Jeff and I had the opportunity to take his mother to Pocono qualifying. For anyone that has never been up close to the drivers and wants that access, this is certainly the way to go. It wasn't nearly as hot as expected on Friday, thankfully. We've done this before so we knew right where to go to get as close as possible. Down to the first pit stall is where we headed. The drivers are dropped off one by one from a golf cart to the end of pit row so they can walk to their cars to qualify. Jeff befriended an older gentlemen that had a lot of memoriabla with him and had obviously been camped out a while. Turns out he's quite the fantic. He had every car, every autograph and come to find out the entire 2nd floor of this guys house is filled with Nascar stuff. I'm sure it would be something to see. After talking with him a while, it was go time.

Jimmie Johnson was the first driver out, he came right over to the wall and started signing autographs for eager fans. Jeff's mom, an avid Jeff Gordon fan, almost ended up with a Jimmie Johnson autograph on her JG hat. Too funny, she ducked down to allow other people to get their merchandise signed and he asked her if she wanted him to sign her hat...she blushed and quickly said, no... It was a great moment. One we will never forget.

But the highlight of the day came when, Jeff's mom finally got her JG die cast autographed after all this time. With tears in her eyes, she turned to me awstruck...and said "he was standing right in front of me". It was nice to see her so happy.