Anyway, this was before I was born, but my parents are at his lakehouse and Mom makes the mistake of getting on a tube pulled behind a boat being driven by a NASCAR driver. Worst: So my Dad's known Matt Kenseth since he was about 12, both grew up in Cambridge. Cool guy, pulled for him whenever he makes a start since then And every second they are there is time they are taking away from something else that could also be very important.īest: Met Clay Greenfield in front of the White House south lawn on a trip (yes I know that sounds like a mad libs). and if he stops to talk or take pictures it’s like the earth opens up and more fans pop out.
#LIVING EARTH KNOXVILLE DRIVER#
I had a sponsor rep tell me once that if a driver doesn’t stop, don’t get mad cause for all you know he has a Make-A-Wish patient waiting for a meet and greet or the CEO of his sponsor is in the hauler and he is trying to remember his/her kids names. I hope you kick their ass today.” And the silence after that was so awkward until Kyle was gone.īut, who the hell knows what he was coming from, going to, had just been told, etc. It was probably 2ish and we are between the haulers and Kyle is walking between the haulers we are between and my buddy said something like “Big fan Kyle. When Kyle Larson drove the 42 and my buddy is a big Larson fan. Thank you for coming out and I hope you all have a good time.” Maybe we will race it out with Chase for the win. I said “Have a safe race, Brad.” and he stopped and said “Thank you for saying that. I’m near pit wall and Brad comes walking by (funny enough after this week, from the restroom) and heading to get into his car. Had hot passes at Bristol and had my Chase Elliott stuff on. I got over Gordon spurning me years later to where I could respect him as a racer, but my mom has NEVER forgiven Jeff Gordon to this day! The story is hilarious to me now, but at 7 years old, it sucked to get blown off by a hero at that time.īest: Brad Keselowski. My mom, though? She was PISSED! She's not normally the type to cuss out someone, but Jeff Gordon got cussed out by my mom that day. He did it and with 15 minutes to go in the session, right as I got to him, he looked at me and said, "I don't have time for more autographs." Seven year old me was CRUSHED my hero blew me off like that.
#LIVING EARTH KNOXVILLE TV#
One of the TV stations in Knoxville did a media interview with him with 20 minutes left in the session. He was in Knoxville at an auto parts dealership to do an autograph signing. Let him be." My Dad and I have a shaky relationship as adults, but I do give him credit for allowing me an experience I still remember to this day. My dad saw me talking to Sterling and told my mom, "He's just fine. I didn't learn this part of the story until years later, but my Mom had lost me somehow in the crowd when Sterling and I were talking. I got out of school early to go meet him and I was kind of a NASCAR savant at 8 years old and I met him and asked him how his dad was, which blew his mind because, seriously, how many 8 year olds are gonna know his dad raced? He ended up talking to me for 5 or 10 minutes just me and him about school and life.
Sterling Marlin - In the early 90's, Sterling did an autograph signing at a Ford dealership in Crossville, TN that no longer exists. Stanton Barrett - Funny story, I mistook him for Kasey Kahne when I saw him and realized who it was and profusely apologized to him. and he asked where I was from and I was stunned he actually knew where it was, and he remembered me the next year when he saw me there.Ĭaleb Holman - Kinda ended up friends with his mom and was a big fan of his because he drove for Henderson Motorsports (my favorite all-time NASCAR team). Just a legit good ol' boy from SWVA.īrad Teague - Got to talk to him at the same weekend as Danny O'Quinn Jr.
Met him at Bristol one year and talked for a good 5 minutes about racing at an old go-kart track that no longer exists and how he smoked my ass at that track during my very brief go-karting career. I'll start.Įric McClure: Kinda biased because he became legit one of my best friends, but when I knew him, I was amazed at how down-to-earth he was for a guy who could easily have been a brat with the resources he had, he was NOTHING like that when I knew him! Probably the first (and likely only) NASCAR driver I legit ended up being friends with.ĭanny O'Quinn Jr. So the Deegan thread got my gears going, and I was curious who y'all had the best and worst experiences with as drivers.
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