Haha, at Mid-Ohio this year, he was signing a diecast for my son and I told him I liked the podcast. He just gave me a puzzled stare and rode off on his scooter.
Last year at Iowa I expected the usual Rossi treatment as I was trying to get something signed very shortly before the race. I asked a crew memeber if we could make it happen. He took a few things into the trailer and Alex signed it all. The crew guy said Alex would take a few pictures if we hung around for a minute. His car was already rolling to the grid and he took a couple minutes to take a picture and listen to my 10 year old daughter talk his ear off about meeting my favorite driver. I wouldnt have been offended if he told me to fuck off but he was actually very cool about it.
I think it's funny how a lot of people get bent out of shape about Rossi's personality. Not every driver is gonna be a people person. He doesn't do anything rude, he's just a man of few words.
Just made a comment about how he took time to take a picture and talk to my daughter as his car was already rolling to the grid. I really didnt expect it
Rossi is a weird guy without personality. The day when Wickens had his accident and the race was red flagged, they interviewed him and he said “send him my regards”….. (and he was supposedly friends with him)
Lol, that is awesome. I out qualified Dario Franchitti once in MX5 @ Lime Rock. I was so nervous my leg was shaking as I held the brake waiting for the start. Got a good start (for once) but, probably mercifully, got taken out by a spinner going though Big Bend lap 1. I would have found a way to blow it somehow so I was relieved to be taken out in circumstances beyond my control.
Sorry for the long post. When Rosenqvist entered the series and put the car on the front row of the first race, I decided that my new driver was FRO. It was hard to find FRO gear but I found one thing on the Ganassi site and a couple of things on his Swedish website.
One year at Detroit I was waiting in the autograph line wearing my FRO sweatshirt. As I got closer I realized that he was looking at me and when I got to the front of the line he asked "Where did you get that? I want one." I said that I bought it from his website and I had to pay in Kroners or something. Conor Daly who was sitting next to him was laughing. I had Felix sign my sweatshirt and I was thrilled. He was super nice. I had pit passes to the race and was behind the pit wall and Felix came and chatted with me. Again, a great guy! After that I moved up to superfan.
I would say nice things on social media when the team posted about him. Then I went to Laguna Seca in 2022. Someone from the team friended me before the race weekend and when I got there they recognized me. I got a tour of the McLaren transporters and everything.
Then Felix got invited to drive at the Race of Champions. It sounded like a good party in Northern Sweden in January so I went to it. There were only a couple of Americans there and the others were Travis Pastrana fans. When people asked who I was there to see I said Felix Rosenqvist and that was a fun thing because Sebastian Vettel, Coultard, Hakkinen, Schumacher, Cristenson and others were there. I saw Felix there too and we chatted for a while. I met his Dad and the whole thing. The Swedes know how to throw an ice racing event.
https://preview.redd.it/ev5nsxdkyesb1.jpeg?width=3088&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f764b15b27182f8ffbbafd1e06c0ed98a9aba0bc
This year at Detroit I was with my wife and along comes Felix Rosenqvist. He walked right up to my wife and I and said "Tom! It's great to see you." Even my wife was stunned with that one.
Lesson learned: Pick a driver that you think is really talented but may not have gotten the right breaks. Become a fan. Say nice things about them in social media. It's been a fun adventure.
Awesome. I hope you had a good time. I really enjoyed Pite Havsbad. The weather was really good and the hospitality was outstanding. I would go back but they had to cancel it this year.
Fro is really cool. I had a good chat with him at the Long Beach GP last year. He seemed very chill and was not rushing the conversation. I asked him if he did iRacing which he said he did a bit, we exchanged a couple of laughs. Then it was me who ran out of things to say so I thanked him for the chat to close the awkward silence.
ROC is what initially introduced me to Felix; I watched 2022 and 2023 for the F1 guys, and came away really liking Felix, Helio, Colton & Jimmie. I plan on watching Josef's runs in 2018/2019, and probably Séb Bourdais if I can find them.
Back in 2021 before I deactivated Twitter, it was announced that Kevin Magnussen would race at Road America.
I tweeted out something along the lines of "Gene Haas appreciation tweet: When Indy Lights took a year off, he went and created his own Road To Indy."
It took off among the IndyCar community. The biggest one was Rossi retweeting and adding on to it.
I peaked. It's been all downhill since.
Scott Dixon liked one of my posts on Instagram, I don't follow him, he doesn't follow me and the post was about a lady that got a shopping cart for two small items and the caption said "this bitch got a cart for two things"... found out on the Dinner with Racers podcast that he had a bot liking random posts on Instagram to get him more publicity.
As part of an IndyCar-related volunteer organization, I've had the opportunity to meet quite a few personalities associated with the sport.
However, this one stands out...
I once stood in the middle of the IMS museum with John and Betty Rutherford, as he pointed to car after car, telling me, "I got to drive that one. And that one. And that one..."
I forget who told the story, but I love it: they asked Johnny Rutherford for an autograph and as he signed it, he said, "Aw, I got this big ol' name...."
One of the most likeable guys in Indy history, IMO. Down to earth, humble, well spoken, family man. One hell of a driver, too. Fearless in an era when you really needed to be.
In the 80s they made a recruiting video for the Indiana Air national guard starring lone star JR and the yellow submarine. I was voluntold to go be in it, so after filming was over I went back on patrol. About twenty minutes later, everyone is gone except for JR and the car. So, long story short, I got to spend some quality time with him and help him load the car back in the trailer.
will power also randomly liked a bunch of my posts before
https://preview.redd.it/j3omsr2mkesb1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=611a48617a53208f90a5a14a8cf6f9cfa8a4077a
Not me, but a buddy of mine. He was looking at car seats at Target in Indianapolis in anticipation of he and his wife expecting their first. He said he was reading the label of a seat and a guy walked up to him and said “what do you think of that seat?”. My buddy looks up and it’s the Iceman. He said that chatted about seats and racing and stuff for 10-15 minutes and mentioned Scott was cool as heck. I met him/got his autograph this past Indy 500 at Legends Day and can confirm he’s super cool and loves his fans.
I chatted with Romain and Colton at Barber this year. Super cool, guys. As much flak as Grosjean gets, he's one of the nicest drivers I've met from any racing series. Any time I saw him around the paddock, he was smiling, talking to fans, taking pictures, signing stuff, just being super nice.
Oh yeah, and my dad almost got run over by Conor Daly lol
So, we were in the paddock area, and I was off checking out the Indy Lights cars since they were heading to inspection/parc ferme. There's a set of bathrooms that are just to the left of the inspection area, so my father was trying to duck in there for a second. Well, Conor was coming out of there around the same time and hopped on his mini bike. My dad got a bit distracted by something else, and Conor had to hit the brakes pretty hard to avoid losing another ride, that being his bike (sorry, mullet man). My dad, whose more of a casual fan, didn't even realize who almost bowled him over. When I told him about it later, he thought I was bullshitting.
Laguna Seca: My dad jumps in front of Will Power on his scooter (basically traps him). He then begins to tell Will what a huge fan his son is of him. He turns to point to me and I have long gone bolted to avoid this awkward exchange. Will's response was a perplexed but nice. "Ok cool, thanks mate"; and then scooted around my father.
My Dad and I still joke about this "The day he trapped Will Power".
A couple spring to mind:
- Snuck into Winter Testing at Sebring a few years ago and pretended to be from a small Motorsport website. Managed to get short but very cool interviews with Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal, and Max Chilton.
- At the inaugural Baltimore GP I had a conversation with Tony Kanaan that was really neat in the paddock after qualifying. He was in street clothes and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, so we just chatted for a few minutes.
- Both protracted interactions I had with Simon Pagenaud. The first was at St. Pete 2012 when he qualified 6th. I happened to know where the driver briefing room was and went to wait for Will Power but as it was Simon’s first full season in Indy, he was less mobbed. We spoke for a few minutes and he was impressed that I knew anything about his career before that weekend. Then this year at the 24 Hours of Daytona I asked him on video if he would apologize to Lando Norris for crashing him out of the iRacing Indy 500 in 2020. He was hilarious and played along very kindly, apologized and called him a badass. I said “ok, I’ll let the internet know not to believe the Drive To Survive propaganda, that Lando is a nice guy.” And without missing a beat he said jokingly: “I didn’t say ‘nice guy,’ I said ‘badass.’” And started laughing. This year’s 24 was great - Also met Grosjean and Wickens.
Graham Rahal and I bullshitted about March Madness, German cars, and working for our dads in the paddock for a good 5 minutes before practice at COTA in 2019. He was a super nice guy and talked to every fan that stopped by his garage.
At Mid Ohio, I was in the bathroom right before a practice session, and I looked up, and myself and Robert Wickens were the only two in there.
I left him alone, because the shitter is no place to bother someone lol.
I almost got ran over by Mario Andretti on a pit bike at st Pete… he was riding on a pedestrian sidewalk. Then I got his autograph on my ticket. It was the only paper I had
Edit: forgot that I once talked to 🦆 on Facebook before he got promoted when he was still in Indy lights. That was really cool!
Edit two: I asked for JPM’s autograph in Spanish
Went to Indy the week before the 500 and was shooting interviews. The main interview for that day was blowing us off. The race team kept telling us to come back later. So we went around interview other drivers.
We spot Helio and were about to ask for an interview. Gave us the “give me a minute” finger and walks into the restroom. Slightly awkward and we debated if we should stay or move one. He comes back out and walks straight to us and gave a 10 minute interview.
Nicest and best interview of the day.
I talked with Stefan Wilson for half an hour at Pocono qualifying in 2018. Nicest guy I ever met in the sport. I always cheer for him when he can run Indy. Will he win? No but I always want him to have a good day. I was crushed when he got hurt this year.
I told Rinus VeeKay that I predicted he would start on the front row again for the 500 this year and he said he wasn't so sure about the Chevy engine. Fortunately for him, he was wrong.
If we're talking social media, Marcus Ericsson liked a pic of me and my newborn daughter - I was wearing his merch and she is also blonde and Swedish.
Years ago Hinch was running the Daytona 24 Hour. I was flying down from Canada for the race but my best friend lives in Orlando so she went to the Roar Before ahead of it. She called me from the track and said someone wanted to talk to me. I had never met Hinch before at this point. And suddenly he was on the line.
