Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/887190
Northeastern Exposure 24 – 1 | www.northeastern.com 6 For over a decade, the Ultimate NASCAR Experience program has been in play by NE Supply, and its honorees have been avid race fans, casual race fans and there have even been some who'd never seen a race before and were confessed NASCAR racing rookies. THE ULTIMATE NASCAR EXPERIENCE PHOTOS©Dean Patton Sports Photography, LLC HALL OF FAME Weekend 300 friends of NE gather in Dover ALL - TIME - GREAT MOMENT Ultimate NASCAR winners pose with Hall-of-Fame driver Bobby Allison, a three-time Daytona 500 winner. B randon Blades and Bryan Marvel, co-owners of Blades HVAC in Dagsboro, Delaware, fi t into the avid race fans category, and it was their love of racing, and the respect they have as race team owners, that really got Blades and Marvel excited about their special weekend. Their selection as honorees coincided with NE's NASCAR sponsorship move back to driver Justin Allgaier and the #7 Chevrolet race team. NE chose to move its support from one JR Motorsports team to another this year with the Allgaier group, assuming the sponsorship from the #1 OneMain team and driver Elliott Sadler. But back to the honorees, Blades and Marvel teamed together more than 10 years ago to build a big block, dirt modifi ed race team. During this time frame, their race car has won 25 feature events, predominantly at Georgetown and Del-Mar Speedways in Delaware, with 23-year-old Scott Hitchens the most current driver. "He doesn't have a left foot," Marvel said, alluding to Hitchens' aggressive driving style, where braking is often not a consideration. As honorees, Blades and Marvel received weekend Xfi nity and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pit and garage area passes, a night's stay at the 4-star Dover Downs Casino Hotel, BRANDT race team shirts, a photo session in Victory Lane and with Allgaier on pit road just prior to the race, attended the Xfi nity Series driver's meeting and had seats atop the #7 team's pit box to watch Allgaier in action and listen to the communication between driver, spotter and crew chief on race team-provided radio headsets ... all a part of the special, customer-oriented Northeastern program. For NE Supply, NASCAR team sponsorship takes a backseat to its customer entertainment activities, and the company's most recent events at Dover were like many of the previous seasons in which they have sponsored an Xfi nity Series driver and team. Perfect weather brought out a crowd of nearly 200 on Friday night followed by nearly 300 on Saturday. Allgaier made appearances at each one in which he rubbed elbows with customers, signed NE racing t-shirts, posed for photos and talked racing and about his life during Q & A sessions. "Justin understands that our NASCAR sponsorship program revolves around our customers, and he did a fantastic job with them this weekend," NE President/CEO Steve Cook said. "He acted as if we had sponsored him for the last dozen years instead of doing so for the fi rst time since 2009. He was great, and I know that what he said and the things he did registered with our customers." For Blades and Marvel, though, the weekend proved to be very special. "First, we love the NE Supply team and are proud to be on NE's team of customers," said Blades. "Second, at the track, we had an awesome time. It is something we'll always remember." Blades HVAC services the southern Delaware market and has been doing so for 13 years now. They credit their success to hard work and a lot of luck and consider Northeastern Supply to be a very special company, and regard NE President/CEO Cook as a very special person. "We were having some issues during the winter with Northeastern and Steve Cook drove down himself to sit down with us and told us that we were important to them. We talked about the problems and how he was going to make sure they were going to be taken care of. That registered with us and made us believe even more that we made the right decision to move our business to Northeastern," Blades explained. With this edition of NE's Ultimate NASCAR Experience, the honorees were racers themselves and that heightened the benefi ts while energizing the driver to perform. Things should only get better as the 2017 race season moves forward.