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

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.

Dibs on anything not covered in bodily fluids.

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!

Mark Martin Hands down.

He is also smart enough to to realize that the nicer he is the more he gets paid.
I do not think he has to try very hard

Might want to get checked out....

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

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.

How's that case of da aidz working out for you and Gina?

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.

This. Met him a few times, always seemed genuinely nice. Plus he's a shooter!

Jamie McMurray was pretty cool when we chatted at the 24 hrs of Daytona

In 1998 I met Dale Earnhardt a few weeks after his Daytona 500 win. Super nice guy and down to earth.

Awesome Bill from Dawsonville

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.

Michael and Darrell Waltrip

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.

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.

 

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.

I flew Jeff Gordon a few years back.  Real nice guy.

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.  





And my favorite race malfunction ever... The engine wins!

Dam I was all ready to root for him in races (newer fan) untill the last part.

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.

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.  

My favorite driver. Also I think it's pretty cool his spotter is a guy he met from online racing.

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...

You sure you didn't meet Hannibal Lecter?

Believe it or not , Ty Dillon and company are very cool.

Out to eat last year , he tipped each waitress $100.

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.

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

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

YES,  EDDIE & ERCIE HILL

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.

I used to hang out with Steve Kinser, his family and crew. Nice people.

Great story, thanks for sharing that.
Rest in peace, Adam

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

Harry Gant.

I got an autographed photo from A.J. back in 1967 and I still have it.

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

Did pocono do it themselves?

I believe so

Ken Schrader.

Super stand up guy. He was at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN. I had VIP tickets and all.

Stand up guy!