Meeting my hero

It's amazing really. I started out this year suddenly wanting to meet one of my NASCAR hero's, Tony Stewart. Tony is kind of a love/hate relationship for me. I hated him when he was young and cocky and I love him now that he's older, more mature yet still has that touch of arrogance that I've grown to admire. Most fans either like him or hate him. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground.

Many people ask me why I cheer for him when I also like Jeff Burton (pic below). I've been following Jeff, faithfully since 1997 and Tony I started watching in his rookie year in 1999. I actually attended my first out of state race at Homestead in 1999 and watched Tony win for the 3rd time during his rookie year. Jeff has been my public favorite whereas I've watched Tony from a distance until he started his own team a few years ago.

While starting up his own team (Tony is seen in pic above), his personal transformation was so dramatic that it really started catching my attention. He began to appeal to a side of me that I didn't know existed. Two entirely different people and racers so how could I possibly be fans of both? Well, until this year, I didn't know why, but I'll tell you it's been way too much fun figuring it out.

I think my journey honestly started in 2009 when I decided at the age of 33 that I wanted to get my Bachelors degree. Sounds quite reasonable until you realize I only had 11 credits at that time and it takes 120 to earn your undergraduate degree! It was a major decision in my life and one I knew I had to take so I jumped in head first, eyes closed and could only hope I didn't hit my head on the bottom.

It turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. It was the beginning of a journey of self-discovery for me. NASCAR took a back seat as I started to learn about the world we live in and more importantly, I began to see who I was and what I was capable of accomplishing or dreaming up and accomplishing. One of the first classes I took was a mythology class and while learning about Greek myths I stumbled upon a maxim at the Temple of Delphi, or Apollos temple and it read simply... KNOW THYSELF. I placed a tattoo on my hand of those exact words written in ancient greek so I would always be reminded of it.

Now, this saying could be interpreted in many different ways, but I took it as a reminder to me that before I can possibly know what I'm supposed to be doing in this life, what my higher purpose is, or dedicate myself to a family of my own; I must know who I am. For so long I've lived in the shadow of service to others. Doing for others without second thoughts and believing that I was placed on this earth to help them out. Sondra is short for Alexandra in Greek and it's meaning is simply "helper/defender of mankind". Trust me, I have lived up to this name. I have no regrets because it gave me a solid foundation on which to build. The problem is, doing for others is absolutely wonderful, but if you forget to do for yourself once in awhile you can become bitter and negative. I decided it was time to focus a little attention on myself.

So the past three years I've studied and worked and studied and worked, made time for my extended family (parents, siblings) and went right back to studying and working. I would not have a 3.86 GPA with 79 credits and working full time without a seriously strong will-power and drive to succeed! But I've done it!

I started to realize after accomplishing half my goal, that it was important to reward my determination and success. I started to allow NASCAR back into my life on a regular basis.

Now, NASCAR is not just a sport where men (and an occasional woman) strap themselves into a stock car and turn left. No, it's full of so much more than that and in a later blog I'll get into what it means to me, but for now I'll focus on the fulfillment of a dream that I had and later I'll discuss the journey to get to it. I want to write down what happened last weekend while it's still fresh in my mind. Plus, to be totally honest, I enjoy telling the tale over and over again because part of me cannot believe it actually happened!

As I started to say... I decided that I needed to cross a major item off my bucket list. Now if you don't have a bucket list, I highly suggest you make one. It helps you prioritize the things in your life that you want to do before you die. Unfortunately, you never know what day you're going to die so I encourage you to write it now and start having some fun! Or like me, use your bucket list to focus a little of your attention on yourself for a change.

I decided that 2012 was going to be the year that I was going to meet Tony Stewart. (Isn't that a great pic? I took it in South Carolina but that's another story)

I think part of this was pushed into my head when a lady said some weird things to me in the elevator in the parking garage downtown. It was shortly after the New Year and she climbed in with her two friends, looked at me thoughtfully for a few moments and proceeded to shake her finger at me while saying,

God has big plans for you this year. You're going to be surprised. Just have faith because this year is going to be special.

