When Worlds Collide…
I watched the delightful ECW pay-per-view WrestlePalooza ’98 this afternoon with my good friend, Steve. The main event was The Franchise Shane Douglas defending against the one, the only Al Snow, with Head.
By the way, it was a great match, but we all knew the final result going in. Has anyone ever done a positive swerve? Like, what if Shane Douglas, telling no one (except maybe Paul E.) that he was going to let Snow pin him? Wouldn’t that be incredible? Snow, given the popularity of Head & the fact he was a solid wrestler who could adapt to all the ECW styles, could’ve had a legit run as champion. You could take it off him in a couple weeks, but that would be some great stuff just for the reaction from the surprised winner.
Anywhoodle, it made me think of the time I met Snow at a NASCAR race in Kentucky. It was June 17, 2006, and I was at Kentucky Speedway covering the NASCAR then-Busch Series race there. I was working with Mark Garrow from the Performance Racing Network, the radio organization covering NASCAR events at tracks owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., such as Bristol, Charlotte, Sonoma, etc. (and now, ironically, Kentucky). I was there for my St. Louis-based racing radio show & Mark was there as a pit reporter for Fox, covering the race for television.
So Mark asked me if I’d like to expand my professional horizons and work with him as a runner that night. I said sure. My job was to find out who he needed information from and get it. On pit road, reporters are assigned certain drivers. Most of those drivers have a PR rep in the pits with the team. As a reporter or a runner, you talk to that rep to find out if they’re making any changes during a pit stop, finding out what a driver is saying after an incident, etc. It’s fun & goes from slow to HOLY SHIT! real quick & I love that.
This ended up being a memorable night because the winning driver was a young man named David Gilliland. He was a California driver no one had heard of, driving for a team no one had heard of, and ended up winning the fucking thing. He went from having a real job to being a millionaire before the sun came up. Seriously.
I’ve covered NASCAR and motorsports for 20+ years and one of the neat things about races are when the track and sanction (NASCAR, NHRA, etc.) bring in celebrities to entice fans & flaunt them in front of the media. I’ve done it as track staff & have become really good friends with some really cool people. One of those people at Kentucky Speedway that night (other than Bootsy Collins, who is exactly as cool as you think he is) was Al.
I’m running down pit road, there was just an accident on the track, and I’m trying to get to the driver’s PR rep to see how the driver’s doing, what he’s saying, if he’s going to punch the other guy, etc. As I run, I fly past a guy that looks just like Al Snow. Then it hits me: THAT REALLY WAS AL SNOW!
I skidded to a halt Scooby Doo-style, did a quick turn around, ran back to Al, and said “Hey, you’re Al Snow!”
He looked surprised, but took it in stride and said, “Yes, I am!”
“You’re awesome!”
“Thank you!”
And then I took off running again, off to find out if the driver was OK. He was.
I’d like to think Al Snow was OK, too. And you know what?
I think he was…
I think he was.
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