Gordon signs Nevins' Monte Carlo; big payoffs for Salamanca bowlers

Well, Allegany's Crisanne Nevin now has her genuinely autographed Jeff Gordon 2003 Monte Carlo.

Two weeks ago in this space, we told the story of Nevin, who owns one of only 2,424 of those Chevrolets, winning a contest and being one of 17 such owners invited to Charlotte to meet the Sprint Cup driving star and have him sign their vehicles.

On those models, his autograph and No. 24 appear in chrome, but on Oct. 16, he met with the selected owners and signed their vehicle's dashboards.

Nevin, who works the bar and kitchen at the Burton Hotel, owned by her dad, Pat Collins, reported, "The trip was great ... a 10-hour drive both ways, but well worth it."

Crisanne made the drive with her husband Paul and 7-year-old daughter Kimberly.

"Meeting Jeff Gordon was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all three of us," she said. "He spent a couple of minutes with each group, shook hands, talked a bit, signed the cars and we got our pictures taken with him.

"We couldn't have been happier. There were no surprises, no big give-aways ... just Jeff Gordon taking time out to come and thank us for being loyal fans and giving us a chance to meet him and get his signature on our car."

She added, "That was enough for us and for everyone there."

Crisanne noted she and her family skipped the race and actually watched it from a hotel in the Pittsburgh area on their way home.

Kimberly did get to visit the track for practice and qualifying but was spared the cold, wet 45-degree weather the night of the race.

IT WAS PAYOFF week for a handful of area bowlers who got some major checks after putting op big scores in Rochester's Lilac City Tournament.

The tourney bills itself as "The World's 2nd-largest Amateur Bowling Tournament" and dispenses nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in prize money.

This year's event began April 3 and ended July 12 with team events held at Gates Lanes with doubles and singles at Terrace Garden Lanes.

The best local effort was turned in by the Salamanca team Concrete Impressions, which won the men's title with a score of 3,377

The team was sponsored by Bradford's Steve Moyer, who teamed with Jamestown's Jeff Wadsworth and Salamanca's Riley Smith, Wes Donahue and Chad Herrick to win the ,000 first prize.

In addition, Salamanca's Kyle Mendell won ,000 for shooting 842 in the bonus men's singles with Troy Lafferty, from the same community, earning ,500 for finishing second (825).

Click here to view full article.