Lexington will have a piece of this week's NASCAR ballyhoo when a parade of haulers, the big transports that haul race cars, line up for a lunchtime parade Wednesday through downtown.

About 35 of the colorful transports will arrive at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Hamburg Place (2350 Grey Lag Way) at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"Fans will have two hours to take photographs with their favorite team hauler and ask questions of the hauler drivers," said Jesse Harris, account executive for community relations with Kentucky Speedway.

The haulers will be on display there until 12:15 p.m., when they will depart with a police escort to begin the parade.

"The lunch hour in downtown Lexington will be very interesting because you will have a half-mile caravan of NASCAR transports traversing" from the city's east side, Harris said.

The parade route starts on Sir Barton Way and goes left onto Winchester Road, left on Midland Avenue, right onto East Main Street, and then right onto Newtown Pike.

Hauler stops will also be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday in downtown Louisville (Fourth Street Live, 401 S. Fourth) and Cincinnati (Fifth and Race streets), but only Lexington will have a parade.

The parade will have an impact on downtown traffic for a few minutes, but police will take steps to keep it to a minimum, said Susan Straub, spokeswoman for Mayor Jim Gray.

For example, the haulers will be sent down Main Street in pairs, Straub said in an email.