Scott Eldridge says he wants to show race fans every aspect of the sport.

Saturday he and the Warsaw-based ML Motorsports stock car team will do just that.

Having recently moved into a spacious state of the art shop, ML Motorsports will host an open house Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The shop is located just off U.S. 30 on 500W.

"The biggest thing is we want to give the fans every aspect of the sport," said Eldridge, crew chief for the Mary Louise Miller-owned team that tours nationally in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. "At most autograph sessions you get rushed in and out, we're not gonna do that. People will have time to talk to the team and get up close to the cars. We're open for anything."

The open house will also be used as a charity drive to benefit the Kosciusko County Animal Shelter.

Eldridge said those who attend can either make donations monetarily or in the form of necessary pet supplies such as dog food, cat food, flea collars, etc.

The team will also hold a raffle, with the money going to the Animal Shelter.

Eldridge estimated that 40 local businesses donated items to be raffled off, including anything from jewelry to oil changes to computer items to tables and chairs.

"Everybody does their own charity deal," Eldridge said. "This was just something I thought we could do to help. It just seems like since 9-11 and the war everyone has been giving stuff to the Red Cross, and that's great, but the Animal Shelter a lot of times gets overlooked. I just thought this was something we could do, let everyone look at the shop and at the same time help the Animal Shelter out."

Scheduled to sign autographs, which are free, are ML Motorsports driver Jason Jarrett, two-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Ned Jarrett, racing legend Red Farmer and former Indy 500 competitor Lynn St. James.

Jason Jarrett, son of 1999 Winston Cup champ Dale Jarrett, is now in his third year with ML Motorsports and currently sits second in the ARCA season standings.

Ned Jarrett, Jason's grandfather, was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers after a career in which he won 50 races as well as the 1961 and 1965 season championships. Nicknamed "The Gentleman" and well known for driving his famous blue No. 11, Jarrett still holds the NASCAR record for biggest winning margin, taking the checkered flag at Darlington Raceway 14 laps ahead of the second-place finisher.

Farmer, a team consultant for ML Motorsports, won't reveal his true age but has been racing continuously since the 1940s. Farmer, an original member of the famed Alabama Gang with Bobby and Donnie Allison, #won back-to-back-back championships in what is now known as the NASCAR Busch Series in 1969, 1970 and 1971. The ageless legend has 700-plus victories to his credit, and even ran an ML Motorsports prepared car at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds last year against NASCAR stars Tony Stewart and Ken Schrader and finished fourth.

Lynn St. James, a friend of ML Motorsports team owners Dane and Mary Louise Miller, was the second female to ever make the 33-car lineup for the Indianapolis 500, and is the only woman to ever be named Rookie of the Year for the Indy 500.

"She's friends with Dane and Mary Louise and is a super nice person," Eldridge said of St. James. "I've met a lot of race car drivers and nobody can explain things like her. She knows quite a bit about race cars, she's very smart."

After a few years in an 8,000-square foot hangar at the Warsaw Municipal Airport, ML Motorsports moved to its current location in the offseason.

The new facility consists of two 20,000 square foot buildings that house offices, a main shop floor, paint room, gear and transmission room, fabrication shop and crew workout room. Located outside of the shop is a chassis dyno, a must for NASCAR teams, but rare for an ARCA team.

"No other ARCA team has anything like this," Eldridge said. "We need everything we have here to keep up with the racing world. The only thing we can't do here is build our own engines."

While they were also busy preparing a car to take to Daytona to start the season, the team did a large portion of work itself.

"When we moved out here we didn't want to spend a tremendous amout of money," Eldridge said. "Everybody had a hand in it. About 80 percent of the work was done by ML Motorsports team members. I think people will like what we have here."

To go with the autograph session, fans will also be able to tour the shop, see pit stop demonstrations, and view a car on the chassis dyno.

"We're gonna set up the war wagon and let people see how pit stops work," Eldridge said. "People are fascinated with the race cars, but we bring a war wagon out to pit road that has everything we need in it and has three TVs and three computers on it. We'll probably start up the chassis dyno four or five times. To see and hear a car turn 9,000 RPMs is pretty impressive. That's just not something you get to see, shops in Charlotte won't show you their dyno. It's easier to get a ticket for the Brickyard 400 than it is to get up close to a dyno." [[In-content Ad]]