Today is Jeff Gordon's Birthday. In honor of his birthday, I present the "I Get Weak" post.
In May of this year, the Workman's ended the school year, sold their house, prepared for CrossCamp, moved to Bells, TN, and in the middle of all that chaos...my BFF Ashley calls me with a very intriguing proposal. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hello
Ash: Hey, what are you and Ryan doing next weekend?
Me: I don't know...we close the house on Friday, movers come on Thursday to start packing, they won't deliver our stuff to Bells until Monday, so we are kinda homeless for the weekend...why, what's up?
Ash: Well, L just called and she has passes for the Charlotte All Star race next weekend and they are free and I don't know what all we will get to see but they are media passes and...
Me: (Interrupting)...Yes, we'll go.
The conversation continued with the particulars and whens, wheres and whys. But by the end of the call, we were headed to Charlotte for the weekend with the Vantrease's.
NEVER.IN.MY.LIFE.DID.I.DREAM.THAT.WHAT.HAPPENED.IN.THE.
NEXT.72.HOURS.WOULD.ACTUALLY.EVER.HAPPEN.TO.ME.
So on Friday afternoon, we loaded up in the Vantrease mobile and headed to Charlotte, NC. We arrived at about 1am Charlotte time and hit the Hampton that I had booked online...15 mins from the track...Let me note that it is UNHEARD OF to find a hotel that close to the track 1 week prior to a race!! We slept, enjoyed a fantastic breakfast buffet, and then headed to the track on Saturday morning to pick up our passes.
When we arrived at the credentials trailer...I was reminded of this post
Life in the Fast Lane. Credentials? We have credentials? Credentials in racing are a good thing...They get you places that normal tickets can't get you. So we went in and got our passes. The very friendly NASCAR staff person handed us our tickets and our schedule. Our MEDIA schedule for our Cold Passes. (The only thing better to have than Cold Passes are Hot Passes.) Oh Yeah! This is gonna be a great day!
Now, one small glich in our plan, Ashley, Gary, and Ryan had on shorts. You can not wear shorts in the garage area. And we have full garage access. So we jumped in the car and headed over to the local Wally World...and bought jeans for everyone.
Back to the awesomeness...We arrived back at the track and headed to get parked. We weren't exactly sure of where to go into the track so we stopped and asked a friendly golf cart driver. Guess what...with cold passes...they put you on the golf cart and drive you to where you need to be. So, we are now inside the interworkings of the track. We stop at the media center to get a quick rundown of where our passes allow us to be. We find out that we can be anywhere except for the driver motorhome lot until 6:30 p.m. WHAT??? Anywhere? And that's exactly where we went.
We started out in Victory Lane.
We swung through pit lane, talked to T's friend Tom who works for Kyle B and then we headed over to the garage/hauler area...where we got this close to the cars...
And where Ash found this...
And now I know where Jeff will be at 6:00 p.m. And what time does my pass end? 6:30 p.m. I am so gonna be at that meeting.
So we walked around, watched inspection, watched the crew chiefs and car engineers work on the cars, inspected tires, and finally settled on a nice place next to a fence row outside the gates to the haulers. While Ash and I hung out at the gates, Ryan and Gary went over to find a place that we could watch the race. We chatted with some guys about whether or not this was a good spot to see drivers...we chatted with the security guards...and then all of a sudden...Ash starts studdering..."That's, That's, That's...(and trying to get out her camera when she realizes that our passes allow us through the gate)...RUN!!!" Ash had spotted Dale Jr. walking thru the gates. (That's him in the white t-shirt). We start running after him, never showing our passes to the security guards and caught up with him around the corner. We drop into stride with him and Ash says "Junior". He turns around. Ash is trying to find her pen and he says "I've got a pen, just give me something to sign," with a huge grin on his face. I am a few steps behind them witnessing all of this, not believing that it's happening and realizing that Ash is taller than Dale Jr. Where are Ryan and Gary? They are so not gonna believe that we are standing here talking to Dale Jr., who by the way is 1) A lot cuter in person than I thought he would be and 2) one of the nicest drivers that we met. He walked in and out of those gates 3 or 4 times, knowing that fans would stalk him and he smiled and talked and laughed and greeted everyone. Now that's class!
