Past Appearances

Kerry Earnhardt~Matt Kenseth~Michael Waltrip~Tony Stewart~John Andretti~Steve Park

Kerry Earnhardt

The first driver I met was Kerry Earnhardt. I took lots of pictures, but I haven't scanned them yet. :o(

I met Kerry in Boston early last summer. My sister had to go to class, and I didn't want to go by myself, so I invited my friend Mary. She didn't really know anything about Nascar. She didn't have a favorite driver yet or anything, but that would change!

We got to Boston pretty early in the afternoon. We brought my sister Kelly with us so she could see the show car and the setup of things.

We had to drive her back to my friends house in Methuen a couple hours later so she wouldn't be late for class.

Then Mary and I headed back to Boston.

They had a little track where you could race remote controlled cars. We played with them, and we made friends with the guys who worked there. By the end of the day, we were helping them with their job by picking up the cars that had fallen off the track.
We also talked to a group of people from Fox Sports, and they interviewed us.

We were there ALL day, and there were not many people around. Then we noticed a line forming about a half hour before Kerry was due.

We hopped in line with only ten or fifteen people in front of us.

It didn't take long for us to get to the front of the line. Mary took a picture of me with Kerry. Then I took a picture of her with him. She was afraid that she didn't get a good picture of me with Kerry, so she was about to snap another one. Kerry noticed and said, "Y'all want me stand up again?" He did and we got another picture. Mary and I talked to him for a few minutes and wished him luck. He was so nice! :o)
And the traffic on the way home from "rushhour" Boston was TOTALLY worth it!

Matt Kenseth (pictures)

I met Matt in Boston as well. I met him in July. Kelly and I picked my friend Mary up in Methuen, and we drove to Boston. We got there really early again. We walked around a little bit and took pictures with Matt's special AT&T car. There were also some games to play.

There was no one in line, and we noticed a block of cement that was holding up the tent pole. It was right in front of the table where Matt was going to be signing, so Mary and I sat down there while Kelly went to get us drinks. When she came back, Matt walked over with a small group of people. There was also a woman with him who was taking pictures.

Matt noticed us and started walking over, but everytime he would get stopped by one of the people in his group.

We figured he would never get away, so we started listening and singing along to the music that was playing.

John Mayer came on, and Mary and I started singing really loud, "I'm gonna run through the halls of my highschool! I'm gonna scream at the top of my lungs!

I noticed Kelly looking over my shoulder, and when I turned around, Matt was looking at me and Mary, and he was laughing!

We got to talk to Matt for a couple minutes. Then he had to do an interview. We watched and took pictures.

A line was beginning to form behind us.

Mary and I put our drinks under the table so they wouldn't get knocked over while we were taking pictures.

When Matt finished the interview, he came over and started signing. We were first in line! We got autographs and pictures with him!!

When it was time to go, Mary and I looked for our drinks. Then Mary remembered that we put the under the table. The table Matt was now sitting at!!!

Mary and I reached under the table for our sodas. I got one, but while Mary was searching, she accidently grabbed Matt's leg! Mary turned bright red and looked up at him. He just laughed. (She's only 14!) :o)

Mary finally got the soda, and we said goodbye again. Then we headed off to see Michael Waltrip, who was appearing in Ipswitch only a few hours later! Would we make it?! :o)

Michael Waltrip (pictures)

We drove to Ipswitch right after we left Matt Kenseth's signing. When we got there, there was only about 10 people in line, but it was HOT! We hadn't noticed in Boston, because there was a tent. Now we were sitting next to a car dealership in the sun!

We had a blanket to sit on, but we really didn't know how things were going to be setup, so we didn't have anything else.

The guy in front of us had a cooler full of ice, so Mary asked him for a piece. He gave her one, and she put it on her arms and neck. I did the same, it was that hot!!!

Anyway, Mikey got there just after few minutes after the time. By the time he got there, there was a HUGE line. They were telling everyone they could only have two autographs, and a lot of the people still wouldn't be able to meet Mikey, there were just too many!

