Dressed head to toe in black and orange, Ryan Repko has been sitting outside of The Home Depot in Cornelius, N.C., now for at least three hours.

This is not an easy task for a 9-year-old boy who has ants in his pants, or more specifically, ants in his child-size The Home Depot-branded firesuit.

He's about to meet his favorite Sprint Cup Series star, Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.

“

My firesuit says 'Smoke' but hopefully Joey won't see that.

”

RYAN REPKO

"Actually, my real favorite driver is Tony Stewart. See ...," corrected Repko as he points to his waistband. "My firesuit says 'Smoke' but hopefully Joey won't see that. I'm going to cover it up before I get inside, but Joey is my favorite now, too."

About 30 minutes later, the line Repko had been waiting in snakes around the brick warehouse store and eventually reaches inside where the boy waits to unload a pile of die-cast cars, flags and hero cards on the table where Logano is sitting.

Finally, it was his turn to meet the driver and collect his autograph.

The boy's mother nudges him to say hello but he freezes. With his cap falling over his eyes, Repko then shuffles alongside the table, dragging with him his pile of autographed swag. Similar to Ralphie's reaction to meeting Santa in A Christmas Story, Repko was momentarily speechless.

Outside, Repko was full of words, quoting stats, recalling tracks he had visited and what he might say to Logano upon their meeting.

But inside he was benumbed, a common effect these NASCAR drivers have on their fans. Regardless of the age or gender, faces blush, bodies fidget and eyes can sometimes even well up with tears at the thought of exchanging glances or a few words with their favorite NASCAR personalities.

Perhaps the equivalent of a child meeting Mickey Mouse for the first time, the NASCAR driver appearance and/or autograph session has been a longtime favorite because fans almost always walk away with an unforgettable experience or create a unique connection with their respective driver.

The encounter gives that fan a story to tell or bragging rights back home, which is part of the reason why passionate followers of the sport can stand in line for up to 12 hours waiting for such an opportunity. They stand in line carrying a whole range of items that, to the average person looks like junk: a worn Goodyear racing tire, a piece of scrap metal from the infield, a tattered T-shirt; but to that NASCAR fan, the item becomes priceless as soon as the driver scribbles his John Hancock across the front.

And at that moment, which typically lasts all of 20 seconds, the occurrence becomes a treasured memory that lasts forever.

Ever since he can remember, Jeff Dowling said the sport has always used driver appearances as its unique way to connect with the fan base. A 42-year-old native of Daytona Beach, Fla., Dowling probably can't remember what he had for lunch yesterday or what he wore to work, but he can recall every minute detail of the day he got Bobby Alison's autograph outside the Volusia County, Fla., mall.

"I can tell you that I was 10 years old, I stood in line outside the Sears Auto Center in the mall parking lot. Bobby was out front and had a CAM2 car parked near him," Dowling recalled. "Some of my days just go by without a thought but I remember that day like it was yesterday. It made an impression on me so much that I still remember it though I was only a young boy."

But that, Dowling said, is what the sport of NASCAR is all about: building lasting impressions.

Passionate followers can stand in line for up to 12 hours waiting to meet a NASCAR personality.

OLD PHILOSOPHY, FRESH TAKE

Today, Dowling is in charge of partnership management for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebates and is the facilitator between the team's drivers and its sponsors.

He organizes appearances and autograph sessions for Juan Montoya on behalf of Target as well as Bass Pro Shops for Martin Truex Jr.

For him, today's challenge is to take the classic driver appearance and brainstorm unique ways to make it fresh and creative, an initiative more and more sponsors are working toward.

"We are looking for ways fans can get involved, something interactive with our drivers and sponsors so true personality is revealed," Dowling explained.

For example, Montoya operated the cash register and stocked shelves at a Target store in Florida earlier this season while Truex conducted his own air gun and pole-casting contest at a Bass Pro Shops in Texas.

"Drivers have been seeing fans for decades but now we want them to interact," Dowling added. "A two-hour autograph session is great but if you get creative you can interact with the fans and that builds excitement at the appearances."

Sponsors and their marketing teams feel it is a more effective way to leverage their asset, the asset being their driver.

