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while he seemed nice enough when i last saw him at about the age of 5, have you ever seen a terry labonte interview?
that guy has to be the most laid back motherfucker on the planet |
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Got to spend a few hours with Dale jr last year. He was extremely humble and funny but you could tell he had an intense side behind the aw shucks exterior. Which is not unexpected for a race car driver. Great guy.
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Not all NASCAR but here's my personal experiences:
Tony Schumacher (nhra) is a total asshat. All of the Pedregons can go piss up a rope. Almost everyone else I dealt with was awesome, John Force was just would you'd expect him to be and was great to be around. Gary Scelzi was a complete nut and hilarious. Never met a World of Outlaws guy that wasn't awesome. I ordered a limited edition die cast sprint car from Tony Stewart's team when Danny Lasoski was still driving for him as a gift for my wife for our anniversary. I asked in the order notes in it was at all possible to get Lasoski to sign it because I thought she would love it. When the car came it was actually the die cast of Tony's car, autographed by him, with a note that sad "Danny wasn't around to sign one, hope this is ok. Tony". That was the coolest shit ever and I've never forgotten it. |
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Pretty much all of them except for the Penske Bitches and Danica. View Quote Outside of the race world, I can respect an individual. I'll give Keselowski props for being a decent person in the real world. http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2016/05/08/brad-keselowski-pays-tribute-to-young-nascar-fan-killed-in-crash/ I hope he wrecks every week though! |
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The only 3 I have spent any time with.
1. Robby Gordon: awesome down to earth guy, really took extra time with our group at his shop. 2. Ward Burton: he's a southern gentleman, that I think would be a blast to have a beer with 3. Michael Waltrip: seemed like a big douchebag |
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A.J. FOYT View Quote Jeez! I forgot all about AJ. He lives not far from me and he and my dad used to do business together (race horses) when I was a kid. I've met him more times than I can even remember, though none recently. We used to have dinner at his house with him every now and then. All of that was a long time ago. |
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Cale Yarborough was friendly the two times I met him in the seventies; probably helps that my dad and uncles knew him. Met a couple of others back then but can't really recall their names at the moment- not really a nascar fan.
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In 1998 I met Dale Earnhardt a few weeks after his Daytona 500 win. Super nice guy and down to earth.
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For years in the mid eighties until 2001, I was an Environmental Resource Manager for a large landholding company 3 miles from Pocono Raceway.
All the drivers and crews stayed at the condos by Big Boulder Lake. We operated resorts, condo communities, flyfishing clubs, land leases, forestry operations and other diversified interests. It was a lot of fun. The drivers, before NASCAR was a "thing".......yes......there was a time when the audience was small, despite what many would say here, where the schedules weren't so loaded up. The drivers and crew would come for the week and stay at the condos. Nobody knew who these guys were. They could walk around or go out to local bars at night, whatever. They would start arriving by Wed or Thurs for "Garage Day, Have Practice Day on Fri, Time Trials on Sat and race day on Sun. They would then stay with their families after for up to a week. Their stuff would be kept by the maintenance sheds at Big Boulder Ski Area. Hell.....back then, some of the drivers even hauled some of the trailers for the team too. So....as the land guy with the keys to the gates at the fishing clubs, I was often called on to take them out fishing. We also had a very underfished lake with awesome bass fishing in it. Long story short.......And i wish I had time to post some of the highlights and funny shit....... Twice a year, I took many of the drivers and the crew guys out regularly until the schedules got busy, the families stayed behind at home, the drivers would fly in three days before and out immediately after. Some I took and introduced to flyfishing with hilarious results in stocked streams which were fly only, but I would supply some "garden hackle" to the hooks and let these guys whoop it up until we saw some of the stodgy old curmudgeons coming up the trail to the pools we were fishing , wondering what the ruckus was about, then we'd flick off the worms quick. There were a few complaints. Some I drank beer with in deep V rowboats using shiners which were banned in the lake by the senior patrolman (then 91 years old and still working every day) for big largemouths. Those southern boys threw nothing back and we would often come back to have the Lake Club kids have to wash out the rowboats full of guts, scales and warm beer that had been baking in the sun. I would then escort the drunken group back up to the condo where we would drink more ber and fry up some fish. Rusty Wallace's crew was the best for that. Nature hikes to rivers, gorges and small waterfalls, coming back after dinner to spot deer with Dale sr. Giving Dale jr rides in my work truck up to the top of the ski hill to ride down the mountain bike trail, where I gave him a radio to call me for another shuttle with the bike supplied by the Lake Club when he got to the bottom as I did my well house water testing. he was a lanky ugly kid....a real little hell raiser too. Anyway. I met and knew a lot of them personally and had a great time with them. I looked forward to those June and August races. I have to say this..... They were some of the nicest people one would ever meet back then. Down to earth fun loving guys. |
