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Man, what a weekend. I headed down Friday morning and got to work.
On Friday I got six autographs: Jeff Green, Ryan Newman, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, and Ward Burton (woot!). That's the only day I tried for autographs... I had to buy a sharpie at the track because I left mine at home... and then I LOST it after Friday. doh. I had a chance at other guys autographs (Sorenson, Jarrett, Mayfield, Stewart, J. Burton) but I either didn’t have a postcard or couldn’t get them in time.
I also talked to Kevin Lepage about him running the Oxford 250 later this month.
Then I helped with the pathetic excuse for a Busch East race. So many crashes. They couldn’t go two laps without wrecking. 10 cautions in 125 lap race. Pathetic. I ran out and grabbed a couple Maine natives in Kelly Moore and Mike Gallo. Moore was upset (they both crashed late) but he had no power steering in the last 100+ laps. Gallo was super pissed. He’s running for a penny-pinching team and he got a wrecked race car while running in the top 10. He was very nice, without a doubt one of my favorite guys to interview.
That's about all I did that day.
On Saturday, I have to cover the Busch race. So I really have something to do. But first I went outside the track and looked for diecasts. I was pretty disappointed at the selection and the only one I picked up was a Hamlin 1/64th I needed.
I watched the race from the press room and ran outside to the Busch garage after the race trying to talk to anyone I could.
I first talked to Greg Biffle who had just got done talking with Stephen Leicht. Biffle was sympasizing with Leicht because Bobby Santos was all over the place. Biffle was a good talk as was Leicht, who I talked to next.
I found Reed Sorenson and talked to him. Man, he talks fast. I could barely transcribe my notes of his.
After Sorenson, I got Denny Hamlin. And he was pretty cool. He stopped with me and talked about his run. He was a bit disappointed because his car wasn’t right at the end. After I got done talking to him, Tony Stewart walked by and I got him. I was kind of expecting him to blow me off, but he was really cool. He has a reputation of being a jerk to the media, but he was very, very nice. He praised KHI up and down for putting a good team together. I was very impressed with how nice and willing to talk he was.
After I got them, I talked to Scott Wimmer and he was very nice as always. We talked about the race and how he likes racing for RCR. He kind of light up when I said I was a fan and wanted to see him race every week.
Then I transcribed my notes and went back to the hotel.
Sunday. Big boys race time. I didn’t do too much before the race. I talked to a couple crew members that were from Maine. One on Tony Raines’ team and another on Elliott Sadler’s team. They were nice to talk to.
I was very nervous when Gordon was gaining on Hamlin, I was just hoping Hamlin could hold him off and he did. That was so awesome! I’m just so happy to be at a race that one of my favorites won. Great finish to an otherwise boring race.
After the race I ran out and got a few quotes from Carl Edwards and then talked to Juan Pablo Montoya. He said his car kept getting worse and worse. Then I asked him about the contact with Hamlin on the backstretch midway through the race and he didn’t even remember it happening.
I watched the post-race press conference with Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. and then later with Denny Hamlin, Mike Ford, and JD Gibbs.
Then I transcribed my notes, helped Larry with his story, talked to Chuck Givler for a while next to me (cool guy).
We started heading home a little after 9 and got home just before 2 a.m.
The weirdest part of the weekend… as we were heading home, he had to stop. A Ford Racing hauler got stuck on the road. We were on a hill and he was turning to another road and his trailer bottomed-out. They had cops and a wrecker there. We sat there for about 25 minutes, but finally got around it and back to where we needed to be.
All in all, a fun weekend. I got to talk to one of my favorites, get an autograph from another, and see the other win the race. I got really, really sunburned on Friday and am suffering from it now lol. Oh well. Price to pay I guess.
I have a ton of media guides and postcards that I’m probably going to sell on ebay.
On Friday I got six autographs: Jeff Green, Ryan Newman, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, and Ward Burton (woot!). That's the only day I tried for autographs... I had to buy a sharpie at the track because I left mine at home... and then I LOST it after Friday. doh. I had a chance at other guys autographs (Sorenson, Jarrett, Mayfield, Stewart, J. Burton) but I either didn’t have a postcard or couldn’t get them in time.
I also talked to Kevin Lepage about him running the Oxford 250 later this month.
Then I helped with the pathetic excuse for a Busch East race. So many crashes. They couldn’t go two laps without wrecking. 10 cautions in 125 lap race. Pathetic. I ran out and grabbed a couple Maine natives in Kelly Moore and Mike Gallo. Moore was upset (they both crashed late) but he had no power steering in the last 100+ laps. Gallo was super pissed. He’s running for a penny-pinching team and he got a wrecked race car while running in the top 10. He was very nice, without a doubt one of my favorite guys to interview.
That's about all I did that day.
On Saturday, I have to cover the Busch race. So I really have something to do. But first I went outside the track and looked for diecasts. I was pretty disappointed at the selection and the only one I picked up was a Hamlin 1/64th I needed.
I watched the race from the press room and ran outside to the Busch garage after the race trying to talk to anyone I could.
I first talked to Greg Biffle who had just got done talking with Stephen Leicht. Biffle was sympasizing with Leicht because Bobby Santos was all over the place. Biffle was a good talk as was Leicht, who I talked to next.
I found Reed Sorenson and talked to him. Man, he talks fast. I could barely transcribe my notes of his.
After Sorenson, I got Denny Hamlin. And he was pretty cool. He stopped with me and talked about his run. He was a bit disappointed because his car wasn’t right at the end. After I got done talking to him, Tony Stewart walked by and I got him. I was kind of expecting him to blow me off, but he was really cool. He has a reputation of being a jerk to the media, but he was very, very nice. He praised KHI up and down for putting a good team together. I was very impressed with how nice and willing to talk he was.
After I got them, I talked to Scott Wimmer and he was very nice as always. We talked about the race and how he likes racing for RCR. He kind of light up when I said I was a fan and wanted to see him race every week.
Then I transcribed my notes and went back to the hotel.
Sunday. Big boys race time. I didn’t do too much before the race. I talked to a couple crew members that were from Maine. One on Tony Raines’ team and another on Elliott Sadler’s team. They were nice to talk to.
I was very nervous when Gordon was gaining on Hamlin, I was just hoping Hamlin could hold him off and he did. That was so awesome! I’m just so happy to be at a race that one of my favorites won. Great finish to an otherwise boring race.
After the race I ran out and got a few quotes from Carl Edwards and then talked to Juan Pablo Montoya. He said his car kept getting worse and worse. Then I asked him about the contact with Hamlin on the backstretch midway through the race and he didn’t even remember it happening.
I watched the post-race press conference with Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. and then later with Denny Hamlin, Mike Ford, and JD Gibbs.
Then I transcribed my notes, helped Larry with his story, talked to Chuck Givler for a while next to me (cool guy).
We started heading home a little after 9 and got home just before 2 a.m.
The weirdest part of the weekend… as we were heading home, he had to stop. A Ford Racing hauler got stuck on the road. We were on a hill and he was turning to another road and his trailer bottomed-out. They had cops and a wrecker there. We sat there for about 25 minutes, but finally got around it and back to where we needed to be.
All in all, a fun weekend. I got to talk to one of my favorites, get an autograph from another, and see the other win the race. I got really, really sunburned on Friday and am suffering from it now lol. Oh well. Price to pay I guess.
I have a ton of media guides and postcards that I’m probably going to sell on ebay.
