NASCAR Autograph

Photo by Matt Murray, February 2005, Daytona International Speedway, Florida

I still don’t have time to write but somehow I managed to write this post. My schedule at work keeps changing but this week I finally get out a little earlier than usual. The only thing is I have to get up quite early to go in. More often than not, I’m tired when I get home. And then, in a few hours, it’s time to go to bed again.

But I told myself that you, my reader, deserve a great newsletter this week. And every week, for that matter. So I’ve put my heart and soul into this one. Not that I don’t do that every week, but last week I had to just put some small snippets together.

So without further ado, here we go!

It was a crisp Florida morning in Daytona Beach, Florida one February day in 2005. My Mom and I woke up in our hotel room ready for the day’s activities. We got our showers and dressed for the occasion. We had to put on several layers. We had on a shirt, sweater, and a winter jacket. The temperatures were in the 30s and 40s. The highs were expected to reach into the 50s. People who don’t live in Florida think it never gets that cold here. I’m here to tell you it does. We went down into the hotel lobby and had our breakfast.

We were in Daytona Beach for the activities leading up to the big NASCAR race. We were going to the Friday Craftsman Truck Series race. During the week, there were lots of activities going on. Sponsors had events where you could meet the drivers. The merchandise haulers were set up so you could purchase merchandise for your favorite drivers. They had everything! You name it, they had it.

Other race fans were there to see either the Cup series race on Sunday or the Busch series race on Saturday. Although we liked those series and followed them, those tickets cost a lot more. Our tickets were the most inexpensive ones.

I could talk more about this but that isn’t the scope of this newsletter. Stay tuned as I’ll probably talk more in-depth about this at a later time.

One Specific Autograph

What I want to talk about today in this newsletter is a specific opportunity that I had for an autograph.

There were several opportunities during the week for autographs. A lot of the automotive groups would make drivers available for question and answer sessions, along with autograph sessions. You could talk to the drivers at most of these events.

During the years we went, the SPEED Channel (which doesn’t exist anymore) had a stage set up outside the track. The channel had their announcers talking about the upcoming races. They were joined on stage by drivers. These events worked around the driver’s schedules. They couldn’t be there all the time as they were out on the track practicing.

One morning we were there standing, watching what was happening on the stage. It was freezing!!!

The driver that was on the set was Brian Vickers. He drove for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the top-tier teams.

There weren’t many people watching the broadcast that early in the morning. There were only about ten people. It was around 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. Most people were at work during that time.

After the broadcast was over, Brian headed down off the stage to autograph people’s items. There were about five people who had gathered. I told my Mom that I wish I had something for him to sign. But we didn’t have anything, or at least we thought. So we started walking away.

As soon as we were away from the area, I reached up to adjust my hat and I said, “Oh my gosh. I’m wearing his hat.” I was wearing a Brian Vickers hat. We were so cold and freezing, we didn’t realize that I was wearing a hat with his name on it. So we did have something for him to sign.

Photo by Matt Murray, 2005

Oh well. We figured it out a little too late.

For the record, I never got the hat signed by him.

Conclusion

Always remember what you might be wearing, especially if you want a NASCAR driver to sign it. Live and learn. I wish you could have felt how cold it was that day. Our brains weren’t working very well.

So if you know Brian, let him know I need my hat autographed! Ha Ha Ha. LOL!

Until next time, happy reading!

-Matt