E
esorlxaw
Guest
Well all, I'm back from the All Star Race. I managed to escape with no sunburn and money left over. I just want to make a few statements about my trip and the things that occurred involving NASCAR, its drivers and its fans.
1.) Brendan Gaughan - I got to meet Brendan Gaughan at the Dodge CTS trailer. A very small trailer, no frills, no thrills. He was signing autographs Friday night before the truck race. Waiting to meet him made my girlfriend and I miss the quals for the Open, but I'm sure it was well worth it. Having been a Brendan fan since the time I started getting heavily into NASCAR, it meant a lot to finally meet him. We found out in early 2003 that one of our family friends (from when we lived in California) was his tire specialist (Kenny Dixon). When BG made the jump to Cup, he brought his crew chief AND Kenny with him. Shane and Kenny are still with 77 cup team, but Brendan didn't seem upset by it. It was nice to finally get to talk to him and let him know to tell Kenny hello from us, but more interesting was how friendly he is. Brendan managed to greet everyfan and instantly take away any of those weird/nervous feelings people had. He was more than willing to go the extra distance to make the experience special. My girlfriend's aunt has leg problem and was unable to make it out to meet him, so he signed something for her, personalized it, and even posed for a picture holding the item. He signed my diecast and personalized a CTS T-shirt for me as well. Also, his hair had gotten really long.
2.) Boris Said is a strange dude. He was signing for Team Centrix Racing Saturday afternoon. The line wasn't that long, but he was quick with the signature and my "small talk" seemed unimportant to him, even though I was genuinely interested in knowing when and if he planned on going full time. Furthermore, we noticed something very strange during driver intros during the Open. First off, the drivers came out, waved, walked down the stage and shook hands, gave hugs and whatnot to the officials and Pamela Anderson before crossing in front of the stage and heading back to the cars. Boris waved, managed to not make eye contact with anyone, bypassed the glad handing and walked straight to his car. I suppose he isn't used to the NASCAR vibe, but if he plans on being anything more than a road course ringer (which he seems to want to do) he might need to try to adapt or at least connect with fans.
3.) Biffle, Busch and Edwards were all signing autographs at 4:00 on Saturday, but you had to be there at 10 AM to even have a chance of getting one of 100 tickets to be allowed to get their 'graphs. Biffle was close to Robby's trailer, so I tried to catch a glimpse. I saw him show up and was told by other bystanders that if you didn't have a ticket, you wer S.O.L...so I went back to Robby's trailer. I will note that the lady in front of me in Robby's line had a husband that had a ticket for Biffle. When he came back to Robby's line to rejoin her, we got to talking and it seemed like Greg actually wanted to sign more, but the Team Caliber people were pretty strict, I think he signed some stuff behind the trailer, but was whisked away. He also mentioned that Greg was really nice. I wish I had gotten a ticket, but we weren't at the track that early and I didn't have my own car, so I actually was S.O.L.
4.) Robby Gordon - this was my second time to meet Robby, he came to his trailer at 4:30 on saturday. we waited in line and I got him to sign my FDNY Watkins Glen car and a card. My girlfriend got him to sign my 2004 Cingular regular scheme car and a nice glossy photo of his 7 F of the L car. He personalized it to us and thanked us for our support. My girlfriend went first and told him about how we met him at Nashville, we talked about how well he did at that race and how we hoped his season would start looking up. He posed for a picture with us both. One important thing to mention about Robby is that he always makes sure there are steps up to his trailer when he is there so he can be close to the fans, this was not the case at any of the other trailers I saw (the Team Caliber Biffle, Edwards and Busch trailers, and even Brendan's). After we were done, we watched him interact with other fans and were amazed at how much he appreciates his fans. With younger kids, he would lift them up onto the display cases so they could be right up there with him to pose for pictures. He really took the time to talk to all of his fans, especially the kids. I know it sounds like I'm blowing the horn for my favorite driver, but I have to admit that Boris showed me a stark contrast of how impersonal they could be...and to think I spent an hour looking for Boris cars to get signed.
