by Jim Rash
Recently, Casey’s General Stores sponsored a contest in conjunction with Pepsi for a pair of tickets to the June 5 NASCAR race at the Kansas Speedway and a “meet and greet with Jeff Gordon.” The contest ran at all Casey’s stores throughout the Midwest and only one winner would be drawn from the hundreds and thousands of entries.
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On May 3, I took my son Pierce to the Casey’s in Gallatin for a snack. He is an avid Jeff Gordon fan and has most everything ever made with Jeff Gordon on it, i.e. hats, coats, shirts, chairs, fishing poles, etc. He spied the contest and the entry forms and requested that I fill one out for him. I tried to reason with him, telling him that the odds were staggering, but he would have none of it. I filled out the form and mailed it in.
On May 18, Pierce received a call from Angela Wood of the corporate offices of Casey’s in Ankeny, Iowa. Angela was calling to inform Pierce that his name was drawn for the tickets and meet and greet with Jeff! To say that Pierce was jazzed is truly an understatement! He told anyone and everyone that would listen.
On the day of the race, I took Pierce to the speedway for his big day. Reporting in at the pre-described meeting place, the Pepsi and Casey’s representatives took very good care of us. We were escorted to Jeff Gordon’s personal motor home at 9 a.m. for our meeting. Pierce was thrilled to meet Jeff and Jeff couldn’t have been more cordial.
Pierce was told that he could ask Jeff anything that he would like to know… most of you probably know what Pierce asked. Pierce was curious about Jeff’s two children! His daughter is four-years-old and his son is 10 months. Jeff reported that they were both well and thanked Pierce for his concern. I took many pictures that I’m sure will end up on Pierce’s walls with all of his Jeff Gordon plaques and pictures. The seats were right at the start/finish line! What a view we had to watch Jeff finish in fourth place!
We appreciate Casey’s and Pepsi for this great and memorable day for Pierce! I asked the Casey’s representative how many entries there were and she said "hundreds of thousands I’d say," so for Pierce to be the one name drawn, and for him to be such an avid Jeff Gordon fan, I for one have to believe there was a little bit of divine intervention involved. What do you think?