Good Stuff all round... and Penske is a True Patriot. was a time the military needed engines, so Penske stopped all sales to the general public INCLUDING engines that had been ordered and were finished and sent them where they were needed.
Posted on 07/19/2006 4:15:59 PM PDT by Niteranger68
Sam Hornish Jr. may have forgotten what he wanted to say because he was awestruck, but he gets a pass. It was, after all, the president of the United States.
Hornish and key members of Marlboro Team Penske and the IRL IndyCar Series met briefly Tuesday morning with President George W. Bush in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House to celebrate Hornish's victory in the 90th Indianapolis 500 in May. Bush entered the room and greeted the group by asking, "How's everybody doing?" He then shook hands with Hornish, who struggled to say what he'd rehearsed.
"I couldn't say everything I wanted to say," Hornish said. "I got out the fact that I was honored to meet him, and I was trying to introduce (wife) Crystal, but I couldn't quite get that out all the way. There was so much going on. He's got a pretty busy schedule. He's talking fast, and I'm talking fast. Having a conversation under those circumstances is kind of hard."
After a few seconds for photographs, the press was ushered out of the room. As photographers moved toward the door, Bush joked with them.
"Hustle! Hustle!" he said with a chuckle. Hornish then began to introduce team owner Roger Penske, but Bush interrupted. "I know Roger," he said.
Bush spoke individually with Hornish, Penske and IRL founder Tony George, a Bush supporter who hosted Laura Bush in a fundraiser at his Indianapolis home during the 2004 reelection campaign. Among other things, the men discussed Ethanol, which is in its first year as the IRL's fuel and is a hot political topic.
"It was a true honor that the president was able to take time out of his busy schedule to welcome our team," Penske said. "It shows the stature of auto racing in this country and in particular the Indianapolis 500."
Also in attendance were Penske Racing president Tim Cindric, IRL president and CEO Brian Barnhart and most of the key staff members on the No. 6 Penske Honda/Dallara that Hornish drove past Marco Andretti in the final yards of the race. Bush told Hornish he watched the race, and remarked at the close finish.
"He told me he's been in a few closes races, too," Hornish said.
"He was very complimentary that we won the Indianapolis 500 and talked about the style in which we'd won it," he added. "He said a small-town boy from Ohio was able to accomplish a dream, and seldom do people who have dreams like that get to accomplish them. It was a pretty big compliment. It might have been 10 minutes, but it seemed like 10 seconds."
Bush recently returned from the G8 Summit in Russia. The photo op had been planned outdoors on the White House lawn, but was moved to the Eisenhower building next door to the West Wing because of oppressive heat. After the short meeting, Hornish held a press conference outside the West Wing.
"As soon as he let go of my hand, I felt I'd forgotten to say everything," Hornish said. "I felt like, 'Hey, dummy, you didn't say half the things you wanted to say to him.' I was more critical of myself for not spitting it out. I must have been awestruck, because I didn't say what I wanted to."
The president normally meets with American winners of the Indy 500, the most recent being Buddy Rice in 2004. Penske has won a record 14 Indy 500s, but this was the team's first trip to the White House since Rick Mears met the first President Bush after winning his fourth 500 in 1991.
"There aren't too many things in the world you can do that are like this," Hornish said.
Nascar it's not...but still pretty cool.
"Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter's wedding... on the wedding day of your daughter's wedding... And I hope that their first child is a masculine child."
Oh, no reason to post it here.
You can be certain that the Times, Post, Globe, LA Times, USATODAY, all network news and news magazines will be highlighting this positive experience with the President.
After all, you know that they would not deny Americans an opportunity to hear such positive remarks about our leader. (sarcasm)
I have to admit if I met President Bush I would do the same thing.
LMAO - how appropriate.
Good one.
and I still feel sorry for Luka every time I watch that movie!
I would do worse.
Perfect.
I doubt you would. My Aunt has a good story about that.
You become awestruck with GWB because you know that he is genuinely kind, sincere and spontaneous; whereas with Bill Clinton you know that everything he does is choreographed and impersonal, so you just dance to the music...
" Thank you Mr. President for your service to our country in these perilous times. You have put yourself on the line many more times than I ever will."
Maybe that is the thing he forgot to say, but still could not think of it at the time of the interview.
He forgot to introduce his wife...WHO WAS STANDING RIGHT BESIDE HIM!!!
This guy is just CYAing so he won't have to sleep on the couch.
I would like to shake his hand. I don't fawn all over him the way people do on rock stars or atheletes. But I appreciate the load he has borne for us. And I also appreciate the fact that he was able to pick himself up from basically being a rich kid drunk, and do something with himself. I think he is the real deal as a man, not a put on.
He is genuine, which is why libs hate him. He doesn't make all the right choices. , I am unhappy with his actions in many aspects. He doesn't make everyone happy. He isn't the most eloquent guy.
But he has convictions, real convictions. He isn't a moral relativist.
I admire Churchill more than any man in the Twentieth Century.
I think if Churchill were alive today and in Bush's position, he would do more or less what Bush is doing.
Doesn't mean that Bush is going to ultimately succeed. A Hillary! presidency (shudder) could undo everything he has done and more.
But he has tried to do the right thing.
Roger hob nobbin with the Prez again I see.
They didn't get the White House invite?
If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.
Good Stuff all round... and Penske is a True Patriot. was a time the military needed engines, so Penske stopped all sales to the general public INCLUDING engines that had been ordered and were finished and sent them where they were needed.
Agreed. BTW love your tagline.
My tagline has been since day one:
"Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers
Then it was:
"John Murtha: Out of touch, Out of His Mind. Lets make him Out of Congress! DIANA IREY FOR CONGRESS!"
I changed it to the current one recently when I said it in a post (Trying to think of something that had some sarcasm, maybe sounded Ann Coulterish, and someone suggested I use it as a tagline...:)
bttt
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