Kurt Busch doing the Double - Indy and Charlotte

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Prepping before hand.
 
That picture was from a fun signing in the Kids Zone, where only young kids were allowed through for autographs. They got to meet Danica, Denny, Kyle and Kurt. Two stories from there that people who love hating Kurt probably shouldn't read:

1) Most kids were really young, so the line took forever since all the adults were on the other side of a railing. A lot of down time between kids. Kurt turned to me and said "we'll never get through this thing in time. Kids are going to get upset when we have to leave." He then started to rapid fire sign his entire stack of hero cards, so if there was still a line when they had to go, I could go down the line and give one to each kid. He was the only one of the four drivers to do that, the other three just stared off into space when they weren't signing. Not a knock on them one bit. Only sharing because Kurt does stuff like that all the time, and it's just unfortunate that it mostly goes unnoticed. He left me with probably 200 signed cards.

2) We got a note to his Facebook page from a woman who told a great story about her 6-year old daughter once getting Kurt's autograph years ago. She was eating an ice cream cone on line. When she got to Kurt, Kurt said "wow that looks great." After the 6 year old got her autograph, she demanded they go back to the ice cream truck, then demanded they buy Kurt a cone. So they did, and gave it to Kurt, and made his day. The family always rooted for Kurt as their "ice cream race guy.' Now...12 years later...daughter is now 18...they were bringing her to Richmond for her first race, so she could root for her ice cream race guy in person. Kurt had me track down the family, and bring them to the kids zone signing. He then returned the favor, and gave the daughter an ice cream sandwich he brought from his hauler. The family got to hang with him for a few minutes. It was really cool. You can see pictures on his twitter feed.
 
Allenbaba said:
That picture was from a fun signing in the Kids Zone, where only young kids were allowed through for autographs. They got to meet Danica, Denny, Kyle and Kurt. Two stories from there that people who love hating Kurt probably shouldn't read:

1) Most kids were really young, so the line took forever since all the adults were on the other side of a railing. A lot of down time between kids. Kurt turned to me and said "we'll never get through this thing in time. Kids are going to get upset when we have to leave." He then started to rapid fire sign his entire stack of hero cards, so if there was still a line when they had to go, I could go down the line and give one to each kid. He was the only one of the four drivers to do that, the other three just stared off into space when they weren't signing. Not a knock on them one bit. Only sharing because Kurt does stuff like that all the time, and it's just unfortunate that it mostly goes unnoticed. He left me with probably 200 signed cards.

2) We got a note to his Facebook page from a woman who told a great story about her 6-year old daughter once getting Kurt's autograph years ago. She was eating an ice cream cone on line. When she got to Kurt, Kurt said "wow that looks great." After the 6 year old got her autograph, she demanded they go back to the ice cream truck, then demanded they buy Kurt a cone. So they did, and gave it to Kurt, and made his day. The family always rooted for Kurt as their "ice cream race guy.' Now...12 years later...daughter is now 18...they were bringing her to Richmond for her first race, so she could root for her ice cream race guy in person. Kurt had me track down the family, and bring them to the kids zone signing. He then returned the favor, and gave the daughter an ice cream sandwich he brought from his hauler. The family got to hang with him for a few minutes. It was really cool. You can see pictures on his twitter feed.
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Gah, this hit me right in the feels.
 
Allenbaba said:
That picture was from a fun signing in the Kids Zone, where only young kids were allowed through for autographs. They got to meet Danica, Denny, Kyle and Kurt. Two stories from there that people who love hating Kurt probably shouldn't read:

1) Most kids were really young, so the line took forever since all the adults were on the other side of a railing. A lot of down time between kids. Kurt turned to me and said "we'll never get through this thing in time. Kids are going to get upset when we have to leave." He then started to rapid fire sign his entire stack of hero cards, so if there was still a line when they had to go, I could go down the line and give one to each kid. He was the only one of the four drivers to do that, the other three just stared off into space when they weren't signing. Not a knock on them one bit. Only sharing because Kurt does stuff like that all the time, and it's just unfortunate that it mostly goes unnoticed. He left me with probably 200 signed cards.

2) We got a note to his Facebook page from a woman who told a great story about her 6-year old daughter once getting Kurt's autograph years ago. She was eating an ice cream cone on line. When she got to Kurt, Kurt said "wow that looks great." After the 6 year old got her autograph, she demanded they go back to the ice cream truck, then demanded they buy Kurt a cone. So they did, and gave it to Kurt, and made his day. The family always rooted for Kurt as their "ice cream race guy.' Now...12 years later...daughter is now 18...they were bringing her to Richmond for her first race, so she could root for her ice cream race guy in person. Kurt had me track down the family, and bring them to the kids zone signing. He then returned the favor, and gave the daughter an ice cream sandwich he brought from his hauler. The family got to hang with him for a few minutes. It was really cool. You can see pictures on his twitter feed.
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That is really awesome. Some of the meet and greets that we do are a lot of fun, especially the two that we do at the NewYork NewYork and Freemont street in Vegas twice a year.
 
