A HERO IS A MAN WHO DOES WHAT HE CAN.
-------Romain Rolland
Thanks RYAN for the
Great LOGO!
This page is intended to bring to you the
fans of this great sport of NASCAR, The "other" good side of our Hero's.
With all the energy some waste on bashing, the good gets lost.
Meeting Heroes
Click here to see what
Super thing the Melling Team did for me!
JERRY
NADEAU- A FAN'S HERO
Click
here to read what one of My favorite drivers did for a 14 year old on her
Birthday!
Click
here to read even MORE stories about fans meeting their Heroes'!
From The Lighting Accident at Dover
From Jeff, (Jeff lost both his legs due
to this lightning accident and has been through hell and back. He is doing
pretty good now.)
(click on Image for larger version)
Dale Earnhardt was the first of five drivers
to step forward and offer / give aid to my family while I was in the burn
unit in Pa. The aid was in the form of a credit card via a burn foundation
to cover the housing costs of any and all family members requiring a place
to stay during my recovery there. I wish that I could tell you who
the others were and I am sure my family can. However that is another
of those things that I just can not keep in my head. I am pretty
sure that Rusty Wallace was another. I did stop by Dale's souvenir
truck at the Dover race and asked them if they saw him to please tell Dale
I said Thank You.
The help he provided was great.
Jeff
Dale Earnhardt sent his fans (who were involved
in this tragedy) leather uniform jackets and all kinds of free stuff.
Rusty Wallace followed suit with his injured fans.
A Personal Experience. . .
I had a major car accident in April 1997.
I was driving a 1993 Mustang GT and struck a concrete culvert 
drain
pipe, which runs underneath county driveways in the outskirts of town areas.
Someone tried to pass me on a 2 lane hwy and forced me off the road.
I was only doing 45mph and the posted speed limit was
55mph.
I had to learn to walk all over again and lost
my right ankle bone (now fused) and 1 3/4" length on my right leg.
It has been a long and painful recovery.... plus, they never found the
"phantom vehicle" which never stopped.
My husband wrote to Ernie Irvan's Fan Club, which
neither of us were members at the time. I quickly received a large
box filled with Ernie memorabilia along with a nice letter. It was
truly uplifting.. especially since Ernie had come back from a near death
experience after the accident at Michigan during
practice.
It
sure does make a person feel good to receive anything from their "hero"
type figure when the cards are down.
I respect ALL drivers and their fans, no
matter what.
Thanks for your time.
Your NASCAR friend,
Deanna~
My patient who is on a vent and is a quad was
granted a wish through the Make a Wish Foundation. He wanted to see
the new race track by Disney in Florida. When he got there, the track was
not ready.
Somehow, some way Richard Petty and organization
heard of this. They brought my patient to the Richard Petty track
instead. They took him around the track in a "REAL RACE CAR".
They showed him "EVERYTHING THERE WAS TO SEE" and last but not least he
told me. The KING treated me like "I WAS THE KING."
Richard Petty also sent my patient home with "real
racing tires" that had been used. Needless to say my patient was
a PETTY HAPPY KID!
In life we never know what is going to happen
to us or to the ones we love. Richard Petty is a hero in the eyes of my
patient. The joy and happiness Mr. Petty brought to my patient cannot
be relayed in words. I saw the child when he returned from Florida.
Frankly he looked like he was touched by an angel.
What could have been a real disappointment for
this child, turned out to be one of the greatest moments in his life.
"Went to an autograph session at a bookstore
last night. As an autograph collector, this was a rare chance to see someone
who makes almost no appearances in the mid-Atlantic area, and is one of
the harder ones to get. I always thought DW was a nice guy but..........he
really went above and beyond the call of duty.
At
the front of the line was a quadriplegic man who couldn't even speak. One
would expect most drivers to take an extra moment and sign whatever they
have. However, with DW there was a sense of sincerity, honesty and
genuine care as he took him aside. There were no cameras or press so it
wasn't a public relations thing. In fact DW thought he had total privacy
although 3 or 4 of us could still see down an aisle. After signing all
of the man's items DW took the man's arm and just stayed there talking
with him. The man's eyes started to tear up, as did a few of ours. Almost
everyone else thought DW was taking a break or had left for a few moments
but a few of us know the real deal. Just as DW was starting to return to
the table he realized a few of us had seen him and he immediately went
into his lighthearted, funny routine.
I know that DW was in the "bad boys" club in
his early years but he certainly has proven what he is really made of."
Earlier this spring in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania I attended an autograph
signing by Dale Earnhardt Jr. I was deeply moved by his thoughtfulness
and sensivity for a particular fan. As I was standing in line, I
noticed a small boy in a wheelchair coming through the gate toward Dale.
The boy would steer the wheelchair with his chin. The small boy obviously
had some type of dissability. Dale Jr. immediately stopped signing
autographs for about 10 minutes and went over to the boy in the wheelchair
talked with him and spent some quality one-on-one time with the child.
You could just see the joy in this little guy's face. Needless to
say, I was moved by this and felt compelled to write AC Delco and let them
know what their driver did. I received a very gracious thank-you
from them for my efforts. This was definitely a very touching moment
to me because here is this "big named" driver who was not above spending
time with someone who was not as fortunate as he was. Thanks.
M.Smith
Don't neccesarily have a story about a driver,
but actually the whole racing organization.
My sister and a bunch of her friends rented a
motorhome for the California 500 race. The were camped in the infeild and
not allowed to take any other vehicles in. My sister had her one year old
daughter with her. On Saturday night Jordan started running a high fever,began
vomiting and became very lethargic. My sister contacted a track worker
and explained that she needed to get to her vehicle quickly to get Jordan
to an emergency room. The track worker goton the radio and before you know
it a worker was there with a cart to take Sharon anywhere she wanted
to go. They also suggested that there was a doctor in the infeild care
center and that they would be happy to take her there since it was closer.