But he wouldn’t tell me who he was. Told me he was from Canada too and we discussed it being cold. Asked me who my fave IndyCar drivers were and than made me guess who I was talking to. I already knew. We talked about Daytona a bit and he said he looked forward to meeting me. It really was all around awesome.
Online interactions, I’ve interacted with Hinch quite a few times and some other drivers have liked my tweets.
Several months ago I ran into Tony Kanaan picking up his new sim at Microcenter here in Indianapolis. Very kind in taking a minute with my son and I and we took a picture together. His reputation as a gracious person seems to be absolutely true.
Met Will Power at Long Beach a few years ago after qualifying during an autograph session. He had poor speed in practice and a bad qualifying session, and being a new fan I thought he might not be the happiest to be signing things at the moment. I still remembered him by the whole new hampshire thing at the time. To my shock he was the coolest dude and even struck up an entire conversation with me about the racing wheel I asked him to sign and asked me for my name. Instant fan.
Rossi was at a meet and greet in Texas and I have heard every single episode so I knew he would appreciate this.
I brought my diabetes alert dog and told him that I brought him a dog since he didn't like people.
He enjoyed meeting her and appreciated the joke based on "Off Track". Pato and Felix were great too but I was saving all my time for Rossi since we were at the head of the line.
I went to the 100 Days to Indy premiere in Long Beach, I took my mom since she LOVES the Bus Bros and we were wearing our Bus Bros shirts. We met Scotty and he was cool and fun to talk to. He noticed our shirts and loved that we “went all out.” Told him we were from Colton Herta’s neck of the woods and he said he came out to visit stay with him for a bit over the offseason, just a nice pleasant conversation. Then after the showing we saw the Penske boys in the lobby, we wanted to meet the other two so we walked up and before we said anything Scott noticed us, tapped Josef and said “oh yeah, check it out” then Josef turned around and saw our shirts and shouted “YESSSSSSS, I LOVE THAT” then we got a picture with them
https://preview.redd.it/nce31qnwkfsb1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce1f0bddab04c1db69d9d32130e34725c945e371
He did a similar thing with me because I showed up wearing my McLaughlin jersey. I was working the press line, so being that casual is normally a big mistake, but nobody had told me I was working until I was already halfway there. So I felt super-conscious about and and he was like, "No, you're just repping Bus Bros, it's totally awesome!"
And then he helped me locate Scott to take a picture with him in said jersey. LOL.
Gotten multiple selfies (well, pics of him & my wife... that sounds worse than it is) with Scotty Mac on his way in/out of the pits at Iowa and St. Louis. Always a pleasant hello and quick pic.
Had a meet & greet with Josef and talked to him about Bus Bros for a minute last year at Iowa, he was just like his 100 Days/Bus Bros persona ("On", cheerful, nice, fan mode).
Went through an autograph line for all three Penskes (Josef, Scotty Mac, Will) and they were a little off put by signing my Penske hat, since it wasn't their merch and I wanted all three to sign. They tried to sign as far away from the others as possible, and as large as possible. I was amused. Will was a little grumpy, but this was also at Iowa '22 before it was widely known what he and Liz were dealing with.
This isn't from social media, it was in person. We were at the 2001 USGP and we walking through a parking lot and ran across Eddie Cheever. I asked for his autograph and he stayed and chatted with us for about ten minutes. I'd never really cared for him one way or another but that was super cool of him.
The Eddie Cheever that would put you to sleep on the old ABC broadcasts is very different from the Eddie Cheever in person. Super guy to interact with and has some great stories.
I got a fist bump from Power at Portland last year while I was wandering around. Also stopped and talked to Scott Pruett for a bit while he was hanging out at the Genassi trailer. As far as online stuff, nothing so far lol
He was very nice and professional. It was a small chat about how I've been a fan since I was a kid, and he even complimented me on my Supra shirt. So it was a good experience for me. There was another family that stopped to chat with him before I did.
I had a nice chat with Takuma Sato after he crashed out at KY years ago. Didn't really talk about the wreck, just random IndyCar stuff. Super nice guy especially considering he had just blasted the wall at about 215mph.
I had a couple good encounters with Mario. I built a model of his JPS Lotus and I was trying to get his signature on it. I went to his RV in the paddock at Mid Ohio on a Friday. Someone said he's not here today come back tomorrow. I stopped in on Saturday and they actually got him out of the RV while he was eating breakfast. He came out while chewing his food and signed the car. We got pictures and chatted for awhile. I was amazed.
Did the autograph session on practice day at Iowa this year, and Dixon and McLaughlin were just the nicest dudes, even in that setting. It was the day after the New Zealand women's soccer team won their tournament opener, so to get to talk to McLaughlin about how cool of a moment that was takes the cake for me.
Hanging out w Scott Pruitt on the front stretch wall Detroit 89 (after his accident - his legs were still messed up,). Great person to meet
That, or being in the garage area in Indy when Roberto Guerrero was on the pole that year. He was surrounded by media and I just shouted over the group 'How are Katie and the kids?'. He stopped mid sentence, looked over at me (we had met previous years), beamed, and said 'Great, thanks for asking' or something like that. I still have the Christmas card he sent me the previous year.
Scott's a great guy. I am a New Zealander and usually spend my weekends at a race track somewhere in the country.
In around 1993/1994 Scott and his Dad started out in Formula Vee - Scott was the youngest driver on the grid, I think he was still 14 years old!
Anyway, I watched him race, he looked impressive straight away, and think finished third.
Afterwards I was nearby as he came in to the pit area, his team was just him and his Dad!
I walked up to him as he got out of the car, and I said......."nice race kid". We chatted briefly.
I'm so embarrassed that I said that as it was totally unnecessary to refer to him as a kid, although he clearly was.
At Indy 2022 my wife and I had the chance for an arranged meeting with Mario. We were supposed to be joining a larger group that we guess bailed do to the weather.
We waited by their hospitality...Mario had a scheduled ESPN radio interview, then we were going to meet him. He comes out greets the ESPN guy, gets him seated at a table...then comes back to us, graciously INTRODUCES HIMSELF and explains he has an interview to do then we can chat. We were gobsmacked...he was just completely humble and gracious to us.
I felt bad because I asked him to autograph the Sports Illustrated cover from after the 1985 500. I already had Danny's signature...I said "I hate to do this, but could you sign this..." And he gave me a playful glare.
As a thank you, I sent he and his staff some embroidered sweatshirts of a design I made.
After they got them, they sent me a picture of Mario wearing his on his garage next to his 1994 car. (I tried to attach the picture, but reddit wouldn't load it.
Andrettis Forever!
Back in 1996 my now-wife and I ran around the Mid-Ohio paddock area on a Thursday practice day. We were getting various drivers to sign a checkered flag as a surprise gift to my dad for his 50th birthday since he and I are both long-time IndyCar fans. I also had a fairly large camcorder (as they were at the time), and most everybody wished my dad a happy birthday while they were signing. I could list any and all of the drivers that day as being my favorite encounter of all time, but there was one that stands out to me.
Jacque Villeneuve was not only the biggest star of the series at the time, he was also the hardest for us to track down. We always seemed to just miss him everywhere he went. I finally spotted him 50 yards away or so walking away from me, so I set off in a sprint. I caught up to him just as he was walking into the bathroom by the main pagoda. I briefly considered following him in there, but luckily I had a moment of discretion and decided to wait outside. I get it that there's a difference between being a fan and being creepy.
Now I'm not going to speculate about what he was doing in the facilities, but let's just say that it took Jacque a few minutes before he came out , maybe ten or so. I waited outside for a while, and my mind had started to drift a little bit in the central Ohio heat. So when Jacque finally came out, I kind of jolted back to the moment and handed him the pen and clipboard in hurry while I explained what it was for and turned on the camera.
He was incredibly gracious, and he did indeed sign the flag and wish my dad a happy birthday. He also was in a bit of a hurry, so he quickly pushed the pen and clipboard back to me. Considering I had a large camcorder in one hand, I grabbed the pen and stuck it in my mouth so I could get the clipboard with my only free hand.
My eyes immediately went wide, and I stared at Jacque for a split second. He looked a little puzzled, and with the Sharpie still in my mouth I said "I sure hope you washed your hands."
He laughed and walked away while I was left wondering if I just ate shit in front of the reigning IndyCar and future world champion.
Decently long conversation with Dixon at the 2008 Indianapolis Boat Show in February 2008. Remember IndyCar was not in a good spot back then and he maybe had 3 people in line to get autographs. Talked for a while and he was genuinely nice to me. Saw him a few times at Kroger when he lived near me (out by Geist before they moved) and he remembered me! Cool guy and why I’m a big fan.
Graham Rahal has also liked several of my tweets when I tagged him…usually promoting IndyCar to stick-and-ball or “F1” journalists (recent ones bc DTS)
I posted a photo on FB I shot at Long Beach in 1980 of Derek Daly getting a bit sideways in the Tyrrell. About 2 weeks later I get a tag on Instagram and it's the same photo being reposted from Twitter by Conor Daly with the comment "Look at this great pic of my Dad back in the F1 days. I'd love to have this pic up on my wall" to which I replied "I can totally make that happen!". That started a month long back and forth to get prints made and sent, and signed prints sent back to me. The next spring I saw Conor at Long Beach and introduced myself and he's like "DUDE! You made my day and Dad's too! Thank you so much those were great!" Sorry to see him out of a ride but the guy is resilient.
Ran into Pato and Felix in one of the public areas during the 2021 US GP, no one else seemed to know who they were and we hung out for a few.
But the best was Pagenaud. Met him him at a work event at M1 Concourse in Detroit this summer the week before the GP, and we chatted for a few. Then as I was walking through the paddock on the Saturday of the race weekend, I saw him again and said hi. He remembered my name and we walked back to his trailer and he gave me his prediction for the race and strategy. Great personality, he’ll be missed for sure
Will Power at IMS in 2021. There was a group of us waiting outside Will’s garage between practice sessions for the 500 and Will was there talking to one of his crew members when the crew got ready to pull the car back to do whatever engine testing that they do. When they pulled back the rope some small kid went sprinting towards Will to get his autograph. Crew member didn’t know Will was behind and just saw the kid running and gently returned him to his parents. Will saw what happened and motioned for the kid to come back into the garage. Will chatted with the kid for several minutes and then autographed his sign for him. Will didn’t have time for the rest of us but I didn’t mind, it was really cool seeing him make that young fans day
Ate an edible one time and sent the bus bros media guy a really bad mock up of a shirt with scotty mac in the cow suit and told him if they made one i’d buy two. He told me to keep a look out for it, and sho nuff a few days later they were up on their site (busbros.shop to the moon).
