WELCOME, N.C. (October 9, 2012) – Television personality Mike Rowe will attend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 13, 2012 and help Caterpillar shine a light on the importance of skilled trades. Rowe will welcome the winners of the Caterpillar “Your Company Name on the No. 31 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Car” promotion.
Rowe, best known for his roles as creator, host and executive producer of Discovery Channel’s Emmy® nominated series “Dirty Jobs,” will be at several activities surrounding Saturday night’s 500-mile event at the Concord, N.C.-based facility. As part of his ongoing efforts to promote the benefits of a career in the trades, Rowe partnered with Caterpillar when they first came up with the idea to replace the Caterpillar logo on the No. 31 car with those of two of their customers. Caterpillar also offered to highlight the accomplishments of Mike’s foundation and announced that along with the company logos of contest winners Phillips & Jordan in Knoxville, Tenn. and All Mini Machine Services in Delta, British Columbia, the mikeroweWORKS logo will also be displayed on the No. 31 Caterpillar Sprint Cup Series Car driven by veteran Jeff Burton at Saturday’s race in Charlotte.
“Caterpillar’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series partnership with Richard Childress Racing is the perfect platform to showcase our customers and Mike’s foundation. What could be better than to put their logos on our race car for the experience of a lifetime at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend,” said Greg Towles, Caterpillar’s NASCAR Program Director. “The contest was a fun way to involve our loyal customers and give a great reward to the winners. We are excited to have Mike Rowe come out and give our guests his personal congratulations.”
The contest, which ran from Aug. 3-17, 2012, was open to any Caterpillar customer who owned Caterpillar equipment. After submitting their company name, customers rallied for votes. The two customers with the most votes won the contest consisting of their company’s logo prominently displayed on Burton’s No. 31 Sprint Cup Series car for the entire race weekend, along with an all-expense paid trip and VIP passes to the fifth event in the prestigious Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Burton, currently in his 19th full-time season in NASCAR’s premier division, has amassed 21 wins, 132 top-five finishes, 248 top-10 finishes, six pole awards and led 6,513 laps during his illustrious career. He currently sits 19th in the 2012 Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings with five top-10 finishes including a fifth-place finish in the prestigious 2012 Daytona 500 driving for 14-time NASCAR championship winning car owner Richard Childress.
“It’s cool to see a great partner like Caterpillar put together a promotion like this to reward their loyal customers,” said Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Sprint Cup Series car. “CAT is well known for rolling out the red carpet for its customers here at the track and it will be an exciting weekend for the winners.”
While Rowe is recognized most for traveling the country working as an apprentice on more than 300 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid, he is also involved in what he calls a sorely needed “PR Campaign for Hard Work.” In 2008, he established the mikeroweWORKS Foundation and website which assists people interested in learning a skill and mastering a trade. mikeroweWORKS celebrates skilled labor and hard work in hopes of calling attention to the steady decline in the trades and bolstering enrollment in trade schools and to bolster technical colleges. More information about the organization can be found at http://www.mikeroweworks.com.
For additional information on today’s announcement, and all that’s happening at RCR, please visit RCRracing.com.
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About Richard Childress Racing
Richard Childress Racing (www.rcrracing.com) has earned more than 200 victories and 14 championships, including six in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with the legendary Dale Earnhardt. RCR was the first organization to win championships in the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series. Its current Sprint Cup Series lineup includes Paul Menard (No. 27 Menards Chevrolet), Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Budweiser/Rheem/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet) and Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar/Wheaties/BB&T Chevrolet). Its Nationwide Series program includes Elliott Sadler (No. 2 One Main Financial Chevrolet), 2011 Camping World Truck Series champion Austin Dillon (No. 3 Advocare/American Ethanol/ Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet) and Harvick/Brendan Gaughan/Menard (No. 33 South Point Hotel & Casino/Menards/Hunt Brothers Pizza/Armour Brand/Fast Fixin’/ Chevrolet). Tim George Jr./Gaughan/Harvick (No. 2 Potomac Family Dining Group/South Point Hotel & Casino/Kroger/Tide Chevrolet), Joey Coulter (No. 22 RCR/Armour Brand/Husky Liners Chevrolet) and 2011 ARCA Racing Series champion Ty Dillon (No.3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet) compete in the 2012 Camping World Truck Series season.
