NASCAR. The beginning of my lucrative sports watching career. I hold this sport dearly to my heart not only because it is just awesome, but I have many fond memories tied along with it.
My very first memory is looking at the TV, and watching the cars race. To this day, I couldnt tell you who they were, or even exactly what they looked like, but I remember it. My dad is the one that got me started with NASCAR. I remember the days where watching a Busch race was an added bonus to the weekend. My dad was a Harry Gant fan, so at the beginning, I was much a Gant fan as well. My dad took me to a good bit of races and just about every race we went to, Handsome Harry was signing autographs in his trailer. Needless to say, we have a ton of them, but they are all very special to me. My first autograph was Ernie Irvan, Sonoma, probably around 1990. Over the years I have accumulated tons of autographs, Dale Jr, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte, John Andretti. My favorite was my first Jeff Gordon one. Seeing as he is my favorite driver and as a teenager I about freaked out. My dad took the family to Martinsville in 1999. We had infield passes, it was great! Had been there all day, got well over a dozen autographs and still didnt see Jeff. Well, everyone was ready to go sit down and I was just heartbroken. The next thing I knew I looked over, and there was Jeff!!! Not thinking one bit I just took off and had him sign it. Chit chatted for a few mins, it was great! My parents were laughing, they said one second I was there, they turned their head and I was gone. My dad got a few pics of the moment, it was amazing! That is one thing I love about NASCAR, the drivers are so accessible to the fans.
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