Yet Another NASCAR Post (Thank You Kyle Petty!!)

Last weekend Ted and Alex went to Bristol, Tennessee for a NASCAR weekend. Even though it rained Friday and Saturday, they had a great time. They called me at least FIVE times from the time I got home from school on Friday until they got back to the hotel and went to bed that evening. How did we ever function before cell phones??

One of the highlights of the entire weekend for Alex occurred Friday. He was able to get a few autographs and he was absolutely THRILLED!!! He likes Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Alex had to get a new hat because Jr. switched teams for this year, and that's what he asked people to sign.

As I've said before, being a role model comes along with the territory of being a race car driver. And something that we all should remember is that our actions are a direct reflection of how we were raised.

For instance, back in 2002 I was able to get the autograph of a NASCAR driver. He was sitting at his souvenir trailer the morning of the Busch race, signing things for people. I was next in line, and as I approached him, I very nicely asked for his autograph. He wouldn't even look at me, but was talking to someone else while he signed. As he finished and shoved the program back in my face, I thanked him for his time and wished him luck in Sunday's race. He never even acknowledged me. Not a glance, not a "you're welcome", not a "thank you", nothing at all.

I WAS NOT HAPPY.

As I walked away I told Ted that I would never EVER even cross the street to see that man again. I have bad-mouthed him wherever I could. But the thing that makes me madder than anything is that he has made his parents look bad. Surely they didn't raise him to be rude intentionally. It would have taken him less than a second to glance at me and smile. He probably doesn't even realize that he has alienated at least one fan, and quite possibly hundreds more, if that's how he normally acts at autograph signings. He hasn't done too well in the sport in the last few years, and the vindictive side of me continually says, "That's what he gets!"

Anyway, to get back to last Friday, the first autograph that Alex got was Mike Helton's. Mike is the president of NASCAR and obviously knows how to treat the fans of the sport. He was very nice to Alex, looked him in the eye and smiled and nodded when Alex thanked him. Now THAT is how you treat someone.

Mike Helton

The others he got were also nice, but the one person who made quite an impression on Alex, in addition to Ted, was....

Kyle Petty.

The Pettys are one of the most famous families in NASCAR, with four generations.

The late Lee Petty was one of the pioneers of NASCAR and drove in the 1950s and 60s.

Lee Petty

His son, Richard Petty, is NASCAR's all-time race winner and seven time Cup champion, and raced from 158-1992.

Richard Petty

Richard's son, Kyle Petty, started in NASCAR in 1979 and is still racing.

Kyle Petty

Kyle's son, Adam Petty, ran his first NASCAR race in 1998 but was sadly killed in the spring of 2000 while practicing for a Busch race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Adam Petty

Kyle Petty made a point of coming out to talk to the fans and sign autographs. He took his time while doing it and made a HUGE impression on everyone who saw him. Ted said he saw Kyle reach into his pocket and take out his blackberry, look at it for a second, then put it away, and go right back to signing autographs. He stayed and signed for quite a while.

Obviously Richard and his wife Linda raised Kyle properly...and taught him to appreciate what he has. What he did for my son that day has gone way beyond just simply signing a hat. And as a mother, that means so very much to me.

I've mentioned before that Joe Gibbs left a terrific impression on me when he waved to us at Bristol, and at his shop in Huntersville, NC, ( http://anotherdayinmylife-cindi.blogspot.com/2008/01/joe-gibbs.html ) and now we can add Kyle Petty to that list. Alex was even able to get a picture of him, although it was a little blurry.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there was another rude driver who looked at Alex, then just walked away when Alex asked him for an autograph...he never even said anything. I liked this driver too...until that happened. Now he's been moved to the Rude List.

All in all, they had a wonderful time and it was a great bonding weekend for them.

Bristol Bound

Ted and Alex are leaving early Friday morning to head to Bristol, Tennessee for this weekend's NASCAR races. They will be there for qualifying on Friday afternoon, the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, and the Sprint Cup race on Sunday. Then they'll leave very early Sunday morning to head home.

They did this last year and had an absolute blast! Ted and I did it a few times, but because my knees are so bad these days, I'm passing my seat on to Alex.

Tickets for this event are extremely difficult to get. Supposedly Bristol tickets are the hardest tickets to get in all of NASCAR, but I'm lucky enough to have them. We started out about 9 or so years ago, buying them off of a guy I grew up with who happened to own a gas station which sold the same brand fuel as NASCAR. In other words...he had connections! We bought our Cup tickets from him, but I got the Saturday race tickets in my own name. Those are fairly easy to get because it's not quite as popular as the Sunday race. When the racetrack decided to expand, they notified all ticketholders and I was able to buy 2 tickets for each event IN MY OWN NAME! They have a race weekend in the spring, and then again in August. In August, the races are at night and I would love to see them, but they are always held right after school has started and I can't get away then. Someday, though, it will work out.

