A letter to NASCAR from the fans

Dear NASCAR-

I'm going to make this real simple... GET YOUR CRAP TOGETHER!!!!

I'm not talking about the governing body of Nascar- I'm talking to the drivers, crew chiefs, spotters, team GMs, and owners. You are the ones that have given the sport a major black eye in the last week, and the fans aren't happy.

NASCAR fans are some of the most passionate sports fans anywhere. We stand behind our drivers when they run well, and when they don't. Yes, we want our driver to make the Chase, but we want them to do it because they drove the wheels off the car week after week and deserve to be in it. We love the passion the drivers themselves often have for the sport. We want to see racing and drivers going all out.  We want to see the helmet throws, drivers giving each other the bird, words on pit road after a race, bumping, banging, rubbing... That's what racing is. Racing is NOT back-room deals, slowing down on the track on purpose, intentional spins and cautions, fake pit stops... That crap is cheating and it has no place in the sport we love.

Y'all may think the fans are nothing but loud rednecks who drink and cuss too much... And yes, that may be who many of us are. But you have overlooked one thing- we aren't stupid. We have longer memories than many of the drivers. You piss us off once, we stay pissed off for a long time. We will put up with a lot of stuff, but messing with the integrity of our sport crosses that line. You talk about how important the fans are to NASCAR, but then you go and pull stunts like you pulled at Richmond and you basically are telling us that you don't give a damn about us. Be careful, because if you push us too far, you will push us away.

So right now, you are on thin ice. Us fans are waiting to see what happens. We want to see some amazing racing this weekend at Chicago. We want those drivers to go out and drive like they are pissed off- and many of them are right now. The last thing we want to hear about is more fishy team communications and team orders, or anything that hurts our sport. Because yes, this is OUR sport too- and you would do well to remember that...

Sincerely-
NASCAR fans everywhere

The awesome and the awful- interacting with NASCAR drivers

This past weekend we attended three days of racing at Pocono Raceway for the GoBowling.com 400. Thanks to the people at the track, we had some amazing opportunities that gave us the chance to interact with many of the drivers.

(OK- quick side note here... If you are NASCAR fan and don't follow Pocono Raceway on Twitter, what is wrong with you??? They do lots of awesome giveaways and have what I think of as the best social media team in NASCAR. Follow them here!!!)

Friday morning, Matthew and I ended up by the Media Center as some drivers were going in and out for media questions. The first driver we saw was Ryan Newman. I hate to say it (actually, no I don't), but Newman was a jerk. As he got off his golf cart, he started signing autographs for fans. Matthew was standing there waiting his turn patiently hoping Newman would sign his hero card. Ryan Newman looked right at him, saw he was holding the card, and turned and walked away to another group to sign more autographs. Yes, Matthew was wearing his Kyle Busch hat, but still... He's a kid and a fan. That was a crappy move in my book. Matthew came back over to where I was standing by the rails and the nice guy next to us who had also seen what happened, called out to Newman's PR guy and pointed out Matthew and said he wanted an autograph. (I also took off his Kyle hat at this point too...) The PR guy did make sure Newman signed Matthew's card, but I was shocked it had to come to that.

Newman finally signing Matthew's card

The next driver that came out was Jeff Burton. He signed for all the fans that were there waiting. When he got to Matthew, he not only signed the card, but he took the time to ask Matthew his name and chat with him for a few minutes. Jeff Burton is a total class act, through and through.

Jeff Burton signing Matthew's card

Then, much to the excitement of pretty much everyone, Jimmie Johnson came up on a golf cart to go into the Media Center. He didn't sign anything or even walk over by the fans on his way in, but he did say he would be back. Now, if you know me, you know I am NOT a JJ fan, but Matthew has decided he's his second favorite driver... So we waited. When he came back out, it was like a magnet attracting iron fillings- he had an instantaneous crowd of autograph seekers around him. Matthew was one of the kids right up in front by JJ while I stayed out of the mess of people. Jimmie made sure all the kids in the front got autographs before he moved on to the adults. You still won't find me rooting for JJ on Sunday, but I will admit that he is a nice guy and did right by all the kids there.

