Fan columnist: Season finale brings out the best in NASCAR fans
The majority of NASCAR fans are down-to-earth, humble people. Attending the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway reminded me of that fact.
A colleague tipped us off as to where the drivers enter the garage from their motorhomes. While playing autograph hound in the garage, I noticed a woman crying after she had gotten team owner Rick Hendrick’s signature. Her name was Lisa. She and her husband, John, lost their son approximately the same time as Hendrick lost his son, Ricky, in the 2004 plane crash. This created a bond between her family and the Hendrick Motorsport’s teams. John was the most spry, enthusiastic autograph catcher there that day. Three days at the track and he had not even made it out onto pit road. John waited by the gate, where the drivers were dropped off by golf carts, springing into action when a driver entered the garage. He was more than willing to risk messing up his surgically repaired knee getting a signature for us, but we were doing fine on our own.
In the grandstands my wife, Tara, took a picture of two fans sitting next to us. One was a nondescript attendee – baseball hat, NASCAR T-shirt and a tallboy can of Budweiser. The other was a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. I know this because one half of his horseshoe shaped mustache was colored red while the other side was blue. In the middle a mini-88 temporary tattoo adorned his chin. Pete, the non-dyed mustache guy, asked if we could send him a copy of this photo so he could remember the race with his buddy. Just as any fan would, I guarantee you 100 percent that Tara will develop and send that photo.
While in the parking lot after the race waiting for traffic to clear, Tara and I were offered burgers by two gentlemen grilling on their tailgate. Both Wisconsin natives, Clark flew from near Sheboygan, Wis., to St. Petersburg, Fla., where his brother Carl now resides. Together they rode in Carl’s truck to the track. They had a few burgers left and offered them to us for no reason other than we had all traveled across the country and were essentially in the same predicament.
Carl was a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. I noticed that during introductions Junior received a large number of boos, more than I have heard at any track ever. There were a great many cheers, but the boos definitely were rife. I am not sure if south Florida just swings towards many varied drivers or if the fans were expressing their dissatisfaction with Junior’s year. Carl indicated it may have been due to the team and sponsor change. Carl explained: “Junior is Budweiser - some things just fit. I didn’t go out and buy all the new stuff.”
At every race track, fans experience the camaraderie and hospitality of other fans. This is what really elevates the satisfaction level of attending a NASCAR race.
Congrats to Jimmie Johnson and the whole No. 48 team. I am glad I was able to witness the historic event that is his third consecutive championship. Congrats to NASCAR for 60 years of races and running.
Next year looks to be an interesting year. Tony Stewart faces an uphill battle as an owner and a driver. I predict Stewart will say something out of frustration that people will overreact to in 2009.
Mark Martin’s move to Hendrick Motorsports will be one of the more intriguing stories for the 2009 season. I will just go ahead and predict now that Martin will finish second in the championship standings.
Another notable driver for 2009 includes rookie-year contender Joey Logano. Will he be sliced bread or toast? The resurgence or disintegration of Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix….I can’t event type the whole thing, it’s just too ridiculous….will be closely inspected.
With the 2008 Chase ending, the opportunity for me to voice my comments has ended. I would like to thank SceneDaily.com for cleaning up my spelling errors, punctuation mistakes and innuendos. Thanks to NOS Energy Drink for sponsoring the prize
Winter has come to Chicago. Some characteristics of winter are a pain such as snow-shoveling, ice-scraping and the hacking of a winter cold, but the most torturous thing is that there is no NASCAR.
Thanks so much to everyone for taking a brief moment to read my column. I sincerely appreciate it.
