I've seen Third Day (www.thirdday.com) twice in concert. The first time, they "opened" for a Billy Graham program the night before the race in Kansas a few years ago.
The second was right after the end of the world.
I've never seen a storm like the one I sat through to see them last summer at an amusement park outside of St. Louis. It was so bad that amusement park workers ran around ordering people to take shelter. It was like something out of a movie, with people scurrying around in panic. I watched the storm roll in as people scattered around me and thought, "There's no point in running from that."
Meanwhile, the band's plane was trying to land. "That was the scariest moment on a plane," lead singer Mac Powell says. "We've been on planes hundreds of times, and that takes the cake right there."
All of this is a way of introducing an interview I did with Powell the other day. Like the storm swept over a huge chunk of St. Louis, we covered a huge range of topics -- from NASCAR to baseball to Veggie Tales to whether Ted Williams will come back to life.
Let's start with your Daytona 500 pick.
I have to go with my man, and don't ask me why he's my favorite, but Michael Waltrip, now No. 55. I used to swear against NASCAR. I grew up in central Alabama, probably an hour-and-a-half from Talladega. There were so many fans, I always went, "Why in the world would anybody want to sit here and watch these cars go round and round?" It just makes no sense to me. Then we were asked to play at Daytona three years ago. When you get there, and you hear the cars start up and see them go around the track, you go, "OK, now I get it." I hear people say this about hockey -- I hate hockey, too -- NASCAR is one of those things you have to be there to fully understand. You start understanding the teams, the strategy, all that stuff. I just never knew that stuff before.
The first time we went, we met Michael Waltrip, and he ended up winning that race.
Therefore, that was my guy.
Third Day and Chevy have a unique arrangement, in that Chevy is a big sponsor of you guys. Now that Michael Waltrip is driving a Dodge, do you have to find a new favorite driver?
Great question. I suppose it's kind of like when your favorite player for the home team leaves to play for someone else in the same division. I'm still going to pull for Michael. But I gotta stick with my "home team."
So the fact that Chevy is a sponsor of Third Day makes you more inclined to follow Chevy drivers?
Yes and no. I still have my favorite drivers, like I suppose most people do. But at the end of the race, I'm definitely looking at the top 10 and saying, "OK, how did we do? Are there more Chevys than Fords?" Racing is funny that way. You can have favorite drivers but sometimes they're not always on your favorite team.
