During my internship at Pocono Raceway in June of 2009, our first race date coincided with the release of the motion picture “The Proposal” starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. With this in mind, the track’s PR department had created a promotion that would give one lucky couple the chance to get married in victory lane, the morning of the Sprint Cup race.
There are always a number of pre-race activities happening at the track on race day, but it seemed that the wedding was the one that created the most buzz. My responsibility was to be the ambassador to the happy couple and create a memorable experience for them leading up to the ceremony prior to the green flag. Luckily, while they were both NASCAR fans, they never had been to a race before, so everything was exciting and new to them.
I took them on a garage tour and walked them down pit road as the 43 teams prepared to go racing just a few hours later. At 11 o’clock, the wedding party and I walked to victory lane, where the priest and a host of witnesses and dignitaries were waiting for us.
The ceremony went off without a hitch and the couple’s marriage got off to a great start. As I walked them up to their skybox where they would watch the race, they looked at me and said that the only way that the day could be any greater, was if Tony Stewart would win the race. Little did they know that just 500 miles and a few hours later, they would receive their first wedding present.
Thanks Tony!