Day 5 – Warm Weather, New Friends, and Flying Sparks

1/7/19 -- Day five of our Drive Home IV trek was full of warm weather and warm receptions by new friends, many of whom were introduced to us by Pam Rosen and Jim Applebee from Shell. We started with a gathering at Tommy Pike Customs in Greenville. Tommy does elaborate restorations and customizations and he gave us a tour of his shop before following us on our trip to Charlotte. Besides turning out exquisite cars, Tommy has a hilarious sense of humor and would be a rollicking fella to have a beer with. Next time, Tommy.  

While at Tommy’s, I was introduced to my F-100 driving partner for the morning, Emily Reeves of Flying Sparks Garage. 

“Flying sparks” pretty much describes Emily – she not only has an electric personality, but she’s also an amazingly focused businesswoman and entrepreneur -- and she somehow fits in modeling and acting into her world as well. But wait, there’s more! For the last few years, Emily and her husband Aaron have focused their attention on creating a broad and rapidly growing YouTube presence with Flying Sparks (more than 67,000 subscribers), and their new series Live Love Wrench just premiered on MotorTrend TV. If you haven’t checked out Flying Sparks on YouTube (or Instagram, @imemilyreeves, 91,000 followers), you’re missing out; in the meantime, here’s a clip of Emily driving the F-100 and describing how she and Aaron came up with the name “Flying Sparks:”

https://youtu.be/Bbl_Ewi3aew 

From Greenville, our caravan headed north in the morning sun to Mooresville, N.C., home of Penske Racing. There we met NASCAR driver Joey Logano, an incredibly personable and friendly Team Penske racing superstar, and we were given an insider’s tour of the enormous Penske Racing headquarters and shop. 

Back in the trucks we headed for a grand opening event of an Autozone superstore (open 24 hours!) in Charlotte where we attracted several enthusiasts who brought out their own vehicles to help us enjoy the sunny North Carolina afternoon.

Finally, we drove a few hours into the evening and made it to Asheville for the night. Tomorrow we turn the trucks back west toward Louisville and new adventures. Stay tuned for more Drive Home IV fun to come!