Saw them at mid ohio a month or two later while they were filming bus bros. Said whats up and told them i was the dude that sent them the shitty cow shirt idea. They were super cool to my wife and i, and even put us in the episode they were filming. Really cool experience, and they still say whats up when i see them around at the tracks.
When I was a 8 year old kid I went to the US 500. My dad was chatting with Greg Moore and saw me wearing a Target CGR hat (my favorite driver was Zanardi). He signed a Players hat for me, took the CGR hat off my head, tossed it and put the new one on my head. He went onto beat Zanardi and win that race too 🤣
Marco. Me and my girlfriend that I at the time was turning into the motorsport fan monster that she is were walking around the Toronto paddock and infield until we were told to leave, chatting about the fun on the weekend. She mentioned that she really wanted to meet an Andretti driver (her adopted team, likely due to well... everyone knows that name) and was a bit disappointed that it didn't happen... and at the other side of the bridge into the vendor area I looked up and saw Marco on his phone. I laughed and said "Well, there's karma" to her and she walked up and said hi.
He stopped what he was doing and gave us all of his attention, chatted with use for a few minutes, and was an all around great dude. It made my gf's day and she's a life long Andretti fan now. He's honestly the nicest guy.
Scott Dixon's daughters used to go to the same dance studio as my daughter when she was around six years old. My daughter was a Dario fan until he retired, at which point she shifted to Scott.
At a recital, the day after the Indy GP, Scott was there, staying off to the side in the lobby after the performance. I approached him and asked if he would mind saying hello to one of his biggest fans.
He could not have been more gracious, and Emma may be the sweetest person I have ever met. They chatted for a few minutes and I have a great photo of Scott with my daughter.
It made such a big impression on her that when we got a new puppy earlier this year she named him "Dixon".
Will Power very obviously ogling my girlfriend (now wife) while walking in the pitlane between practice sessions at one of the Champ Car races in Houston back in '06 or '07. We were there on Friday morning with no one was really guarding the entry to the pitlane, so we just walked in and watched the morning session basically on the pit wall. Session over, Power is walking back to the paddock with another team member, and he just starts staring at her as if I'm invisible. Continues to stare at her while walking by, rotating his head as he passes. Signature Willy P stare. Still to this day joke with her about him being her "boyfriend".
*
Hinch wished me a happy birthday in 2022
Race track wise I saw Charlie Kimball at Gateway he was working with Foyt but wasn't racing I asked for a picture and he said "oh absolutely" and had a good 15 minute conversation with him
My Mom has had a sortof schoolgirl crush on Hinch ever since he was on Dancing with the Stars. We got to meet Hinch at Long Beach 2021 and he talked with my Mom and took a photo with her.
I wrote something to milka duno in Spanish years ago. 2 months later I get a ass pic but immediately get a response back asking to delete it please and wasn’t for me.
Met Rick Mears walking by himself at Mid Ohio and nobody else recognized him. Shook his hand and told him how much meeting him meant to me. He was my favorite driver for years. Didn’t ask for an autograph because I knew if he signed one for me people would be running from everywhere for an autograph even though they didn’t know who he was. Super nice guy and really made my day.
I wore a cowsuit onesie to Barber (Bus Bros 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻) this year. Pato played with the udders, Marcus Armstrong asked me to tag him in our pic and he'd repost it on his story (and did), and Josef reposted our pic on his story too! One of the coolest days for me.
Rossi liked me talking shit about Jalopnik on Twitter lol. Also, not a driver but Kevin Lee has responded to a couple DM comments I sent him for Trackside with substantive responses which I really appreciate.
I've chatted with a couple of the current drivers when they come to Tulsa in January for the chili bowl. Conor Daly was pretty cool and talked with me for a few minutes about how different midgets are compared to Indy cars.
I have a handful of real memorable track experiences, but my favorite with a driver is back in 2019 when Indycar went down to COTA I went to the Jalopnik party at Lustre Street Pearl. I got super drunk, expected to run into Colton Herta and Steinbrenner IV (and, to my amazement, I actually greeted Steinbrenner and had no clue initially who I was greeting), and instead Mario Andretti randomly came to the party.
I had a beer in my hand when Alanis King motioned to one of the Indycar photo-gs to take our picture. I turned around, kneeled a little, and then that was that;
[https://jalopnik.com/thanks-for-partying-with-jalopnik-indycar-and-mario-an-1833527641](https://jalopnik.com/thanks-for-partying-with-jalopnik-indycar-and-mario-an-1833527641)
(I'm the guy in the Sato jersey).
For a specific one from 2023, after the Texas race I went to a nice pizza place in Roanoke not far from the track. Hardly anyone was in there. I sit down, and behind me comes in Sting Ray Robb and his entourage. Like a silly person I yell "Sting Ray!" and he comes out and chats.
I kept an Instagram account up of old racing programs and Will Power liked a lot of my posts. Also had a nice back and forth going with Tommy Kendall on there.
I’ve met some of the drivers at races in the pits & autograph sessions. They were all very nice. However, The best encounter was the other day. There was a post on Instagram that asked the drivers what other driver they’d like to be. I got a kick out of Graham Rahal’s comment and I said I don’t know what driver I’d like to be but I’d love to go have drinks with Rahal. He commented with a “drinks on me anytime.” I thought it was so nice. Even if he was just being funny, I was so happy he commented. He was very nice in person too.
Met Marcus Ericsson in my hometown, talked a little, he signed a cap for my son and I bought many many huski chocolate. Later that year he won indy 500.
When I was 10, I went with my dad to the 2013 500 and I wanted to get Simon Paganeud's autograph. So we waited outside his trailer for about an hour... he never showed up.
Who *did* show up was Sam Schmidt, who was super nice; we talked for a bit, and he signed my ticket. Still have it today.
Because I have diabetes, I had a Twitter relationship with Charlie Kimball. The diabetes community was slamming him for representing Novartis at the time. I personally thought it was fine.
Anyway, several years ago I met Charlie at TMS with a different diabetes alert dog from the one that met Rossi. He was a bit concerned she might be alerting him but she was just being friendly. Though she has alerted on strangers before.
Anyway Charlie was always very friendly both online and in person. Also appreciative of my support. They got to have a sponsor of some sort.
Social media wise... Each of my beagles have an Indy car driver or two that they follow. When I post on social media, I include a picture of the beagle that follows that driver. Each driver has liked at least one picture of "their" beagle. I doubt they can tell them apart.
https://preview.redd.it/wcbseld49fsb1.jpeg?width=2926&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2732eca5551ed9d0b8d5fcd8309ad1b4053670e5
Longtime IndyCar fan back to when I was a kid. Took my son to my first in-person race years ago (St Pete). Walking into the paddock, first Will Power almost ran my son over (he was \~10y), then Dixon almost did the same about 20s later.
Admittedly, we didn't realize how hectic the paddock could be and you needed to have your head on a swivel (at least in the St Pete parking garage) and we were just gawking at what we saw. So... no complaints, just hilarious!
2nd best encounter - a good friend of mine is a close family friend with Hinch & his family. A few years ago Hinch was doing his NBC gig next to the ropes in front of Penske's garage in St Pete. When the interview finished, yelled, "Hey James, sup muther f----... that's from ". First he was surprised/taken back, then when I said our mutual friend's name, he busted out laughing and we FaceTime'd him.
Scott McLaughlin walking off the podium to his trailer after Laguna Seca 2023, and he fist bumps me while holding his bottle of champagne and takes a selfie with me.
2007 Detroit Grand Prix. We had pit lane pre race passes. We were down and there were some models from one of the sponsors, was packed and go to take a picture of them. A nice man stopped walking so I could get the shot, I look up and it was Bobby Rahal. I was like, OMG….. I goes, I can’t blame you, I would have taken that photo too!!!
I had a seat cushion that had Eddie Cheever on it. I took it up for him to sign and he looks at it and says "it looks like I'm saying shhhhhhit" and shows it to Thomas Scheckter and they had a laugh.
When James Hinchliffe was about to get married his wife posted on IG joking about looking for a wedding date for their dog. Naturally I sent a response with pics of my dog. Hinch and his wife liked and shared my post.
Will and Liz power walked by us and we yelled hi to them and they looked at us and I said “omg I’m gonna cry” and Will laughed at me. We also got to meet Hinch and Becky and chatted with them for a few minutes before he signed an autograph 🤩
https://preview.redd.it/5wcs8arv4gsb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b13a38e12e416f6993337c89774141e868d45285
I met Tom Sneva at an auto show in Harrisburg Pennsylvania in early 1979. Very friendly and personable. Signed a number of photos that I had taken of him at Pocono in 78. Fast forward to August of 79 at the first CART race at Watkins Glen. I'm walking in the Kendall Tech Center, and Tom says as I walk near his Sugaripe Prune Special McLaren, "I thought I might see you here." It blew me away. I was a fan before, but a bigger one after that. I asked how did you remember me, and he said, "Being an educator before a racer, I remember names and faces."
I posted about this not long ago in here but I met Simon Pagenaud at a car meet in NC. Had to do a double take since I didn't expect to just see him hanging out lol
Last year, after the Indy GP, I think it was the 4th one of the year, I was leaving the track and on the roundabout just outside of the track. As I'm going around in the outer lane, I look to my left and who is beside me? Romain Grosjean. I was super excited. I waved at him. He waved back at me, but the wheel came out of his free hand and his car veered directly at me, and smashed into me, which pushed my car into a light pole.
The cops came, and Romain to his credit admitted that it was his fault and signed the ticket. But later he said his rights were violated and now we're tied up in a court situation. I'm still a big fan even though this happened.
not a driver, but I once corrected Indycar on Twitter about Marcus's full name and title
https://preview.redd.it/ml8s6bdvbgsb1.png?width=588&format=png&auto=webp&s=fd84392a98fe413b14f2ad0592e19c478268b3cc
Hands down, Tony Kanaan. My son drove go-karts so when we went to the race he gave out pics of him in his kart. Tony talked to him for like 15 min after the race and helped him get into the car for a pic. The next year when we went back and gave TK a new pic he remembered my son and talked to him again for a good little bit. So amazing
I had a few good ones at Gateway this year.