I looked inside one of the windows, and I saw Buffy and Macy! Buffy was bringing Macy a juicebox, and Macy was sitting on a couch swinging her legs.

They let the first group of people in. There were about 15 of us. I heard one of the employees say that we would have a little longer with Mikey because we were waiting the longest.

It was a nice size group. A lot of people seemed too in awe to actually speak to Mikey. There was just something about that room. When we were getting pictures taken with him, at first all I could do was say "thank you" about a million times! My sister, whose favorite driver is Mikey, seemed like she was in shock! :o)

A man there gave me and Mary Mikey hats, and Mikey autographed them for us. Kelly had her old Mikey hat signed, and she didn't get a new one. When she found out we did, she said she wanted one. Mary went back to the man and got one for Kelly.

Kelly was beaming the entire time!

We went outside after and took pictures of eachother by Mikey's car. There was also a few other cars there. We wandered over to one with the name "Sean Nolan" on it. I told Mary she should get inside so I could take a picture. She did, but then she couldn't get out! She didn't know that the wheel came off. (or she was pretending!) A guy came over and leaned in the car and took the wheel off for her. She got out of the car laughing.

We took a few more pictures and finished the roll. Then we were off to one hour photo! :o)

Tony Stewart (pictures)

Mary, Kelly and I got to the Home Depot in Shrewsbury Massachusetts very early. There was already about 5 people in line. Kelly had to leave to go to class, so Mary and I took our pillows and sat in line.

We started talking to the people in front of us. Most of them were not Stewie fans themselves, but they were getting autographs for friends of theirs.

It was a VERY long day, so Mary and I started acting a little fired up! We were taking pictures of us with the pictures of Stewie and the coke machine.

Kelly said she was going to meet us about an hour before Stewie was meant to show up. She told us she would bring lunch for us.

We told everyone in line about Kelly. We also played cards on the ground. The people in front of us gave us crayons and paper to "play with." I ended up drawing all over Mary's arm! :o)

We asked the people in front of us if we were bothering them, and they told us, "No, you are entertaining." Cool!

Kelly got there at about the time she said. We saw her walking through the parking lot, and we started yelling her name. When she came over, she had bought us Stewie hats, and sqeeze cheese. Well, I don't know about you, but when you have been sitting in the HOT sun all day (Mary and I ended up getting BAD sunburns), squeeze cheese is NOT a lunch!

The people in front of us suggested a few places where Kelly could go, and she headed off again to buy me and Mary lunch.

There was also a boy in front of us who kept staring at Mary the entire day. His mother leaned over at one point and told Mary that her son thought she was pretty. Mary said it creeped her out! :o)

When Kelly cam back, we ate lunch and waited some more. A little hotdog stand setup. People were saying that it was suppose to be there earlier, but there had been a problem. Mary and I weren't hungry, but we were still hot! So, we went over to the stand and got cups of ice. It TOTALLY did the trick!

There was a guy from Home Depot asking quiz questions, and if you got it right, you got a Home Depot's gift card. Kelly got one of the questions right, but for some reason she didn't get a gift card. They said her question, "didn't count." Stewie got there a little late. The Home Depot people pushed everyone through the line. Everyone could only get one autograph, and they didn't want us taking pictures.

Kelly talked to him first, and he told her he had a headache. He didn't not look happy to be there at all! The Home Depot people pushed us through so fast, we didn't get to even say "hi" to Stewie.

Mary and I were VERY upset. We had waited there ALL day, and we didn't even get to say, "hi!"

That has been by far my worst experience. Home Depot needs to learn how to handle things better.

John Andretti (pictures)

We drove up to the BJ's in Tilton, NH to meet John Andretti! We got there early, and we were one of the first people there. :o) There were tables set up all around us where we could play different games and win prizes while we waited for John.

