Your celebrity story

LB was getting creative. 

White Trssh Story is the title of one of Casey Donahew's songs. 

She was passed around like a bottle of Crown but she was always sweet to me.....

Great stuff.  It's hard to find the full band version of that song but it's a gem.

Choctaw Bingo is my favorite.  It's just badass truth from the get go.

In 2002, I got to go on what could best be described as the MX fans ultimate dream vacation that also resulted in getting to meet the “who’s who” in US moto!
Back at the VERY beginning of STAR Racing becoming a Yamaha team, my good friend Dane, was THE first team manager for Star and mechanic for Jeff Gibson. Tyson Hadsell and fellow Okie Johnny Marley were the other two riders on the team that year. Just before the round at Unadilla, Johnny crashed in practice, breaking his wrist and out with injury. Dane is in a bind now, as he is to be leaving in two days and his fellow mechanic & co-driver Mark Russell (Marley’s wrench!) won’t be making the trip! Bobby Regan tells Dane that he’ll cover the expenses for anyone that can help out with the driving IF he can find someone on short notice!? Thankfully, I had a super cool Boss that knew what an “exponentially phenomenal” (🤪) opportunity this was and let me off work for two plus weeks on a 48 hour notice! 
Dane & I flew to Ohio, picked up the Star rig and drove to Unadilla where I had to find a way to play it cool while being completely immersed in my all time favorite sport and not go straight “fan boy” while standing around elbow to elbow with THE legends of our sport… I stayed in the rig at the track with Dane and helped wherever I could! Running around in the golf cart swapping out wheel sets at the Dunlop truck, returning/retrieving air filters etc and assisted with the drive all the way over to Washougal Washington where we repeated the race weekend drill, then helped my buddy Dane drive the Star rig back to his place here in the Land O’ the Redneck! 

Bobby Regan was an incredibly friendly and accommodating gentleman! He and his team deserve all the success they have worked so hard to achieve! Jeff Gibson and all the other riders and support personnel all around the sport were as friendly and cool as any I’ve ever met anywhere!
I am 20+ years removed from that amazing two weeks now and it is still at the very TOP of my all time favorite memories list! 😎 👍❗️

Lucky

this is badass

When I worked at a San Diego motorcycle dealership, Ryan Leaf came in. Now, I didn't follow football AT ALL in those days, so I truly had zero idea who he was. He was thinking about buying a bike.

Me: "Hey man, what can I help you with? What's your name?" 
RL: "Ryan Leaf."
"Pleased to meet you, Ryan, do you live around here?"
"Yeah just moved into town to play football..." (A little curiously, like I should have known.)
"Oh, cool. What, at one of the colleges or something?"
(Now flustered) "No, the Chargers."
"No kidding! Wow. What position?"
(exasperatedly) "Quarterback!" 

I don't think he liked me. He didn't end up buying a bike. 

I also met Gwen Stefani backstage at a Supernova/Blink 182/No Doubt show. (No Doubt's drummer is my cousin, and he got me the VIP treatment.) Anyway, she was actually super cool, demure and maybe even flirty. Not at all like her stage persona. I kinda felt like I had a shot with her, actually. 

The first ever National I attended was Rio Bravo.  My best friend had a sponsored ride from the Kawi shop in Tulsa.  We both raced Ponca a few weeks before.  He made it and I got a broken collar bone and wrist.

It was 250 with Open support.  (remember those days?). Since I was gimping I just helped him out.  Two 16 year old high school seniors in dad's van, a long way from home.

For reasons I'll never understand...we checked into the Holiday Inn, where EVERYBODY was staying and met Marty Smith in the lobby.  He took us under his wing (he was probably less than 2 years older than us).  We followed him around like puppy dogs.  

He took us around to every "factory" van in the parking lot.  Sugar Bear, and all of 'em.  (Hannah gets credit for having a mouth but Marty could lay down some serious smack).  "Jeez dude...what happened to yer face...catch it in a door?"

Needless to say...we had "serious" cred with the moto folks back home.  Rip Marty...such a stud.

Ha!  That makes two of us.  I used to hang out with Gwen and I know exactly what you are talking about  

I have lots of good celebrity stories with most of them doing things they shouldn't be.  Some of this is a result of relationships I built with them before they were famous, and others are a result of living next to Rodman in Newport for many years.  Went to Vegas with my crew and his crew every other weekend - Carmen Electra, Sugar Ray, Rodman's basketball buddies, etc.  I don't get excited by them, but I did enjoy all the perks that came along with it.

I don't see factory riders as celebrities but I get to rub shoulders with them occasionally.  I've had many of beers with the GOAT and a lot of the current top riders.  Some are very cool, some are just okay, some are antisocial, and some are a little awkward.  

