was harder to find speed. The coolest thing we did in Watkins Glen was going with Ron Fellows and his family to Bully Hilly Winery. It over looked one of the lakes in wine country and the food was wonderful! Besides going out to dinner, my crew chief Tony Gibson and his wife bought a Wii. So we would play the bowling game on the Wii every night. “Old Man” has a mean shuffle to his game!
Enough about road course racing…back to racing in a circle. Going into Loudon we had tested at Milwaukee and came away pretty happy with how the car was set up. To our surprise after a few good runs at Richmond and Phoenix with Mark in the car, we didn’t fire off as well as I thought at Loudon. We struggled throughout practice with a really loose car, and Gibson and the team finally hit on something that helped the car drive off the corner better in happy hour. The race went as good as it could be expected, considering we fired off in the rear of the field. The first run we moved through the field pretty good and picked up a lot of track position. Gibson and the guys just continued to work on the car each run to help it drive better. Towards the end of the race I ended up getting into the back of another car and it punched a hole in my oil cooler. Luckily for me the rain came and the race was called, so we finished 23rd instead of what could have been a lot worse.
Never mind about Loudon, let’s talk about the track that’s becoming my favorite. Bristol! I was really looking forward to going back to Bristol after my run earlier in the year. I feel like what we had learned from March until now has helped us make some gains. I just wish we could have cracked the top five. When we got there the car was good, but not as good as what it was in practice in the spring. The guys thrashed in practice on Friday night to get the car where it needed to be. With 15 minutes left in happy hour the car finally felt like it should. I can’t explain it, but there is something about going to a track you’ve been to before and you know what the car should feel like. Once we got it there at the end of happy hour I felt more confident in improving our 8th place finish from the spring. We missed it just a tick in qualifying, and that’s the different in starting in the front to starting in the back of the field. Starting 23rd the car was really good from lap one, but on a long run we would burn the rear tires off and the car would get really loose. As Harry Hogg would say in Days of Thunder, “loose is fast but on the edge of outta control.” That was the case for us, we went from 23rd and by halfway we were 8th. I spent a good majority of the race in the top 10. It’s unbelievable how competitive the race is…all night we had maintained track position in the pits. My guys are awesome and were laying down 13 second stops all night. On the last stop we got hung up and had a 15 flat, which in most cases is amazing that you can change four tires and put 18 gallons of gas in the car. But those two seconds put us from 8th back to 13th. Just wish I could have finished in the top 10, but I’ll take a solid run at a track that is famous for wrecks.
It was nice to race on a Saturday night and be able to spend a Sunday at home. My family was in town from Tampa and we were able to hang out on the lake and relax. But it was back to work on Monday, had a commercial shoot for a sponsor and a team meeting at the shop. A short week with the race in California, but to add to it we are going testing again in Milwaukee for the day on Tuesday. Back in Mooresville Tuesday evening and then wheels up early Wednesday morning for an appearance in LA. There’s no rest for the weary, but hopefully my next blog doesn’t take me months to write! Thanks to all that support me! Wish me luck in California!
Me on Al Capone's Throne
Golden Gate Bridge
Lombard Street
08.01.08 - Pocono here I come! : Hey everyone! I just wanted to send out a quick note to all of you, letting you know that I will be doing some ARCA racing this weekend, driving the #29 U.S. Army Chevrolet on Saturday. This is pretty cool, I think, because it’s the only opportunity, besides the Cup Series, to race at this track. Finally, I get to see what the Tunnel Turn is like in real life (I’ve only played it on the video game). Be sure to watch my Pocono debut at 1 pm Eastern on Speed Channel. Hopefully, we’ll be able to give U.S. Army a win this weekend!
05.15.08 - New York City Here I Come : I haven’t forgotten about my blogs. I’m sorry for such a delay between writing. I don’t mean to be the world’s worst procrastinator but the truth behind that is I am! I tend to say “ah I’ll do that tomorrow.” Next thing you know it’s been like 4 weeks since I have wrote. Well anyways…. Since last time I’ve done a little more racing, I went on vacation to New York city, and I have watched Mark race as well.