She agreed.
While at the center Jordan received excellant
care. She even required IV's this wasnt just a typical office visit. After
Jordan was feeling much better, they offered the use of an ambulance if
my sister still wanted to have her seen by another Dr. But due to the excellant
care she recieved, she was much better and it was obvious thet she was
going to be OK.
It was not so surprising that they would go to
this much trouble for a fan, but what was surprising in this day and age
is a Dr. and a Medical center who refuse to take any payment. They said
"we are payed to be here for whoever needs us".
I feel this truly show that Nascar is a sport
that cares about thier fans.
MiniEden
For years I have known that the sport of NASCAR is the greatest fan
friendly sport in the world. But on July 3, 1998, I found out just
how great our sport is. On April 1, 1998, my husband proposed to
me. We had both had prior marriages, so we did not want the huge
wedding. So we came up with the unique
idea of getting married at a NASCAR race! We are both huge race
fans, and met on America Online in a motorsports chat room. (I cheer
for Gordon, he loves Earnhardt!) We had purchased tickets for the
first ever night race at Daytona, and we decided we'd love to get married
in Victory Circle! So I contacted a lady named Amy Sample in Public
Relations at the Daytona Speedway. She told us we could get married
anywhere outside of the track, but not in Victory Lane, because we did
not have pit passes and they could not just let anyone in because of security
reasons. So we planned on getting married in front of Daytona USA.
Well the plans were made, and we were ready to do it! Then, the wildfires
in Florida started. And as everyone knows, the race was cancelled.
However, we had to get married in Florida that weekend, because our marrige
liscense for the state of Florida (we live in Alabama) was only good for
a certain period of days. So away to Florida we went!! When
we arrived at the Speedway that Friday, I called Amy and told her
I was there. She came down from the main offices to meet me and my
husband...and give us the surprise of our lives! She had spoken with
John Story, head of Public Relations, and Bill France, and they had graciously
allowed us the usage of Victory Lane to get married! 
We
were shuttled there in NASCAR Vans, and they had the speedway photographer
take pictures. They also called the local newspaper and television
station to interview us! They were truly great! I cant thank
NASCAR enough for making our wishes come true! And we're going back
for the race for the Honeymoon we never had!!! What a great sport
we have in NASCAR!
Stephanie Steffen
Montgomery, Alabama
Looney28@aol.com
Ricky Rudd as he ran a new car and paint scheme
for the first time in years at the Brickyard for KIDS OF THE WORLD.
Ricky donatated $ 100.00 dollars for every lap he ran for this foundation.
Tide and RPM also donatated all proceed's from the 1:42 scale Tide Car
( Give Kids The World) sales to this foundation. Ricky and his wife
Lynda continues to support this important foundation with each and every
race he run's. It's a shame more people in sport's don't realize
what NASCAR does for the racin' community and
all communities.
Well my best experience happened last year at my very 1st NASCAR race;
the Bud At The Glen. My mom works for a company that distributes
DuPont chemicals and got free tickets to the race. These tickets
included a pit tour, breakfast, lunch, and snack at the DuPont hospitality
tent. Keeping in mind that I was a Dale Jarrett/Sterling Marlin/Terry
Labonte fan, I felt a lil intimidated going to the tent that sponsored
Jeff Gordon. Then I found out that not EVERYONE was a 24 fan in there.
Jeff made an appearance and asked a technical question that I had asked
him about the cars. I was thrilled I got the answer, b/c it had been bugging
me for months! But then the big thing happened. I went on my
very 1st pit tour. I was 14 at the time (I'm 15 now), and was like
a 4 year old in a candy store! My father had
taken me, and held a tight grip on me as to be sure I didn't make mad
dash for the 88 garage. I had something to my father along the lines
of: "I forgot the duct tape! Well, so much for duct taping Todd Parrott
to my leg <pout>" Well, Todd Parrott had heard me say that, and smiled
as I walked passed.
Needless to say I was in La La Land for the rest of the tour.
After the tour, Daddy ran the passes back to the tour guide while I lagged
behind. We had walked passed the 88 pit again, and there, sure enough,
was Todd leaning against the retaining wall w/ a roll of duct tape in his
hand a WIDE smile. He even had a wink, and blew a kiss!! Who
ever said Crew Chiefs were too busy to pay attention to fans?!? :)
**Katie..Geneva, NY **
In June I went to my first race at Sears Point. It was totally exciting
for me to experience actually being there. I felt like a kid at Christmas
time. Saturday after Happy Hour we went back to stand beside the fence
and watch as the drivers brought their cars in and get gas. There were
many of us there watching. It was like seeing movie stars
to me and I'm a grown up. Imagine what it was like for the children that
stood in the crowd.
My driver walked by and waved to me and so I was thrilled with
that and even got a neat picture of him.
And then along came Rusty Wallace. Rusty must have been as tired
as all the rest of the drivers. Surely he gets enough of the crowds too
but he got out of his car and he walked along the fence, not far enough
away to be insulated from us but close enough to shake a few hands and
sign a few autographs.
I also heard that he had spent some time riding along
with some of the state troopers stopping people and "giving them tickets"
to the race for good driving.
I know this is not a big story but for a novice like me it was
very meaningful that he took the little extra time to bother to acknowlege
the people who admire him and with good reason obviously.
Dottie White JerMafld12
If you have a story about "Our Hero's in NASCAR", feel free to
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me,
I will review it and if it belongs here I will be happy to add it!
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