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Ever Dine With a Famous Person (or famous person to be)?

I did have the pleasure of meeting Mikey once!
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I was lucky enough to meet Richard Petty.
 
I once ran in front of Steve Prefontaine. Not many can say that.

My Uncle Larry was a professor at University of Oregon, and in the winter of 72/73 when I was 12 years old he invited me to a basketball game at MacArthur Court. As we were walking through the upper concourse towards our seats my uncle pointed out a student walking the same direction with shaggy hair, ratty old jeans and worn tennis shoes. He asks, "Do you know who that is? That's Steve Prefontaine". So I broke stride with Uncle Lar, did the quick step until I was in front of Pre, then broke into a jog for a few steps. Then i circled back and fell in stride with my uncle. He asked, "What was that about"? I told him, "I just ran in front of Steve Prefontaine"!
 
Chit chatted with Darrel Waltrip in an elevator.
Also pissed off Ken Schrader once over my written opinion on single file restarts, he emailed me his opinion
 
People that I gave 'a rats *** about', yeah
Kenny Stabler, his daughter & Cruise Pedregon, may not be famous to some
at the Long Beach GranPrix quite a few years back, sat & ate with us
2 (3 actually) very notable people...

A few famous to me, IHBA drag-boat racers,
Tim Morgan Flying Machine (NHRA-T/F & IHBA-TFH record holder)
*Al Bush was a good friend, record holder/pilot of Crazy Horse
I knew the owners very well, Pete & Marlene were my next-door neighbors
B/TFFB IHBA ET/Speed record/Champions
lots of professional drag racers, way back when pre-2017...

Dave Hough, F/A 'Nanook of the North' Fame, he picked me up
& sat me in his Fuel Altered, I was completely hooked after that
back as far as 1967-ish as a lil' kid (8-ish) even, going with my stepdad Bob,
to many races, he knew a few of them very well...
Him/Bob & his pit crew buddy Wess, were goading me on to go over
ask to get a Polaroid/photo & an autograph...
He/Dave knew they were doing it too, he took it a bit farther...

I've been the vicinity of many famous people/racers
or eating in some of the same areas
in/at NASCAR events too, hospitality stuff, Dodge, Pontiac & Chevy automotive associations
prior to 1997 (dealership connections)
Rusty Wallace from his time with Kodiak/American Snuff/Reynolds
Tobacco Co. sponsorship connections
Sat & BS'd with at the Sears Point, Toyota 350 Road Race,
on the pit wall Friday before qualifying
he was a cool guy to do that, he didn't have to,
I kept asking if;
I was keeping from something, he said no sir, I'd have left already
that made me laugh...

1st time I sat & talked with Don Prudhomme at Ontario Motor Speedway (SoCal)
I was like 15-16 y/o 1974-75-ish, I was sort of a shy kid
I was ecstatic, he was an icon/idol of mine...
Someone I actually looked up to

A couple of Roller Derby & BigTime Wrestling people/celebrities
(famous in their circles) Haystack Calhoon was 1, Bay Bombers were others
at the London Square, KTVU Channel 2, studios
way back in the day, my grandfather was a part-time ref, for both for a time
(he pre-warned me about, it was all an act/fake, not to get too caught up in it)

Lots of NFL guys in Honolulu Hawaii, when the Pro-bowl was still there
at "Duke's" Waikiki Beach usually
before 'it went woke' & they ruined it, game & the location

I have met & sat with a bunch of LA Raiders, Oakland Raiders,
Meet & greets, for PSL owners, not really eating much, just drinks & snacks...

I saw quite a few old Oakland Raiders (mid 60's to early 70's) as a kid,
Tom Flores, Marv Hubbard, Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, Dave Casper etc.
my dad's shoe store 'Shoe Stable' gave a bunch 'white Puma cleats'
custom ordered fit/made was a big deal back in the day
Long before the "Nike" craze, outfitting everyone...

Lots of more sort of famous, from the University of Oregon Alum,
Phil Knight, Dan Fouts, Peter Jacobson, Marcus Mariota, and Casey Martin
to name a couple...

I knew Dan Pastorini 'well, sort of', I wasn't buddies or anything,
but I bought a bunch of Hemi/Race stuff from him, we were on a first-name basis
we did drink Ice-tea together, out in his Coors-Light race trailer...

