As racing fans, we always sit and watch when our favorite NASCAR drivers and personalities are on television.
Long before Jimmie Johnson's 24/7 Race to Daytona special, there have been a slew of appearances by drivers, owners and more on all kinds of shows besides race day specials.
Right now, as I write this, I'm watching a super old episode of One Tree Hill. It's from May 2005, when Nathan and Lucas visit Nathan's uncle Cooper, a race car driver who takes them to the track he's racing at. Since they're supposed to be in South Carolina and filmed in NC, I'm going to assume they filmed at Rockingham? I know it's not Charlotte. Either way, when it first aired, despite not being a fan of the show, I remember watching it. Nathan and Lucas drive against Cooper and Cooper's crew chief's daughter, aptly named Daytona (Toni for short). They have a private race on the track, but a depressed Nathan decides to set the track record while having visions of his broken marriage and crashes into the wall at over 200 mph. Without safety crews nearby (which is the only unrealistic aspect of this entire thing), the guys pull Nathan from the car.
The best part of it all was Jeff Burton, in one of his many acting appearances. That man really loves to act! Last year he made a guest appearance on my favorite daytime soap opera, General Hospital. In return, one of the actors who is a fan got to visit Jeff at Auto Club Speedway and do a ride along. Since then, NASCAR is mentioned constantly on the show. Two characters even had a Daytona 500 viewing party earlier this year, debating if Denny Hamlin could take down Jimmie Johnson in the Great American Race. Obviously, they were both wrong.
Michael Waltrip has visited My Name is Earl, Jamie McMurray was on Passions and the new trend is drivers heading over to the wrestling ring on Monday nights. So far, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards have done burnouts before heading in to begin the wrestling match. And we must not forget Danica Patrick and her guest spot on CSI: NY. Next up is one of my favorite drivers heading to one of my favorite shows: Brian Vickers will be guest-starring on My Boys. Yes, NASCAR meets baseball!
I'm not even including the dozens of commercials we love to watch over and over (like the most recent fan favorite Coca-Cola commercial with the drivers singing) or movie appearances (Richard Petty in Swing Vote anyone?). Also not to be forgotten was NASCAR Week on Smarter Than a 5th Grader.
So tell me … movie, commercial, television shows … what is your favorite non-racing television moment with your favorite NASCAR driver/personality?
The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not reflect those of this site or its other contributors.
Photo courtesy of nascarmedia.com
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