Signed JJ card

On Sunday, we were in position to have every single driver- yep, all 43 of them- walk by us on their way to driver introductions. The first driver that came through was Dale Jr. Apparently he was going through for a special presentation. On his way to the stage, he didn't sign any autographs. On his way back, he only signed one- a serviceman (National Guard, I think) had his uniform hat for him to sign. Jr stopped and signed that hat. The serviceman was ecstatic beyond belief after that. That was a nice move by Jr.

The drivers started coming through for their intros. The first few drivers just walked straight through and didn't stop, but none of them were rude or anything. Then more of the "bigger name" drivers started coming through and were standing around talking waiting for their name. The first one was Danica. One of the fans (they were only about 20 of us total waiting there) asked her for an autograph and she said "No." She then proceeded to turn her back to the fans and talk to other drivers, completely ignoring the fans.

This is how she stood the whole time

This is why I don't like Danica... That was rude and uncalled for- she had no reason not to take the time to sign a few autographs. She isn't better than anyone else, despite what she thinks.
I'm ok with drivers not signing if they didn't have the time or had their kids with them, but she was just a bitch.

A few drivers came through with their kids, such as David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose. They didn't stop and sign anything, which is understandable. Matt Kenseth was waiting about 5 minutes before his name was called, but he had his young daughter with him, and stayed over by a wall and kept to himself. Again, very understandable.

Matthew saw some drivers he wanted to get an autograph from, but didn't really have anything for them to sign. So he decided he would ask them to sign his shirt. Every driver he asked agreed to sign his shirt. The first driver he asked was Bobby Labonte.

Bobby Labonte

He asked Clint Bowyer, who looked at him like he was crazy and said "Your shirt?", but then signed away.

Clint Bowyer signing the shirt

He also got autographs from Kevin Harvick, AJ Allmendinger, Travis Kvapil, Mark Martin, and Dale Jr (who did take the time to sign for more fans when he came through a second time).

Kevin Harvick signing

AJ Allmendinger signing

Travis Kvapil signing

Mark Martin signing

Now, Matthew's favorite driver is Kyle Busch. All I heard for three days was how he had hoped to Kyle's autograph. Kyle came up for his intros and Matthew started immediately asking him if he would sign his shirt. What happened next is classic Kyle Busch. He stopped, put on his sunglasses (keep in mind, we were INSIDE!!!), and found a place on the sleeve of the shirt not close to where anyone else signed.

Kyle Busch- and his sunglasses- signing the shirt

But- he signed the shirt. Matthew was sooooo excited he couldn't stop bouncing. I'm not a Kyle Busch fan on the track, but that was definitely a nice move by him.

The shirt with all the autographs

Overall, NASCAR has some of the best drivers who really understand, more than any other sport, fans are the reason they are here and that fans are such an important part of the sport.

What a Christmas!

First and foremost, let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope that you were able to spend the day with your loved ones and had a wonderful and relaxing day.

I've had quite the Christmas day. We were fortunate enough to have my parents here to celebrate with us. We had a very relaxing and wonderful day opening our presents. I got a great Mickey suitcase and a Disney watch. My dad got an iPad, and both my mom and my son got iTouches. We spent the afternoon giving the technologically challenged (meaning my mother) a lesson in using her iTouch. I spent the afternoon relaxing and chatting with friends on Twitter. And then...

About 2:55 this afternoon, I saw a tweet reminding everyone that Denny Hamlin (a NASCAR driver for all you non-NASCAR people) was doing a Christmas contest giveaway. He would be doing a trivia contest, and the winner would get airfare, 3 nights hotel, and spending money to any destination in the continental United States. All you had to do was be the 11th person with the correct answer. The question he posed was this

"Q: If you received every gift in the song "12 days of Christmas" how many presents would you have????"

I quickly tweeted my answer along with the required hashtag #11in11. I waited a few minutes but then had to go back to my Lego building duties with my son. I came back a few minutes later to see that my Twitter timeline had exploded with tweets to me- I had won the contest! I was floored! I was beyond EXCITED! I couldn't believe that I had won!!!!

My husband and I started talking about where we go. We quickly decided we wanted to go to a NASCAR race. Then, we started discussing which one. We talked about Daytona and the Coke 600. But we are in Florida several times and year, and we could drive to Charlotte. We wanted to really make this a special trip and go somewhere we would't go on our own. So we decided to go to the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.

