Topic: Brush with greatness?

[Bailgang]

My brother and I met Smokey Yunick at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway once. We were hanging out near the pit wall during qualifying and I see this older man with a hat and cowboy boots walking towards us on the pit side of the wall, the hat seemed familiar to hats I've seen Smokey wear in pictures I've seen of him so I ask my brother if that was Smokey. My brother says well lets just ask him so as he comes by us my brother asks "excuse me sir but are you Smokey Yunick?" and the man says "well I sure as hell am". My brother and I were so stunned we couldn't hardly get a word out of our mouths. Smokey was the nicest guy and let us take pictures with him and so on.

[Gurp]

I've met Buster Douglas. He brought a kid down to fight Golden Gloves.
I got the privilege to fight on the undercard of Bare Knuckle world champion Bobby Gunn twice!
Met a few bamds that are big in their genre (metal) but not real big to the general public.

[Duke McDukiedook]

I once saw Squeaky Fromme and Tiny Tim, does that count for anything?

[Gene]

I once saw Squeaky Fromme and Tiny Tim, does that count for anything?

they are the same person . . . but it counts.

[333]

My Wife, literally bumped in to Abe Vigota in an airport.

[Stev-o]

My Wife, literally bumped in to Abe Vigota in an airport.

I was in the Denver Airport Budget Car Rental line a couple people behind Neil Flynn
[sit com star "The Janitor" Scrubs; The Middle]
He was very gracious to the people that approached him.
All I thought is why is he waiting in line at Budget?!

[754]

My sister was s Skyhag, and one time Ed Asner was was on her flight.
 If I recall it was  not a busy flight , so they chatted a bit.
 He asked if there was any food to be had , and she went to the galley and got him a pastry.
 He ate it and thanked and said he could have ate two...
 She told him there had been two,  but she dropped on one the floor., so she tossed it out.
 He said Oh Man I would have eaten it !  !

  At the Black and White Bar in Wendover, there was a bunch of Swiss racers.. An older gent was leaving early so I joked in German about him leaving so early.  HE  said he wanted the EARLY START.. ( a lot of racers try to get there for the spectacular 6 am sunrise)..  later I found out it was Fritz Egli...

[Don R]

 We raced jr dragsters with a lot of the younger drivers in nhra, My daughter and I missed by one car racing Spencer Massey and Gene Snow, We raced the Enders sisters and met a lot of the big names, the Pedregons, Tim Wilkins and his son, Tim was petting our Mastiff on the golf cart, my wife looked over and he had Tim's arm in his mouth. No bite just a taste. The Snake and us had the same sponsor one race at Joliet, he was nice. We both got beat first round. Joe Amato didn't have time for us. Clay Millican is the best. We've known Rick and Ricky Jones for years, they build cars and tune the Elite team. V Gaines let my girls sit in his Valspar sponsored pro stock car.   All famous among their peers.

[MoMo]

 I'm helping this older  guy with paint info, when I turn around to look at him I see this St. Louis Rams Super Bowl Cap.  I say, "Are you who I think you are?" Sticks out his hand to shake and asks what is your name?  I tell him and he says yes I'm Dick Vermeil.  Hell of a class act if ever there was one

[rb550four]

  I park my bikes in a theater that I've been repurposing for many years so once in a while I meet people...
Santa is there meeting kids one evening every year near Christmas and sometimes there are reindeer ,donkeys,and other animals brought in to keep the kids busy while they wait to tell Santa what they would like to see under the tree.
So I had a Yoga Store in one of the 2 storefronts about 10 years ago,  and the woman asked me if it would be alright if she had a lama visit? I'm not hip to any of the yoga stuff, so I said " That would be fine, but you're gonna clean up the mess".
  Yeah, I figured that there would be allot of hay ,poop, and urine to deal with next Saturday.
Next Saturday comes and I get a call. The woman tells me that no one has come to see the lama, would I please come down and help her out? " Alright"I said. It was a rainy cold , crappy day outside but she is a good renter and I have the time.
  When I got there I was surprised to see no hay or gates for the animals outside and got a little pissy thinking that there are animals inside the store.
  This is how ignorant about this I was, I storm the shop only to find the woman and a round faced Chinaman who's English was only so so... it was then that it was explained to me just who and what the 14th Dalai Lama was.  We spent the rest of the afternoon together. he was a very nice person , with the innocence of a child and we spoke of many things. His words of wisdom for me was "Be Happy" ,which only got me a little more aggravated each time he said it me." I am happy , this IS my happy face!" I said . We looked at each other for a little while , then broke out laughing.
 I've seen him in passing twice since then, we smile and wave with eye contact, and I can't help but wonder if he remembers the day we met.

