In Honour of the Daytona 500 This Weekend
02-20-13, 08:36 AM
#1
Rotary Freak
Thread Starter
In Honour of the Daytona 500 This Weekend
A Nascar story that doesn't involve Danica Patrick.
This might be a great place to drop in my favourite Jeff Gordon story and I swear to whatever deity you believe in that its true.
Back in 2001 the company that I worked for was purchased by DuPont. We had a large Town Hall Meeting scheduled for the US folks at a hall in St. Louis, but I wasn't supposed to go as I was heading the Canadian division and we had a seperate relationship with DuPont Canada. So about a day before the Town Hall meeting, I get a call from our Senior VP of Marketing asking me if I would be free to come down to St. Louis and if I could bring all my race gear. I asked why and he said that they had originally scheduled Jeff Gordon to speak to the employees and welcome them into the company, but Jeff had been called away and he wanted me to stand in for him.
I'm all WTF!!!!! Uh, my stuff is red and white, I look nothing like Jeff, I don't sound like Jeff and its freakin July in St. Louis and its going to be 900 degrees in that room and I am going to sweat like a pig in my gear up on the stage. He was all like, it won't be a problem. No one will figure it out and you will wear your helmet, walk out on stage in front of about 300 people with a fake microphone and wave your hands in the air and pretend to speak into it and I'll speak with a southern accent in the back, behind a curtain, on a real microphone. It will all work out. Trust me. People see what they want to see and by the way, I am senior to you and I really need you to do this.
Sooooo, the next morning I am flying to St. Louis with all my junk. I take a cab to the hall, sneak in the back and at the last possible instant, get dressed in my gear, grab a mic and stride out onto stage while Garnet goes into the most insulting Hee haw Southern accent and does the speach that Jeff was going to do and doing a great job of never actually saying that I was Jeff Gordon. I stood there and waved my free hand, picked up the rythm of the speech and started moving my head in time and did the whole speech of about 15 minutes with slides and everything. Because my visor was down, my glasses fogged totally and when it was over I basically had to remember how to get off the stage as I couldn't see. I went into the back room, changed back into my street clothes and went over to the offices in Checkerboard Square and everyone was all what are you doing here, but nobody was aware that I had done it or that it was me on stage, . I finally told my boss the next day that it was me as I wanted to be covered in case things went bad.
There you go, the day I replaced Jeff Gordon and realized that Marketing was the devil.
Eric
This might be a great place to drop in my favourite Jeff Gordon story and I swear to whatever deity you believe in that its true.
Back in 2001 the company that I worked for was purchased by DuPont. We had a large Town Hall Meeting scheduled for the US folks at a hall in St. Louis, but I wasn't supposed to go as I was heading the Canadian division and we had a seperate relationship with DuPont Canada. So about a day before the Town Hall meeting, I get a call from our Senior VP of Marketing asking me if I would be free to come down to St. Louis and if I could bring all my race gear. I asked why and he said that they had originally scheduled Jeff Gordon to speak to the employees and welcome them into the company, but Jeff had been called away and he wanted me to stand in for him.
I'm all WTF!!!!! Uh, my stuff is red and white, I look nothing like Jeff, I don't sound like Jeff and its freakin July in St. Louis and its going to be 900 degrees in that room and I am going to sweat like a pig in my gear up on the stage. He was all like, it won't be a problem. No one will figure it out and you will wear your helmet, walk out on stage in front of about 300 people with a fake microphone and wave your hands in the air and pretend to speak into it and I'll speak with a southern accent in the back, behind a curtain, on a real microphone. It will all work out. Trust me. People see what they want to see and by the way, I am senior to you and I really need you to do this.
Sooooo, the next morning I am flying to St. Louis with all my junk. I take a cab to the hall, sneak in the back and at the last possible instant, get dressed in my gear, grab a mic and stride out onto stage while Garnet goes into the most insulting Hee haw Southern accent and does the speach that Jeff was going to do and doing a great job of never actually saying that I was Jeff Gordon. I stood there and waved my free hand, picked up the rythm of the speech and started moving my head in time and did the whole speech of about 15 minutes with slides and everything. Because my visor was down, my glasses fogged totally and when it was over I basically had to remember how to get off the stage as I couldn't see. I went into the back room, changed back into my street clothes and went over to the offices in Checkerboard Square and everyone was all what are you doing here, but nobody was aware that I had done it or that it was me on stage, . I finally told my boss the next day that it was me as I wanted to be covered in case things went bad.
There you go, the day I replaced Jeff Gordon and realized that Marketing was the devil.
Eric
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02-21-13, 07:01 AM
#8
Rotary Freak
Thread Starter
After typing this yesterday, I was speaking with a co-worker from that time and brought it up and we laughed about it again as well. He asked my if I knew that they whole speech had been filmed and sent out to the 4 plants in the U.S. in real time where they had gathered all their employees into lunch rooms to see our new President speak and my part was just a segment in the whole broadcast. I didn't and he started laughing even harder and said that you didn't just fool the St. Louis Head Office staff, but potentially all of the North American staff of about 4,000 people.
I don't know what I think about that.......
Just one of a number of weird things you end up doing as part of your career. Dang, I should write a book, but nobody would believe it.
Eric
I don't know what I think about that.......
Just one of a number of weird things you end up doing as part of your career. Dang, I should write a book, but nobody would believe it.
Eric
02-21-13, 01:03 PM
#9
It doesnt.have to be beleiveable, just needs to sell.
Have you seen some of the **** they call books nowadays??
Have you seen some of the **** they call books nowadays??
After typing this yesterday, I was speaking with a co-worker from that time and brought it up and we laughed about it again as well. He asked my if I knew that they whole speech had been filmed and sent out to the 4 plants in the U.S. in real time where they had gathered all their employees into lunch rooms to see our new President speak and my part was just a segment in the whole broadcast. I didn't and he started laughing even harder and said that you didn't just fool the St. Louis Head Office staff, but potentially all of the North American staff of about 4,000 people.
I don't know what I think about that.......
Just one of a number of weird things you end up doing as part of your career. Dang, I should write a book, but nobody would believe it.
Eric
I don't know what I think about that.......
Just one of a number of weird things you end up doing as part of your career. Dang, I should write a book, but nobody would believe it.
Eric
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