I raced at Martinsville but not with as much success as Bristol. Our Army Chevy was really fast at Martinsville but I was a little too rough on it. Qualifying third was good and in the race the car was really fast but Martinsville is tough on equipment and so was I. In one of the numerous wrecks that happened in front of me, I ran into the car in front of me and it poked a hole in our oil cooler. So from that point on less oil was going in the motor and we eventually blew up. I was pretty bummed but at the same time was happy at how fast we were all weekend.
As part of my deal goes with sharing a ride with Mark Martin, I also had to sit out and watch the ole # 8 hit the race track without me. Boy was I jealous too! Mark has been running really well and both at Phoenix and Richmond had a car that was in contention to win all night. Everybody on our U.S. Army team has been working extremely hard to give us competitive race cars and it shows on the race track every weekend. I am very proud to be working with the team that I am surrounded by. I think that it is pretty awesome that we have a car that is flirting with getting into the owners chase with two different drivers. We are 14th in owner points right now. It’s become more popular in the Nationwide series but not in Cup. That says a lot about our team.
We had an off weekend not too long ago and a group of us decided to head for the city. New York City that is! We had a ton of fun. I had never been there so of course we had to do all of the tourist stuff. Right away when we got there my friends and my girlfriend wanted to go on top of the Empire State Building. Only problem is I’m scared of heights. I’ll do all sorts of crazy things on the ground (like drive 200 mph in circles) but you get me more than 20 feet off the ground and I’m nervous. Well a little persuading and a few adult beverages later and I was standing atop the Empire State Building. I’m glad I did, it was beautiful up there and it was just at sunset which made it better I guess. The Statue of Liberty was cool but not worth the wait. I have A.D.D. so a 2 hour wait to go look at a statue was not cool. But it’s one of those things you just have to do. The tourist stuff was ok like Times Square and all of that, but the food was unbelievable. We had to go shopping down 5th Ave. too but I thought it was a little overrated because we have all the same stuff here in Charlotte. But back to the food… I didn’t eat one meal that wasn’t delicious. I figured if I lived there I would have to buy bigger pants to accommodate all the eating, but then I remembered how much we had walked everyday. I think I lost weight on the trip and I ate like a pig. Huge lunch sandwiches from the deli’s, cleaned my plate at every dinner, and every place that advertised they had the best canoli’s I tested it. So needless to say I will be going back to the city for vacation, I’ll just scratch all the tourist stuff.
Back from New York and I was off to Talladega. Talladega is always a fun place to go and race. Our Army Chevrolet drafted pretty well. I started like 30th or something and in 10 laps I was riding around in the top 10. I continued to race in the top 10 until my right front tire went down. That ruined the rest of our day. I got caught speeding leaving pit road and now was 2 laps down. So that turned what could have been a good day into a bad one pretty quickly. Now for the important stuff! On Friday night I went across the street to the Talladega dirt track. I raced in a match race with some of my fellow Sprint Cup drivers and the one and only Red Farmer. I won! I was so excited; I was pumping my fist and acting retarded inside the car after I took the checkered flag. I was driving Jack Sullivan’s car and him and Wendell Wallace are team mates. I’m driving Wendell Wallace’s car at the Prelude to the Dream. It’s a dirt race at Eldora that Tony Stewart puts on every year. It’s pretty cool. Well that’s coming up June 4th and that is the next time I am racing anything. So I’m looking forward to it and hopefully you will cheer me on. Talk to you Later!
A short gallery of images from my vacation : pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 | pic 4
03.25.08 - I finally got to Race! : Sorry for the delay in my blogs. It seems like just yesterday I was in California where I wrote last. I was a spectator for much of the last few weeks so I didn’t want to bore you with that. California was ridiculously long thanks to Mother Nature. I got to play some golf in Phoenix on my way to Vegas. Las Vegas was fun as it usually is. Right after Vegas we went to Phoenix for a two day test. Atlanta was a pretty typical weekend. Then finally Bristol came. For a while there I didn’t think Bristol was ever going to come.
I don’t even know what to say about California. It was long, wet, and cold. It was the first race at a big track with the new race car. So everyone was not sure what to expect. To make matters worse we only got like 15 minutes of practice and the rain came, and it kept coming. So everyone went into the race with a lot of questions. The race started on Sunday afternoon and it finally ended Monday afternoon because of the rain. Our Army team did a good job and we left there with a decent run and now knew some more about this car on the bigger tracks.
