As a recently infected devotee I follow just about anything remotely related to NASCAR, including the commercials associated with race broadcasts. [Insert statistic about how brand loyal NASCAR fans are here.] No, I have no desire for male enhancement products or to strip off my zip-up leather jacket in a bid to become a GoDaddy girl, but a simple public service announcement by Greg Biffle on behalf of the NASCAR Foundation DID catch my attention.
Decked out in his 3M/Red Cross sponsor's firesuit, Biffle was simply asking me to donate blood. “Come as a fan. Leave as a hero.” All I had to do was show up at my local track on September 11 for the NASCAR Foundation blood drive. I could do that. In fact, I could use the event as an opportunity to meet up with my daughter who I hadn't seen since early spring. We'd both go. Plans to rendezvous were made and shortly before 5:00 on the evening of the 11th we pulled into parking spaces not 2 minutes apart from one another.
If you've ever been to a track when it's not a race weekend you know that it's a completely different entity than it is when it's abuzz with race excitement. Wheeling my way through acres of empty parking lots, the hulking behemoth that sits where the old Kaiser Steel facility once did looked to be abandoned. Sure there was a crew moving those portable, bike rack type barricades in readiness for the coming weekend's swap meet and newly themed Copart banners hung from the pedestrian causeways inside the first level of the stands but otherwise the Auto Club Speedway was nothing like its race day incarnation. The only outward appearance of activity for the blood drive was a small toy-hauler, a roped-off AAA show car with 'Do Not Touch' signs , and a local radio station presence with a table under one of those pop-up canopies.
Undeterred, my daughter & I wandered up to the guy manning the table for the show car. Friendly, as everyone I've ever met in relation to NASCAR is, he offered us posters, brochures and info while we listened to the pre-race for the night's Nationwide race. We demurred until after our donations and went inside the building holding the drive.
Donating blood is a multi-step process. First you have to fill out paperwork, then it's to the finger-stick station to check for iron levels, temps & pressures (not engine & tire, but close enough), followed by the amazingly-intrusive-question section where they ask such strange things as, “Have you ever had sex with a man who's had sex with a man?”, (I'm always tempted to answer, “Um gee, I forgot to ask that one last time.") until finally you're to the actual donation area of the experience.
There were a lot of people in the building. Each segment had a waiting area of sorts. My daughter & I joined the group awaiting a turn at the paperwork section. As in any group, we sized one another up. There was... Guy with girlfriend he was trying to impress... Guy with embarrassing ring tone that kept going off...Two track employees on a break from their usual track duties... My daughter & I... and Cam & his family. Except of course, I didn't know that he was Cam yet.
Cam was there with his mom & dad. I first noticed him as a bundle of little boy energy, flitting from his mom's chair to his dad's chair and back. Dressed in shorts, sandals and a Batman t-shirt I found him to be amazingly well-behaved for someone so young and I felt sorry for the long, boring time he was about to have to endure while his parents donated blood.
I need not have worried. Cam, as I later found out, is three. Three-year-olds do not lack for inquisitiveness and so, are never bored. Spotting an electrical outlet in the floor, Cam crowed to his father, “Dad!! What's this?!!” Waiting in his mother's lap while she had her photo snapped for her ID, he needed to inspect the web cam the volunteer was using. To his parents' credit, they patiently answered all of the little guy's questions.
As we moved through the gauntlet of stations I never quite lost track of young Cam, but it wasn't until I reached the amazingly-intrusive-question section that I caught back up with Cam & his mom. Taking a seat I asked her if she was next to go.
“No,” she replied, “my iron count was too low. I guess I should move, huh?”
I assured her she was just fine where she was. Then I spotted Cam racing an old #25 Casey Mears 1:64 die cast car around the floor near his mother. Continuing our chat, I remarked, “Oh, are y'all Casey Mears fans?”
“No, we just bought tickets to this fall's race over at the ticket office and they gave it to him over there.”
As I watched that car fly across the floor at speeds comparable in scale to actual race speeds only to end in countless barrel rolls, it dawned on me that despite the enormous industry die cast collectibles has become, this little boy's play was their best possible usage. He didn't take it home to store away on some pristine cabinet shelf awaiting the day it appreciated enough in value to sell. Cam was racin'!
As we sat waiting, Cam's mom & I chatted some more. I learned that she was completely new to racing fandom and that they were there simply because they had a brand new fan in Cam. She was perplexed that at 3 years old he could become so enraptured by NASCAR. They'd even taken him to a dirt track race in Wisconsin over the summer so great was his interest. His mom was puzzled at it all but assured me he had a favorite driver he'd picked out all by himself – Jimmie Johnson.