[cb650]

In the last Denver grand prix my son Davey and I went to the trans am race the day before.  We went way early as I always do to check things out and look around.   Some how ended up in the VPI area by mistake.  Still early no one around.  When I realized it a said we better leave about that time Jimmy Vasser came walking up to us.  Son was nervous and I had to tell him to shake his hand. Jimmy took us to his tent and put Davey in his show car.  I mentioned I wish I had a camera.  Jimmy had his PR girl take a pic and send it to my email.  Was so cool of him to go out of his way.  I lost the pic in a PC crash that pisses me off.


I also did get to see Bob Gliddens last win in denver.   Got right up to him in the winners circle for a autograph and PR pulled him away for TV.   Did get Rustys and Ettas. 

[Tracksnblades1]

My brother and I met Smokey Yunick at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway once. We were hanging out near the pit wall during qualifying and I see this older man with a hat and cowboy boots walking towards us on the pit side of the wall, the hat seemed familiar to hats I've seen Smokey wear in pictures I've seen of him so I ask my brother if that was Smokey. My brother says well lets just ask him so as he comes by us my brother asks "excuse me sir but are you Smokey Yunick?" and the man says "well I sure as hell am". My brother and I were so stunned we couldn't hardly get a word out of our mouths. Smokey was the nicest guy and let us take pictures with him and so on.

👍👍

[rb550four]

A different day, years ago at the theater a soft talking older man struck up a conversation with me. We spoke of plans that I had about making the place, the performance stage.... So I introduced myself and he introduces himself as PUFF. You may know me  as PuFF he said..., I'm thinking old hippy must be talking about weed, I knew a guy once who sold cocaine he was called snowman.  I was wrong . He clarified by saying" Puff the magic dragon". Thought maybe he was a flyer in Viet Nam. Wrong again.
  How refreshing it was for this man that he was able to walk into this town and be an unknown.
He  introduced his daughter to me  after telling me that she had the most beautiful eyes that I could ever see. He thought that it would be best if we stood nose to nose and stair into each others eyes. Bethany  was lovely and had smokey gray eyes that one could drift away in.  We stood there for a while, two strangers , nose to nose out on the street stairring deeply into each others eyes. I remember not feeling at all uncomfortable about it at that time.
 Turns out that puff was Peter Yarrow ( from Peter ,Paul, and Mary) and his daughter Bethany who had just purchased a house nearby. I still see them around every now and then.

[Don R]

My brother and I met Smokey Yunick at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway once. We were hanging out near the pit wall during qualifying and I see this older man with a hat and cowboy boots walking towards us on the pit side of the wall, the hat seemed familiar to hats I've seen Smokey wear in pictures I've seen of him so I ask my brother if that was Smokey. My brother says well lets just ask him so as he comes by us my brother asks "excuse me sir but are you Smokey Yunick?" and the man says "well I sure as hell am". My brother and I were so stunned we couldn't hardly get a word out of our mouths. Smokey was the nicest guy and let us take pictures with him and so on.

👍👍

 Smokey was expert in non linear thinking, he would attack a problem from a different angle than most people would and was willing to do more work than most.

[Spanner 1]

Well, I did a job at Nicole Kidman and Keith Urbans house, they were not home  . I know Alison Krauss ( and her parents ). I was buying beer at the gas station around the corner here in East Nashville and Bill Murray walked in to use the bathroom ( about 6 weeks ago ).  Neil Young was behind me in traffic about 10 years ago driving an old Merc. I saw Taylor Swift more than once at Whole Foods. My daughter found Dierks Bentley's wallet ( he has a pilots license ) and Robert Plant came to our local Irish pub to watch soccer ( have pic, can't find it  ) his team is Wolverhampton Wanderers. I have seen Steve Winwood at  Bongo Java (Belmont) loads. Did work at the late great Bobby Key's house ( he was home ! ), sax player for the Stones.