5.) The robby gordon trailer "incident". - we showed up at Robby's trailer arond 3:30 for the 4:30 session, we were about, I don't know, 15th in line. We were at the end of the trailer. The line was short for a long time. I noticed some people behind the trailer decked out in Fruit of the Loom gear and Jim Beam gear, I assumed they were friends or something. Regardless, I stood there for 30 minutes with my girlfriend, we talked to the guy in front of us and around 4:20 or so, some older ladies showed up behind us and we offered them some blank sheets of paper to get signed. They were more than happy, then some other people lined up behind them...suddenly, superfan #7 pops up from behind the trailer and loudly explains that the line forms around the BACK of the trailer and anyone after the guy in front of us has to go to the back of the line. This meant ME and Girlfriend, who had been standing there for 45 or so minutes. I almost would have been nice about it, but the guy was being a serious A-hole, to top this off, the people in front of the trailer were standing in the heat and sun while the people behind the trailer were in the shade. So, the jerk in front of us, who had been talking to us for awhile, explains that, yes, the line behind him forms around the back. I asked who the F made him the boss of lines, which enraged the F wad behind him. He explained that it was common courtesy. My girlfriend upset and said, "Then why have we been standing in the hot sun for 45 minutes without anyone saying anything?" To this, the guy behind us says, "its common courtesy to ask". She got upset and starting getting to that weepy/defeated point. I got pretty pissed and said, "common courtesy would have involved the guy at the end of the visible line IN THE SUN to tell the people he had been talking to for 45 minutes to get behind the trailer, but for some reason, this didn't happen. YOU (the guy behind me) don't want to F with a guy who's been standing in the sun for 45 minutes while your lily A$$ has been relaxing in the shade. I didn't see a sign anywhere so you can shut the F up and go back behind the trailer with the rest of A-holes who are too good to stand in the sun, I'm not going anywhere." The guy made some comment about getting to the back of the line...or else, when the guy in front of us, the one who should have mentioned the fact about an hour earlier decided to come clean and admit fault, in a veiled sort of way, and let us in front of him. I managed to get calmed down by the time Robby showed up but was still pissed. I noticed later that Robby seemed afraid of the chick that was with the guy behind me and also noticed that she had some pictures of Robby looking out of his hauler window...very stalkeresque. Oh, did I mention that the Greg Biffle guy from the earlier story had my back? So I guess I learned that it doesn't matter how much of a jerk the fans are, it has no bearing on how the driver is...
Other than that, we were all scared to death when we saw that parachute drop behind the speedway, when they made an announcement, the jet dryers were right in front of us, so we had no idea...that was the most intense national anthem ever, we were all pretty sure we watched a guy fall to his death while it was happening.
Also, Robby Gordon has very clean hands and a firm handshake, so does Brendan, Boris has very bad teeth.
1.) Brendan Gaughan - I got to meet Brendan Gaughan at the Dodge CTS trailer. A very small trailer, no frills, no thrills. He was signing autographs Friday night before the truck race. Waiting to meet him made my girlfriend and I miss the quals for the Open, but I'm sure it was well worth it. Having been a Brendan fan since the time I started getting heavily into NASCAR, it meant a lot to finally meet him. We found out in early 2003 that one of our family friends (from when we lived in California) was his tire specialist (Kenny Dixon). When BG made the jump to Cup, he brought his crew chief AND Kenny with him. Shane and Kenny are still with 77 cup team, but Brendan didn't seem upset by it. It was nice to finally get to talk to him and let him know to tell Kenny hello from us, but more interesting was how friendly he is. Brendan managed to greet everyfan and instantly take away any of those weird/nervous feelings people had. He was more than willing to go the extra distance to make the experience special. My girlfriend's aunt has leg problem and was unable to make it out to meet him, so he signed something for her, personalized it, and even posed for a picture holding the item. He signed my diecast and personalized a CTS T-shirt for me as well. Also, his hair had gotten really long.
2.) Boris Said is a strange dude. He was signing for Team Centrix Racing Saturday afternoon. The line wasn't that long, but he was quick with the signature and my "small talk" seemed unimportant to him, even though I was genuinely interested in knowing when and if he planned on going full time. Furthermore, we noticed something very strange during driver intros during the Open. First off, the drivers came out, waved, walked down the stage and shook hands, gave hugs and whatnot to the officials and Pamela Anderson before crossing in front of the stage and heading back to the cars. Boris waved, managed to not make eye contact with anyone, bypassed the glad handing and walked straight to his car. I suppose he isn't used to the NASCAR vibe, but if he plans on being anything more than a road course ringer (which he seems to want to do) he might need to try to adapt or at least connect with fans.