I sorta met George W Bush on some mountain bike trails in Rowlett a few years ago (2016). I had just come off from doing a loop and was sitting on my tailgate chatting to another guy when 2 windowless white vans pulled up and parked near us but no one got out. This particular parking lot is known for shady activity but not usually on Saturday mornings. About 5 minutes later 2 black Chevy Suburbans pulled in and about 10 guys got out and unloaded the white vans which were packed with mountain bikes. Once the vans were unloaded George W got out of his SUV and mounted up. Before heading into the woods he looked over to me and the guy I was parked near and said "mornin' boys!" and then rode away with a bunch of Secret Service guys. I waited about 5 minutes and headed in behind them wondering how long it was going to take me to catch up to his group and more importantly what they would say when I did. I peddled my ass off, blew all my Strava PRs out of the water and never caught up to them. When I made it back to the parking lot they were already gone. 

I always considered him the idiot son but honestly... nowadays I'd vote for him...twice if I could.

I've met my fair share, was bar security for years and met quite a few filming movies. I once babysat kristin stewart ( the twilight chick) and her entourage for a few hours as they partied. She's a tiny thing in real life.

Mr peterman from sienfeld, casey affleck, ryan reynolds, everyone was pretty cool.

Stiffler from American pie was a heavy drinker in those days, stuck 100$ in my pocket and thanked me for my hospitality, left with two girls in a towncar.  Good times.

I met Daniel Tosh about 12-13 years ago in Baltimore. Me and a couple buddies were walking to a venue to see him perform and noticed a huge motorhome parked alongside the road. My one buddy says “damn that must be Tosh’s rig.” His girlfriend was walking out of the RV at the time with a little dog and says “he should be finishing up his first show do you guys wanna meet him?” We said of course and stood around bull shitting with her for a bit. Tosh then comes walking out of the venue with a bunch of security guards and his girlfriend says “Daniel you’ve got some fans who wanna meet you.” He came over and talked to us for probably ten minutes. He was super nice and mainly ragged on his girlfriend the whole time. He had us laughing hysterically while he poked fun at her. 
 

I also met all the guys from Confederate Railroad after a concert they put on. My police department sent a few officers to do security during their autograph session and they pulled me aside and told me how thankful they were that we were there and how much they appreciate our service. They actually asked US to get a few pictures with them. They were definitely very friendly. 
 

I sat next to Sean Lee (Dallas Cowboys linebacker) in psychology class at Penn State and got to know him really well. He was an extremely smart dude and very down to earth. 
 

I also had the pleasure of disappointing a girl who made it in Penn States Hottest Bartender calendar 😂 ok maybe she wasn’t a celebrity but still one of my finer moments in life. 

I’ve flown a few. Trent Green, Lynn Dawson, Marcus Naslund ( hockey player) , Michael Reagan. 
 

Also, Grant Wistrom sold some ground for us. He’s a cool guy. 

Love that line....

Loved that line... "Those things had to be the coolest things I'd seen".

Probably the same everywhere, but it was damn sure Texas .

"Well her grandma she drinks vodka in her orange juice. Well she sells pot to kids, and she just got outta jail. Junior had to sell his new Jon boat just to help to raise the bail."

He's a tractor tech, he's a redneck, and they're gettin' drunk again. 

I’ve met a lot of famous people over the years, presidents, governors, actors, partied with a few very famous MX/SX racers, but the one that means the most to me was meeting the “Bad Boy” Rick Johnson at the finish line of the Baja 1000 last year.  It was 4:30 AM and he was super cool to talk with and just a rad dude.  He was my childhood hero when I was 10 years old and it was the most nervous I’ve ever been meeting someone.

I kept missing No Doubt by a couple nights when I was on the hhg rig. But r I ran into people that where at the show they all said she was awesome & hot. I moved to town in 78 the arena was a few blocks away. So I met any band you could think of. I,m not really a star struck person but r&r was huge & the shows had quite a few semis back then.  9 th grade summer my pal Mikey & I where running around the arena as usual when the roadsys where setting up.  We went back outside & where cruising around on our 20in bikes. And we see Alex Van Halen laying on top of a speaker box sun tanning. He had his shorts for shows on. We rode by him & said that’s Alex vh what do we do. We rolled up to him & stared for a minute, he had his dark black shades on & a Sony Walkman with headphones. We couldn’t just ride away. So I poked him in the shoulder & real excitedly said r you Alex vh ? He didn’t move . The 3rd time I poked him he started moving his hands . He slid his headphones forward. I excitedly ask r you Alex vh ? He also slid his shades down then said Yeah like a sheep. We said your awesome etc can’t wait to see you tonight. He had little whiskers & his eyes where blood shot . My pal & I fell into each other’s bikes all excited. Alex smiled & went back sun bathing.  Outside the arena there’s people all ovr the place.  It was Diver Down tour VH at there peak. We snuck into the hotel also during the day.  Eddie was free styling on the guitar & Dave was holding court being creative & very funny in the bar.  In order to be in there briefly. They told us to wrestle each other. My pal always took it too far.  We went at it like wild cats. They laughed then said we had to leave. Women where taking there tops off kinda a scene not for kids. You wouldn’t think the band could perform after partying all day. But the show was the best I,ve ever seen live by far including yt stuff. Yrs later a union carpenter said remember that the concert started real late.  He said they couldn’t get Dave off the bus he was partying with a bunch of women. I never seen Dave jump off the drum riser repeatedly like that show. Eddie is sprinting across the stage sliding on his knees that wear bleeding & slamming his shoulder into the stack of marshal amps rocking them. A freakin animal. Randy Rhodie was a local guy that hooked them up with some really good drugs. Maybe shrums because that was 1 insanely awesome show. 

