Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A Gordon fan, not in disguise

JEFF GORDON, MANY YEARS AFTER
THIS STORY FROM DAYTONA.

(CHEVROLET PHOTO)
In the 1990s, I was at Daytona and working on a story for Winston Cup Scene. Walking along the main drag in front of the track, I was asking people how they picked their favorite drivers.

This one guy looked like a walking advertisement for Jeff Gordon, then the BIG THING in stock-car racing. This guy was wearing a 24 cap and shirt and carrying a Jeff Gordon cooler with a Jeff Gordon flag stuck through the top. I don't remember, but I think he had some other Gordon paraphernalia, too.


The weird thing is that his dad was a Ken Schrader fan, and other members of his sizable group wore or carried memorabilia from other drivers. I think Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett were also represented.


I just waded in, laughed and said, "Obviously, we have a Rusty Wallace fan in disguise." I got a big laugh, and this guy and his family wound up the lead for my story.


If you're wondering, there weren't any Dale Earnhardt fans in the group.

For some reason, Winston Cup Scene didn't want the story, even though they'd assigned it to me. So I wound up selling it to Beckett Racing Monthly. Sadly, neither magazine is with us now.



Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

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