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Yep. Met Rusty Wallace at my First NASCAR race, very nice guy. Gave me one of his used tires View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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in 1994, I was 18 and was introduced to Rusty Wallace in Indianapolis a few days before the inaugural Brickyard 400. He seemed friendly and hospitable towards me and the party I was with. Always cheered for him after that. Yep. Met Rusty Wallace at my First NASCAR race, very nice guy. Gave me one of his used tires Rusty and his crew would shower me in Miller products. I mean....so many cases of beer, they would be stacked in my Ford Ranger, twice a year. Hats? Tshirts? even jackets? All the time. They were fun guys. |
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I've met Chase and Bill Elliot multiple times. Very nice guys View Quote Bill and his wife were quiet people who stayed 11 miles away at our other condo area over at Jack Frost. I would take them for guided hikes along the Little Lehigh and Porter Run Preserve, our private preserve over that way. They rented from a friend who owned a unit over at Snow Ridge Village. They were so pleasant and nice. I always enjoyed my time with them. |
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Dale Earnhardt was one of the most down to earth people you could hope to meet. When he wasn't driving, he was just a regular dude. Kyle Petty is almost too nice. Benny Parsons was my favorite. He was hilarious, and could put away some food. View Quote Kyle Petty is a very nice guy. I have had many beers with him over the years working at the restaurant the company owned overlooking Big Boulder. Actually a quiet dude, but solid. |
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Everyone has stories about the known guys and I have them too.
However this is something that has always stuck with me. I'm at Talledega in idk, late 90's. Maybe 98 or so and I had pit passes and the path to the pits leads you past the drivers motorhome area. As we are walking by I see a Hot Wheels Harley. This is when Kyle Petty drove the Hot Wheels car, so we assumed it was his bus. So we stop to check it out. Out pops this kid who pulls out a cooler and looks over at us and asks "Y'all want anything to drink?" Sure, how about a beer? He laughed and said he didn't have any but he had some Coke. Sure. He came over to the fence and threw us two Cokes over the fence and we chitchatted a bit and we went on to the pits. I knew who he was, but he was running his first ARCA race and it was a big deal but he wasn't a known guy. It was Adam Petty. I walked away from that little interaction and talked to my buddy about it and said "How to raise a kid to be so grounded when your Granddaddy is Richard Petty and your Dad is Kyle Petty. I'm a pretty nice guy and I probably would have just ignored us. That impressed me and made me an instant fan. Later the next year maybe, he was running a Busch race at Texas and wrecked right in front of me on the back stretch. Another car involved in the race caught on fire and became completely engulfed in flames. Adam Petty jumped out of his car and ran straight up to the burning car to help get the driver to of the car. It wasn't a little fire either. It was something that was serious enough that he could have been injured if the driver had not got out really quick. Another impressive thing for this kid. It is a damned shame he was killed. He was a special person that the world never got to know and probably a great driver and never really got to show it. I have other stories, but that one should be told. |
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Quoted: Everyone has stories about the known guys and I have them too. However this is something that has always stuck with me. I'm at Talledega in idk, late 90's. Maybe 98 or so and I had pit passes and the path to the pits leads you past the drivers motorhome area. As we are walking by I see a Hot Wheels Harley. This is when Kyle Petty drove the Hot Wheels car, so we assumed it was his bus. So we stop to check it out. Out pops this kid who pulls out a cooler and looks over at us and asks "Y'all want anything to drink?" Sure, how about a beer? He laughed and said he didn't have any but he had some Coke. Sure. He came over to the fence and threw us two Cokes over the fence and we chitchatted a bit and we went on to the pits. I knew who he was, but he was running his first ARCA race and it was a big deal but he wasn't a known guy. It was Adam Petty. I walked away from that little interaction and talked to my buddy about it and said "How to raise a kid to be so grounded when your Granddaddy