Logano has Wide Appeal with Fans

BRISTOL, Va. – Greg Zipadelli, the two-time Sprint Cup champion crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, talked about driver Joey Logano’s fans as if he was describing a Jonas Brothers concert.

“It’s a much younger crowd. It’s a newer crowd,” Zipadelli observed. “A lot of 12- to 18- to 20-year-olds. You didn’t see much of that in the past.”

Maybe, but when the newest Jonas Brother, as Logano often is called, stopped last week into the Home Depot on Lee Highway for an autograph session, the scene was a little different.

The line to greet Logano wasn’t filled with giggling teenyboppers, but rather with adults and families.

Corey Foley, 38, from Roxboro, N.C., was first in line. He had arrived in Bristol with his sister, Susan, a day before the Logano signing. Instead of finding a nearby hotel, Foley opted for another solution.

“I asked the manager if we could camp out in the parking lot, and he said go to the end [on the grass], so we camped out and listened to the truck race on the radio,” Foley said. “They opened at 6 [in the morning], so we got our chairs out at 6 and waited in the store.”

Shannon Playl of Bristol, Tenn., a cashier at Home Depot, said she couldn’t believe how excited Foley was to see Logano.

“He wanted to be the first one in line,” she said. “I looked over at one point, and he was taking pictures of the cutouts of Joey Logano, and he was walking through the line, like he was preparing for the moment when he got to meet Joey. It was pretty crazy.”

Foley said he saw Logano win his first ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway in 2008 and has been a fan ever since.

“I didn’t even know who Joey was,” Foley recalled. “I was like, ‘Joey who?’ Then two hours later, he won the race. I was like, ‘Damn, that’s all right.’

“Two years later, he wins back-to-back at Kentucky [in the Nationwide Series] and his first Cup race [at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June of this year],” Foley said. “I’m impressed. He could be the next Jeff Gordon.”

Foley said he didn’t mind that Logano is young and successful. In fact, he said he admired it.

“I’m going to give him five years, and he’ll be a title contender,” he said. “Maybe even three, I’ll give him three, and he can do it.”

Sixty-year-old Joe DePalmo and his wife, Krista, 45, from Canton, Ohio, became Logano fans after watching him race when he was only 15 years old.

“We’ve followed Joey off and on since he was 15 when he raced in Mansfield, Ohio, in the [USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series] race there,” said DePalmo, who brought a door panel of the No. 20 car from Infineon Raceway in June for Logano to sign.

Rosen Jr. Davis Coiner, 45, from Mount Jackson, Va., was able to see Logano clinch the Busch East Series title at Dover, Del., in 2007. Coiner said he also likes that Logano is a young driver.

“The fact that he’s young, that’s a plus,” he said. ‘That’s somebody you can root for for a long time. I also like his demeanor, and he’s got a great family.”

Coiner wasn’t alone in his thinking. His friend from Lambertville, Mich., 40-year-old Mike Hennessey, met Logano during Food City 500 race weekend in March at Bristol Motor Speedway and was impressed with his maturity.

“He seems really grounded,” Hennessey said. “He’s grown on me considerably, and he’s with a great owner. He’s going to be one to really climb up in there.”

Hennessey, who has built replica diecast cars for drivers like Kurt Busch, made a diecast of Logano’s Busch East Series win to have it signed for friend Coiner.

John Hafer, a Joe Gibbs Racing show car representative, said it was no secret why Logano has gained more appeal with a wider audience range.

“[Joey’s] actually a really good representative of the sport, its up-and-coming stars, as well as Home Depot,” Hafer, 49, said. “He’s being himself, and that’s Joey’s biggest asset.
He’s just having fun with it, and he’ll be the first guy to tell you how fortunate he really is.”

Logano said he hasn’t changed since entering the bustling world of the Sprint Cup Series.

“I’m very, very lucky, and I look at how fortunate I am and how lucky I am,” the young star said. “If I wasn’t Joey Logano, the NASCAR racer, I don’t think anything would be different. I’m always laughing. I’m always having fun.

“To come in as a young kid into the Sprint Cup Series, to have fans cheer for you, to have won the fan vote at the All-Star race at Lowe’s [Motor Speedway], to have the Home Depot car behind me, it’s neat,” he said.

A year has passed since Logano learned at Bristol Motor Speedway that he would drive the No. 20 car in the Sprint Cup Series, and he said he finally feels like his team is getting on track.

“This year has had ups and downs,” he said. “But I think we are where we need to be now. Racing … it’s just time. You’re trying to go as fast as you can. We’re fighting for a 10th of a second, half of a 10th of a second. We’re fighting hard for every little bit of that.

“When it comes down to it, it’s just experience,” Logano said. “Getting experience in a race car, in the Sprint Cup car, on every different race track, that makes it tough for any rookie coming in.”

Zipadelli, who was a crew chief for Tony Stewart for 10 years, said it’s been a rewarding experience to work with the 19-year-old driver.

“It’s been different. But it’s been rewarding to watch [Joey] grow and to see this team do better week in and week out.”

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