I remember looking at her and simply saying,

I HOPE SO

before she exited the elevator and left me with goosebumps. To this day her words ring in my head and part of me believes that without that little bit of encouragement from a stranger, I would not have dared to do all the things I've done this year.

In a later blog I'll tell you about my first attempt to meet Tony Stewart and I did so through a trip to North and South Carolina last May (2012). But for now, I'm going to pick up at Memorial weekend and an auction provided by the NASCAR Foundation that I stumbled upon (literally). To this day I cannot tell you how I discovered it, but some have said it was divine intervention, yet others say I just had my eyes open!

The NASCAR Foundation offered auctions for parade lap rides with certain drivers at a few race tracks on the circuit. They just started doing this in 2012 and since I had a little extra vacation money left over from my trip to NC/SC, I decided I was going to bid on a ride with Tony Stewart. I placed a max bid of $550.00 and sat back to wait. You talk about suspense. No one attempted to bid on that auction until 5 minutes before it was scheduled to end, almost 2 weeks AFTER I made my initial bid. Thank goodness I did such a high max bid because much to my delight and surprise, I won the bid for $399.00. When I received the winning email from the Foundation I started crying.

I figured this was a sure fire way to finally meet my hero!

It was scheduled for the June 2012 race at the Michigan International Speedway and consisted of riding in the back of the parade lap truck with Tony and one other driver immediately after driver introductions. It was to be me and my driver alone for 5 minutes or however long it took to get around the two-mile MIS.

The only thing that concerned me is that there were no rain checks.

So the big day arrived and guess what, it was raining. The first thing to be cancelled were the parade laps and the Foundation had zero contingency plans in place. We tromped through the rain in the garage and pit area and I ended up completely soaked because my rain poncho had fallen out of my pocket on the walk. I was also very sick and terrified I was going to catch pneumonia so with a heavy heart I bid them goodbye and stumbled back to the car utterly defeated. I went to MIS expecting to meet my hero and instead walked away with the biggest disappointment I have ever had to deal with. It felt like my heart had been crushed and my spirit had been smashed like a spent cigarette. I was devastated to say the very least. I was within striking distance of accomplishing my dream and crossing a huge milestone off of my bucket list and it ended in the soggy fields of parking lot 11 at MIS.

I immediately left the track and cried the entire way home. Friends and family, knowing how much this experience meant to me wrote to the Foundation expressing their anger over how all the auction winners were treated. In the end, the Foundation decided to give us a second chance and invited us back to try again in August for the second race of the season at MIS. Of course, I said yes I would try once more. I couldn't figure out if I was nuts or not to try it again! However, the Foundation assured us that they had a contingengy plan in place now if it were to rain again. MIS is notorious for having rainouts and rain delays in August, so needless to say, I refused to get my hopes up.

The Summer passed quickly with the two Summer classes I was taking and before I knew it, I was two weeks out from round 2 of living my dream. I refused to talk about it and I didn't post about it on Facebook. I absolutely was not going to get excited and possibly live through another huge disappointment if it didn't work out.

I arrived at MIS with my sister and friends at 5:30am Sunday morning. We enjoyed a few hours of tailgating before Alisha and I headed down to the tunnel entrance to meet the Foundation representative and the other auction winners who were able to return. There were four auction winners who came back and together with our guests we set off through the tunnel under the majestic two-mile speedway optimistic about meeting our heroes.

Our first stop was the garage area. We wandered slowly and quietly through it just absorbing the atmosphere and tranquility that could be had during that time of the day. Teams were having a quick bite to eat and just relaxing before the race. The haulers were lined up perfectly creating a colorful row of blocks relaxing in the sun.

It felt right to be down there and it felt like that is where I belonged. For the first time in a very long time I felt at peace.




We saw "The King" Richard Petty! That was as first for me and a huge thrill to see such a racing legend.

We saw the President of NASCAR, Mike Helton.








We saw a few crew chiefs doing last minute prep and some last minute tech inspections being done by NASCAR.