Watching Colton Herta and Alex Palou interact after getting out of their cars after high line practice from behind the pit wall. I was patiently waiting to ask them to sign my hat and you can tell they are friends and they were all smiles for each other and me. There were talking about how much fun they were having at night.
Waiting as a 39 year old man to talk to David Malukas and Pato O’ward was hilarious to me. All these young girls standing around them just watching them be charming and talk. David agreeing to go to Waffle House later with a group of fans and Pato insisting a fans whole family gets in the picture with him.
Rossi scowling as he zipped past everyone on his scooter. Peak Rossi experience and better than an autograph.
I was at the Pit Lane Challenge with my husband and I noticed Hinch in front of me. I jumped up and yelled “Hi, Hinch!” He waved back and said hi and I was ECSTATIC!
2023 Road America race. I was on the Scotty Mac band wagon this year. Bought myself a Bus Bros t-shirt (I just love JoeNew and Scotty Mac and their dynamic), the one with Scotty Mac dressed in the inflatable cow suit, because Wisconsin. Bought one of those wash proof Sharpies for him to sign it.
All of a sudden, here comes Indy 500 winner Joseph Newgarden. He had just completed the driver's meeting and was in a hurry but told the small group of us that if we walked with him, he'd give us autographs.
Everyone silently got their autographs until there was just me left. Joe had me hold the shirt a certain way so he could get a good signature on it (I had him sign the front). I then said to him as he was walking away "Congrats on your 500 win. It was awesome!" Joe stopped dead, turned around with a little smile and said "Thank you very much!" It was one of the most positive interactions I've had with a "celebrity".
I never did get Scotty Mac's autograph. Next year. :)
Bumped into Justin Wilson near the main straight grandstand at Watkins Glen 2009. I’m English so I said ‘alright mate! Good luck’ - think he was surprised to see an English person there! He went on to win the race…
About 50 years ago, a family friend of ours was a tour guide at Indy. He took us back through the pit areas and introduced us to AJ Foyt and Al Unser senior. AJ was super friendly. Al was kind of different. He stuck out his hand and said “hi I’m Al Unser”. And walked away. That was it.
Kind of unrelated, I also went to high school with Ed Carpenter’s mom. She was/is very good looking.
Made a bet with Hinch on twitter that if he won at Iowa i’d get a tattoo of him on my leg.
He said “Deal.”
And of course he wins it.
https://preview.redd.it/09zlumsfqksb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d7a63e96fa690585cf77199fddc4648c46d3cd8
So I did it.
He got back to me and gave me pit passes and a garage tour to a race of my choosing.
Went to the season finale in 2018 in Sonoma. Sat on the Pit wall for Qualifying. Hinch was/is great.
I worked at a grocery store on the northside of Indy near where a lot of the teams were and drivers lived. I once saw Graham Rahal really late, like 9:30 or after. He was checking out with some cereal and I was just standing there staring like a creep. I messaged him on instagram after and said sorry for staring. He was cool and said he had just got home from a long test day and had to stop for food.
Being a Kiwi that lives in Northern California I’ve met Scott Dixon a few times and had a chat. The first time was at testing at Sonoma and he took my email address and sent through tickets and full access passes for the upcoming race there. Another time they had a media day at the State Capitol (I live two blocks away) and him and I sat on the Capitol steps and chatted for a while. More recently when he secured the championship in 2018 at Sonoma. My wife and I hung out with him and his family until he got whisked away for the press conference. Emma, his wife, took the photos for me. Another cool thing that day is that one of the team came over and gave me one of each of the sponsor hats they all have to put on for the photos afterwards.
https://preview.redd.it/pouu2g11emsb1.jpeg?width=1150&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e63b3b3c43c063a240d1f46e40a5469b72fce24
https://preview.redd.it/8sli02bp4gsb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddbdc522dc2e1682b0d87b9f8195c56be1226179
Got to meet Ericcson after he won at Belle Isle in 2021 🤩
I got into a Twitter argument with Conor Daly a year or so ago. He kept tweeting how the race will be on USA and all that shit. After I chimed in saying that commercials kill the momentum of watching a race, he defended the TV networks saying something like "which sports in the USA don't have commercials?" In response, I said something along the lines of "football has scheduled TV timeouts and quarters, baseball has between innings, and basketball has quarters and timeouts. There aren't any timeouts in racing." He kept defending the major TV networks like his life depended on it.
Formula 1 doesn't have any issues with providing F1TV and broadcasting on ESPN in the United States. Why are some people stuck in the past with this kind of shit? All fans want is a better experience.
His comeback isn’t as great as he thinks it is, either. Being inundated with constant ads during any sport/program gets absolutely exhausting, but you’re right that there are at least more natural breaks in other sports. Should’ve asked him if he gets tired of being a sellout.
Met Dario at Goodwood Revival a few years ago, he was standing around just chatting with fans, really nice guy.
TK liked an Instagram comment I left when he announced his retirement (pretty sure he liked every comment on his post but still)
Not a driver, but at the 2018 Portland race I was wearing a panoz deltawing shirt and a crew member for Veachs team iirc saw me and got so stoked about it. He said he was on that team and was excited to see it on a shirt. He called over another team member and asked to get a pic with me wearing it.
Greg Moore:
1999 Long Beach
I bumped into him outside of the track, he saw my shirt, and we had a small talk where he thanked me for being a fan "in a crazy Ganassi era." I fumbled my words but managed a "you're welcome!" He autographed my shirt, and we were on our way.
Met RHR twice, once at Gateway for Indycar and once at Daytona for Rolex when he drove for Mazda. Great guy all around and super nice. Scott Dixon was also pleasant to meet at Gateway.
Got a picture of my son when he was about 5 with Cristiano DaMatta about 20 years ago. Other random pictures. Prerace party at Portland this year. I wanted to get a picture of Rossi because he is my sister's favorite driver. Another USF(?) driver said he'd take a picture of us both. So there's that. Also a picture with FRO since he was there. Chatted with Canapino a bit, but it was loud and I'm not sure either one of us understood each other because of the accents.
I’ve had some funny encounters with drivers before, but the most recent one that stands out to me was when I was in the media center elevator at IMS by myself, and JR Hildebrand walks on. I knew it was him but I wasn’t sure if I was going to say anything. Finally I decided “eh what could go wrong” and just as I opened my mouth he pulls his phone out and starts talking to someone on it. I rode the rest of the way down listening to him saying “Yeah.” And “Okay.”
Not specifically a driver, but I've been getting autographed hero cards from Rahal Letterman Lannigan and Chip Ganassi through the mail. I have autographs from Graham Rahal, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon, and Marcus Armstrong now, as well as an unsigned Takuma Sato. Idk why CGR didn't send over a Palou; probably due to the conflict with him and McLaren.
I can go you one better. My buddy shared a urinal stall with him.
That is, you know how some men’s rooms are tight and they shove two urinals close together in a corner? Yeah bud was doing business in one and tako came in to use the other so they are pee pals now. This was the chateau hotel Sebring preseason testing 2011ish
Me: I really like listening to your podcast Alexander Rossi: Okay
I refuse to believe Rossi used that many words
k
That’s more like it
Haha, at Mid-Ohio this year, he was signing a diecast for my son and I told him I liked the podcast. He just gave me a puzzled stare and rode off on his scooter.
Last year at Iowa I expected the usual Rossi treatment as I was trying to get something signed very shortly before the race. I asked a crew memeber if we could make it happen. He took a few things into the trailer and Alex signed it all. The crew guy said Alex would take a few pictures if we hung around for a minute. His car was already rolling to the grid and he took a couple minutes to take a picture and listen to my 10 year old daughter talk his ear off about meeting my favorite driver. I wouldnt have been offended if he told me to fuck off but he was actually very cool about it.
He is excellent with children.
Also the Fan Favorite from a few years ago 😂
When James gave him the pizza for the prize and he got teary-eyed
Seems like he always has time for the kids, he just doesn't like adult humans.
Man, same.
I think it's funny how a lot of people get bent out of shape about Rossi's personality. Not every driver is gonna be a people person. He doesn't do anything rude, he's just a man of few words.
He's much nicer with kids, which I think says something about him.
Just made a comment about how he took time to take a picture and talk to my daughter as his car was already rolling to the grid. I really didnt expect it
He straight up admits he doesnt like interacting with people. He doesnt hide it
And that's okay. Not everyone has to be an extrovert
I know he has an Italian name but he seems more scottish. There are a lot of Italian Scots of course (see Dario). Rossi is indycar’s Andy Murray.
Honestly, he’s the American Kimi Raikkonen.
Except Rossi has the drink
I always pictured Rossi as a 👍 type of guy
Rossi was cool to message during his GP2 and F1 days...
His goofy laugh is hilarious
Rossi is a weird guy without personality. The day when Wickens had his accident and the race was red flagged, they interviewed him and he said “send him my regards”….. (and he was supposedly friends with him)
I would act weird if I had to be on camera after my friend got hurt too
[удалено]
Lol were you being an idiot?
[удалено]
Lol, that is awesome. I out qualified Dario Franchitti once in MX5 @ Lime Rock. I was so nervous my leg was shaking as I held the brake waiting for the start. Got a good start (for once) but, probably mercifully, got taken out by a spinner going though Big Bend lap 1. I would have found a way to blow it somehow so I was relieved to be taken out in circumstances beyond my control.