Since we were some of the only people there, we ended up having a camera crew and photographer follows us around all day!

We played the trivia games, Mary drove in the little cars while being filmed! Everyone kept saying that they couldn't believe she was actually doing that!!

We met three characters and posed for pictures with them!

By then a line was forming, so we got in line!

When we met John, he signed some items for each of us(I got a hat, card, and an 8*10 signed).

Then we asked for pictures with him. He said sure, and like no other driver I have met, he asked if we wanted to cometo the other side of the table for better pictures! We said sure!

After we met John, we went over to his car to get pictures. The camera crew was still following us!

We walked around some more, and we started talking to the DJs from 98.3. They gave us a free t-shirt, and we wanted them to autograph it. But, there was a problem. No sharpie!! So, we went looking for one. Someone joked and said that John had a pile of sharpies on his table.

I went back to the side of the table, and while he was signing an autograph, I asked if I could borrow a sharpie real quick.

He handed me one, and he said, "Sure, you can keep it."

I then went around telling everyone that John Andretti gave me a sharpie!

After we got the DJ's signatures, we decided we would leave and come back, because we noticed that there were some trailers up the road at hotels, and we wanted to look at them.

We started driving, and it was taking a lot longer than expected, so we turned back.

By the time we got back, John was finished signing autographs... In fact, he was standing in front of the car by himself. Kelly realized that she also wanted her hat signed, so we went over to him again.

He signed Kelly's hat, and he signed a honey nut cheerios car for me. :o) Mary asked him if she could have the sharpie when he was done with it. He said yes and gave it to her.

We also asked for more pictures, and we got 4 of them!

After the pictures, he left... So did we. :o) We drove back home, and on the way, we stopped and saw Nadeau, Craven, and Elliot's trailers...

From the highway, we also saw Skinner's, Wallace's, and a few more. :o)

Steve Park (pictures)

I "met" Steve for the first time in July 2002. We were walking back to our car after qualifying and a golf cart drove by. Steve was in it, so I waved to him. Mary waved, too, even though she didn't know who he was. Steve slowed down and said "hi" to us! Kelly didn't even see him!

Anyway, I guess in September was the first time I actually got to meet Steve.

Kelly and I went to Winston Cup practice in September at NHIS. We immediately went over to Steve's trailer, and it was a good thing we did! There was a message on the white board that he would be there signing after practice, but you needed a ticket. There was one person in line, so I stood behind her. I overheard her say, "you don't have any?!" Then she left. I went up to the man and said, "you don't have any tickets?!" He replied, "tickets we got!" She had wanted some merchandise that they didn't have. The man gave me two tickets and I thanked him.

We then went around to some other trailers to see who else would be signing. We got tickets for Bobby Labonte and Jack Rousch.

Johnny Benson, Ricky Craven and a few other drivers would be signing, but they did not require tickets.

Kelly and I went to site down and watch practice. This was the first practice I saw in person. I have only gone to qualifying before this. Living in Massachusetts also makes it hard to see a lot of Nascar things. :o(

After practice, we went to stand in line for Steve. There were already like 30 people in line, so we got behind them and waited, and waited...

Steve ended up being over an hour late.

The line moved at a decent pace. When it was my turn, I told Steve about his board at Nascar.com. He said that he knew who I was already!!! We talked some more, and he shook my hand. :o) Then Kelly talked to him for a little bit.

We said good bye, and went to see if any other drivers were still there. Bobby Labonte was gone, Jack Rousch had a HUGE line! Ricky Craven also had a big line.
We settled for just taking pictures of them. Then we went back over to watch Steve.

I took a LOT more pictures. Then we waited until Steve was leaving. He walked over to me before getting in the golf cart, and we talked a little bit more. Then he was told that someone in a wheelchair had wanted a picture with him, so we kept talking while he went over there. Then he said goodbye and got in the golf cart and drove away.

I, of course, had to finish up the roll right away, so I could take it to one hour photo!!! :o)