How to Obtain Driver Autographs at RIR

This time last year I attended my first Richmond race. Spent two full days at the track and can say with some degree of certainty how to best obtain a driver autograph. Short of having garage access, which practically no normal fan does, the best way is to buy an infield pass to the day of the Nationwide race. Go early (during the practice sessions) and hang out near the entrance to the Nationwide garage area. There is an opening in the fence there and this is where all of the Nationwide drivers (many of them Cup regulars) enter and exit the Nationwide garage. Spot them before their golf cart picks them up or walk with them as they head to a driver's meeting. Either way, you load up on signatures.

In between the Nationwide garage entrance and the Cup garage there was a tent where both Cup and Nationwide drivers entered and exited with some regularity. You can get a decent amount of Cup regulars and a few owners as well by hanging out here. There's no sure thing, but I ended up with over 20 signatures with very little effort last year. You could even get your picture made with a driver. Don't tell A.J. but I'm squatting down pretty hard to not appear too tall in comparison. Maybe that's why my face looks so contorted!

If you are into taking pictures there's a pretty good spot for this. Go to the end of pit road, where the Cup cars enter the track to take their practice runs, and camp out on the wall. You'll see the cars go by at relatively slow speed (good for a photo op) before speeding up to take a few laps.

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Randy Moss Discuss Foray into NASCAR on E60 @ 7pm EST

Just a reminder, as it just occurred to me...tonight on ESPN they will be airing a new epsiode of their show "E:60". The interesting angle about tonight's episode, which airs at 7pm EST and 6pm CST, is that a good portion will be devoted to Randy Moss discussing his new ownership stake in NASCAR's truck series.

Next week's episode will feature a piece on Alba Colon, "the most powerful woman in NASCAR". She's an engineer who serves as GM's NASCAR program manager. That show will air on Tuesday, August 19th, same time...7pm EST.

• 5 Comments
• E:60, Randy Moss, Abla Colon

NASCAR Fan Has Wandering Sports Eye

So many great sports stories going on that I’m almost losing track of the fact that we only have what…five races until the Chase? Anybody else suffering from this sports information overload?

For starters, we have the Summer Olympics in Beijing starting today. Really enjoy watching the marquee events in track and field, along with some of the team sports. Not a big fan of gymnastics though…gotta be honest about that. Next, we had the first preseason games in the NFL last night. I’m such a football nut that I’ll watch two teams trying to figure out who will be their third string players…I don’t care…it’s football! Speaking of football, what about the whole Favre saga? Deanna said last night how tired she was of hearing about it and my response was that guys need their versions of soap operas too. College football isn’t too far away either. Just got my Razorback season tickets in the mail last week. Finally, I’m a huge Chicago Cubs fan and this season has been sweet redemption so far…so far. If they can somehow hang on and go on to win their first World Series in 100 years then that’ll trump any other sports story the rest of the year.

Like I say, lots of stuff going on in the world of sport these days. Kind of makes NASCAR get a little lost in the sea of storylines. Still, the Chase is almost upon us and that’s pretty darn exciting too!

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Funny Moment From Pocono Last Year

Was looking through some photos from last year at Pocono and came across one that made me laugh. Deanna and I were walking up and down pit road when she decided to park herself at the UPS pit stall. We were hanging out chatting them up when one of their guys chimes in that with her in their pit that it was the best their team had looked all season! Ha ha ha.

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Finally...a Winner

In sticking with my recent blog about Mountain Dew’s Old School or New contest, I thought it was worth mentioning something positive. Not long ago I had a package arrive at the home. Just reading the address clued me in on the contents. The package was from the Wrigley Racing Team (a sponsor of Rowdy). Back when Rowdy was plugging them and had a link to the Wrigley website, I would often go over there and enter their NASCAR contest from time to time. So, the arrival of my package got my thoughts to racing…”what’s inside?”. After initial excitement I became mildly disappointed at the realization that the box would not contain a signed diecast (not the right size and didn’t seem to weigh enough). So, I’m thinking maybe it’s a 1/64 scale car or a t-shirt. Upon opening the box I found the contents were neither a car nor a shirt. My prize was a 42 team pit road hat signed by Juan Pablo Montoya and it came with a nice note of authentication. Very happy with it, but not sure what to do with it…I mean…I’m not one to wear signed stuff, be it a jersey or a hat. So for now the signed Montoya hat sits alongside my collection of diecast cars. Thank you Wrigley!

• 4 Comments
• Wrigley, contest

Dew's Old School or New is Taunting Me

Surely somebody out there in Rowdy Nation is like me…always entering contests in an often fruitless attempt to win some type of NASCAR-related prize. Mountain Dew’s Old School or New contest has become my albatross. Somehow I convinced several of my coworkers to hand over their Dew caps so that their silly coworker can enter them into an equally silly contest. Well, after entering almost 350 times with no winners I feel incredibly silly. The contest ends 8/11/08 and I haven’t won jack. Even worse, many of my entries were used on what I thought would be easier prizes to win (odds-wise). Just curious if there have been any winners out there in Rowdy Nation.

• 3 Comments
• Old School or New, Mountain Dew, contests

Wow, Has it Really Been a Year?

