So many

Getting a picture in the mid 80's as a kid with my brother and garlits on the starting line at Indy.

One year at Indy...again in the 80's, it rained and we went to the 500 museum. As we're walking around and we see Snake there too. So we have a picture with us and him standing next to an old Indy car.

Arlene Johnson getting my family onto the starting line in E-town(this was before they let everybody on)

Hillary Will and her interations with my daughter. If she's not the friendliest driver out there I don't know who is. Most drivers just sign and move on, which I can't blame them they are always crunched for time, Hillary always takes time, I usually end up feeling bad for the people in line as I talk to much.

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My faves:
Connie Kalitta, when he's had a few (usually at the Sat night bbq's in e-town)
Shirley, taking in Connie when he's had a few,
Scelzi, when he's hanging out w/the fans,
Garlits, when I, as a teen, walked up to him, knees shaking, in the staging lanes at E-town, when Larson was driving for him.

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In the dictionary under "redundant" it says "see redundant".

Mine has to be all the time I spend with Jerrod at the races....coolest cat on the property!

KB

I will second the Morgan Lucas vote....great guy.

Not a professional driver, but my top vote would go to Aaron Olivarez. We talked for a long time about sponsorships, his future, my future, etc. during the long rain delay during Qualifying at Atlanta this year. He was very informative and also listened well.

During my Nitro Intern stint with Gilbertson at Atlanta 2004, I was able to talk to Scelzi for a long time in the staging lanes. He was a really laid back guy and was just genuinely "cool".

And then there's Roy Hill and Pro Mod driver Mike Bell. Mike can tell some great stories about the 80s with Raymond Beadle and is a great source of info.

One person that I would LOVE to have a "sit down" with is Whit. I haven't had the chance yet. I really respect that competitive intensity. I have to get into that mode when shooting competitively also, so I understand it.

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LT Bruce Braxton
S/C 2506
"Anybody in Div 2 need a driver??"

Morgan Lucas is great, he's my wife's favorite because of how nice he was during the ACDelco Nats in Vegas this past Spring. He was gracious & posed for pics when he seemed to be involved in doing other things. Everytime I see him he's smiling & seems to always be having a good time.

Mike Ashley is a really cool cat too. Kevin Brown of course. Tony Schumacher, Scelzi, Capps, Clay Millican. Tony Bartone was really cool one time I talked to him.

And I've seen John Force stop & sign & give stuff to kids many times. He was rushing to an interview or something (you could tell he was in a hurry)away from the track one time & telling everyone he didn't have time to sign stuff, he was already late. Well he signed as much as he could anyway... I wanted to jump in and be a body guard to back the crowd away, but he probably would've kicked me in the knee and kept signing.

Now, I know what y'all are thinking.....and although the times I've spent chatting with Ron at the track I am treated well and totally enjoy myself (not to mention laugh my ass off....especially with a guest appearance from Gary), those times only count as runners up with this year in Baytown being WAY up there!

My #1 favorite is the time I was able to spend with Darrell Russell and Rob Geiger at the DRAW Auction in Ennis 2003. Those 10 or so minutes are the most cherished. Darrell and I just shared some small talk mostly about the Houston area, but I will never forget those few minutes. I can't help but think that I would still feel that way had Darrell not left us so soon after. He was so genuine. Oh, and Rob wasn't half bad either.

I have a ton of other ones.....Clay Millican, David Grubnic, John Force, etc. Good times!

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NAPA Nitro Fan!

If you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!

Back at the old Cajun Nationals, after Friday's qualifying they brought in a pickup truck full of boiled crawfish and another full of beer. They announced over the PA, free to all in the pits. So I'm sitting there piling up the shells, and Snake walks up to my brother and I, "How in the hell are you peeling those things so fast" That was pretty awesome showing one of my childhood heros how to peel crawfish!

I walked up to Al Hofmann and asked him to sign his hero card, he grabbed the John Force card out of my hand and said, "I'll gladly sign this one"!

My wife saw Doug Herbert riding through the pits in Baytown on his golf cart and stopped him to sign here sweatshirt. He kept looking for his Sharpie and couldn't find it. She said "don't bother, I'll get it another time", He said, "No, don't move, rode off and sure enough came back to where we were and signed her shirt" That really made an impression on us, what a great guy.

At the 50th anniversary race in Pomona, in the Winner's Circle, Force had his whole family there. My wife asked John if she could take a picture with his wife and girls................that is a pretty cool picture to have now that Driving Force is so popular.......the girls look quite a bit different now.

I have been a fan of Shirley Muldowney's since my earliest memory at a drag strip which was '80 even though I had been to the races every weekend since I was 1 week old. At the time, not many racer's address' (pre-email), were available. Finally, at age 14 I mailed a letter to Drag Racer Magazine and National Dragster to debate on the "Shirley vs. Lori" deal back in '89 (also asking for Shirley's address). Once both of my letters were published, my letters were forwarded on to Shirley. In a couple of weeks I rec'd a letter and an autographed picture from Shirley. We have been in contact ever since!! She is the best of the breed. In fact we still keep in touch today.
(I have some very rare memorabilia and momentos from Shirley that are the most special part of any drag racing collection that I could have.)!!

Shirley, Skuza, Lori Johns and Dale Pulde. In that order.

Darrell Russell by far the coolest most regular(humble actually)guy. Blaine Johnson also very personable. Darrell Alderman and Mark Pawuk always gave me time as well as Skuza. Best one on one had to be Shirley at a match race against Dante Pastorini at Houston International in the mid to late 80's....really down to earth.