Once when Ted and I went we hung out with other fans close to where the drivers, owners, crew chiefs, etc. all went into the track. Most were on golf carts, being driven around. We would all yell at them, hoping they would wave or acknowledge us as fans. HOWEVER, the only person who would smile and wave at us was Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, and former head football coach of the Washington Redskins. I actually got to meet him a year or so later at his race shop in Huntersville, North Carolina.

WHAT A WONDERFUL MAN!! You can read a little about him here http://anotherdayinmylife-cindi.blogspot.com/2008/01/joe-gibbs.html

Anyway, Ted and Alex are hoping that they may be able to wave at Joe again, or someone else. I know they'll have a great time.

Joey and I will have a great time here at home too. I think we both have some plans for the weekend, and although I love Ted and Alex with all my heart, when they are gone for a weekend, everything stays where it's supposed to be, and if anything is gotten out, it's put away. (The main culprit is Alexander!)

So although we'll miss them, we know they'll have a great time!

Daytona 500 Rambling Thoughts

As I've mentioned before, we are NASCAR fans. Sunday we watched the season opening Daytona 500 together; not just the race, but the pre-race stuff too.

Although it was the 50th running of the race, they spent way too much time going over the same stuff again and again, showing the same clips, playing the same interviews. Just once would have been plenty.

Yes, it was sad that Dale Earnhardt died during the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, but let the man rest in peace now. I think if it's only mentioned a couple of times during each race and pre-race show, that would be fine.

They could have easily cut the pre-race stuff down to an hour...EASILY.

Trisha Yearwood was there to sing the National Anthem. She did a fantastic job of it. She didn't try to doctor it up with riffs and extra stuff. She didn't try to draw it out to a 12 minute song. She sang it straight and to the point, and it sounded wonderful.

Darrell Waltrip...good old Darrell Waltrip...I normally like the guy, but it just wasn't his best day in the broadcast booth as far as I'm concerned. And the "group" command of "Gentlemen, start your engines" is great when it's done by one person, but when you want all the past winners of the race to do it, it just doesn't come off very well.

In the past few years the directors have struggled somewhat. It seems that they can't get to any on-track action quick enough and we just miss seeing things by a split second. Sunday's race was no exception.

I only heard one reference to the fact that Dale Jarrett is retiring after the fifth race of this season, and heading into broadcasting, but a couple of UPS commercials drove the point home. I've always liked Dale Jarrett and think that he not only has done a lot for the sport, but has remained a good role model for the younger drivers.

It did not fall on deaf ears, however, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. once again made it clear that he's having a WONDERFUL time at Hendrick MotorSports. I'm sure that his step-mother Teresa noticed it too. I'm not getting involved in their issues, but Jr no longer drives for DEI, the company his late father built and Teresa now runs. I'm sure that there's more to it than has come out in the press though.

It would have been nice if the race had started at an earlier time. Starting at 3:30 pm eastern time was a little late in my opinion. I had things to do as evening rolled around and wanted to be able to do them without missing any of the race.

Anyway, just a few thoughts on the subject... Ted and Alex will be going to Bristol, TN in a little less than a month for a race weekend. About 6 years or so ago I was fortunate enough to be able to get tickets to the Bristol races for spring and August, and I will probably never give them up! We can never use the August tickets because that's always when school is starting, so we always sell them, and have absolutely NO TROUBLE doing so. A couple of times we had to sell the spring tickets because of things going on here at home, and again had no trouble. But once you get Bristol tickets in YOUR name, you never give them up!

And I won't!!

NASCAR's Back!

Call us rednecks if it makes you feel better, but WE are NASCAR fans!

Last night was the Bud Shootout, which is the first race of the season. It is, however, NOT a points race. The only drivers who can participate are those who earned a pole position last year, in addition to the previous winners of the Bud Shootout and the old Busch Clash.

Last night was special for another reason too. It was the first NASCAR event since Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the company his late father founded, DEI (Dale Earnhardt Incorporated) and began driving for Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motor Sports.

This was a decision that Jr. made late last spring. I really think this was a good decision for both sides. Dale Jr lost his father when Dale Earnhardt Sr was killed in a last lap crash of the 2001 Daytona 500. Jr was in his mid 20s when this happened and he has been missing that "father" figure in his life since that terrible accident.

Rick Hendrick lost his son, Ricky, in late October of 2004 in a small plane crash. All eight passengers and both pilots were killed as they were on their way to a NASCAR race in Martinsville, Virginia. Ricky was 24 at the time.

The Hendricks and the Earnhardts were friends and respected each other's talent and commitment to the sport of racing. It was hard for both Dale Jr and Rick to go on after their individual losses, but push forward they did, and with guts and determination, they both have succeeded.

However, Dale Jr felt it was time to move on from DEI and was entertaining offers from several car owners. On that day in early June as I watched the press conference announcing that Jr would be driving for Hendrick, tears slowly slid down my cheeks. (Yes, I cry at almost everything and I felt this was an emotional scene.)