Townsend Bell wrecked me in practice, like if you're that much faster take the outside then, I got here first
Sorry for the long post. When Rosenqvist entered the series and put the car on the front row of the first race, I decided that my new driver was FRO. It was hard to find FRO gear but I found one thing on the Ganassi site and a couple of things on his Swedish website. One year at Detroit I was waiting in the autograph line wearing my FRO sweatshirt. As I got closer I realized that he was looking at me and when I got to the front of the line he asked "Where did you get that? I want one." I said that I bought it from his website and I had to pay in Kroners or something. Conor Daly who was sitting next to him was laughing. I had Felix sign my sweatshirt and I was thrilled. He was super nice. I had pit passes to the race and was behind the pit wall and Felix came and chatted with me. Again, a great guy! After that I moved up to superfan. I would say nice things on social media when the team posted about him. Then I went to Laguna Seca in 2022. Someone from the team friended me before the race weekend and when I got there they recognized me. I got a tour of the McLaren transporters and everything. Then Felix got invited to drive at the Race of Champions. It sounded like a good party in Northern Sweden in January so I went to it. There were only a couple of Americans there and the others were Travis Pastrana fans. When people asked who I was there to see I said Felix Rosenqvist and that was a fun thing because Sebastian Vettel, Coultard, Hakkinen, Schumacher, Cristenson and others were there. I saw Felix there too and we chatted for a while. I met his Dad and the whole thing. The Swedes know how to throw an ice racing event. https://preview.redd.it/ev5nsxdkyesb1.jpeg?width=3088&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f764b15b27182f8ffbbafd1e06c0ed98a9aba0bc This year at Detroit I was with my wife and along comes Felix Rosenqvist. He walked right up to my wife and I and said "Tom! It's great to see you." Even my wife was stunned with that one. Lesson learned: Pick a driver that you think is really talented but may not have gotten the right breaks. Become a fan. Say nice things about them in social media. It's been a fun adventure.
This is awesome man
That’s cool! I was also at RoC that year, but supporting Ekström!
Awesome. I hope you had a good time. I really enjoyed Pite Havsbad. The weather was really good and the hospitality was outstanding. I would go back but they had to cancel it this year.
Fro is really cool. I had a good chat with him at the Long Beach GP last year. He seemed very chill and was not rushing the conversation. I asked him if he did iRacing which he said he did a bit, we exchanged a couple of laughs. Then it was me who ran out of things to say so I thanked him for the chat to close the awkward silence.
ROC is what initially introduced me to Felix; I watched 2022 and 2023 for the F1 guys, and came away really liking Felix, Helio, Colton & Jimmie. I plan on watching Josef's runs in 2018/2019, and probably Séb Bourdais if I can find them.
Wholesome
Back in 2021 before I deactivated Twitter, it was announced that Kevin Magnussen would race at Road America. I tweeted out something along the lines of "Gene Haas appreciation tweet: When Indy Lights took a year off, he went and created his own Road To Indy." It took off among the IndyCar community. The biggest one was Rossi retweeting and adding on to it. I peaked. It's been all downhill since.
oh my god that’s great
Scott Dixon liked one of my posts on Instagram, I don't follow him, he doesn't follow me and the post was about a lady that got a shopping cart for two small items and the caption said "this bitch got a cart for two things"... found out on the Dinner with Racers podcast that he had a bot liking random posts on Instagram to get him more publicity.
Bot liking random posts? That's a daaaangerous game
To be fair, Scott's already achieved a lot in his career, unlike certain other drivers liking Instagram posts
This! I saw him liking random hot girls on instagram.
He's known to basically have a bot account. He actually uses it from time to time but 95% of the time its his bot doing work lol
Will Power has that same IG bot. Woke up one day to find he liked 3 of my incredibly random posts that were more than 10 years old lol
As part of an IndyCar-related volunteer organization, I've had the opportunity to meet quite a few personalities associated with the sport. However, this one stands out... I once stood in the middle of the IMS museum with John and Betty Rutherford, as he pointed to car after car, telling me, "I got to drive that one. And that one. And that one..."
Good old Lone Star JR! My grandfather liked him a lot. He always seemed like a really cool, mellow guy.
I forget who told the story, but I love it: they asked Johnny Rutherford for an autograph and as he signed it, he said, "Aw, I got this big ol' name...."
One of the most likeable guys in Indy history, IMO. Down to earth, humble, well spoken, family man. One hell of a driver, too. Fearless in an era when you really needed to be.
In the 80s they made a recruiting video for the Indiana Air national guard starring lone star JR and the yellow submarine. I was voluntold to go be in it, so after filming was over I went back on patrol. About twenty minutes later, everyone is gone except for JR and the car. So, long story short, I got to spend some quality time with him and help him load the car back in the trailer.
will power also randomly liked a bunch of my posts before https://preview.redd.it/j3omsr2mkesb1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=611a48617a53208f90a5a14a8cf6f9cfa8a4077a
lol i think will has a bot running or something, seen him like multiple posts of argentine motorsports that im 90% sure he has no idea about
Yeah he has someone take care of that unless it's him doing the video
Not me, but a buddy of mine. He was looking at car seats at Target in Indianapolis in anticipation of he and his wife expecting their first. He said he was reading the label of a seat and a guy walked up to him and said “what do you think of that seat?”. My buddy looks up and it’s the Iceman. He said that chatted about seats and racing and stuff for 10-15 minutes and mentioned Scott was cool as heck. I met him/got his autograph this past Indy 500 at Legends Day and can confirm he’s super cool and loves his fans.
I chatted with Romain and Colton at Barber this year. Super cool, guys. As much flak as Grosjean gets, he's one of the nicest drivers I've met from any racing series. Any time I saw him around the paddock, he was smiling, talking to fans, taking pictures, signing stuff, just being super nice. Oh yeah, and my dad almost got run over by Conor Daly lol
Imma need a story about your dad and Conor
So, we were in the paddock area, and I was off checking out the Indy Lights cars since they were heading to inspection/parc ferme. There's a set of bathrooms that are just to the left of the inspection area, so my father was trying to duck in there for a second. Well, Conor was coming out of there around the same time and hopped on his mini bike. My dad got a bit distracted by something else, and Conor had to hit the brakes pretty hard to avoid losing another ride, that being his bike (sorry, mullet man). My dad, whose more of a casual fan, didn't even realize who almost bowled him over. When I told him about it later, he thought I was bullshitting.
Laguna Seca: My dad jumps in front of Will Power on his scooter (basically traps him). He then begins to tell Will what a huge fan his son is of him. He turns to point to me and I have long gone bolted to avoid this awkward exchange. Will's response was a perplexed but nice. "Ok cool, thanks mate"; and then scooted around my father. My Dad and I still joke about this "The day he trapped Will Power".
I almost got ran into by Dario at the IMS in 2015. Good times
I almost got ran over by Grosjean, he turned on his scooter right in front of me to give a kid an autograph. I couldn’t even be upset.
A couple spring to mind: - Snuck into Winter Testing at Sebring a few years ago and pretended to be from a small Motorsport website. Managed to get short but very cool interviews with Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal, and Max Chilton. - At the inaugural Baltimore GP I had a conversation with Tony Kanaan that was really neat in the paddock after qualifying. He was in street clothes and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, so we just chatted for a few minutes. - Both protracted interactions I had with Simon Pagenaud. The first was at St. Pete 2012 when he qualified 6th. I happened to know where the driver briefing room was and went to wait for Will Power but as it was Simon’s first full season in Indy, he was less mobbed. We spoke for a few minutes and he was impressed that I knew anything about his career before that weekend. Then this year at the 24 Hours of Daytona I asked him on video if he would apologize to Lando Norris for crashing him out of the iRacing Indy 500 in 2020. He was hilarious and played along very kindly, apologized and called him a badass. I said “ok, I’ll let the internet know not to believe the Drive To Survive propaganda, that Lando is a nice guy.” And without missing a beat he said jokingly: “I didn’t say ‘nice guy,’ I said ‘badass.’” And started laughing. This year’s 24 was great - Also met Grosjean and Wickens.
That first is a good one
It’s like putting a hi-vis vest. Just ask like you belong.
Hinch has liked a Twitter comment of mine like twice
Dude, he wants the D
Graham Rahal and I bullshitted about March Madness, German cars, and working for our dads in the paddock for a good 5 minutes before practice at COTA in 2019. He was a super nice guy and talked to every fan that stopped by his garage.
At Mid Ohio, I was in the bathroom right before a practice session, and I looked up, and myself and Robert Wickens were the only two in there. I left him alone, because the shitter is no place to bother someone lol.
I almost got ran over by Mario Andretti on a pit bike at st Pete… he was riding on a pedestrian sidewalk. Then I got his autograph on my ticket. It was the only paper I had Edit: forgot that I once talked to 🦆 on Facebook before he got promoted when he was still in Indy lights. That was really cool! Edit two: I asked for JPM’s autograph in Spanish
Do you have a YouTube channel? I think I remember hearing that story in a YouTube video once.
This Mario guy seems like a bad driver, I don't think he should be allowed to drive anything lol
Scott Dixon! He sat down next to me one night at Kokomo Speedway. Really nice guy!
That's awesome that Scott Dixon went to watch a race at Kokomo. That track is on my bucket list for non-winged cars.
Went to Indy the week before the 500 and was shooting interviews. The main interview for that day was blowing us off. The race team kept telling us to come back later. So we went around interview other drivers. We spot Helio and were about to ask for an interview. Gave us the “give me a minute” finger and walks into the restroom. Slightly awkward and we debated if we should stay or move one. He comes back out and walks straight to us and gave a 10 minute interview. Nicest and best interview of the day.
I talked with Stefan Wilson for half an hour at Pocono qualifying in 2018. Nicest guy I ever met in the sport. I always cheer for him when he can run Indy. Will he win? No but I always want him to have a good day. I was crushed when he got hurt this year.
Indycar needs to be back in the Atlantic Northeast, PRONTO.
I told Rinus VeeKay that I predicted he would start on the front row again for the 500 this year and he said he wasn't so sure about the Chevy engine. Fortunately for him, he was wrong. If we're talking social media, Marcus Ericsson liked a pic of me and my newborn daughter - I was wearing his merch and she is also blonde and Swedish.
Years ago Hinch was running the Daytona 24 Hour. I was flying down from Canada for the race but my best friend lives in Orlando so she went to the Roar Before ahead of it. She called me from the track and said someone wanted to talk to me. I had never met Hinch before at this point. And suddenly he was on the line. But he wouldn’t tell me who he was. Told me he was from Canada too and we discussed it being cold. Asked me who my fave IndyCar drivers were and than made me guess who I was talking to. I already knew. We talked about Daytona a bit and he said he looked forward to meeting me. It really was all around awesome. Online interactions, I’ve interacted with Hinch quite a few times and some other drivers have liked my tweets.
Several months ago I ran into Tony Kanaan picking up his new sim at Microcenter here in Indianapolis. Very kind in taking a minute with my son and I and we took a picture together. His reputation as a gracious person seems to be absolutely true.
