NASCAR is a small, small world
BROOKLYN, Mich. - Don Rohr had been married all of two days when he put on a snorkel mask, jumped from a boat into the ocean off St. Thomas and – gulp – felt his wedding ring slide off and disappear into the water.
Rohr, who heads marketing efforts for Brian Vickers, had decided to take a snorkel trip as a fun activity on his honeymoon with new wife Denise. He immediately dropped his mask to mark the spot and started cursing aloud.
Denise scolded him, saying, “Don’t swear in front of the little kids. I care more about that than the ring. We can replace that.”
The ring had come to rest at the bottom of the ocean 20 feet below the boat. A woman who was also on the snorkel boat swam roughly one-third of the way down and saw something shiny.
“Everyone knew it was my ring, as I was so nervous,” Rohr said.
The ring was white gold with an engraving “C-Train to my heart, 6-6-09,” signifying the New York City subway train where the couple first met and the date of the wedding.
Rohr feared it was gone forever, but the woman from the boat suddenly surfaced with the ring in her hand.
The couple and the woman happily found themselves in conversation, and Rohr told her about his job and connection to NASCAR.
You might think a snorkel boat in St. Thomas would be as far from NASCAR as it gets. But the woman told Rohr she had a NASCAR connection, too.
As it turns out, she was the aunt of Nationwide Series driver John Wes Townley.
Small world, Rohr said, “and yes, a happy ending.”
