i got to know Ryan Tucker from the Rams and Browns a few years ago. had no idea who he was the first year i knew him. just knew he was a huge guy. my son raced with his kids (they were a few years younger and in a different class). the off season i found out who he was and mentioned it the first race back. i told him i didn't know he played football and that i was a steeler fan so didn't really know anyone from the browns. his response was that 'thats ok, i'm a dallas fan, i grew up in texas'. i saw him every weekend for the rest of the year and we never talked about football after that. it was always about racing. i googled him and found out he was a pretty good player. started almost his whole career and had a superbowl ring from the Rams. after a weekend at nationals we were in dismores trailer (they own a kart shop). ryan told mark to get him a kart shop shirt. mark asked what size. ryan told him 4X. mark said 'seriously, what size'. tuckers wife said 'seriously, 4X'. pretty funny story
but about the money and fame....my son raced with jamie mcmurray once in karts and also josef newgarden and sage karam (josef and sage were before they made it in Indy cars). i talked to sage's dad a few times and jamie once. anyway, a few years back jamie was going to a kart track in new castle, indiana (owned by mark dismore) and was testing on his weekends off. a guy i knew had met him and talked to him and gave a few braking tips, etc. never knew who jamie was or that he was a professional racer. the following february he saw jamie on ESPN winning the daytona 500. he said he about fell out of his chair when he realized who it was. he said jamie never acted like he was rich or well known. i also became good friends with mark dismore and mark jr. still talk to mark jr once in awhile. i met jamie the weekend after he won the daytona july race a few years back. they were off that weekend and he raced nationals at our home track