3.) Biffle, Busch and Edwards were all signing autographs at 4:00 on Saturday, but you had to be there at 10 AM to even have a chance of getting one of 100 tickets to be allowed to get their 'graphs. Biffle was close to Robby's trailer, so I tried to catch a glimpse. I saw him show up and was told by other bystanders that if you didn't have a ticket, you wer S.O.L...so I went back to Robby's trailer. I will note that the lady in front of me in Robby's line had a husband that had a ticket for Biffle. When he came back to Robby's line to rejoin her, we got to talking and it seemed like Greg actually wanted to sign more, but the Team Caliber people were pretty strict, I think he signed some stuff behind the trailer, but was whisked away. He also mentioned that Greg was really nice. I wish I had gotten a ticket, but we weren't at the track that early and I didn't have my own car, so I actually was S.O.L.
4.) Robby Gordon - this was my second time to meet Robby, he came to his trailer at 4:30 on saturday. we waited in line and I got him to sign my FDNY Watkins Glen car and a card. My girlfriend got him to sign my 2004 Cingular regular scheme car and a nice glossy photo of his 7 F of the L car. He personalized it to us and thanked us for our support. My girlfriend went first and told him about how we met him at Nashville, we talked about how well he did at that race and how we hoped his season would start looking up. He posed for a picture with us both. One important thing to mention about Robby is that he always makes sure there are steps up to his trailer when he is there so he can be close to the fans, this was not the case at any of the other trailers I saw (the Team Caliber Biffle, Edwards and Busch trailers, and even Brendan's). After we were done, we watched him interact with other fans and were amazed at how much he appreciates his fans. With younger kids, he would lift them up onto the display cases so they could be right up there with him to pose for pictures. He really took the time to talk to all of his fans, especially the kids. I know it sounds like I'm blowing the horn for my favorite driver, but I have to admit that Boris showed me a stark contrast of how impersonal they could be...and to think I spent an hour looking for Boris cars to get signed.
5.) The robby gordon trailer "incident". - we showed up at Robby's trailer arond 3:30 for the 4:30 session, we were about, I don't know, 15th in line. We were at the end of the trailer. The line was short for a long time. I noticed some people behind the trailer decked out in Fruit of the Loom gear and Jim Beam gear, I assumed they were friends or something. Regardless, I stood there for 30 minutes with my girlfriend, we talked to the guy in front of us and around 4:20 or so, some older ladies showed up behind us and we offered them some blank sheets of paper to get signed. They were more than happy, then some other people lined up behind them...suddenly, superfan #7 pops up from behind the trailer and loudly explains that the line forms around the BACK of the trailer and anyone after the guy in front of us has to go to the back of the line. This meant ME and Girlfriend, who had been standing there for 45 or so minutes. I almost would have been nice about it, but the guy was being a serious A-hole, to top this off, the people in front of the trailer were standing in the heat and sun while the people behind the trailer were in the shade. So, the jerk in front of us, who had been talking to us for awhile, explains that, yes, the line behind him forms around the back. I asked who the F made him the boss of lines, which enraged the F wad behind him. He explained that it was common courtesy. My girlfriend upset and said, "Then why have we been standing in the hot sun for 45 minutes without anyone saying anything?" To this, the guy behind us says, "its common courtesy to ask". She got upset and starting getting to that weepy/defeated point. I got pretty pissed and said, "common courtesy would have involved the guy at the end of the visible line IN THE SUN to tell the people he had been talking to for 45 minutes to get behind the trailer, but for some reason, this didn't happen. YOU (the guy behind me) don't want to F with a guy who's been standing in the sun for 45 minutes while your lily A$$ has been relaxing in the shade. I didn't see a sign anywhere so you can shut the F up and go back behind the trailer with the rest of A-holes who are too good to stand in the sun, I'm not going anywhere." The guy made some comment about getting to the back of the line...or else, when the guy in front of us, the one who should have mentioned the fact about an hour earlier decided to come clean and admit fault, in a veiled sort of way, and let us in front of him. I managed to get calmed down by the time Robby showed up but was still pissed. I noticed later that Robby seemed afraid of the chick that was with the guy behind me and also noticed that she had some pictures of Robby looking out of his hauler window...very stalkeresque. Oh, did I mention that the Greg Biffle guy from the earlier story had my back? So I guess I learned that it doesn't matter how much of a jerk the fans are, it has no bearing on how the driver is...
Other than that, we were all scared to death when we saw that parachute drop behind the speedway, when they made an announcement, the jet dryers were right in front of us, so we had no idea...that was the most intense national anthem ever, we were all pretty sure we watched a guy fall to his death while it was happening.
Also, Robby Gordon has very clean hands and a firm handshake, so does Brendan, Boris has very bad teeth.