is Richard Petty and your Dad is Kyle Petty. I'm a pretty nice guy and I probably would have just ignored us. That impressed me and made me an instant fan. Later the next year maybe, he was running a Busch race at Texas and wrecked right in front of me on the back stretch. Another car involved in the race caught on fire and became completely engulfed in flames. Adam Petty jumped out of his car and ran straight up to the burning car to help get the driver to of the car. It wasn't a little fire either. It was something that was serious enough that he could have been injured if the driver had not got out really quick. Another impressive thing for this kid. It is a damned shame he was killed. He was a special person that the world never got to know and probably a great driver and never really got to show it. I have other stories, but that one should be told. View Quote |
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Of the more recent drivers, Mark Martin. Harry Gant had just retired and I became a MM fan because of the way he reacted when he was leading the Bush race at Bristol and pulled in a lap short of the finish. IIRC, his comment was along the lines of "I've done some stupid things in my life, but this just about tops it".
At the Winston Cup race the next day, several people were spotted with paper bags over their heads with "Mark Martin Fan" written on them. Fireball Roberts and Benny Parsons were my old school favorites. |
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Eddie Hill was the nicest driver I ever met. Dad said something like, "this is the first man in the fours", Eddie just said, "God made that happen, I just hung on!" His last few years racing he wasn't doing well financially, almost had to bow out before he finished his last season. Word I heard is that the rest of the teams found enough spare parts to get him down the track. I think that speaks to the quality of people that generally make up that sport, but it also says a lot about the respect they had for one of the greats. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/EddieHill1966TopFuelDragster.jpg/220px-EddieHill1966TopFuelDragster.jpg http://bangshift.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-10-27-at-9.32.41-AM.png And my favorite race malfunction ever... The engine wins! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzPCk2lt2_4 View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Overall the NHRA drivers were like friendly red-neck next door neighbors. Eddie Hill was the nicest driver I ever met. Dad said something like, "this is the first man in the fours", Eddie just said, "God made that happen, I just hung on!" His last few years racing he wasn't doing well financially, almost had to bow out before he finished his last season. Word I heard is that the rest of the teams found enough spare parts to get him down the track. I think that speaks to the quality of people that generally make up that sport, but it also says a lot about the respect they had for one of the greats. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/EddieHill1966TopFuelDragster.jpg/220px-EddieHill1966TopFuelDragster.jpg http://bangshift.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-10-27-at-9.32.41-AM.png And my favorite race malfunction ever... The engine wins! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzPCk2lt2_4 I lucked out and got tower tickets one year to the U.S. Nationals at Indy. So we're up there feeling way out of place and I thought Hell, we'll just hit the roof and watch from up there. Eddie blew the tires off his in the 1st round so he was free I guess. So I turn around and here he is with Ercie up on the roof in the nitro fumes which were blowing right back on us. (Most everybody had gone down and inside because those fumes were BAD) She stayed over at the top of the stairs mostly as that area was sort of shielded from the fumes but Eddie, my buddy and myself stayed out there on the rail watching the race for probably an hour, till the 2nd round of PRO cars ended. Both Eddie and Ercie were the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. Kenny Bernstein was a really good guy as well and John Force damn near ran over me at the inaugural Norwalk race. He had his tribe in a real nice Kubota looking around the new place after the races on Friday night and we were doing the same thing. Neither one of us was watching where we were going and we got stopped about 2 feet apart. We were both startled at first and then everybody just started laughing. We wound up eating breakfast at the table next to them on Sunday morning. There was more laughter and his whole team could not have been more polite and patient with fans who came up to say hi. Pretty good fellers the whole bunch. |
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Dale Jr was in Norfolk a few years ago to promote Arena racing Nice guy. Gave out a lot of swag After we went out to eat and he showed up at the same restaurant. Waved us over and asked us to join him and his big table. Then he picked up the tab. View Quote My favorite driver. Also I think it's pretty cool his spotter is a guy he met from online racing. |
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I once saw that Ricky Bobby dude in the airport. I yelled out, "Chew Big Red or get outta' my face motherf$%ker!" He gave me a weird look and then started yelling back obscenities, things escalated quickly...
