Chad Knaus Fans: I SAW JJ TODAY!! (plus more Chad pics)

Yeah, I just wanted to brag that I saw Jimmie live and in person today, woohoo!!! It was so rad - he was so nice, and he looked really happy to be there and appreciative of his fans, which I'm not sure I could do at 9 pm after a long day of other appearances and lots of driving (Crest to Camp Pendleton and then back over to Santee? I guess it's not a lot compared to the Daytona 500, but it's enough!). Thanks for being a genuinely nice guy, Jimmie. That's a rare thing in this day and age, and we fans really appreciate it!

His dad and a few of his friends were there, and they dished the dirt on Jimmie and told some good stories (apparently the people at Grossmont Hospital used to wave hi at Mr. Johnson whenever they came in because Jimmie broke so many bones riding motorcycles when he was a kid...yeesh!). I liked when somebody asked if Jimmie was the kind of guy you call to bail you out of jail, or if he's the guy who'd be sitting there beside you. The answer? Definitely the guy beside you, hehe. Oh, and then there was the girl who asked if Jimmie could hook her up with his brother, to which he replied, "Uhh, which one?" And that's when my favorite moment of the night happened, when the lady behind me said, "Now that's East County!" Because it so is, hehe. You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger collection of characters in So Cal.

Chandra was there and came out for a minute (sounds like she hates public speaking as much as I do!) - she seems really nice. The mayor gave her a bouquet of white roses for her dedication to service, and Jimmie was given a key to the city of Santee. Chad was not there, though. I had my fingers crossed, but no such luck. Oh well, seeing one 4-time champ in a night is pretty good! Thanks, Jimmie, for spending your rare time off with us! You rock! And thanks for trying to fix the stupid glare-y light for us, even if it didn't work out. I guess you need the Kobalt toolkit for that, lol. Oh, and it's good to know I'm not the only one who's thought about bump drafting down Interstate 8, muahaha.

I'll have pics and possibly video (if I can figure out how to upload it to YouTube or something) in about a week (the digital camera software is on a computer that is currently in another city...slight problem). For now, here are even more pics of Chad I found, since I've spent this whole post talking about Jimmie. If you go to Motorsport.com, there are more shots that show the whole team on the stage. I just left most of them out because everybody is so tiny in them.