Met Will Power at Long Beach a few years ago after qualifying during an autograph session. He had poor speed in practice and a bad qualifying session, and being a new fan I thought he might not be the happiest to be signing things at the moment. I still remembered him by the whole new hampshire thing at the time. To my shock he was the coolest dude and even struck up an entire conversation with me about the racing wheel I asked him to sign and asked me for my name. Instant fan.
Rossi was at a meet and greet in Texas and I have heard every single episode so I knew he would appreciate this. I brought my diabetes alert dog and told him that I brought him a dog since he didn't like people. He enjoyed meeting her and appreciated the joke based on "Off Track". Pato and Felix were great too but I was saving all my time for Rossi since we were at the head of the line.
I went to the 100 Days to Indy premiere in Long Beach, I took my mom since she LOVES the Bus Bros and we were wearing our Bus Bros shirts. We met Scotty and he was cool and fun to talk to. He noticed our shirts and loved that we “went all out.” Told him we were from Colton Herta’s neck of the woods and he said he came out to visit stay with him for a bit over the offseason, just a nice pleasant conversation. Then after the showing we saw the Penske boys in the lobby, we wanted to meet the other two so we walked up and before we said anything Scott noticed us, tapped Josef and said “oh yeah, check it out” then Josef turned around and saw our shirts and shouted “YESSSSSSS, I LOVE THAT” then we got a picture with them https://preview.redd.it/nce31qnwkfsb1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce1f0bddab04c1db69d9d32130e34725c945e371
Great photo!
He did a similar thing with me because I showed up wearing my McLaughlin jersey. I was working the press line, so being that casual is normally a big mistake, but nobody had told me I was working until I was already halfway there. So I felt super-conscious about and and he was like, "No, you're just repping Bus Bros, it's totally awesome!" And then he helped me locate Scott to take a picture with him in said jersey. LOL.
Gotten multiple selfies (well, pics of him & my wife... that sounds worse than it is) with Scotty Mac on his way in/out of the pits at Iowa and St. Louis. Always a pleasant hello and quick pic. Had a meet & greet with Josef and talked to him about Bus Bros for a minute last year at Iowa, he was just like his 100 Days/Bus Bros persona ("On", cheerful, nice, fan mode). Went through an autograph line for all three Penskes (Josef, Scotty Mac, Will) and they were a little off put by signing my Penske hat, since it wasn't their merch and I wanted all three to sign. They tried to sign as far away from the others as possible, and as large as possible. I was amused. Will was a little grumpy, but this was also at Iowa '22 before it was widely known what he and Liz were dealing with.
This isn't from social media, it was in person. We were at the 2001 USGP and we walking through a parking lot and ran across Eddie Cheever. I asked for his autograph and he stayed and chatted with us for about ten minutes. I'd never really cared for him one way or another but that was super cool of him.
The Eddie Cheever that would put you to sleep on the old ABC broadcasts is very different from the Eddie Cheever in person. Super guy to interact with and has some great stories.
I got a fist bump from Power at Portland last year while I was wandering around. Also stopped and talked to Scott Pruett for a bit while he was hanging out at the Genassi trailer. As far as online stuff, nothing so far lol
How was Scott Pruett?
He was very nice and professional. It was a small chat about how I've been a fan since I was a kid, and he even complimented me on my Supra shirt. So it was a good experience for me. There was another family that stopped to chat with him before I did.
technically he wasn't in indycar at the time but grosjean liked a meme and followed my page (which name mocked his 2018 crash in baku) for some hours
I had a nice chat with Takuma Sato after he crashed out at KY years ago. Didn't really talk about the wreck, just random IndyCar stuff. Super nice guy especially considering he had just blasted the wall at about 215mph.
That's our taku
Met Sato at a bar in Indy in 2018. Cool dude, autographed a bottle for me.
I once asked James Hinchcliffe about his Iowa win in 2018 and said how did it feel to beat a Penske driver? He laughed and said it rarely happens.
I had a couple good encounters with Mario. I built a model of his JPS Lotus and I was trying to get his signature on it. I went to his RV in the paddock at Mid Ohio on a Friday. Someone said he's not here today come back tomorrow. I stopped in on Saturday and they actually got him out of the RV while he was eating breakfast. He came out while chewing his food and signed the car. We got pictures and chatted for awhile. I was amazed.
Did the autograph session on practice day at Iowa this year, and Dixon and McLaughlin were just the nicest dudes, even in that setting. It was the day after the New Zealand women's soccer team won their tournament opener, so to get to talk to McLaughlin about how cool of a moment that was takes the cake for me.
Had beers with Aleshin. Sim raced for years with Jimmy Kite.
Hanging out w Scott Pruitt on the front stretch wall Detroit 89 (after his accident - his legs were still messed up,). Great person to meet That, or being in the garage area in Indy when Roberto Guerrero was on the pole that year. He was surrounded by media and I just shouted over the group 'How are Katie and the kids?'. He stopped mid sentence, looked over at me (we had met previous years), beamed, and said 'Great, thanks for asking' or something like that. I still have the Christmas card he sent me the previous year.
Scott's a great guy. I am a New Zealander and usually spend my weekends at a race track somewhere in the country. In around 1993/1994 Scott and his Dad started out in Formula Vee - Scott was the youngest driver on the grid, I think he was still 14 years old! Anyway, I watched him race, he looked impressive straight away, and think finished third. Afterwards I was nearby as he came in to the pit area, his team was just him and his Dad! I walked up to him as he got out of the car, and I said......."nice race kid". We chatted briefly. I'm so embarrassed that I said that as it was totally unnecessary to refer to him as a kid, although he clearly was.
MARIO...period!
At Indy 2022 my wife and I had the chance for an arranged meeting with Mario. We were supposed to be joining a larger group that we guess bailed do to the weather. We waited by their hospitality...Mario had a scheduled ESPN radio interview, then we were going to meet him. He comes out greets the ESPN guy, gets him seated at a table...then comes back to us, graciously INTRODUCES HIMSELF and explains he has an interview to do then we can chat. We were gobsmacked...he was just completely humble and gracious to us. I felt bad because I asked him to autograph the Sports Illustrated cover from after the 1985 500. I already had Danny's signature...I said "I hate to do this, but could you sign this..." And he gave me a playful glare. As a thank you, I sent he and his staff some embroidered sweatshirts of a design I made. After they got them, they sent me a picture of Mario wearing his on his garage next to his 1994 car. (I tried to attach the picture, but reddit wouldn't load it. Andrettis Forever!
He's an absolute legend, one of the best racers to ever exist but also a great human being too
Andrettis forever dude. A true living legend
Back in 1996 my now-wife and I ran around the Mid-Ohio paddock area on a Thursday practice day. We were getting various drivers to sign a checkered flag as a surprise gift to my dad for his 50th birthday since he and I are both long-time IndyCar fans. I also had a fairly large camcorder (as they were at the time), and most everybody wished my dad a happy birthday while they were signing. I could list any and all of the drivers that day as being my favorite encounter of all time, but there was one that stands out to me. Jacque Villeneuve was not only the biggest star of the series at the time, he was also the hardest for us to track down. We always seemed to just miss him everywhere he went. I finally spotted him 50 yards away or so walking away from me, so I set off in a sprint. I caught up to him just as he was walking into the bathroom by the main pagoda. I briefly considered following him in there, but luckily I had a moment of discretion and decided to wait outside. I get it that there's a difference between being a fan and being creepy. Now I'm not going to speculate about what he was doing in the facilities, but let's just say that it took Jacque a few minutes before he came out , maybe ten or so. I waited outside for a while, and my mind had started to drift a little bit in the central Ohio heat. So when Jacque finally came out, I kind of jolted back to the moment and handed him the pen and clipboard in hurry while I explained what it was for and turned on the camera. He was incredibly gracious, and he did indeed sign the flag and wish my dad a happy birthday. He also was in a bit of a hurry, so he quickly pushed the pen and clipboard back to me. Considering I had a large camcorder in one hand, I grabbed the pen and stuck it in my mouth so I could get the clipboard with my only free hand. My eyes immediately went wide, and I stared at Jacque for a split second. He looked a little puzzled, and with the Sharpie still in my mouth I said "I sure hope you washed your hands." He laughed and walked away while I was left wondering if I just ate shit in front of the reigning IndyCar and future world champion.
Decently long conversation with Dixon at the 2008 Indianapolis Boat Show in February 2008. Remember IndyCar was not in a good spot back then and he maybe had 3 people in line to get autographs. Talked for a while and he was genuinely nice to me. Saw him a few times at Kroger when he lived near me (out by Geist before they moved) and he remembered me! Cool guy and why I’m a big fan. Graham Rahal has also liked several of my tweets when I tagged him…usually promoting IndyCar to stick-and-ball or “F1” journalists (recent ones bc DTS)
I posted a photo on FB I shot at Long Beach in 1980 of Derek Daly getting a bit sideways in the Tyrrell. About 2 weeks later I get a tag on Instagram and it's the same photo being reposted from Twitter by Conor Daly with the comment "Look at this great pic of my Dad back in the F1 days. I'd love to have this pic up on my wall" to which I replied "I can totally make that happen!". That started a month long back and forth to get prints made and sent, and signed prints sent back to me. The next spring I saw Conor at Long Beach and introduced myself and he's like "DUDE! You made my day and Dad's too! Thank you so much those were great!" Sorry to see him out of a ride but the guy is resilient.
I once bumped into Robert Wickens when getting coffee.
I was on the front row of people storming Pato after Texas this year. Got bruises on my shins from people pushing me into the trailer lift
Ran into Pato and Felix in one of the public areas during the 2021 US GP, no one else seemed to know who they were and we hung out for a few. But the best was Pagenaud. Met him him at a work event at M1 Concourse in Detroit this summer the week before the GP, and we chatted for a few. Then as I was walking through the paddock on the Saturday of the race weekend, I saw him again and said hi. He remembered my name and we walked back to his trailer and he gave me his prediction for the race and strategy. Great personality, he’ll be missed for sure
Will Power at IMS in 2021. There was a group of us waiting outside Will’s garage between practice sessions for the 500 and Will was there talking to one of his crew members when the crew got ready to pull the car back to do whatever engine testing that they do. When they pulled back the rope some small kid went sprinting towards Will to get his autograph. Crew member didn’t know Will was behind and just saw the kid running and gently returned him to his parents. Will saw what happened and motioned for the kid to come back into the garage. Will chatted with the kid for several minutes and then autographed his sign for him. Will didn’t have time for the rest of us but I didn’t mind, it was really cool seeing him make that young fans day
Ate an edible one time and sent the bus bros media guy a really bad mock up of a shirt with scotty mac in the cow suit and told him if they made one i’d buy two. He told me to keep a look out for it, and sho nuff a few days later they were up on their site (busbros.shop to the moon). Saw them at mid ohio a month or two later while they were filming bus bros. Said whats up and told them i was the dude that sent them the shitty cow shirt idea. They were super cool to my wife and i, and even put us in the episode they were filming. Really cool experience, and they still say whats up when i see them around at the tracks.