Nitro Dude said:
Allenbaba, will you be making the trip with Kurt to the Indy 500?
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Yeah, I'll be at both. Actually getting into Indy sometime that Thursday, and will be at track all day Fri and Sat just being a point guy for him on the ground - scoping out logistics, dealing with media requests etc. Race day at the Indy 500 is very different than race day at the Brickyard (from a garage/pits/credentials/media etc standpoint) so there's actually a decent learning curve we're dealing with.

Then after the race I'll be headed straight to Charlotte for the start. There will be roughly 16ish people in Kurt's "posse" including his parents, doctors, priest, agent, and then a very limited number of media members we've given full access to (and obviously Patricia & Houston). We've got two helicopters, then two jets, then two helicopters to accommodate us.
 
Allenbaba said:
Yeah, I'll be at both. Actually getting into Indy sometime that Thursday, and will be at track all day Fri and Sat just being a point guy for him on the ground - scoping out logistics, dealing with media requests etc. Race day at the Indy 500 is very different than race day at the Brickyard (from a garage/pits/credentials/media etc standpoint) so there's actually a decent learning curve we're dealing with.

Then after the race I'll be headed straight to Charlotte for the start. There will be roughly 16ish people in Kurt's "posse" including his parents, doctors, priest, agent, and then a very limited number of media members we've given full access to (and obviously Patricia & Houston). We've got two helicopters, then two jets, then two helicopters to accommodate us.
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You should start writing things down. If you wrote a book when it's all said and done, I'd read it.
 
mreed said:
You should start writing things down. If you wrote a book when it's all said and done, I'd read it.
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I imagine I always knew that's on my to-do list, actually. My entire interaction with NASCAR would probably make a decent read, both to fans and non-fans alike (assuming a professional author could help me turn anecdotes into actual readable chapters, lol.) Three years ago I'm not sure I could name more than 10 drivers. Today, I probably have more driver's than that cell numbers programmed into my contacts. It's been a crazy, crazy ride. I could easily speak to both audiences, seeing as how I'm only a couple years removed from "I don't get NASCAR." Today I know exactly what those people aren't getting...and why.

The obvious obstacles, are: 1) I would never violate what anyone in the sport tells me confidentially...and trust me, that's what you'd want to read. 2) A lot of fans would never believe most of what really goes on, and 3) I don't think fans should know half the stuff that happens. It would just jade perception. There are a lot of people I have a ton of respect for...and a lot that deserve zero.

Maybe one day I'll write the "Almost Famous" movie equivalent to NASCAR. It's kind of similar. Only there will be a lot less drugs, and a lot more barbeque.

For the record, the entire road to Kurt's double will be made into a half hour special airing a couple weeks afterwards. We've got a camera crew that started shooting this weekend....
 
Allenbaba said:
I imagine I always knew that's on my to-do list, actually. My entire interaction with NASCAR would probably make a decent read, both to fans and non-fans alike (assuming a professional author could help me turn anecdotes into actual readable chapters, lol.) Three years ago I'm not sure I could name more than 10 drivers. Today, I probably have more driver's than that cell numbers programmed into my contacts. It's been a crazy, crazy ride. I could easily speak to both audiences, seeing as how I'm only a couple years removed from "I don't get NASCAR." Today I know exactly what those people aren't getting...and why.

The obvious obstacles, are: 1) I would never violate what anyone in the sport tells me confidentially...and trust me, that's what you'd want to read. 2) A lot of fans would never believe most of what really goes on, and 3) I don't think fans should know half the stuff that happens. It would just jade perception. There are a lot of people I have a ton of respect for...and a lot that deserve zero.

Maybe one day I'll write the "Almost Famous" movie equivalent to NASCAR. It's kind of similar. Only there will be a lot less drugs, and a lot more barbeque.

For the record, the entire road to Kurt's double will be made into a half hour special airing a couple weeks afterwards. We've got a camera crew that started shooting this weekend....
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I know very very well what you are saying. It's kind of weird because all of the racing series are so different in plain view, but the behind the scenes inner circles are all about the same.
 
Man, it would be AWESOME if he won the thing. I hope he does.
 
Allenbaba said:
Yeah, I'll be at both. Actually getting into Indy sometime that Thursday, and will be at track all day Fri and Sat just being a point guy for him on the ground - scoping out logistics, dealing with media requests etc. Race day at the Indy 500 is very different than race day at the Brickyard (from a garage/pits/credentials/media etc standpoint) so there's actually a decent learning curve we're dealing with.

Then after the race I'll be headed straight to Charlotte for the start. There will be roughly 16ish people in Kurt's "posse" including his parents, doctors, priest, agent, and then a very limited number of media members we've given full access to (and obviously Patricia & Houston). We've got two helicopters, then two jets, then two helicopters to accommodate us.
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I hope Kurt can have two great safe races that day and all your logistics goes smooth. I have a few friends that will be there for the race, and I would love to stop in Indy to watch the race. But, even though i will be going through Indy around Wed of that week traveling from Atlanta back to our race shop in Chicago, i just can't spare the time because i have to fly back home to California on Fri for another function. But, i will definitely be watching it on tv, and rooting for you guys.
 
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