As we turned to walk away...we noticed that the gate security guard was looking for us. We realize we had not shown our passes as we ran through the gates, we explained that we were sorry and showed him our passes. "Mam, I see that you have passes but you can't bust the gate." Yes, we know, we won't do it again. Oops!!!
Gary and Ryan returned to find us inside the gates, waiting for the next drivers to come through. Dale Jr. did come through again and so did Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Joey Lagano, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards even stinking Chad Knaus walked by (whom I did holler "cheater" at - and it felt good)...but no Jeff Gordon! Gary had posted himself at the fence so that he could be our lookout. It was getting close to 6:00 p.m. and I have starting convincing myself that if I don't get to meet Jeff it was still an awesome, incredible day...
And then the sound of the angels. The whistles signalling that another driver was coming to the gate. Gary starts yelling at us. "It's Jeff! It's Jeff! It's Jeff!" I am frozen. I am speechless. I can not move.
In the words of Belinda Carlisle, I felt like this...
When I'm with you
I shake inside
My heart's all tangled up
My tongue is tied, it's crazy
I get weak when I look at you
Weak when we touch
I can't speak when I look in your eyes
I get weak when you're next to me
Weak from this love
I can't speak when I look in your eyes
I get weak, I get weak
I...literally...couldn't...move!!! So what does my BFF do? She takes her left hand and starts pushing me to Jeff and with her right hand she starts snapping pictures. Then, once she has me securely in the inner Jeff circle, she runs in front of us and continues to take pictures.
I know that these pictures do not do justice to the elation in my heart. I was concentrating on walking in just the right spot, but not too close, trying to think of something to say, figuring out how to touch his arms without getting arrested, trying to memorize every moment, drinking in his smell, making sure I got an autograph, trying not to pee in my pants, totally not believing that I am walking next to Jeff!
Ashley is now walking backwards in front of me and Jeff. Jeff's bodyguard kept saying, "Leave a path for Jeff to walk" and Ash very sweetly replied to him "But that's my best friend!" while pointing at me and Jeff. I love that girl!!! This is Ash's pic of Jeff looking up and realizing that there is a crazy woman walking backwards in front of him taking his, I mean, our picture.
And what does this #1 fan finally managed to force out of her mouth? Her one chance to tell Jeff that she loves him and wants to marry him. I manage to say "Have a great race!" Great Mav, Real Slick! I'm sure he's never ever heard that one before. But he replied "Thanks!" and gave me a grin. And that's really all I needed.
And then the moment was over. Jeff headed to his hauler for his 6 p.m. meeting and just like Cinderella's slippers at midnight, our cold passes were running out of time. As Jeff walked away, I lost it. My knees completely gave out, my eyes filled with tears, I can not speak and thankfully, as I am falling to the ground, my BFF catches me in her arms and hugs me. I am laughing, crying, and Ash is kissing the top of my head.
So, we head over to our seats for the race. Which just happen to be the infield on turn 1. Yeah, pretty AH-mazing.
This was the All-Star Race. It is run in 3 segments shoot-out style, for a total of 100 laps. I am sure that someone won...but it wasn't Jeff...so who cares?
As we drove away from the track that night, I posted this as my Faceb**k status...Melissa Anthony Workman met Jeff Gordon today and did not pass out or get arrested. May 22. 2010.
Happy Birthday Jeff Gordon!!!
Love,
Your #1 Fan
Melissa
We thought that it was time to move Reid up to a dirt bike now that we live in the country. He needs to learn dirt bike skillz because how else is he going to get to his job at the feed mill or take his date to the senior prom but on a dirt bike!!! (And for those of you who did not catch those examples, it was a Footloose reference.)