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Met Bobby Allison a few years ago. It was at a car show. He had a booth and was signing autographs. Had my two sons with me. When we got to him he signed the slick. Then I asked if he would sign my 1990 drivers license as an organ diner witness. Reason being, Davey Allison ( his son who later died) had signed it. He did. Then my 10 yo who was a big NASCAR fan, asked him what his favorite track was. He talked to him for 5 or 10 minutes. All the while adults were just waiting in line. Then we had our pictures taken with him. I was very impressed that he took the time to stop and talk to a 10yo for that length of time. Great guy. View Quote You sure you didn't meet Hannibal Lecter? |
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Believe it or not , Ty Dillon and company are very cool.
Out to eat last year , he tipped each waitress $100. |
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I met Matt Kenseth a few times at Madison International Speedway, a genuinely nice guy. Sure he's lost his temper a few times over the years, but that's when the younger guys with no respect fuck him over.
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Danicunt earned her nickname long before racing stock cars
(Personal experience, having competed in a companion series) Ditto to those who mentioned Mark Martin, Eddie & Ercie Hill, John Force as good people. I also found Bill 'Grumpy' Jenkins to be the opposite of his nickname. Good guy. Warren Johnson is another one. And yes; Gary Scelzi is a nut and the Pedregons are jerks |
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Eddie Hill was the nicest driver I ever met. Dad said something like, "this is the first man in the fours", Eddie just said, "God made that happen, I just hung on!" View Quote I was pretty young but I went with my dad over to a friend of his he had some Eddie Hill stuff laying around and stated something like "ohh yeah Eddie will be by later" I thought he was full of it until Eddie "The Thrill" Hill himself walked in and plopped down on the couch I dont think I even asked him for autograph, Hell I dont think I even spoke two words the whole time my poor brain could not process sitting around a living room while my dad and his friends shot the bull with Eddie ETA: I believe he had a place here nearby before he moved to Wichita Falls because I have no idea why he would be stopping by in such a tiny town but I cant remember now |
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Dale Jarrett is one of our customers, super nice dude. I've meet a bunch of them, it's a toss up between him and Kyle Petty. We do work for the Petty's down at Victory Junction Camp, solid group of people down there.
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I used to hang out with Steve Kinser, his family and crew. Nice people.