Needless to say, this has been a Christmas that I won't forget. Thank you to my family for the great day and all the wonderful gifts. And thank you to Denny Hamlin for his generosity and the amazing contest.

Oh- and the correct answer was 364 presents :)

The people make the difference

This past weekend, the family and I went to our first NASCAR race. Having never been to a race, I didn't really know what to expect. Well, I can easily and honestly say- it was one of the best weekends I've ever had. I think it's the only experience I've had that even comes close to the excellence of a Disney vacation.

What made the weekend so great was the way that the NASCAR crews and employees interacted with the fans- specifically my son. When we arrived at our hotel on Friday night, we immediately discovered (to my squeals of delight) that several crews were also staying at the hotel. I was able to meet one of the Crew Chiefs that I follow on Twitter, and he was so nice to both me and Matthew. When we went down to breakfast on Saturday morning, the entire area was filled with crew members- our little table of 3 was the only non-crew table. Matthew was in HEAVEN!

After we arrived at the track, we had passes that allowed us to walk around the garage area- well, see part of the garage area behind a fence. Several crew members (thank you #6 and #12 cars) came over and gave my son lug nuts. They became his most treasured possession.

Crew members of the #6 UPS Roush-Fenway Ford

Back at the hotel that night, we saw the crew member of the #6 who had given Matthew the lug nut. He looked at Matthew and remembered him and then told Matthew "Come see me tomorrow and I'll give you a hat." Well, needless to say, Matthew was on Cloud 9. He woke me up at 3am (yes, 3am!) telling me how he was going to get a hat from the guy...

Sunday morning continued the Swag fest for Matthew. At breakfast that morning, we saw a member of the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team, who came up to Matthew and asked him if he liked matchbox cars. He came back with two Limited Edition Matchbox Cars for Matthew.

We arrived at the track and started walking along pit road (our passes allowed us onto pit road Sunday morning) as crew members we setting up the pit boxes. All the crew members were so nice- they answered questions that asked them, and never acted as if we were imposing. Of course, they recognized who the most important person in the family was- the 6 year old!

Patrick of the #11 Fed Ex Toyota

Several crew members stopped and took pictures with Matthew, and also gave him more lug nuts! Some of them (again, kudos to the #6) put him up on the wall in their pits for pictures. But the best was yet to come!

More great crew guys of #6 UPS Ford

Matthew started out the morning wearing his Denny Hamlin #11 t-shirt and his Lowe's #48 hat. He went to the #20 Home Depot (Joey Logano) pit box and was seen by one of the pit crew. The pit crew immediately commented on Matthew's hat, and told him it was not appropriate for Matthew to be wearing that hat. The crew guy told Matthew to take off his #48 hat and give it to him. Matthew did, looking slightly confused. Well, the pit guy took the hat (as in NEVER gave it back!) and came back from around the pit box with a signed Joey Logano #20 Home Depot hat. Yes- an autographed hat! I was floored, as was Matthew.

The guy on the pit box is the one who 'traded' hats with Matthew

Of course, after this, we went back over to the garage, where Matthew saw his new friend in the #6 stall, who immediately recognized Matthew and presented him with a hat from the #6 UPS car.

Yes- there was a race, and Matthew was excited that Denny Hamlin won... But what I will always remember about the weekend was how the crew members and everyone at the race really made the difference and made it THE perfect weekend.

Say-it-all Saturday

Another Saturday is here, and I find myself with very little to say this morning. As anyone who knows me can attest to, that is a very rare occurrence. So, I have just a few short rambling thoughts I will share on this Say-it-all Saturday...

1. I love, love, love this weather we are having right now. It is perfect spring weather, and after the winter we had here in PA, we've earned it. It's perfect weather for a morning run and then playing outside until dark. If it stayed like this all year long, I would be happy.

2. I have the most wonderful son in the world! We spent several hours in the Emergency Room with him yesterday (smashed fingers in the car door while rollerblading) and he was sooo good. Actually, he was good through the whole ordeal. I am so proud of him.