Office Depot, for example, will pay millions of dollars to sponsor Tony Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet in exchange for priceless television exposure during NASCAR's Cup season. But also negotiated into the contract are 10 to 15 driver appearances in a given calendar year where Stewart agrees to take part in autograph sessions or in-store promotions to further Office Depot's marketing strategies.

Mindy Kramer, director of communications for Office Depot, said having regular fan contests and sweepstakes centered upon Stewart is how they set themselves apart from other car sponsors.

"Doing events like in-store shopping sprees for $14,000 with Tony Stewart along as a shopper is how we use our partnership to stand out," she said. "It's a challenge to constantly have to come up with new ideas, but it's a good challenge to have."

This is the first year Office Depot has sponsored Stewart but Kramer said the company is more than pleased. Transitioning from Carl Edwards to Stewart has been seamless, she said.

"Every driver's contract is different, so you get a certain number of appearances, but so far Tony has done everything we've asked him from stopping by stores or coming to headquarters or cutting ribbons, he's been accessible for everything," Kramer said. "And his popularity brings hundreds of people to the stores."

On average, Stewart will pull in nearly 1,000 people at any given store appearance, and that creates a tremendous amount of foot traffic to Office Depot stores.

It also creates a lot of autographing for Stewart.

Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth sign autographs and interact with fans at a recent appearance.

SIGN HERE, PLEASE

So what do the drivers think about sitting in a chair for more than two hours signing their name ad nauseam?

"The cool thing about appearances -- even though what we are doing is monotonous -- everyone that comes up to you has a different reaction," said Stewart, who normally will sign his name 700 different times in a two-hour appearance. "The fans, for example, know what an animal lover I am so you'll have people that bring their pets and I'll take a short break and play with their pet for a second."

You might say an appearance or autograph session is a way for drivers like Stewart to spend quality time with their fans.

"Granted, you don't get a chance to talk to everyone for five or 10 minutes, but the little bit of time you do get to talk to them, 50 percent of them -- in that little span of time -- reveal a little something about themselves or how you became their favorite driver. That is cool, that is fun. ... It's a short amount of time but people have a way of getting a lot of information out in that short amount of time."

Matt Kenseth, who recently flanked Joey Logano at a Home Depot appearance, said he likes to turn the tables on his fans.

“

It's hard to spend ... time with the fans at the track, because we are in the middle of our workday.

”

TONY STEWART

"When I'm doing appearances or hanging out with fans when I've got some extra time, I'll always ask them all kinds of questions," Kenseth said. "Everything from personal stuff to what they like or dislike about racing or tracks or events or what-have-you, I think it's fun when you have some down time to get to know some different people."

And different only begins to describe the diverse crowd of people each driver, as individuals, attract.

Kenseth pulls from an older, more avid fan base because of his long tenure in the sport and on occasion will recognize repeat fans he has seen at other tracks whereas a Logano appearance is comparable to placing a Jonas brother inside a mall food court.

"This season at Talladega we had a girl almost hyperventilate," Logano said. "But it is awesome to see how passionate the fans are and how much they will support you or how far they will travel for an autograph."

Most impressive, Logano fans in May brought him birthday cards and good luck charms for the remainder of the season, but a recent token brought to driver Martin Truex Jr. is worthy of recognition.

"This lady said she tried to fix my luck by giving me a penny last season and it didn't work," recalled Truex. "So this year she brought me some bead from Turkey, as in Turkey the country. A lot of people will leave me different stuff, but the bead is one I won't be forgetting anytime soon and I might put it in my firesuit."

Even if he didn't put the bead in his firesuit or Logano didn't get around to reading the stack of birthday cards he received, NASCAR drivers appreciate their fans more than they might realize.

Just don't be offended if a driver blows past you in the garage without so much as a wave; they are men at work, as Stewart points out. In general, they prefer to do most of their fan socializing outside of the track.

"It's hard to spend that kind of time with the fans at the track, because we are in the middle of our workday, but we look forward to meeting everyone: adults, kids, people in their 70s, 80s whatever. It's nice because then we aren't worrying about what springs or shocks or what lap times we're running, you're not worried about those things when you're sitting with fans."