Here was Rick Hendrick, stepping into Dale Jr's professional life, knowing that that he would help Jr make even more of himself in the racing community AND provide the possible guidance that Jr had been missing since his father was killed.

And here was Dale Jr, stepping into Rick's professional life, knowing that he might be the young man that Rick needed to share his fatherly (and boss type) advice with.

They were soon to embark on a journey that would enrich both of their lives, helping each other continually deal with the losses that each had endured. Although neither of them could ever possibly replace the loved ones they lost, both of them would be fulfilling a need for one another. This change though, wouldn't actually take place until the beginning of the 2008 racing season, which essentially started right after the 2007 season ended!

Last night as the Bud Shootout was winding down and they were on the last lap, I couldn't help but think that it would be fabulous if Jr won, not only for himself and his new team owner, but for his late dad and his late friend. As Jr led going into that last lap, I knew it was a long way around that two and a half mile track and a lot could happen. I was just hoping that Jr could hold on and block to keep his position.

Jr won.

Although I've been watching NASCAR for years and I've seen guys excited over winning a race, I don't think I've ever seen anything like what I saw last night. Jr was absolutely thrilled, grinning from ear to ear, and you could hear it in his voice and see it in his face. He and Rick Hendrick must have hugged and shook hands a dozen times in the first few minutes after the race. You could almost hear them thanking Dale Sr and Ricky.

Yep, NASCAR's back.

Joe Gibbs

Unless you're an NFL or NASCAR fan, you may not know who Joe Gibbs is.

He was the successful head coach for the Washington Redskins for 12 years, retiring in 1992. During his time with the Redskins he lead the team to three Super Bowl wins! After his football retirement, he focused on his NASCAR teams for the next 12 years, and won three championships. In January of 2004, he returned to football to again coach the Washington Redskins, and earlier this month (after a very challenging year) chose to resign his position.

Ted and I (and Alex, but not Joey) are big NASCAR fans, and when we would travel to Myrtle Beach each summer, we would spend the night in Mooresville, NC. It just so happens that Mooresville is the home to many of the NASCAR race shops, so we would try to visit a few each year. Just down the road a few miles, is Huntersville, NC, home of Joe Gibbs Racing.

One morning in late June 2003, we left our hotel in Mooresville, and headed toward Myrtle. Twenty minutes into our journey, we decided to stop in Huntersville, to see the JGR facility. It was absolutely WONDERFUL! The building is not only huge, but it's also so bright and open. We were able to look through a glass wall and see the actual shop where they build and work on the cars. The entire shop was SPOTLESS!! They had a white floor and there was not a speck of dirt anywhere!! Talk about impressive! All the employees that we came across were so kind and polite. It was such a pleasure to visit a place like this.

After we saw all that we wanted to see, we were walking out to the car. Joey was not with us, as he chose to stay home during that trip and work. Alex and I were ahead of Ted at the car, waiting for him to unlock the doors. I can recall saying to Alex, "I wish your dad would hurry up, it's so HOT!"

Suddenly I heard Ted calling my name. As I looked around at him, he said, "There's Joe Gibbs!" and I said, "Well...I think I need to meet that man!" and I promptly followed him into the building!

He stopped at the round main desk and begin to sign little pamphlets they had about him and the lessons that he's learned along the way. I went up to him, and he smiled at me, asked me my name, then handed me a signed copy. I was sooooooo thrilled! I mean, this is JOE GIBBS....JOE GIBBS!!
Alex and Ted had followed me back into the building, and after I thanked Joe, we were all walking out together. I commented to Ted, "Do you remember when we were in Bristol (for a NASCAR race) how Joe was the only 'big name' who would wave at us? All the others just ignored the fans." Ted said, "Why don't you go tell him that?"

That was all I needed...back in I went.

"Excuse me, Mr. Gibbs, I'd like to tell you something."

He stopped signing, and looked at me, in the eye!

"My husband and I were in Bristol last year and as we waited with so many others to catch a glimpse of a driver or owner, you were the ONLY ONE who took a second to wave at us. We weren't asking for a photo of anyone, or an autograph, just a simple acknowledgement to the fans. I realize that it's not that big of a deal to drivers and owners to see fans, but it's a big deal for the fans themselves."

Joe said, "It IS a big deal, and I'm thankful that the fans take the time to show their support."

I said, "Well, I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciated that wave. It meant a lot to us."

Joe said, "Thank you for telling me this. That means a lot to me."

I was grinning from ear to ear as I walked out, and he returned to autographing.

What a nice guy!!

Joe Gibbs has been nominated for the NFL Coach of the Year, and you can vote at http://www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=coaches . You'll need to scroll over to the far right to see the actual ballot. Voting ends today at 6:00 pm.

Not only is Joe Gibbs a terrific coach and fantastic car owner, but he is a God-fearing, family-loving, wonderful man!