rockover

Initially she had been saving for all access VIP passes. When she hit 75,000 points she had enough for one pass, so she asked her hubby if he wanted her to get one for him. He wanted them both to get the chance to check things out, so she continued saving. She eagerly opened her August Racepoints statement to confirm she had finally hit the magical 150,000 number. Lo and behold, they had a special that month. Get the “Wave the Green Flag Experience” for only 150,000 points (normally 500,000 points), only one catch, it would be in Charlotte, NC. Well she called up hubby and asked “Can we go to North Carolina?” Although initially hesitant, Randy gave the go-ahead and she was the first one to call and redeem the points. She was able to transfer the honor to her husband. “I would have loved to have waved the flag, but Randy introduced me to NASCAR and he lets me do all sorts of neat stuff like go on medical missions and the GOP convention, so I figured it was his turn.” Well, he may have gotten all the exposure (introduced before 150,000 - 160,000 screaming fans; shake hands with each driver; get a photo with Jessica Simpson; wave the flag to start the race), but Azucena was right there beside him taking in all the excitement. They even took in 2 pace car laps at over 100 mph in the pace car convertible, and no seat belts on. Azucena and Randy decided to check out those All Access passes that were included in the experience. Unfortunately, Randy forgot and wore shorts on the first day they used the passes and he was denied access to the garage. Azucena soldiered ahead without him and went inside to take photos. On the bright side, since she was alone, she practiced her habit of talking to strangers and made some wonderful new friends who showed her how to properly use those passes. Her new friends, Zela and Eric, told her to pretend that the “C” on the pass was an “S” and you were like Superman and could go almost anywhere. They also gave her some tips on approaching drivers for autographs. She and her new friends were finally able to catch up with Randy and they hung out with the Navy team and then watched the first part of the Nationwide race from the pits. For Azucena, the most surreal moment came on raceday when she, Randy and Aaron Piersol were seated together and gave a press conference with dozens of reporters present from the major sports media. Aaron brought his gold medal and Azucena was brave enough to ask him to look at it. It was pretty cool and had a white ring on it. Over the course of the weekend, Azucena and Randy did about 4 interviews (local television, NASCAR, NASCAR.com, PRN or MRN radio). Later, the security guard at the flagstand mentioned that he saw them on TV and thought they did pretty good. They were also able to go to the driver’s meeting and were seated in the honorary section in front of the drivers and crew chiefs. Having practiced at the garages, Azucena was able to snag quite a few drivers and crew chiefs autographs before the meeting started. She almost didn’t get back up to the front because Cindy McCain’s bodyguard thought Azucena was with the media. After that was cleared up, Azucena and Randy sat just caddy corner to Senator Elizabeth Dole and Cindy McCain (there to accept an endorsement from Nascar royalty, Richard Petty). She also took some amazing photos of all of the drivers which you can check out at their website. Azucena ended up with a t-shirt full of driver and crew autographs, and got to chat with Elizabeth Dole and Cindy McCain at the Drivers’ meeting in addition to getting their autographs. The Overmans were also assigned a videographer for Race Day and are anxiously awaiting the video and Randy’s photo with Jessica Simpson. Their camp ground neighbors were properly impressed when they came back to the RV with camera crew in tow. It almost looked like they were big shots or something. The piece de resistance came at the Charlotte airport when two young ladies asked to have their pictures taken with Randy and the green flag. What’s next? Well Azucena is saving for more All Access passes. She’s almost halfway to a single All Access pass. Only 2 or 3 more years to go.