My turn came for questioning and I was swept back into the flow of the donation process. Having failed to pass inspection to try and make qualifying, Cam's mom became the designated caregiver as his dad continued on. I again lost track of them until I lay reclining on one of the numerous donation cots, where I was joined by Cam's dad and my daughter. Ever curious, Cam was granted special permission – a HOT pass, if you will – to go inside the little corral of cots and inspect the whole procedure. He was fascinated ... for about 2 minutes and then it was time to go off and explore other areas with his mom.
Following a blood donation donors are asked to spend 15 minutes in the canteen area, eating a light snack & drinking juice. Cam's dad finished his donation first and was in the canteen when I was through and since the only chair open was next to him I asked if he minded if I joined him.
“No, of course not.”
“Where'd your wife and son go?”
“Oh they went back outside to look at the car again. He's a BIG NASCAR fan.”
Just then I heard the unmistakable roar of a stock car engine...
Chuckling, Cam's dad leaned over to peer out the door...”They're letting him sit in it!”
Soon we were joined by my daughter, his wife and one very effervescent little boy. I eagerly awaited hearing what he had to report to his father.
“DAD!!!!!!!!! THEY'VE GOT A CUP HOLDER IN THE CAR!!!!!!!!!”
And with that simple yet forceful declaration I fell in love with the innocence of NASCAR racing all over again.
Here was a pure fan. He had his reasons for being a fan and none of them included sponsors, wealth or celebrity. Cam likes NASCAR and he got to sit in an actual running stock car and he was most impressed by the fact that just like his, their cars have a cup holder. Cam is genuine.
We sat and visited for quite a while longer than our 15 minute requirement. Cam's folks told us how they'd signed Cam up for the track's Kids' Club and as I wracked my brain trying to dredge up the name of the driver who was going to read a book with the kids as part of that experience Cam's mom beat me to it while simultaneously completely winning me over with her earnest naivety... “Ryan Newman, is he Paul Newman's son? I know he liked racing cars.”
Here were these parents making memories for their son without knowing much of anything about the sport. Luckily Cam will keep them on the straight and narrow. HE knows his stuff. I know. I quizzed him as he became comfortable with the two strangers his parents were talking with.
“Who's your driver?”
“Jimmie Johnson”
“What's his number?”
“48”
“Who's his crew chief?”
That hung him up, so I persisted, “Who's the guy that helps him with his car in the pits?”
“I don't know”
I gave Cam bonus points for NOT knowing that one!
“Who's his sponsor?”
Again that confused him a little bit, so his mom tried to help with, “What's on the side of his car?”
Rolling his eyes in his best irritated-at-the-media's-stupid-questions-that-have-already-been-asked-and-answered style Cam repeated, “48”
“What's on the hood of his car?”
Disgusted at the obvious ignorance of the adults he was humoring, “Lowe's”
At about this point his dad chipped in that not only did Cam have a favorite driver in Jimmie Johnson he also had a driver he rooted for to lose in every race.
Quickly I broke in with, “Careful! I don't want you to hate my driver! He doesn't drive the candy car does he?”
“No, it's Tony Stewart. We don't know why but he cheers against him in every race.”
That's when I found out how old Cam is. My daughter chimed in that he probably didn't like Tony because he used to drive the Home Depot car and that was a rival of Jimmie's sponsor. “He's only three. I don't think he can remember back to then.” Nope, Cam is his own person and a fan for his own reasons. If he likes Jimmie and doesn't care for Tony, I'm not one to argue.
As we'd been visiting I'd remembered that I'd read online that if you went to the day's blood drive and bought tickets to the fall race that you'd also be eligible to go on a hot lap ride-along in a pace car on the day before qualifying. I asked Cam's folks if they'd gotten those. They hadn't, so I urged them to call and request them.
Later we ran into them again at the show car and Cam's dad came over to thank us for telling them about the ride-along. They'd asked and been given the rides. NASCAR – Big family, even bigger hearts!
So, how can I stand for Jimmie Johnson to win another championship? Well, I can because to me it'll represent all the good things about NASCAR wrapped up in one of Jimmie's biggest fans, 3-year-old Cam, who hasn't even been alive to see another champion.
Now please do me a favor. If you see Cam on a ride-along on Oct 8 or happen to be reading a storybook to him on Oct 11, mention to him that you too have a cup holder in your car. That is unless you're Tony Stewart, in that case, I'd suggest you run!
