Open House at Morgan-McClure Sat, July 17

Morgan-McClure set for open house on Saturday

The NASCAR Winston Cup circuit will take the weekend off, but plenty of racing-related activities have been scheduled at Morgan-McClure Motorsports in Abingdon, Va.

Team owner Larry McClure, driver Bobby Hamilton and the rest of the No. 4 Kodak MAX Film Chevrolet Racing Team will greet visitors at an open house from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday at the team's state-of-the-art race shop off Interstate 81, exit 22. Hamilton will be signing autographs from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. A fee of $1 per person at the gate will be donated to local police and fire departments. Children under 12 will be admitted free, and free food will be available while supplies last. The Morgan-McClure Motorsports Museum is located adjacent to the race shop and will be open to the public. "We had one of these years ago at our old shop and had a real good crowd," McClure said. "We had so many people we blocked up the interstate getting in there. "We've got traffic control set up now, so we'll be in good shape. I'm not sure how many people we'll have. There's enough interest locally, if all those people show up, we'll have a packed house, but people came from everywhere last time. We're going to have Valleydale hot dogs, Moore's potato chips and Coca-Cola. The admission is $1, and it goes to the local life saving crews." The Kodak MAX Film team is currently 14th in the NASCAR Winston Cup standings after 18 races this season. Heading to the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway on July 25, Hamilton will be gunning for his second top-10 finish of the season at the 2.5-mile triangular track. In his second season behind the wheel of the No. 4 Kodak MAX Film Monte Carlo, Hamilton has recorded five top-10 finishes in '99. He's won more than $1 million in 18 starts this season and is only 152 points out of 10th place with 16 races remaining on the '99 schedule. The 42-year-old Nashville, Tenn., native will take a break from racing this weekend and sign autographs at the Morgan-McClure open house. "Bobby will be there for autographs, and we're going to have pit stop demonstrations," McClure said. "The crew will be there in their uniforms, and we'll do a pit stop every hour. People will be able to get a feel of how fast they can move. "We've got hot air balloons that will be there from Landair and Forward Air. If the weather is nice, we'll be giving some rides. We'll have the new 2000 Monte Carlo race car there, too. It's painted up like the No. 3 Childress car, but we built it for Chevrolet. It'll be on display, and the Morgan-McClure Museum is going to be open, too.

"We had people from everywhere last time, and we'd like for people to sign in this time so we'll know where they're from. They'll be able to join the Morgan-McClure Fan Club featuring Bobby Hamilton if they'd like. We'll have post cards and some posters to give away, so everything is shaping up. "The facility is going to be wide open. We're going to have all our people there. We'll be giving tours, and our employees will be at their stations to answer questions. We'll have some motors displayed. I'm going to open up the whole thing. We're not going to hide anything from anybody. I think we're going to have a lot of fun."