Melanie & Chloe - Jr. NASCAR fans in training!

Here, Melanie and Chloe met Kyle Petty at the Save Mart Supermarket in Modesto, CA. He was making the promotional appearance during the week of the June 2000 Sears Point race. He was very nice to the girls. When we mentioned that Chloe's 2nd grade teacher for this year was the woman that Kyle drove around the Atlanta track last year as part of the Coca Cola Racing Family Reunion grand prize, his eyes lit up as he recalled what had happenned that day. The teacher didn't want Kyle to go fast. He said he never got out of third gear during their laps around the track. He told about the way she kept hitting his arm to tell him to keep it slow. It was nice to see Kyle smiling, considering the tragedy he and his family faced only a few weeks earlier.

The Hot Wheels t-shirts that the girls are wearing in the Kyle Petty picture are their prize possesions. While at the California 500 race in May 2000, I managed to get Richard, Kyle, and Adam Petty to autograph these shirts for the girls. Boy are they lucky. Even I don't have anything autographed by all three Petty's. They were so happy with this gift, that they proudly wore the shirts to school the next day. Boy was it tempting to tell them not to wear them and frame them to display on the wall, but I bought the shirts for them and they love wearing their autographed shirts, so it makes me feel good to let them wear the shirts. Below are some pictures showing Kyle and Richard signing the shirts. I didn't have time to take a picture when Adam signed them. He was in a hurry.

Richard Petty autographing Chloe's blue Hot Wheels shirt

Kyle signing Melanie's red Hot Wheels shirt.

Kyle signing Chloe's t-shirt.

In December 1999, Kevin LePage made a promotional appearance for the TV Guide Star Car Tour at Redwood City, CA. Kevin was very nice to Melanie. Chloe and I won a couple raffle prizes which included 1/24 TV Guide Authentics die cast cars. When we went to see Kevin to get him to autograph the cars, I tried giving my car to Melanie to get signed so she could have a car like her sister. But she didn't want it, since she felt she didn't really win it. As I tried to convince her to take it, Kevin took her by the hand to the prize table and talked to the TV Guide people. The next thing you know, he's giving her an autographed die cast car and a TV Guide Racing cap. It's small things like that that really influence children. Hey, Kevin. Your two young fans from Hayward, CA say "Hi!"

Of course, I have to get a picture of the girls with daddy's favortie driver's car!

These showcars made a rare appearance in our hometown during the Sears Point race weekend June 1999. They were at a Costco Business Expo for the Friday and Saturday.

I never noticed before, but one side of Ernie's car has the red M&M guy, and the other side has the blue guy.

I was surprised to see the #7 showcar (didn't know they had one) here in town. That made Chloe happy since she is 7 years old. 6 year old Melanie was mad that the 6 car wasn't there.