Hard to believe that it’s been a year ago since we attended the second Pocono race. Doesn’t seem possible that so much time has passed. Still, the memories are very fresh.

Initially I was slightly disappointed at having not won Rowdy’s Pocono trip giveaway, but was also very happy for winner...Shavelle. Plus, a signed diecast proved to be a pretty nice runner-up prize…thanks again Rowdy guys. Then, about a week and a half before the race I get a call from a prize representative on behalf of the folks at Pocono, seems I was the grand prize winner of their “Are You Harry?” fan contest. The prize came with VIP tickets and accomodations at Caesar's Palace in the Poconos.

After a moment of sheer disbelief and exhilaration, panic set in…”dude, I need to make travel plans and get a few days off from work cleared with my boss”. Things got sorted out, as they always do, and we made our way to the Poconos.

My wife and I differ on what would constitute the highlight of the trip. For me, it was the box seats (you could see the whole track from up there) coupled with getting to meet Bass and Cutler along with Shavelle, the 187s, Scott, Rockin’ Roush Man, and Christi. For Deanna, it was probably having dinner at Bobby Flay’s Bar American in NYC. Either way, one year later I am still happy to remember meeting up with everybody (if only briefly).

Made three races last year (2nd Pocono, 2nd Richmond, and Kansas), but like a lot of other people…I’m cutting back a little this year. Only making the Kansas race as it’s the closest, but hoping to meet up with some fans of Rowdy while there. If anybody else is going to the Kansas race please drop me a line.

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Unbelievably Bad Concert Luck

Let me start by saying that my preference Saturday night would have been to be parked in front of the TV watching the race. However, due to the wonderful convenience of TiVo we made plans to go see a concert instead and then watch the race sometime on Sunday. Given our track record for concerts, I don’t know why we even bothered.

The last four concerts that we have tried to attend have been cancelled! Yep, you heard me right. We are currently on an unlucky concert-going streak like you wouldn’t believe. It all started with the Elton John concert that Deanna wanted to attend (not my bag, but I love my wife…so whatever). Sir Elton cancelled due to soar vocal chords. Okay…. Next, Deanna said she really, really wanted to see Nick Lachay (again…I really do love my wife) so again we buy tickets and what do you know…the concert got cancelled. However, the next concert was one that I actually wanted to attend…the Foo Fighters. I’m a big fan of theirs and was very eager to see them in concert again. Unfortunately, Dave Grohl came down with the flu and cancelled the day of the concert. Luckily for me they did reschedule and put on a great show, but still…I’m seeing a pattern here. So, really, should I have been surprised by what was to transpire at the Pat Benatar concert Saturday night and do I even have to repeat how much I love my wife at this point?

The concert was to be held under what can best be described as a large tent-like pavilion. Looking at the forecast beforehand showed a good chance for rain, but what did I care, our seats were in the dead center of this large pavilion. The opening act came on and performed as scheduled and about halfway through the set it started to rain. Fine, we were very dry and comfortable in our seats. During the intermission the rain intensified and then the winds picked up significantly. They were so strong that they blew away a vendor tent and seemed dead set on doing the same to the merchandise tent. At that point things became a lot less certain. We started joking about whether Pat would come on and dedicate her song “Hit Me With Your Best Shot�? to Mother Nature. Sure enough…the persistent squall ended up canceling the show and really, should I have even been surprised? Secretly, I was sort of happy in a way that at least we got home early enough that I was able to watch the entire race that night. Kudos to Kyle for his 7th win.

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Can Smoke Pull it Off Today?

If you had asked any number of people prior to qualifying who would be in their top 3 drivers to watch this weekend, you'd inevitably have heard Tony Stewart mentioned alongside Jeff Gordon and any number of road racers thrown in for conversation's sake. The picture for Tony looks a lot murkier this morning as he's mired deep in the field thanks to a poor qualifying effort. On a track where passing seems all but impossible until turn 11, is it crazy to think he even has a chance to win?

Sure, Juan Pablo Montoya came from 31 positions or so back last year to win, but that was far and away the exception rather than the rule at this track. It will take a tremendous amount of luck and skill to pull off...so much so that I just see no hope for Smoke even though he was one of the odds on favorites Friday morning. Bear in mind, I write this not as a Stewart fan but just as a fan in general. Curious to know if people think Smoke still has a chance today.

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NASCAR is a Very Giving Community

A few months ago I sent out letters to several sports organizations (NFL, MLB, NCAA, and NASCAR). My goal was to get donated items for use in an upcoming silent auction to benefit my local chapter of the American Cancer Society. Well, tomorrow night is the culminating event (Relay For Life) in the annual fund drive and one of the events is the aforementioned silent auction.

Guess which one of those sports organizations stepped up head and shoulders above the others...that's right, it was NASCAR. MLB and NFL were busts and my beloved Razorbacks did virtually nothing to help me this year after helping last year. However, several Cup teams sent items that will be graciously used to create some very nice auction items. Two teams in particular deserve praise...Ganassi and DEI. Both went way, way above sending just signed driver cards...they sent some great gear. It just reemphasized to me how giving a community NASCAR really is. Nobody else even comes close!

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• DEI, Ganassi