So I got home late Monday night from California had a day at home, and then that Wednesday I was heading to Phoenix. I went to Phoenix and played golf in Kyle Petty’s golf tournament to raise money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp. It was one of the best golf tournaments I have played in. The course was beautiful and on every hole there was a competition to win a prize. After the tournament I flew right over to Vegas. I was pretty good this go around and didn’t manage to get into much trouble. I didn’t gamble much either (I figured I used up my luck at the test). As for the race it went well. We learned from California and applied it to Vegas. Mark qualified 3rd and ran in the top 10 all day before finishing 10th. So all in all Vegas was good.
Our team loaded up on the plane after the race in Vegas and we went straight to Phoenix for a two day NASCAR test. I was happy now because I got to drive both days at the test. The test went really well and it gave me another chance to work with Tony Gibson (my crew chief) and all the guys on our U.S. Army team. It is so much fun to be around all the guys on this team. We have really good chemistry together in such a short time together because of how fun they are.
A day after the Phoenix test and now we are in Atlanta. It felt so good to just be on east coast time again. Even though I wasn’t at home it was nice to have my internal clock be right. West Coast messes me up when it comes to eating times and sleeping. Not much to talk about with Atlanta. It was a typical race weekend. The Army Chevrolet wasn’t that great. It turned out to be a long day actually. The tire that Goodyear brought was not the best so everybody was hanging on for dear life. As much as I love to race I don’t think I missed much on this one.
We finally made it to Bristol Motor Speedway. I couldn’t wait to hit the race track Friday. I thought it was going to rain our practice out but luckily we got on the track for about half an hour. It was enough to figure out some things so Gibson and the guys went to work and made some changes for Saturday mornings practice. We didn’t get to qualify but I wasn’t worried because we got to start 16th because of it. The changes they made to the U.S. Army Chevrolet were good ones. We were 4th in the first practice and I think 15th in happy hour. We knew we had a good car. We were right, the car was really good and we just made minor changes all day to make it better. I managed to keep the fenders on it and we finished 8th. It felt good to just be on the race track racing. It felt awesome to be running up front. Tony Gibson and the guys on our Army team made my job fun Sunday and that’s all I could ask for. I was probably the second happiest person at Bristol behind Jeff Burton.
I have been enjoying a week off and this past Saturday I went to Mark Martin’s fan day in Batesville, Arkansas. It was nice to see all the fans that support us and the Army team. Other than that it’s been a lot of rest and relaxation (and a little working out). Now I’m pumped up about Martinsville. I hope that we can take the momentum from Bristol and keep it going. I really appreciate everyone’s support and look forward to seeing you at the track.
03.17.08 - Nascar.com Article : Make sure to check out this article about Aric on Nascar.com
02.20.08 - Man oh Man does it feel good to be Home! : It has been a hectic couple of weeks. I never understood people when I was younger when they would say “I just want to sleep in my own bed.” Now I do! The last couple of weeks have been busy to say the least.
The last time I wrote I was just back from Daytona testing. Well I’ve done a lot since then. I went to out west for Cup testing. First we went to Las Vegas for a two day test, then straight from Vegas to California for another two day test. When we got home from California it was just in time to watch the Super Bowl. A few days later we were heading to the Florida sunshine for Speedweeks.
Amazingly enough, for the first time in many of visits to Las Vegas (which I like to call Loss Wages) I didn’t help pay the lighting bill. I actually made some money gambling. That was the most exciting part of my Vegas trip because while I was at the track I had to watch Mark test our U.S. Army Chevrolet. That’s torture for me but I do learn a little even though I’m not in the car so it makes it worth while. The test went well and the ole Impala SS was pretty dang fast.
We left straight from Vegas and went to Fontana. When we got to Fontana that night I had a Chevy dinner to go to. At the dinner we listened to a presentation from the people at Chevrolet and they just told us about how the season went last year and what they are looking forward to this year. Do you know how many times an Impala SS went to victory lane last year? A LOT! The next morning was back to business. I got to test at California because I’m going to race the fall race there. The test went really well. It was my first test with all the guys on the Army team. I had a bunch of fun and we were fast too (being fast always makes it more fun). I got to work with Tony Gibson for the first time too. He’s an awesome guy and even better crew chief.