One of my favorite pictures of Matthew

3. This wonderful weather makes me wish I was at Disney World. I have never been this time of year, but this just seems like perfect Disney weather.

4. I am glad there is NASCAR racing again this weekend. I missed racing last weekend.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Catching on to this Social Media thing

One of my first posts on this blog was discussing how I didn't quite get Social Media, but I was in for a quick lesson...

Well, fast forward about 6 weeks later, and while I am by no means a social media queen, I have a much better understanding and respect for it. It has changed my life in ways that I would have never thought.

One of the first things is that I started, and have stuck with, this blog. It gives me a place to put my thoughts down in writing. And even more surprising- there are some people who read it! (And note to blogger- I would like it if I could track my page views...). It's really kinda fun- at least it is once I have decided on what my next post is going to be. I use social media to help me with my blog by following other blogs and absorbing the good from them.

I have met people who have amazing Disney websites that I love (like http://www.disneyeveryday.com/). I look at how they network and use social media and I learn from them. I also learn things about Disney from people who are in the know (such as #wdwmoms). Social media has also brought in contact with people in other countries who share some of my same passions. For example, I regularly correspond with a friend on Twitter who is an up-and-coming NASCAR reporter- in the Phillipines! One thing that both of these people do, that I am trying to watch and learn, is effectively network using Twitter and Facebook. They develop contacts and put their name out there using social media. It's all really very cool.

One thing about social media that surprises me is how it is really starting to invade our society. On Twitter, you have many big, popular NASCAR drivers (@kylebusch, @dennyhamlin, @mw55) who will hold Q&A sessions with their fans. This brings the fans closer to the sport, and increases exposure. There are many large companies- such as Harrah's, Kellogg, and HP- who are hiring corporate social media directors. They are learning that social media is here to stay and they want to know how to use it.

Before I went to the Disney Social Media Moms conference, I had a little (emphasis on little) idea of what social media was and how it worked. Now, I have more of an idea of how to effectively use social media- not that I have it all down yet, or that I am doing it... But, I think it's safe to say I have a little more of a clue than I did when I started this journey!

Disney and NASCAR

While I was out for my run this morning, I was trying to think of what my next blog post would be. (Now, this was kind of difficult because my legs were DEAD and I really just wanted stop and walk...) I really like the idea that several of my fellow bloggers have done recently (shout out to Rora and Kristin), which is post a list of questions and answer them. But, I didn't want to seem like too much of a copy-cat. So, I thought a little but more about what I could say about me and decided to expand on two of my favorite things.

There are four things in life that I love:
1. My family and friends
2. Food and eating food
3. Disney
4. NASCAR

Now- the first two of those probably make sense to most people. They seem to go together fairly well. It's the last two that tend to make people do a bit of a double take.

Throw Disney in the mix, and things still make sense to most people. After all, Disney is very family friendly, "The Happiest Place on Earth", etc. People look at me and thing- OK, I can see that she loves Disney. She certainly goes there enough... I can talk Disney with anybody and I will. I've had conversations with strangers about where to stay and where to eat.

The last one, NASCAR, tends to throw people for a loop. I have watched NASCAR for about 10 years now. And I love it. I like the personalities, the drivers (most of them), and I like the fans. I love to talk about NASCAR. The only problem is, it seems there are a lot less people willing to talk NASCAR than Disney. Since the start of this NASCAR season, I have heard several times from my friends "I can't believe you like NASCAR" or similar statements. This doesn't bother me, I just say "Yep" and go on.

Now, Disney and NASCAR may seem to be completely different interests that really don't mesh. This may be true, but yet they do have a few things in common. They both have fans that are very vocal. The online Disney and online NASCAR communities are both full of people who are very knowledgeable and eager to share their knowledge with you. You can strike up a 30 minute conversation with any Disney fan by simply asking "What's your favorite ride." Ask a NASCAR fan "Who's your favorite driver" (or this week- "What do you think about Carl?") and the conversation flows.

So- now you know a little more about me. And hopefully all my Disney friends on Twitter will be a little more understanding when all the #NASCAR tweet fly, and all my NASCAR friends will understand why I have all the #Disney tweets. And for those you that like both (SISTER!)- enjoy all the tweets!!!