After about a half hour, Mary, the Foundation Rep said we needed to head towards the staging area to get into position. The minute the words were out of her mouth, I started feeling my first anxiety of the day. But this time, THE SUN WAS SHINING AND THE SKY WAS BLUE! This was the moment I had been waiting for since I first started working on meeting Tony back in January 2012. Needless to say, I was waiting for an earthquake or perhaps the Mayans had it wrong and they meant 8/19/2012 the world was going to end... anything to stop this moment from happening!

But guess what, nothing bad happened and the four of us got into position immediately to the right of the driver intro stage and waited.

Shelley was to ride with Kasey Kahne, I was to ride with Tony Stewart, Sherry was to ride with Ryan Newman and the last auction winner was to ride with Joey Logano. So we watched as they started the driver introductions and the drivers made their way past us (maybe 2-3 feet away) and into the trucks.

One by one, starting from the 43rd position the drivers were introduced until they got to position 15 for Ryan Newman and Sherry was called to the truck. And finally position 14 (how appropriate) for Tony Stewart and I was called to the truck. I immediately stopped shaking and became this calm, cool and confident individual that had set out to meet her hero and was about to see it happen! That was until I saw the little mini stool I was supposed to use to climb up into the back of the Silverado on. Holy crud batman. Talk about a buzz kill. I made the two guys on either side of the ladder hold my hands so I didn't fall. If I wasn't so damn embarassed I would have felt like royalty!!

Do you have any idea how happy I was to discover that Ryan and Tony were in the same truck so I had someone else (Sherry) in the truck with me? I was doing the happy dance. So we sat down on the wheel bumps or whatever they are called and Ryan was the first into the truck. He came and stood in front of me, but I quickly remedied that situation and switched sides with Sherry so she was by Ryan. He was a perfect gentleman and introduced himself and shook hands with both of us. He wasn't feeling well so I asked him if he was feeling any better which he promptly replied no to with a sad grin. Then, before I knew it, Tony Stewart was walking by me and stood in front of me.

Now when I say in front of me, I mean, we're talking a foot if not less between me and my hero.

Did I happen to mention that I have a little miniature Tony standup that was on my desk at work for a long time, that I would look at and talk to just to practice? Come on, stop laughing. You would too! I didn't want to flounder around like a brainless idiot so I practiced and I must say, it paid off!!!!

Tony had yet to say anything to me so after a few seconds of talking to Ryan, I kindly interrupted and asked if I could shake his hand and introduce myself before the truck started moving. He seemed slightly shocked and shook my hand and proceeded to say he was just checking on his driver to make sure he was ok to race today. I said no problem and just sat back to watch and listen and absorb what I was seeing. Its kind of difficult to take years of watching and listening on the tv, internet and radio and process it in real life. It felt surreal and at times I had to remind myself that I was really living it.

Within moments after my little interruption, the truck decided to move and both Tony and Ryan turned around to wave to the crowd. Again, we're only a foot from them so just imagine the sights we saw... yes, you've got it. I looked at Sherry and pointed to Tony in front of me and mouthed, OMG. Well, Ryan caught me out of the corner of his eye and just grinned and shook his head. What?!? I wasn't touching so who cares, right? Well, I think that little episode is what helped along the funny conversation we had on the backstretch.

So we get to the end of the stand in Turn 2 and Ryan and Tony both turn around to us. Ya, that was exciting to have Tony standing there in sunglasses not know where his eyes are... NOT! So something was said and Tony said to wait a minute and he sat down right next to me. Leg to leg baby. (heehee) I reached to pull up my camera and a gigantic blast of wind decided to open my already unbuttoned to far shirt and blew it open farther. Yup, open. I did't leave much to the imagination and we all know I've got enough to impress. I quickly grabbed it and held it down and Ryan was the first one to speak. He said something to the effect that don't worry, Tony likes the view. I just looked at him in shock. Then I hear Tony quietly speaking and I look at him and he's staring at me, again with the blasted sunglasses so God knows if he was looking at my face or my cleavage at this point, and says the following. Well, pretty close to the following, since I was in shock and can't remember it word for word but the meaning and intent was crystal clear. Plus Sherry has assured me that my memory is pretty dead on so that's good!