[BobbyR]

I spent my teen years in a very rich Town. Before that we lived near a Housing Project in  the Bronx. A lot of famous people lived in Town. I knew some of their kids. Some I met doing some of the strange #$%* I tend to do:

Frank Gifford     (Hung out with his first marriage son)
Carol Burnett   ( Was in a HS play with her step daughter)
Ed Sullivan         (Hung out with his grandson)
Vincent Pastore (Worked on and indy film with him.)
Tina Louise        ( Worked on and indy film with her and not fun)
Richard Thompson  (Knew his manger and I would go backstage at gigs)
Ottto Premiger   (Lectured to our class at film school.)
Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden (In a restaurant with Otto Preminger)
Dan Luria (Did a film with him)
Bo Diddley ( Played a gig with him, we opened)
Fred Paris and the 5 Satins (Played a gig with them)
Johnny Maestro (Played a gig with them)
Al Roker              (Met him in the local hardware store)
Shirley Muldowney (Wandering around the pit at National Speedway with my young son)
Kenny Bernstein     (With Shirley Muldowney)
Bill Clinton               (Drove up his street and his dog was blocking the cul de sac. He came and go the dog. We shook                                   hands and chatted fo a couple of minutes.
Richard Nixon (Shook his hand at a rally. He was a bloodless looking person.)

[carnivorous chicken]

Tina Louise        ( Worked on and indy film with her and not fun)

Ginger! That's a bummer to hear. I know so many people liked Mary Anne, but I liked Ginger.

Bo Diddley ( Played a gig with him, we opened)

Legend. I lived in ABQ for a couple months, and he had a house there. You could find Bo Diddley 45s at record stores for cheap, they seemd to be everywhere when I was there.

[BobbyR]

My impression he was a very bitter man. He believed he was ripped off by everyone. I think he was kind of limited or maybe I did not realize his genius. He never clicked with the public as some of the others like Chuck Berry.

[carnivorous chicken]

My impression he was a very bitter man. He believed he was ripped off by everyone. I think he was kind of limited or maybe I did not realize his genius. He never clicked with the public as some of the others like Chuck Berry.

I dunno. He had some top 10 R&B songs, but people also covered his songs and made them more famous (maybe not quite as bad as Pat Boone covering Little Richard, but same idea). Nike did rip him off, and continued to use his image without his permission after the ad campaign with Bo Jackson in the late '80s.

If you don't know his album Black Gladiator, I suggest checking it out. Way underappreciated and under the radar but super solid.

[carnivorous chicken]

Lewis was an idiot.

Curious why he made that impression. The man is a living civil rights hero.

[DickL]

Politics

[MoMo]

One more. I was in Miami and just finished dinner at JOES Stone Crab. We were walking out, and the guy ahead of me says "Look, there's Mel Brooks". I turned to look behind me and plowed into someone sending him sprawling to the floor. I helped him up and it was Mel Brooks. I apologized, he told me that I should look where he was going, and then he checked if he still had his wallet. So, if I buy a part from you check to see if it's Mel's card.

DICKL

He is the one Hollywood person I would  wan to meet.  One brilliant comedian....Larry

[carnivorous chicken]

Politics

Ah, unfortunate that political disagreements make one think the other is an idiot, I guess. Guy is a hero to me, and I don't mind his politics. I'd be honored to meet him.

[HondaMan]

Melvin Belli, father of modern tort law. He was our lawyer when he was just beginning, in the lawsuit against the US government, the Air Force and United Airlines for the death of my dad at the hand of Communist agents here in the USA, 1958. (My dad and his team worked for Ike in the 1950s and invented Inertial Guidance:  the Soviets killed almost all of the team, right here in the USA.)

John Ducote, my first stepfather (after dad), who was the commander that flew the SAC B-47 Wing1 (of 3) around Russia during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Byron Hines of the original Vance & Hines.

Chuck Yeager (does he need intro or explanation?) when working at Adam Aircraft 2006-08.

Jack Swigert (just 3 months before he died!).

Don Vesco (several times at his shop in Utah, near Brigham City).

Martin Sutton, Kevin Sutton, and Bill "Stainless" Steele of the MSA Racing Team (worked with them for 14 years).

Several Navy Seals (who shall remain nameless, more's the pity!) who live around here.

Roy Rogers (remember him?), a man's man and a real gentleman.

...and my wife, a direct descendant of the real real Scarlet O'Hara!

[34barab]

Once chauffeured Foreigner from their show in Baltimore City back to the airport.  Also, stood next to Jay O Sanders in a theater restroom in NYC.  Spoke to John Forsythe on a plane by mistakenly saying to him "Hello Mr. Reagan".  Shook Richard Nixon's hand when I was 12. (Wouldn't do it now even if it were possible.).   And met Buffalo Bob Smith and Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody Show.