NASCAR fans come out for convoy

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A unique event Thursday afternoon kicked off the start of a busy race weekend. Like a specially choreographed show, lead driver Ken Gober fronted a line of 42 brightly-colored semi-trucks for a parade to the Speedway.

The trucks carried precious cargo: the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars that will be racing in this weekend's Brickyard 400 .

Fans lined up and made sure they gave the transporter trucks a proper sendoff.

"I think it's going to turn a lot of heads," one fan said of the convoy.

Ken Gober drove the Lowe's truck for defending champion Jimmy Johnson.

"The past champion always parks first. I'll park first and then it goes (first) in points to last in points," said Gober.

Even as the rain started to fall and the convoy started to speed down Interstate 65, fans still crouched under umbrellas.

Gober enjoys being first in line.

"I've been told I'm number one many times," Gober joked. "Your Jeff Gordons, Tony Stewarts, it is really funny how people on the road are so adamant to tell you who they are rooting for."

As the convoy rolled into the Speedway and parked, fans got a chance to get up close and personal.

"I touched the Lowe's. I'm so excited. I'm hoping for four in a row," said NASCAR fan Starla Jones.

At the track, the transporter drivers are revered almost as much as the NASCAR drivers.

"You can't get this close to the drivers or back stage, so to speak," said fan Robin Thorton. "I even thanked him for driving my driver's car around."