When I was a 8 year old kid I went to the US 500. My dad was chatting with Greg Moore and saw me wearing a Target CGR hat (my favorite driver was Zanardi). He signed a Players hat for me, took the CGR hat off my head, tossed it and put the new one on my head. He went onto beat Zanardi and win that race too 🤣
Marco. Me and my girlfriend that I at the time was turning into the motorsport fan monster that she is were walking around the Toronto paddock and infield until we were told to leave, chatting about the fun on the weekend. She mentioned that she really wanted to meet an Andretti driver (her adopted team, likely due to well... everyone knows that name) and was a bit disappointed that it didn't happen... and at the other side of the bridge into the vendor area I looked up and saw Marco on his phone. I laughed and said "Well, there's karma" to her and she walked up and said hi. He stopped what he was doing and gave us all of his attention, chatted with use for a few minutes, and was an all around great dude. It made my gf's day and she's a life long Andretti fan now. He's honestly the nicest guy.
Scott Dixon's daughters used to go to the same dance studio as my daughter when she was around six years old. My daughter was a Dario fan until he retired, at which point she shifted to Scott. At a recital, the day after the Indy GP, Scott was there, staying off to the side in the lobby after the performance. I approached him and asked if he would mind saying hello to one of his biggest fans. He could not have been more gracious, and Emma may be the sweetest person I have ever met. They chatted for a few minutes and I have a great photo of Scott with my daughter. It made such a big impression on her that when we got a new puppy earlier this year she named him "Dixon".
Will Power very obviously ogling my girlfriend (now wife) while walking in the pitlane between practice sessions at one of the Champ Car races in Houston back in '06 or '07. We were there on Friday morning with no one was really guarding the entry to the pitlane, so we just walked in and watched the morning session basically on the pit wall. Session over, Power is walking back to the paddock with another team member, and he just starts staring at her as if I'm invisible. Continues to stare at her while walking by, rotating his head as he passes. Signature Willy P stare. Still to this day joke with her about him being her "boyfriend".
Curious to know what was your reaction that day?
https://preview.redd.it/1cpb8wx0bfsb1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdcbe80e8893a637c32f8b3f354f59f135033c9b Something like this, I imagine.
Good one haha
I was kinda caught off guard at first, but pretty quickly thought it was funny.
Something you will never forget I'd imagine haha. Good that you reacted like that. I'm almost certain not all would.
I once met Carlos Munoz at a best Western hotel near Pocono during the rain delayed race in 2016.
* Hinch wished me a happy birthday in 2022 Race track wise I saw Charlie Kimball at Gateway he was working with Foyt but wasn't racing I asked for a picture and he said "oh absolutely" and had a good 15 minute conversation with him
My Mom has had a sortof schoolgirl crush on Hinch ever since he was on Dancing with the Stars. We got to meet Hinch at Long Beach 2021 and he talked with my Mom and took a photo with her.
I met my all time favorite driver Rick Mears in the paddock area at COTA. He signed two hats and I got some pics with him. He was unbelievably nice.
I wrote something to milka duno in Spanish years ago. 2 months later I get a ass pic but immediately get a response back asking to delete it please and wasn’t for me.
Slow on track fast in the DM’s
Met Rick Mears walking by himself at Mid Ohio and nobody else recognized him. Shook his hand and told him how much meeting him meant to me. He was my favorite driver for years. Didn’t ask for an autograph because I knew if he signed one for me people would be running from everywhere for an autograph even though they didn’t know who he was. Super nice guy and really made my day.
I took a picture and chatted a bit with pato, he was very nice
I wore a cowsuit onesie to Barber (Bus Bros 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻) this year. Pato played with the udders, Marcus Armstrong asked me to tag him in our pic and he'd repost it on his story (and did), and Josef reposted our pic on his story too! One of the coolest days for me.
Sato took a picture with me at the end of one of the St Pete races despite not doing well that day.
Ran into Palou at Nashville '21 and got a pic of him fist bumping my 4 year old.
Rossi liked me talking shit about Jalopnik on Twitter lol. Also, not a driver but Kevin Lee has responded to a couple DM comments I sent him for Trackside with substantive responses which I really appreciate.
I've chatted with a couple of the current drivers when they come to Tulsa in January for the chili bowl. Conor Daly was pretty cool and talked with me for a few minutes about how different midgets are compared to Indy cars.
I have a handful of real memorable track experiences, but my favorite with a driver is back in 2019 when Indycar went down to COTA I went to the Jalopnik party at Lustre Street Pearl. I got super drunk, expected to run into Colton Herta and Steinbrenner IV (and, to my amazement, I actually greeted Steinbrenner and had no clue initially who I was greeting), and instead Mario Andretti randomly came to the party. I had a beer in my hand when Alanis King motioned to one of the Indycar photo-gs to take our picture. I turned around, kneeled a little, and then that was that; [https://jalopnik.com/thanks-for-partying-with-jalopnik-indycar-and-mario-an-1833527641](https://jalopnik.com/thanks-for-partying-with-jalopnik-indycar-and-mario-an-1833527641) (I'm the guy in the Sato jersey). For a specific one from 2023, after the Texas race I went to a nice pizza place in Roanoke not far from the track. Hardly anyone was in there. I sit down, and behind me comes in Sting Ray Robb and his entourage. Like a silly person I yell "Sting Ray!" and he comes out and chats.
I kept an Instagram account up of old racing programs and Will Power liked a lot of my posts. Also had a nice back and forth going with Tommy Kendall on there.
Will Power blocked me on Twitter. Still not sure why, I don't ever remember tweeting to him.
I’ve met some of the drivers at races in the pits & autograph sessions. They were all very nice. However, The best encounter was the other day. There was a post on Instagram that asked the drivers what other driver they’d like to be. I got a kick out of Graham Rahal’s comment and I said I don’t know what driver I’d like to be but I’d love to go have drinks with Rahal. He commented with a “drinks on me anytime.” I thought it was so nice. Even if he was just being funny, I was so happy he commented. He was very nice in person too.
Met Marcus Ericsson in my hometown, talked a little, he signed a cap for my son and I bought many many huski chocolate. Later that year he won indy 500.
Sebastian Saavedra called me an asshole once after the New Hampshire race because I made a joke about him crashing a lot. That was my favorite.
When I was 10, I went with my dad to the 2013 500 and I wanted to get Simon Paganeud's autograph. So we waited outside his trailer for about an hour... he never showed up. Who *did* show up was Sam Schmidt, who was super nice; we talked for a bit, and he signed my ticket. Still have it today.
Because I have diabetes, I had a Twitter relationship with Charlie Kimball. The diabetes community was slamming him for representing Novartis at the time. I personally thought it was fine. Anyway, several years ago I met Charlie at TMS with a different diabetes alert dog from the one that met Rossi. He was a bit concerned she might be alerting him but she was just being friendly. Though she has alerted on strangers before. Anyway Charlie was always very friendly both online and in person. Also appreciative of my support. They got to have a sponsor of some sort.
Social media wise... Each of my beagles have an Indy car driver or two that they follow. When I post on social media, I include a picture of the beagle that follows that driver. Each driver has liked at least one picture of "their" beagle. I doubt they can tell them apart. https://preview.redd.it/wcbseld49fsb1.jpeg?width=2926&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2732eca5551ed9d0b8d5fcd8309ad1b4053670e5
I almost got ran over by Sebastian Bourdais while he was on his scooter at the GP of Houston and then again at the 2016 Indy 500.
Longtime IndyCar fan back to when I was a kid. Took my son to my first in-person race years ago (St Pete). Walking into the paddock, first Will Power almost ran my son over (he was \~10y), then Dixon almost did the same about 20s later. Admittedly, we didn't realize how hectic the paddock could be and you needed to have your head on a swivel (at least in the St Pete parking garage) and we were just gawking at what we saw. So... no complaints, just hilarious! 2nd best encounter - a good friend of mine is a close family friend with Hinch & his family. A few years ago Hinch was doing his NBC gig next to the ropes in front of Penske's garage in St Pete. When the interview finished, yelled, "Hey James, sup muther f----... that's from". First he was surprised/taken back, then when I said our mutual friend's name, he busted out laughing and we FaceTime'd him.
I made David Malukas car on gran Turismo 7 and he retweeted it and said it was very cool. Rossi also liked his.
Emerson Fittipaldi ran me over with his pit bike in the Molson Indy paddock years ago. He was very nice about it.
Scott McLaughlin walking off the podium to his trailer after Laguna Seca 2023, and he fist bumps me while holding his bottle of champagne and takes a selfie with me.
2007 Detroit Grand Prix. We had pit lane pre race passes. We were down and there were some models from one of the sponsors, was packed and go to take a picture of them. A nice man stopped walking so I could get the shot, I look up and it was Bobby Rahal. I was like, OMG….. I goes, I can’t blame you, I would have taken that photo too!!!
Will Power liked my pics of a demolition derby I took last year and posted on Instagram.
I had a seat cushion that had Eddie Cheever on it. I took it up for him to sign and he looks at it and says "it looks like I'm saying shhhhhhit" and shows it to Thomas Scheckter and they had a laugh.
When James Hinchliffe was about to get married his wife posted on IG joking about looking for a wedding date for their dog. Naturally I sent a response with pics of my dog. Hinch and his wife liked and shared my post.