He proceeds to give me this story of I'll be the last image he sees and this view will be in his mind when he gets into his race car. At this point I'm just staring at his lips truly wondering if I'm hearing him say this or if my imagination is working over time. Sherry was sitting over there with her mouth open so I knew he was actually saying it. He proceeds to say he could die today and the last think he'll have seen is this view."

I'm just sitting there staring at him like he was F'in nuts. What a load of flattering yet complete bull-pucky. Well, finally it sinks in that he just says he could die today and my emotions go from shock to anger in the blink of an eye. Without thinking I swat him on the leg and tell him to knock off the shit about him dying. That doesn't sit well with me. He has that awesome smirking smile of his going on and looks a little shocked that I swatted him. But it pissed me off so it was my first reaction. Weird in retrospect, but I guess I was in the moment.

By this time we're coming into Turn 3 and they need to stand up to wave to the crowd. So as they begin to stand up Ryan says yet again that the view was what Tony wanted and Tony agrees yet again so having been fed up with their little game, I tossed it back at them by saying, and yes I quote...

Well, the view from back here isn't so bad either

Yes, I said it. Yes I did. And I earned a good chuckle out of both Ryan and Tony. That is so not like me but it felt so good to let it out! And frankly, I'm all about the truth since it was a wonderful view. (wink,wink) I was just glad the truck driver didn't have to slam on his brakes or my nose would have been up Tony's... well, you get the idea.

I did take a great pic of Ryan and Sherry. I thought it turned out beautiful and I was very proud of myself.

Sherry took a pic of Tony and I which I'll post at the end of the blog. It was very nice of her to snap the pic but the wind caught my hair and I look like Medusa in hell. But, it's with Tony so I'll live with it!

As for the rest of the ride, Tony sat down next to me once more and autographed two trading cards I had brought. One was his rookie card from his 1999 win at Homestead and the other was a more recent Office Depot one. The Homestead card was special to me because the was the first time I had the opportunity to see him win in a live event. He was so calm and quiet while doing it and I appreciated him all the more for signing both.

The top of the picture shows the two cards he autographed for me.

As we rolled slowly along the front strech next to the fence, I looked up into the sea of faces and listened and watched as they screamed Tony's name and hollered their support for him. It was at that moment that I suddenly realized that I had just met, sat next to, teased, got pissed at, swatted, smiled with, made laugh and got the autograph of the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. I had made many, many people jealous today because I got to do all these things. It was a super powerful feeling of excitement, wonder, awe and yet I felt humbled too.

The truck made a U-turn at the start/finish line and headed back to the beginning of pit road. Tony and Ryan once again turned around and faced us but didn't say much except to state they had to immediately head to the restroom in order to get back to their cars for the finish of pre-race ceremonies so they could not pose for a picture. I was bummed but completely understood.

The truck pulled up to a stop and guess what? No stool to walk onto. I had to jump down from the bed of the Silverado. Ok, yes. My legs felt like jell-o so I was terrified that I was going to fall on my face or worse yet, fall onto someone!! That would have been a nightmare so Sherry got off, Ryan got off and Tony stepped off and immediately turned around and grabbed my hand to help me off the truck. I never hesitated and was grateful for the help so I didn't fall. I had a death grip on his hand. I said thank you and walked away.

As I think about it, lots of people shake his hand, but how many can say that they actually had a death grip on it? Hmmm? (wink, wink).

Many thanks to those friends and family (especially my sister and parents) who made it a point to come to the track and watch me fulfill my dream. That meant so much to me to see my mom and dad waving from the fence as I rode by. I still get teary thinking about it.

It was an amazing experience and one that hopefully I won't forget. It was the chance of a lifetime to be on the other side of the fence and to get a taste of what these drivers and teams live with on a weekly basis. I fell in love with the sport all over again and with this experience I realized that the number one thing on my bucket list will remain my dream of working in NASCAR.

I think this year I made some incredible leaps and bounds towards achieving that goal but more importantly, I reached for the stars and actually caught two this time around.

**Bloggers Note: Tony was a perfect gentleman and nothing in the blog should hint otherwise. I was having fun with my hero, nothing more.**