In the late '80s I was doing motorsports t-shirt artwork for a living. On a whim, I drew a design for one of my heroes in the day, Dale Earnhardt. Long story short, I designed for him in '90 & '91. The owner of his merch company had me meet them at the Phoenix race in '90. I met Dale Earnhardt in the garage are at PIR where he personally approved a couple designs. The next day, race day, he, his wife, Teresa and Kyle petty were sitting on the pit wall, pre-race. I said "Good luck, Dale." He replied "Thank you, Paul." Blew me away he remembered my name.

Rick Mears a few times. Nicest guy ever and a real racer.

500Guy and I chatted with Jeff Stanton on an airport shuttle bus (forget the city). Very nice man.

Ran into actor Michael Rooker at a Cracker Barrel in Marana, AZ. Cool dude.

Houston SX, looked to my right and I was sitting next to Lyle Lovett. He's a huge moto fan and rides.

Crossed paths with Alice Cooper leaving a Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. Also very cool.

Walking out of a bathroom at an FBO in Dallas as Joe Gibbs was walking in. Also, super-nice gentleman.

Probably more but that's all that comes to mind.

A couple of guys I worked with went to a Pirates- Dodgers game, was checking into a hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. The lobby was full of kids. All of a sudden it gets really loud. Out of the corner of my eye I see someone walk up beside me, I said why's it so loud in here as I turn and it's Tommy Lasorda standing beside me. He just laughs and says "I don't know its always loud in here". The rest of the Dodgers are walking in to go to their rooms. Atlanta 1998 SX, Wife and I was in the Sun Dial restaurant after the race. Said "hi" to David Bailey and Marty Reed. They invited us to their table. We sat with them for a hour. David is the most humble person I have ever meet.

2000, was at Applebee's in Morgantown WV on Saturday night before High Point. Roger Decoster and Travis Pastrana walk in behind us. My daughter was 8 at the time and was a huge Travis fan. I started talking to both of them and telling Travis she was a fan. He says hi to her but she refuses to believe its him. He kept trying to convince her, even asked if she wanted to sign his cast and she said no because your not Travis. Roger got a good laugh out of it.

Come on, man. It's 2023 in America. Of course you could vote for him twice! 

Funny...yes.  Sad...again, yes.

My grandparents had a winter house in Florida. Two houses over lived the grandma of Jason Newsted (Metallica). His dad lived just a short drive away. 
They were all friends and would socialize, play cards together often. Turns out that my grandma actually knew Jason from the time he was just a kid when he was there visiting. 
One of my cousins connected the dots while she was at Grandma Newsted’s house and noticed all the Metallica memorabilia at this little old lady’s house. 
Short version….. for the next several Metallica tours I was hooked up with front row seats and backstage passes. 
Had dinner with Jason and family a couple of times. Super chill guy, actually pretty shy and quiet. Very cool, down to earth family. 

I'll bite...

My Uncle is Kent McCord. The older guys will know who he is. Adam-12 was his show.

I had a great conversation with Jeff Emig at Irvine Park during Easter Egg hunting with the kids. He's such an easy guy to talk to! I also met him at Astrisk when I was picking up knee braces.

I met the Bassist for Rage Against The Machine. He used to race downhill MTB in Fontana and we all met him there. He was quiet, I didn't really know who he was because I didn't listen to Rage much, but he was nice to everyone that wanted to meet him.

My wife taught Mike Bell's son in 7th grade. Another kid at the school had Ricky Johnson come in and do a presentation for the kids there.

A lot of celebrities can fly under the radar because they just don't look the same in person as they do in real life.

Ford and Hanks can't pull that off.  I've seen what happens when they go anywhere.  About 15 minutes is all they get till the crowds pile in.  Not enough time to choke down a burger.  People are so rude.