Sunday, September 30, 2012

NASCAR Fan Wins Ride With Dale Jr.

Bette Paquet will get a ride around Charlotte Motor Speedway from Dale Earnhardt Jr.,
but her cat, Junior, will just have to live the moment vicariously through Paquet
(Photo courtesy of Lionel Collectables)

(I am not a grandmother yet, so there might still be time for me . . . . . so jealous, I would love to run a lap with Dale Jr.!)

Bette Paquet, a 65-year-old grandmother with a cat named Junior, has always wanted to meet her favorite NASCAR driver. 

But she never dreamed she would get to take a ride in a racecar with him. 

Bette Paquet will get a ride around Charlotte Motor Speedway from Dale Earnhardt Jr., but her cat, Junior, will just have to live the moment vicariously through Paquet (Photo courtesy of Lionel Collectables)
Paquet, who lives in Franklin, N.H., will take a spin around Charlotte Motor Speedway with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Oct. 15 as the grand prize winner of the “Dale Jr. Ride of Your Life Sweepstakes” held by Lionel NASCAR Collectables and Racing Collectables Club of America. 

Paquet will ride shotgun with Earnhardt for three laps around the 1.5-mile track as part of The Dale Jr. Foundation’s ride-along program. 

“To meet and greet Dale Earnhardt Jr. is beyond my wildest dreams,” Paquet, who has four grandchildren, said. “I have loved that boy ever since he started in the sport and I can’t believe he’s going to drive ME around the track.” 

A merchandise coordinator for T.J. Maxx, Paquet has been an Earnhardt fan all her life. She named her cat after NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver and says she cried “happy tears” when Earnhardt Jr. won a 2010 Nationwide Series race at Daytona in a No. 3 Wrangler-sponsored car his father made famous. 

“I can’t express our love of the sport,” Paquet said. “I love the smell, sounds and all that is part of NASCAR. And I love Dale Jr.’s attitude and his demeanor and I love his success this year.” 

Earnhardt Jr. has one win this season and is in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup. He is seventh in the Chase standings. 

Paquet also will get two tickets to the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Charlotte, travel accommodations and various other prizes and perks.

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