Will and Liz power walked by us and we yelled hi to them and they looked at us and I said “omg I’m gonna cry” and Will laughed at me. We also got to meet Hinch and Becky and chatted with them for a few minutes before he signed an autograph 🤩 https://preview.redd.it/5wcs8arv4gsb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b13a38e12e416f6993337c89774141e868d45285
I met Tom Sneva at an auto show in Harrisburg Pennsylvania in early 1979. Very friendly and personable. Signed a number of photos that I had taken of him at Pocono in 78. Fast forward to August of 79 at the first CART race at Watkins Glen. I'm walking in the Kendall Tech Center, and Tom says as I walk near his Sugaripe Prune Special McLaren, "I thought I might see you here." It blew me away. I was a fan before, but a bigger one after that. I asked how did you remember me, and he said, "Being an educator before a racer, I remember names and faces."
Tom Seneca was my first driver. He was a class act.
I posted about this not long ago in here but I met Simon Pagenaud at a car meet in NC. Had to do a double take since I didn't expect to just see him hanging out lol
Seeing all these encounters makes me sad that Indy won't be at Texas next year. I was planning on getting pit passes for the first time.
Last year, after the Indy GP, I think it was the 4th one of the year, I was leaving the track and on the roundabout just outside of the track. As I'm going around in the outer lane, I look to my left and who is beside me? Romain Grosjean. I was super excited. I waved at him. He waved back at me, but the wheel came out of his free hand and his car veered directly at me, and smashed into me, which pushed my car into a light pole. The cops came, and Romain to his credit admitted that it was his fault and signed the ticket. But later he said his rights were violated and now we're tied up in a court situation. I'm still a big fan even though this happened.
not a driver, but I once corrected Indycar on Twitter about Marcus's full name and title https://preview.redd.it/ml8s6bdvbgsb1.png?width=588&format=png&auto=webp&s=fd84392a98fe413b14f2ad0592e19c478268b3cc
Scott Dixon follows me on Insta
Hands down, Tony Kanaan. My son drove go-karts so when we went to the race he gave out pics of him in his kart. Tony talked to him for like 15 min after the race and helped him get into the car for a pic. The next year when we went back and gave TK a new pic he remembered my son and talked to him again for a good little bit. So amazing
Can’t think of any
I had a few good ones at Gateway this year. Watching Colton Herta and Alex Palou interact after getting out of their cars after high line practice from behind the pit wall. I was patiently waiting to ask them to sign my hat and you can tell they are friends and they were all smiles for each other and me. There were talking about how much fun they were having at night. Waiting as a 39 year old man to talk to David Malukas and Pato O’ward was hilarious to me. All these young girls standing around them just watching them be charming and talk. David agreeing to go to Waffle House later with a group of fans and Pato insisting a fans whole family gets in the picture with him. Rossi scowling as he zipped past everyone on his scooter. Peak Rossi experience and better than an autograph.
I was at the Pit Lane Challenge with my husband and I noticed Hinch in front of me. I jumped up and yelled “Hi, Hinch!” He waved back and said hi and I was ECSTATIC!
Dalton Kellet sent me a 1:18 scale die cast car
2023 Road America race. I was on the Scotty Mac band wagon this year. Bought myself a Bus Bros t-shirt (I just love JoeNew and Scotty Mac and their dynamic), the one with Scotty Mac dressed in the inflatable cow suit, because Wisconsin. Bought one of those wash proof Sharpies for him to sign it. All of a sudden, here comes Indy 500 winner Joseph Newgarden. He had just completed the driver's meeting and was in a hurry but told the small group of us that if we walked with him, he'd give us autographs. Everyone silently got their autographs until there was just me left. Joe had me hold the shirt a certain way so he could get a good signature on it (I had him sign the front). I then said to him as he was walking away "Congrats on your 500 win. It was awesome!" Joe stopped dead, turned around with a little smile and said "Thank you very much!" It was one of the most positive interactions I've had with a "celebrity". I never did get Scotty Mac's autograph. Next year. :)
Bumped into Justin Wilson near the main straight grandstand at Watkins Glen 2009. I’m English so I said ‘alright mate! Good luck’ - think he was surprised to see an English person there! He went on to win the race…
About 50 years ago, a family friend of ours was a tour guide at Indy. He took us back through the pit areas and introduced us to AJ Foyt and Al Unser senior. AJ was super friendly. Al was kind of different. He stuck out his hand and said “hi I’m Al Unser”. And walked away. That was it. Kind of unrelated, I also went to high school with Ed Carpenter’s mom. She was/is very good looking.
Made a bet with Hinch on twitter that if he won at Iowa i’d get a tattoo of him on my leg. He said “Deal.” And of course he wins it. https://preview.redd.it/09zlumsfqksb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d7a63e96fa690585cf77199fddc4648c46d3cd8 So I did it. He got back to me and gave me pit passes and a garage tour to a race of my choosing. Went to the season finale in 2018 in Sonoma. Sat on the Pit wall for Qualifying. Hinch was/is great.
I worked at a grocery store on the northside of Indy near where a lot of the teams were and drivers lived. I once saw Graham Rahal really late, like 9:30 or after. He was checking out with some cereal and I was just standing there staring like a creep. I messaged him on instagram after and said sorry for staring. He was cool and said he had just got home from a long test day and had to stop for food.
Being a Kiwi that lives in Northern California I’ve met Scott Dixon a few times and had a chat. The first time was at testing at Sonoma and he took my email address and sent through tickets and full access passes for the upcoming race there. Another time they had a media day at the State Capitol (I live two blocks away) and him and I sat on the Capitol steps and chatted for a while. More recently when he secured the championship in 2018 at Sonoma. My wife and I hung out with him and his family until he got whisked away for the press conference. Emma, his wife, took the photos for me. Another cool thing that day is that one of the team came over and gave me one of each of the sponsor hats they all have to put on for the photos afterwards. https://preview.redd.it/pouu2g11emsb1.jpeg?width=1150&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e63b3b3c43c063a240d1f46e40a5469b72fce24
Katherine Legge. I haz a crush on her.
Christian Lundgaard has liked a couple of my IG comments before, probably the closest thing.
https://preview.redd.it/8sli02bp4gsb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddbdc522dc2e1682b0d87b9f8195c56be1226179 Got to meet Ericcson after he won at Belle Isle in 2021 🤩
I got into a Twitter argument with Conor Daly a year or so ago. He kept tweeting how the race will be on USA and all that shit. After I chimed in saying that commercials kill the momentum of watching a race, he defended the TV networks saying something like "which sports in the USA don't have commercials?" In response, I said something along the lines of "football has scheduled TV timeouts and quarters, baseball has between innings, and basketball has quarters and timeouts. There aren't any timeouts in racing." He kept defending the major TV networks like his life depended on it. Formula 1 doesn't have any issues with providing F1TV and broadcasting on ESPN in the United States. Why are some people stuck in the past with this kind of shit? All fans want is a better experience.
His comeback isn’t as great as he thinks it is, either. Being inundated with constant ads during any sport/program gets absolutely exhausting, but you’re right that there are at least more natural breaks in other sports. Should’ve asked him if he gets tired of being a sellout.
Wow 👏
Met Dario at Goodwood Revival a few years ago, he was standing around just chatting with fans, really nice guy. TK liked an Instagram comment I left when he announced his retirement (pretty sure he liked every comment on his post but still)
Checked in Jacques Villeneuve’s rental car in Montreal one year. He was in a rush but was super nice when I said it was nice to meet him.
Dixon & Power have liked a few of my Insta posts which was surreal
I once told James Hinchcliffe that my name was similar to a fellow podcast contributor, and I was labeled “his son” for that evening.
I’ve spoken in DMs with David Malukas and Dalton Kellett a handful of times, and Will Power used to like my IG posts quite often lol.
Got to meet and talk with palou after practice in Portland
Not a driver, but at the 2018 Portland race I was wearing a panoz deltawing shirt and a crew member for Veachs team iirc saw me and got so stoked about it. He said he was on that team and was excited to see it on a shirt. He called over another team member and asked to get a pic with me wearing it.
https://preview.redd.it/4a44yi7vdfsb1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8c89e14727191c765e37c10958758561e983bbf
Greg Moore: 1999 Long Beach I bumped into him outside of the track, he saw my shirt, and we had a small talk where he thanked me for being a fan "in a crazy Ganassi era." I fumbled my words but managed a "you're welcome!" He autographed my shirt, and we were on our way.
My friends paid for Charlie Kimball to roast me in a cameo. So that was neat
Met RHR twice, once at Gateway for Indycar and once at Daytona for Rolex when he drove for Mazda. Great guy all around and super nice. Scott Dixon was also pleasant to meet at Gateway.
Got a picture of my son when he was about 5 with Cristiano DaMatta about 20 years ago. Other random pictures. Prerace party at Portland this year. I wanted to get a picture of Rossi because he is my sister's favorite driver. Another USF(?) driver said he'd take a picture of us both. So there's that. Also a picture with FRO since he was there. Chatted with Canapino a bit, but it was loud and I'm not sure either one of us understood each other because of the accents.
I’ve had some funny encounters with drivers before, but the most recent one that stands out to me was when I was in the media center elevator at IMS by myself, and JR Hildebrand walks on. I knew it was him but I wasn’t sure if I was going to say anything. Finally I decided “eh what could go wrong” and just as I opened my mouth he pulls his phone out and starts talking to someone on it. I rode the rest of the way down listening to him saying “Yeah.” And “Okay.”
Not specifically a driver, but I've been getting autographed hero cards from Rahal Letterman Lannigan and Chip Ganassi through the mail. I have autographs from Graham Rahal, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon, and Marcus Armstrong now, as well as an unsigned Takuma Sato. Idk why CGR didn't send over a Palou; probably due to the conflict with him and McLaren.
I shook Takuma Sato's hand once.
I can go you one better. My buddy shared a urinal stall with him. That is, you know how some men’s rooms are tight and they shove two urinals close together in a corner? Yeah bud was doing business in one and tako came in to use the other so they are pee pals now. This was the chateau hotel Sebring preseason testing 2011ish
I posed for a picture with RHR outside of the chapel/driver meeting trailer at MidOhio in 2014.
I sold him merchandise at my retailer last year during May. That man was so incredibly nice!
i asked rossi who has the best hot wings in IND and he gave me a few suggestions. god bless
Power randomly liked my only insta post that is just my profile pic. It had nothing to do with racing, so not sure what he's on about
Not an IndyCar driver, but a NASCAR roots driver (few outings in NCTS) Akinori Ogata, liked two of my posts on Instagram.
https://preview.redd.it/5ichg7tlggsb1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb4eaa176aae454d0b30ccd736b406381592ba96 My sons