Joe Pisano (Uncle Joe in our crowd), Mike Dunn, Ed Pink, Keith Black,
Ed Mondello, and Paul Phaff just to name a few
'The Long Beach gang', I was personally introduced to & dealt with regularly
from a buddy, who was (RIP Al) 'very well connected' that knew them all personally,
*Al Bush, it helped me in my racing tremendously, great resources, knowledge...

One (or more) of the many dealerships I worked for/at, contracted out to,
Ronnie Lott frequented, Concord Nissan & Concord Toyota
he was a friend of mine, Steve's good friend & his regular workout partner
after he wasn't playing...
I watched him make a few commercials, for my buddies dealership
(a few other 49ers of the day)

Sat with John Madden & talked/watched a lil' college football,
at Blackhawk Country Club, when I was there in the 90's...
I brought up I had met him back in like 1969-70 (I was 9-10-ish)
at my dad's shoe store, in Laffeyette or Pleasanton stores
he said he remembered it (the store, not me so much)
It was something I'll always remember, what a nice humble guy,
nothing like his TV persona, he drank Diet Coke IIRC...

Sat with & BS'd & golfed with PGA Scotty McCarren at Rancho Murieta CC,
he lived there, the same time as I did
I'm sure we broke bread & had drinks

what I consider famous
& you may be a completely different things/people


I've been around other famous people
but didn't care much about them, at all
I'm not really enamored by someone's profession or wealth
or care to dine with them
Tom Hanks was from my area in Concord Ca. & the local HS
he was a couple of years ahead of me in school...
But, he's a douche now thou...
 
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Former Raider coach Tom Flores (we had mutual family friends), Alan Autry, and my favorite...Kristi Yamaguchi. Her sister worked with my mom and we had dinner with the two of them. I was 22 then, I think we were close to the same age...talk about naughty dreams!View attachment 1455557


She’s still very pretty today.


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I've worked with (running a live theatre) John Amos, John Astin, Steven Wright, Martina McBride, and a whole bunch of others. 10 years running a 1,600 seat theatre, doing 300 shows a season. In my 20s I could handle it. Today, a schedule like that would kill me.

Astin is one of the kindest, gentlest, most wonderful humans I have ever met. We went out to eat after the show with his wife (Val) and his tour manager. John had the BEST response to folks walking by the table - "hey, you look like - " And he'd get his huge grin, take the cigar out of his mouth, and say "yea, I get that a lot...have a great night!" and pop the cigar back in his mouth. The folks would blink a couple times, smile, and kinda wander off, no feelings hurt and no need to hide John in the corner to avoid a mob.

We also had some fun with his tour manager that night, who had never had wasabi before (we were at a local raw bar that a friend of mine ran). "Somebody" told him it was "mint sauce" and to grab a big ol' spoonful...Val smacked him HARD for that one, but we all had a laugh (once the steam stopped coming out of his ears, anyway...).

I ended up working a number of his shows after that - he was touring a one-man show about Edgar Allan Poe, and he hired me on to do a bunch of them in the mid-atlantic region that season. LOTS of great memories of working with that man. Truly, a prince.

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He once asked me which of his roles I enjoyed the most. I felt guilty for saying it, but I said "Buddy" (Harry's goofy father on Night Court).

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The man has done so much serious theatre, and had such an illustrious career, I figured he'd laugh at me and send me home. Nope. His eyes lit up. "MAN, I had a whole SITCOM for Buddy! I had backstory, I had other characters, I had a couple seasons' worth of episode ideas...I LOVED THAT GUY!!!!" I thought that was pretty damn cool.

Working with Steven Wright was...odd. NOBODY can speak to him prior to the show. Like, it's in his contract and he retains the right to cancel a show because of it if he sees fit (things may have changed; this was back in the '90s). His dry delivery isn't just an affectation. That, was all I had ever seen of him - super-dry, cerebral comedy for the "thinking man". After the show? He was laughing so hard in the green room he fell off a sofa.

I was floored.

"Wait...you know how to laugh??" "yeah, man...show's over!!"

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I also briefly met Les Claypool (from Primus) at a concert years ago (a Lollapalooza back in the early 90s) . They were doing the set change and the music playing was so....familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. So I flagged one of the stagehands and asked - "oh, you need to talk to him" and he waved Les over. Les looked at me and said "ok, you hear this crescendo? Then the flutter and the WHACK of the drums? That's where the coyote runs off the cliff, falls...and hits the ground at the bottom!" Turns out, the music they were playing was the background music from Looney Tunes. Perfect. He also makes a nice wine these days - Claypool Cellars in Sebastopol CA. Nice tasting area in a little shopping center, in a converted rail car full of his tour posters, ticket stubs, Primus tee shirts...and lots and lots of great wine. He didn't remember meeting me for eighteen seconds, 35 years earlier, though. Go figure.
 
