The No. 2 Gentleman Jack Pontiac Crawford racing team honored special guests at Virginia International Speedway on April 25 for the Bosch Engineering 250. Kristy and Greg Thomas along with their son, Cody, spent the day at the track with members of the Childress-Howard Motorsports (CHM) team.

On December 22, 2008, WAKG Radio in Danville, VA hosted a charity auction for the Danville-Pittsylvania Counties Salvation Army Christmas Fund to serve children in the area who otherwise would have had very little under their Christmas tree. Kristy was the highest bidder for a VIR race day package and a Danica Patrick package, both donated by CHM. Kristy also decided to go for the full racing experience and purchased season tickets from the VIR Club.

"My wife, Kristy, got involved in the auction by listening to WAKG, 103.3 and decided to bid on the package because all of the wonderful prizes it had,” said Greg. “She thought I might really enjoy all of it, and I did. She gave this package to me on Christmas Day. The season tickets were part of the package."

Upon arriving at VIR the Thomas family met up with their CHM host for the day, Beverly Wassell. They were given team gear and escorted to the CHM compound where they were greeted by team owner, Richard Howard, and president of Crawford Race Cars, Max Crawford. While the No. 2 Gentleman Jack racing team was preparing the car for the afternoon race, several members graciously explained their individual rolls and welcomed them to the track.

"My favorite part of the day was getting to meet Rick Howard and the crew and see what all they take part in to make a race happen,” said Greg.

After a tour of the team’s transporter, garage area, parts trailer and toter home, CHM drivers Rob Finlay and Andy Wallace greeted the family and took a group photo with them. Shortly afterwards, the grid opened up for spectators to view the cars up close and personal, a first in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, and was well received by the Thomas'.

Just prior to the race, the Thomas’ jumped on a golf cart and headed to the Paddock Club for lunch and were shown various prime areas around the track to view the race on the way. After their meal, they were taken to an area called the “roller-coaster” for the start of the race, and they spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the track.

Cody expressed his thoughts about the day at the track, “My favorite part of the day was getting to look at all the cars up close, getting autograph pictures and lunch. I got to be the photographer for my family that day. It was so cool!"

As the Thomas' first exposure to a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race came to an end, they met back up with the No. 2 Gentleman Jack race team, said their goodbyes and expressed how much fun they had.