NASCAR Nation.......................?

I'd been a race fan since the late fifties.. Mostly F1, Sports cars, Indy. but NASCAR too, just not as intense.. I went to NASCAR races when I could, I just didn't think the NASCAR drivers were as good, or the races as exciting..

Then in seventy nine, I saw this kid.. He was outrageous.. He wouldn't drive behind anyone.. He passes everyone for the whole race, not just the end..

I had to find out who he was.. Turns out to be Dale Earnhardt.. I was already a fan.. He made NASCAR exciting.. I was hooked.. When ESPN put NASCAR on TV, I just kept watching.. I still went to races of all kinds, but I stopped looking at NASCAR as second rate.. It became number one..

I don't know if there is one moment. I went through a stage when I was about 7 or 8 when I was fascinated with anything that moved fast. NASCAR was one of the things that got my attention. I had a lot of Hot Wheels toys and a significant percentage of them were NASCAR-related. The first race I watched was the 1993 Daytona 500 and I liked it. I guess that's as close to one single defining moment as there is for me.

2001 Daytona 500... No Not what happened at the End.

It was my first televised race.... I just chose the #3 cause it looked cool.

Winded up having to go to Home Depot. I was 8 years old at the time. Got back after the race ended so I missed all of it.

Wounded up turning the news on and seeing that #3 car i chose slam that wall and the sea gulls flying up into the sky as the time of the impact.

I wounded up getting hooked on NASCAR since than.

Dale Sr has and will always be in my heart. He was/ is / will always be the man I first chose and will always be in my heart. Sometimes I wish that the Man in Black was still here.

Now every time I watch that Fateful crash It brings tears to my eyes and I know that I lost a Legendary Hero in my life.

I just Hope one day I can walk in his footsteps.

2000 MBNA 200 @ Dover International Speedway. Jason Keller an Mark Martin duked it out, Keller won, and it was my first live race. I was 12 at the time. Even though I had known about NASCAR for years (I had a die-cast of Mark Martin's car when I was growing up, it was my favorite toy car) I didn't start watching the races until that day. Been watching ever since.

I can't say there was actually one defining moment. I grew up at the local hard-top track. My father was a sponsor and we spent the races in the pit since I could walk. It went from that to the local dirt track Friday nite modifieds and super-modifieds. Then there were the destruction derby's. The Indy 500 and televised NASCAR races only fueled the fire of my love of racing. I didn't attend my first NASCAR race until I was grown. I am a die hard Dale Sr. fan and Jr. fan. RACING ROCKS...NASCAR RULES!

Go Jr.>>>>

Well the first race I saw was back in 1978 at Watkins Glen I was 6 years old, But I didn't start being a true die hard fan until 2004 when Kasey Kahne arrived!!!

I've been a fan all my life I grew up in the sport, so it was easy for me. My dad and uncle were crew chiefs, mechanics, and later Nascar officials. My mom let me go to my first race when I was 10, that was the 1964 World 600 in Charlotte.

Go Dale Jr & Hms

All throughout the 2002 season my love for NASCAR got stronger and stronger. But watching Jamie McMurry win in Sterlin Marlins car in only his second career start really made me realize that NASCAR is a sport when anything can happen.

The first live race I saw, 1984 in Riverside California. I was 6 and I have loved stock car racing ever since.

Watching Jeff Gordon win the 1st Brickyard 400!!