Bo Bice and his band, Sugar Money, stopped in to check out where their favorite race team, DEI, builds the cars for their favorite drivers. They were en route to a gig in Spartanburg, SC on Wednesday night.

Having just left Columbia, SC earlier in the day with Charlotte radio interviews on tap for Wednesday morning, Bice and his band realized DEI in Mooresville was a doable stop on the way. They pulled up in their tour bus and took a behind-the-scenes view of our facility.

Joining in the tour was Taylor Earnhardt, herself. She and Bice had their picture taken by a No. 8 car with a large photo of her dad, Dale, in the background. She offered interesting insights about the buildings and different aspects of DEI.

“This is so cool just to be able to come to DEI,” Bice said. “Getting behind the walls of this shop is great. I can’t believe how clean and big the buildings and shops are here. I went to Talladega last year and briefly met Dale Jr.

“To come here today is just awesome. When you look at all the different shops and race cars the teams work on you realize there is a lot more involved than what you see on Sunday.

“Meeting Taylor and having her join us for the tour made it even better. Dale is a legend and this place is made up of so much history. It was great having her tell us the background of what was once where the different shops are today.”

During his tour, Bice was easily recognized by most of the employees. He gladly stopped, talked to everyone, posed for pictures and signed autographs. Even some fans who were outside the large glass doors of the Interior Showroom recognized Bice and got his attention.

One even had his CD on them and slid it through the glass for him to sign. He asked her name, signed it and thanked her. While looking over the collection of various race cars in the Interior Showroom, many of the band members revealed they were avid NASCAR fans.

“Oh man, I have the die-cast of that car over there,” one band member said, pointing to the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet. “I have one of that car; and that one over there, too. I have about 40 die cast, in all. I love NASCAR and wish we could get to more races.”

During his tour, Bice and the band stopped into the No. 8 Budweiser shop. There, Brian Cram (Shop Foreman) talked to them in more depth about race cars, how much they weigh and how many cars the team works on at one time.

He even put Bice in the primary car for the upcoming Martinsville Speedway.

“This is a tight fit,” Bice said while sitting in the cockpit. “How long do they have to sit in here? Four hours? I would go crazy, but it would be fun to drive one of these.”