Comments on: Hey Buddy, What’s with the Attitude?

By: G.D.

G.D. — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:40:16 +0000

I’ve never had garage or pit passes–I’m not one of the lucky or the rich, I guess. But a couple stories–at the Glen I saw Kyle Petty signing autographs for a half hour (not at the trailer, he just hung out at the fence with the regular folks…) Also, I saw Robby there signing autographs for a few guys waiting in the pouring rain on his way to an appearance. (A friend of mine ran into him at a truckstop once and he signed stuff for their whole family; couldn’t have been nicer.)

I was walking with my friend outside the backstretch at Richmond for the truck race. A man was headed toward us on a motorbike in a big hat–sure enough, as he got closer we realized who it was and both waved–Richard Petty gave us a big Petty smile and waved back. It was worth more than a thousand autographs. Jerry Nadeau once rode by us in a golf car smiling and waving as people recognized him. Saw Jack Roush and Benny Parsons years ago trying to politely sign things as they were walking in a hurry to get somewhere. I’ve heard the bad stories too but haven’t personally seen it myself.

This is a little different–once I was at the Glen by myself watching the garage, and a (then) Busch official asked me to be the ‘go between’ as they tried to get some Italian sausage from a vendor out of their reach (the gates are always locked.) We managed to get the dozen sandwiches under the fence, the official gave me cards from as many garages as he could.

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:58:09 +0000

I’ve been very lucky to meet several drivers and most have been very good about signing autographs and acknowledging fans. Ricky Rudd, Carl Edwards, Michael Waltrip, and Greg Biffle took extra time with me to chat and make sure pictures turned out okay before they went on. I was impressed with Kasey Kahne at the Daytona 500 this year. He made sure he signed ALL autographs before he got on his golfcart.

I’m still waiting for Junior (my favorite driver) to slow down and get a picture with me. Wishful thinking- I know but I’ll be out there trying at Daytona.

By: Birdbath

Birdbath — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:42:00 +0000

I was fortunate enough to eat dinner at a restraunt in Texas where Kyle Petty, Eddie Gossage and a large group of other Nascar and track employees and their families were seated next to us. I can not imagine how unpleasant it must be sometimes for the drivers and their families to be constantly hounded by autograph seeking fans, I was there with my father and a couple of buddies and we had just left the track after watching a Busch race. I did not want to bother them but my father was dying to get a picture with Kyle so I sheepishly asked him if I could take a picture of him with my Dad and my two buddies after his group had finished eating. Not only did Kyle go out of his way to be as friendly as he could possibly be, his wife grabbed my camera so I could be in the picture. I am there feeling like the worlds biggest ass for imposing and they did everything that they could do to show their appreciation to their fans. I’ll never forget that, nor will I ever forget the near encounter that I had with Darryl Waltrip at the the first Nascar race I ever attended in ’01 at Texas. After watching Bill Elliot set a track record in qualifying I was walking to catch a tram back to our campground when I hear some asshole yelling “get put of the way!” I turned around just in time to jump out of the way of a speeding golf cart. Some ass kissing production assistant was driving and DW was yelling for people to move. If he had been trying to make to the set to do a broadcast I could have understood the rush but that wasn’t the case. DW wasn’t driving but it sure as hell didn’t bother him that his cart was nearly running people over. DW has no class.

By: Lug

Lug — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:13:54 +0000

I’ve had the opportunity to meet several drivers and get pics and autographs over the years. Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, JJ Yeley, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, PJ Jones, Ken Schrader, Joe Nemechek…a whole bunch really all of whom were very nice. By far the friendliest of all those I’ve met are Brendan Gaughan and Robby Gordon. We also had a chance encounter with Jeff Hammond two years ago and he was fantastic. He talked with us for a few minutes and posed for pictures with us. Every person was down to earth and a fine representative for the sport.

By: keith

keith — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:19:47 +0000

this story is third person but it is a good one.

i was working in home remodeling the cabinets just last week.

it was the home of an Army Paratrooper who had been released from duty for medical reasons.

he told me that after 12 yrs of service he was finally able to do something for his 8 yr old son who he had missed most of the years of him growing up.

his sons driver is Ryan Newman. he emailed the Penske organization about wanting to take his son to the pepsi 400 (he lives less than an 1 1/2 hr from daytona). he had not expected any response, but within 24 hrs he had a response and that the person had spoken to Ryan and he would be honored to meet them a the race.

this American Hero said that Ryan Newman met them personally gave them the grand tour of the garage, the team hauler, and took his son to the team merchandise trailer let him pick anything he wanted and than signed every last piece.

i am sure that up and down pit road that kind of story could be repeated with every driver and every team (at least i would like to think so), but Ryan Newman gained two lifetime fans and gave NASCAR the kind of PR that all other sports combined wish they could have.

i wish the races werent so expensive (not just ticket prices, but concessions, parking, and merchandise, etc.). i would love to be able to get my family (there are six of us) more involved at the races, but it is the only sport that we follow as a family because we can count it being family friendly and not filled with a bunch of street thugs getting rich at our expense and not appreciating it.

sorry for rambling during that last paragraph.

thank you for keeping it real with your blog.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:44:07 +0000

J.L., I’m not quite sure what you mean by raw, but there was no particular thing that made me write this post. There are a select few that work in the sport that have serious egos and I wanted to talk about it. But I also saw it as an opportunity to recognize and point out some folks that are pretty cool (which most are).

I think for some, its easy to let a lot of what we experience go to your head, and maybe with our growing readership I might be able to reach one or two of them. Thanks for the comment!

T.C.

By: J.L.

J.L. — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:17:45 +0000

TC – What caused you to write this post? It seems a little raw.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:23:33 +0000

I was a finalist in the Armor All DIY challenge 2 for 2007.

The competition was held at the shops of JTG/Wood Brothers Racing.

When the competition was over a bbq was held for guests and visitors followed by a tour of the shop. The crew members could not have been more hospitable. Whenever they saw someone pausing looking at something a member of the crew always came over to explain what they were looking at or working on. They never made you feel you were a nuisance.

By: Loretta

Loretta — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:42:37 +0000

Anytime I have been in the pits I have found most of the crew members to be very cordial in answering any questions and signing autographs. Three years ago I had the opportunity to be in the pits in Texas and talked with a crew member from Kevin Harvick’s team. It was Steven”Slappy”Brown,the tire specialist.Even though he had his job to do he took the time to chat with us and explain his job and answer all our questions. We will never forget how nice he was.

By: carol

carol — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:42:02 +0000

Two drivers stand out in my mind as fan friendly. I aked both
Ricky Rudd and Jeff Gordon for autographs on different occassions and when I thanked them, they each said no, thank you. I thought
that was so nice and my opinion of one of them was greatly enhanced.

I have had many opportunities to have Rusty Wallace sign autographs and I remember it was really late when after winning
a race in Martinsville when he came down from all the pr doings and he sat and signed autographs at his hauler until everyone one of us got one.