Larry Bird sat at table next to us in a steak house in Toronto.. didn't realize it was him til waiter said "Did you know who that was?"

At dinner at another steakhouse here in NJ, Rory Mcilroy and some other guy don't know name at same table across from me..

Since I crewed in Busch North some of our former teammates went on to teams down south (one ws Tony Stewarts right front tire carrier), met him for a few minutes after practice. had a couple beers with Bobby Labonte when another guy brought him over, Mark Martin was too full of himself to visit, and BS'd with Ryan Newman for short while.
 
My encounters included meeting/chatting with five players (now deceased) Green Bay Packers from Super Bowl I and II. This was around 1972 at the first Vince Lombardi annual memorial golf outing. My girlfriend’s dad knew these guys doing biz with them. Have a golf cart tag with their autographs I just came across a few weeks ago after been missing for 30 years. Not ‘dining’ if you don’t consider eating a hot dog lunch with them at a picnic table, lol.

Seems my celeb encounters were mostly golf related. At a local PGA tournament, Lee Trevino’s group was waiting to tee-off when a lady behind me coughed. He filled a cup of water at a tee-side cooler and brought it over to me saying “Can you use a drink?” I laughed saying not me, think it’s the lady behind me here. He asked me to give her the cup. Another time years later, I had been standing alone near a huge Oak tree when a golf ball skidded in front of me. I backed away to see how the golfer was going to get out of this predicament as it looked pretty dead to hit toward the green from there. It was Fuzzy Zoeller smoking a cigarette who walked up to it. He said “Hey you wanna hit this shot for me?” I said I kinda doubt you’d like where it might end up.” He laughed and took maybe 20 seconds to figure out what he wanted to do. He dropped his grit, no practice swings, hit the ball and it somehow missed all the branches ending up just off the green. He picked up his grit, looked over and gave a grin and lax wave. Always thought he was a funny guy who got in huge trouble just for making an innocent joke. No golfers like him or Trevino around anymore that I know of.
 
I went to breakfast with the electronic music group Tangerine Dream. They did the soundtrack for movies like Tron etc. They were in town to get their synths worked on at Emu Systems in Santa Cruz. My roommate was the Engineering Tech there and the band had some time to spare so we hung out. Their English was a little weak but we got through it.
 
Does meeting with the refinery manager (one of the biggest refineries in the states) count?? He was thinking of firing my ***. Worked there for 26 years so guess I did ok lol
 
Dennis Farina was shooting a movie a block away from my old plant and came into the greasy spoon on the corner while I was there. I bought him breakfast and we sat down and BS'd a while. Super cool down-to-earth Chicago guy. RIP Dennis

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@kiwigtx

 
Spent some time in the suites at Houston Raceway Park as a guest with David Nickens's team when he got the Dodge Dakota Pro Stock Truck gig. His girl friend was funny as she was more entertaining as could be. Several Pro Stock drivers came up to his suite and well....was overwhelmed but kept low key. They were pretty much racers and didn't put themselves up on a pedestal and it was pretty cool. Rather be with racers than politicians any freakin day!!!
 
Dennis Farina was shooting a movie a block away from my old plant and came into the greasy spoon on the corner while I was there. I bought him breakfast and we sat down and BS'd a while. Super cool down-to-earth Chicago guy. RIP Dennis

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@kiwigtx


Crime Story 90's TV Series - Dennis Farina & 57 Chrysler 300 Convertible.jpg

great guy/actor character

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We had supper with Chris Jacob's and Dave Rea after Carlisle was done for the day. A couple of down to earth Mopar guys.
 
The farina story reminded me. One night in college, we went out for some late food at the Lincoln Diner in Gettysburg. This was like...3am? 4? (24 hour diner). They were filming Killer Angels at the time, and there were a couple guys in full period dress at the bar chowing on fries, coffee, and cigars. We all sat down and ordered...but those voices....damn, I know those voices.... Then they got up to leave. Turns out we'd been sitting three feet from Tom Berenger and Martin Sheen, for nearly an hour.
 
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