As for the Super Bowl, I was tired so I just sat on the couch and watched the game. No big parties or anything. The game was one of the best Super Bowl’s I have ever seen. I was so torn watching it because I really wanted to see history be made, but at the same time I went to college with a buddy of mine (Justin Riley) and he is the biggest Giants fan ever. So for his sake I was happy to see them win. When the Bucs won the Super Bowl I was in college and he cheered for them as much as I did so I guess fair is fair.
Speedweeks was long and boring for me. I watched a lot of racing, did the media day deal that we have to do every year, watched some more racing, and did several appearances. It’s not that I don’t enjoy any of that but I want to be in a race car so bad I can’t stand it. Following the Bud Shootout, I went to test at Lakeland on that Monday and Tuesday. That was fun and it was a good test. While in the “neighborhood” I went and seen the family. That was nice. Other than that Speedweeks was kind of a bummer.
Well I hope the next couple of weeks go well. I’m off for California so I’ll write back soon. I can’t wait until Bristol, my first race. I’m really excited to work with all the guys on this U.S. Army team and even more excited to drive the U.S. Army Chevrolet. Hope to see you at the track.
01.15.08 - Welcome! : Hello everyone and welcome to my updated website. Thanks for visiting aricalmirola.com and be sure to check in regularly as the 2008 schedule progresses for race updates and photos.
I’m looking forward to kicking off the 2008 season in the No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet for DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.). I’ve stayed pretty busy this off season with the holidays, testing and various media events.
As for the holidays, I hosted my entire family for Thanksgiving at my house in Mooresville (N.C.) following the Miami (Fla.) race. I decided that for Christmas I would drive the seven hour trip down to Tampa (Fla.) to stay with my family. It’s always nice to go home, visit with everyone and get some good home-cooked meals. It wasn’t long enough to relax before I was back in Mooresville and updating my schedule to get ready for testing in Daytona (Fla.).
Now a part of DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) I’ve had the opportunity to work with Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard, Regan Smith and of course Mark Martin, whom I will share driving duties with in the No. 8 Chevrolet. We were slated to test at Daytona (Fla.) in the first round of sessions; unfortunately I wasn’t able to test in the No. 8. Mark would drive the No. 8 the three days of testing and I was able to drive for some of the test in the No. 1 in place of Martin Truex Jr. All-in-all I thought the test went well and it was valuable experience to work with all the DEI guys and our crew chiefs, Tony Gibson and “Bono.”
Returning from Daytona (Fla.) I had the opportunity to visit Nashville (Tenn.) to attend the Sound & Speed charity event. Friday night there was dinner, a concert and an auction to raise money for Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Trace Adkins and Craig Morgan performed at the function. I walked away from the auction with a guitar signed by Brooks and Dunn. Following the event, some of my fellow competitors and I hit the streets of downtown Nashville and we had a blast. If anyone has a chance to visit Nashville, it’s a great town to see and I would highly recommend it.
We are home in Mooresville (N.C.) for a couple weeks and it gives me an opportunity to continue my workout routine and visit the guys at the DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) shop. Testing in Las Vegas (Nev.) followed by testing in California will be at the end of the month before we all head back down to Daytona (Fla.) for Speedweeks.
Please check into aricalmirola.com to read an updated blog from time to time. Once the season begins I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone and hope you all support the U.S. Army Team.
06.23.06 - On the Road Again...And with a Stop in Graceland! :
When I was in Milwaukee I got the word that Billy Ballew Motorsports wanted me to race the #15 truck at Memphis. So following the Nationwide race, my girlfriend and I packed up and pulled out of Milwaukee on Sunday morning southbound for Memphis. We pulled in late Sunday night and the folks at Memphis Motorsports Park allowed us to park in the motor coach lot early. So we've been set up and it was only Monday.
Last night I wanted to go to the famous Rendezvous, but it was Monday and they were closed. So we walked around and found Blue City Cafe on the corner of Beale Street. Very good if you are ever in Memphis!
Today we are up and ready to head off to Graceland...the home of Elvis Presley. People say Elvis is still alive, I'll let you know today after visiting his home.