Riggs stunned by support from fans

Associated Press

GLADEVILLE, Tenn.

Talk about the ultimate fan experience.

Paul Carreau got to spend quality time with his favorite NASCAR driver and even had his name on the right rear quarterpanel of Scott Riggs’ Ford for the Nationwide Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Even so, Riggs probably got the best end of the deal. Thanks to fervent fans like Carreau, he got to race.

Riggs has been on a race-to-race deal with RAB Racing since opening at Daytona together in February, scraping by in the Nationwide series without a sponsor. They competed in the Nashville 300 with a gray, red and white paint scheme in the “Sponsor Scott” fan car thanks to some $30,000 raised through a mix of old and new methods from Riggs’ very committed supporters.

The old? A traditional chicken plate dinner in his home state of North Carolina staged by a couple of friends from high school. The new? The manager of Riggs’ fan Web page working with the driver’s supporters and eventually tapping the team’s Facebook and Twitter pages to raise money for him to race at Nashville.

Riggs has been stunned by the support, especially given the difficult economic times.

“To see fans come off their hip and get on the car to see me on the race track and have something more than a blank race car, that to me was very, very humbling,” he said. “I had no idea they would come out the way they came out with this car. Very humbling, very unbelievable to see how people have come out. It makes you want to dig even harder.”

In January, Riggs got a call from Robby Benton, co-owner of RAB Racing with Brack Maggard. The team was looking for a veteran driver to pair in the Nationwide series with newly promoted crew chief Ben Gable. The duo clicked and Benton committed to Riggs just for Daytona, where he finished 15th.

Riggs placed 16th in California and 14th at Las Vegas.

Talk started of finding a way to keep Riggs racing, especially at Nashville where he has won twice. They headed to Bristol with an in-car camera to target the “Sponsor Scott” signs plastered inside to promote the cause.

More than 75 fans came up with enough money to take a big chunk out of the approximately $50,000 needed to field the team at Nashville. No donation was turned away and fans who made larger donations were rewarded with everything from pictures to tickets to the race and the chance to meet Riggs.

Carreau, who works at a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz., loved spending most of Friday hanging around the garage with Riggs and the team. He said the favorite part of his donation came from seeing his name written on that quarterpanel.

“How many people get to say they sponsored their favorite race car driver?” Carreau said. “It’s something I couldn’t pass up to get to meet him, get to come to the race. It’s just a fun package, a great deal. It shows potential sponsors Scott has a big following.”