Meeting celebrities in random places

Since I see a lot of airports. Mary Tyler Moore in MSP, Brookes & Dunn in Nashville, Danny Devito and wife Carla in Kansas City, Rich Thretheway from This Old House at a trade show and my favorite was I stopped Mike Ditka at O'Hare Airport with......."Hey Coach........"

Since I hit a lot of Road America on Friday's; Mario, Paul Newman, Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears.

I had a beer with Cuba Gooding Jr after the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup.

I met Rick Flair after riding jet ski's with his daughter in Myrtle Beach.

Ive met a bunch of NASCAR drivers and NHL players.

One cool thing about this thread is that, for the most part, all the celebrities were cool and not shiny happy people.

Could it be TMZ is wrong?

-Rob

Saw some wrestler up in DawsonForest in north ga - he does some car show now - goldberg - thats his name - nice guy..

Also at Chatue Elan was playing golf and ran into Samual Jackson - he was a dick - also forgot about Dennis Miller in Athens GA - I like to listen to him - but he to was a dick..

I met Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco when I was about 4.

I grew up near Magic Johnson, he was already a rising star when he was in high school. I never interacted with him, but I saw him around the neighborhood even after he went pro.

Another Lansing Michigan native that I met and talked to on occasion was Paul Gentilozzi.

I met Todd Holbert (Al Holbert's son) at an FSAE competition in '96. I met and had a chance to talk with Carrol Smith there as well.

I met Tim Suddard at the SCCA runoffs in '96. I met David Wallens a few years later he was in the San Francisco area.

And finally, this guy ( http://www.nissanusa.com/gtacademy/feature/meet-the-finalists/heitkotter/index.html ) came to my local region autocrosses for years. Many of us who know him are living vicariously through him right now.

I met Shaq right after he signed with the Magic. He had commissioned a custom model car with actual working hydraulics from a family friend. He was a giant kid and really funny.

I met Daunte Culpepper at my college (we both went to UCF) for about 3 seconds. He's freaking BIG.

I met and still have the autograph of the F16 pilot shot down over Kosovo, as well as many astronauts and other pilots.

I've met John Force (and all the other NHRA guys) many times, he is exactly like you think he is. Talks like crazy, moves at 300MPH, and loves fans. Warren Johnson liked to talk about his old race cars, cool guy. Greg Anderson was a prick.

My best story though is Bob Hoover (Yeager's wingman for the supersonic flights). Years ago he flew a twin civil plane (Aero Commander) in aerobatic stunts (famously pouring a glass of tea during a roll). I watched his routine as a wee lad at Sun-N-Fun once and then went in search of his booth. I was waiting there alone when Mr. Hoover walked up in his flight suit absolutely drenched with sweat. He smiled, told a few stories, and signed my autograph book even though he looked knackered and I was the only person around.

I use to be a Paramedic and would work the Greenville-Pickens speedway when the NASCAR boys would come practice and I met quit a few drivers.One time I was in the bathroom and a guy was standing beside me(you just have to see the bathrooms at GP to understand) I said casually I'm Dale's biggest fan but I wish he would get his car dialed in today because I'm roasting.He kinda bumped my shoulder and said I'm doing my best.It was Dale Earnhardt himself.I felt like a fool,but he told me to bring my truck and come set with them so I did.He always had some cool story's.

Yeah, I met Bob Hoover when I was a kid, too. I was a bit of an airshow brat so I bumped into him several times, actually. The man was a class act.

not exactly random but while shoving through the thickest crowed i ever got stuck in at comic con i found a little bit of air. Pushing into the open area i found a microphone hitting me in the face so i backed up and accidentally hip checked Mark Hammill. (good one using the force on that one Luke)

I looked at him for about a half second awkwardly and then continued on my way.

I'm terrible with names and faces though so just about every time someone points a celeb out to me i have no idea who they are.

oh and my friend has a tackle on Reggie Bush in high school.

This reaaallllly cute guy said hello to me at the L.A. Auto Show 2 years ago. He was standing at the Mazda display. About five minutes later I realized it was Patrick Dempsey.

that's funny... at the Rolex 2 or 3 yrs ago he was talking to the GRM pit crawl crowd when he suddenly said " sorry folks I gotta get back in the motorcoach before the rest of the people here in the pits kill me.." I looked around and there must have been 3 or 400 people crowded around totally blocking the paddock

Lesley wrote: This reaaallllly cute guy said hello to me at the L.A. Auto Show 2 years ago. He was standing at the Mazda display. About five minutes later I realized it was Patrick Dempsey.

Damn, I thought you were talking about me...

Media day... there was no one around. If I hadn't been so clueless, I could have had a nice chat with him.

He's probably still wondering who that girl was who was immune to his charm. It probably keeps him up at night.

I'd like to think I keep him up at night...

Lesley wrote: I'd like to think I keep him up at night...

He certainly keeps me up at night...

I met a bunch of celebs when I was working as a chauffeur in Detroit. Most were pretty cool and had a couple of real shiny happy people. I can't even remember who all I drove.

When the super bowl was in town I was waiting for my client to come out of the RenCen Marriot and I saw these two guys walk by me and start to cross the street. One wearing a suit and the other wearing a Purdue letter jacket. I half jokingly shouted out "Boiler up!" They both turned around and asked who said that. They came over and chatted for a while. Big guy in the suit was Matt Mitrione.

A friend of mine looks like Joey Fatone. Back when 'N Sync was big Dustyn was working at the Hot Topic store in the mall in Lafayette, IN. He was pretty amused by the number of teenage girls that would run in "OMG are you?"

Another friend and current roommate tutored Drew Brees. Some other friends went to high school with Jeff Gordon and Shannon Hoon.