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Everyone has stories about the known guys and I have them too. However this is something that has always stuck with me. I'm at Talledega in idk, late 90's. Maybe 98 or so and I had pit passes and the path to the pits leads you past the drivers motorhome area. As we are walking by I see a Hot Wheels Harley. This is when Kyle Petty drove the Hot Wheels car, so we assumed it was his bus. So we stop to check it out. Out pops this kid who pulls out a cooler and looks over at us and asks "Y'all want anything to drink?" Sure, how about a beer? He laughed and said he didn't have any but he had some Coke. Sure. He came over to the fence and threw us two Cokes over the fence and we chitchatted a bit and we went on to the pits. I knew who he was, but he was running his first ARCA race and it was a big deal but he wasn't a known guy. It was Adam Petty. I walked away from that little interaction and talked to my buddy about it and said "How to raise a kid to be so grounded when your Granddaddy is Richard Petty and your Dad is Kyle Petty. I'm a pretty nice guy and I probably would have just ignored us. That impressed me and made me an instant fan. Later the next year maybe, he was running a Busch race at Texas and wrecked right in front of me on the back stretch. Another car involved in the race caught on fire and became completely engulfed in flames. Adam Petty jumped out of his car and ran straight up to the burning car to help get the driver to of the car. It wasn't a little fire either. It was something that was serious enough that he could have been injured if the driver had not got out really quick. Another impressive thing for this kid. It is a damned shame he was killed. He was a special person that the world never got to know and probably a great driver and never really got to show it. I have other stories, but that one should be told. View Quote Great story, thanks for sharing that. Rest in peace, Adam |
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I just watched a little about him. dam he was taken too young |
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I just watched a little about him. dam he was taken too young View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
I just watched a little about him. dam he was taken too young Heir to the throne, grandson of The King. The young man had a ton of natural talent. We lost Kenny Irwin Jr. just a few months after we lost Adam. Same track, same corner, same injury. It wasn't long after that we lost Dale. It was a rough time, to say the least |
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while he seemed nice enough when i last saw him at about the age of 5, have you ever seen a terry labonte interview? that guy has to be the most laid back motherfucker on the planet View Quote For a while NASCAR was asking us to send guys to meet the drivers, all trans provided, etc. I only went once and didn't meet that many guys, but I never heard anything bad about any driver. |
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Jeez! I forgot all about AJ. He lives not far from me and he and my dad used to do business together (race horses) when I was a kid. I've met him more times than I can even remember, though none recently. We used to have dinner at his house with him every now and then. All of that was a long time ago. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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A.J. FOYT Jeez! I forgot all about AJ. He lives not far from me and he and my dad used to do business together (race horses) when I was a kid. I've met him more times than I can even remember, though none recently. We used to have dinner at his house with him every now and then. All of that was a long time ago. I got an autographed photo from A.J. back in 1967 and I still have it. |
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Heir to the throne, grandson of The King. The young man had a ton of natural talent. We lost Kenny Irwin Jr. just a few months after we lost Adam. Same track, same corner, same injury. It wasn't long after that we lost Dale. It was a rough time, to say the least View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I just watched a little about him. dam he was taken too young Heir to the throne, grandson of The King. The young man had a ton of natural talent. We lost Kenny Irwin Jr. just a few months after we lost Adam. Same track, same corner, same injury. It wasn't long after that we lost Dale. It was a rough time, to say the least Never should have happened. NASCAR didn't get off their ass about stuck throttles, head/neck injuries and wall protection until after DE sr was killed. |
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Never should have happened. NASCAR didn't get off their ass about stuck throttles, head/neck injuries and wall protection until after DE sr was killed. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I just watched a little about him. dam he was taken too young Heir to the throne, grandson of The King. The young man had a ton of natural talent. We lost Kenny Irwin Jr. just a few months after we lost Adam. Same track, same corner, same injury. It wasn't long after that we lost Dale. It was a rough time, to say the least Never should have happened. NASCAR didn't get off their ass about stuck throttles, head/neck injuries and wall protection until after DE sr was killed. Yep. I wasn't going to bring it up, but you're absolutely right. Basal skull fractures killed all three |
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Awesome pic |
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Did pocono do it themselves? |
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Did pocono do it themselves? I believe so |
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Ken Schrader.
Super stand up guy. He was at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN. I had VIP tickets and all. Stand up guy! |
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