Virginian bought truck series team after hitting it big
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Joe Denette bought a team in the Camping World Truck Series with one very important demand — it can't be like work.
After winning the Mega Millions lottery drawing on May 1, 2009, Denette vowed to never punch another time clock. The rest of his life would be dedicated to having fun — and spending his $30 million winnings.
"That's why I decided on the trucks; it's real racing," Denette said. "The Cup side is too much like a business. I don't want to be in business. I don't want to have to work at anything. I want to have fun."
Denette owns the No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Jason White. The team is off to a slow start with two crashes in the first four races, but it hasn't kept the former construction worker from Thornburg, Va., from having fun.
"I'm still living a dream," he said.
Without NASCAR, Denette said he probably wouldn't have had one of three winning tickets in the $227 million jackpot. His luck started earlier in the week when he won four tickets to Richmond International Raceway from a local radio station.
That set into motion a series of events that forever changed his life.
He stopped at a convenience store to buy 23 tickets on the way to the airport to pick up his brother, who was using one of the four tickets. One of those Mega Millions tickets held the winning numbers: 9, 16, 24, 40 and 43 with the mega ball 35. The winning ticket was a computer-generated quick pick.
"If I hadn't won the race tickets, I wouldn't have stopped to play the lottery then," he said. "Some things are just meant to be."
His share was $75.6 million. The cash option was $47.8 million. After taxes, he took home $30 million.
"I'll make do," he said.
An hour after he realized he had a winning ticket, he was back at the Richmond track for the Sprint Cup race.
"It was on then," he said. "I told everybody sitting around me I just won the lottery, but nobody believed me. We tailgated and drank beer and had a blast that night.
"And we're still having fun."
White was able to bring GunBroker.com sponsorship to the deal, so Denette doesn't have to pay for everything. Part-time racer Hermie Sadler worked with Denette to make sure nobody takes advantage of his money and good nature.
"We want to win races and a championship, for sure," White said. "If we have a bad day, Joe tells us to smile and shake it off. He doesn't put any pressure on us. He wants to win. He's a very low-keyed guy, but he wants to win. He gives us the tools to succeed, and I really believe we can win a championship. This is a great race team."
White's best finish was 10th at Phoenix in February.
Denette still buys lottery tickets each week, but instead of 23 he now buys 123.
"I haven't cashed another ticket since I won," he said.
He also hasn't worked, which, he said, is priceless.
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There's one thing I hate worse than football, basketball, and baseball. Watching cars go around in circles has to be the dumbest thing in sports. It's bad enough wasting time, like some of my friends do, yelling, screaming at the T.V., and arguing over which team or player is doing what in sports, but cars going in circles is plain stupid. Sorry....!
Sports nerds just piss me off...!...They keep saying..."MY TEAM' is better or whatever, as If they own the team. The football players don't even know they exist, and they act as If they're a representative of the team. Get a life !
OK, there...I got it off my chest...lol
Congrats to the winner!!!
I can understand how you feel about "cars going in circles" all day like NASCAR. But if you went to a Le Mans race your tune would change. Its a whole different beast and the track includes several types of turns unlike NASCAR. I just got back from a Le Mans race in Sebring FL and I go every year. Its the most fun sporting event I have ever been to. It's completely different than NASCAR.
Anyways your post made me LOL
As a huge sports fan this made me lol as well. Everybody has their own opinions..
Congrats to the winner!
The appreciation of the sport goes all the way back to the beginning of the auto
industry. The rules and regulations the engine builders and everything that goes
into building a car that can compete in a race with other cars in the same
class. It's beyond awesome what these people have to do to get ready for one
race let alone one season.
but I lived in the wrong part of the country to get in on the ground floor. When
I left the Army i almost moved to Atlanta. Oh well that dream died along with
many others.
And to think I was gonna invite you up to the compound on race day for a few beers and screamin at the tv with me and some of the good old boys.
Stop beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel.
Sounds to me like you must be a hockey fan....OH YEAH !
I like women's curling and wrestling (college).
glad to see a winner do what he Loves, i don't like what he does, but ever human diff :D
i like "Fake" Pro wrestling LOL, great smack talking , and asskicking, cheating, chair shots to the back, cage match's etc , great Entertainment
going in circles is plain stupid i agree with that thro
i do however like girls Roller derby from time to time , its nice to watch them elebowl and nock each other down LOL
i do Love demolition derby thro, let the epic Battle begin of a massive free for all smackdown via crashing begin!
and i watch some of diff X games when its on ever year
, i guest i just like xtreme Entertainment ,if someone lifes does not appear in danger, f it
only Nascar i watch are sport highlights of epic crash's , i can't help my self not to look at that stuff go down
<---- buys a mud wrestling team
" we aint won much , but its been a lot of fun. "
Congrats to the winner! Sounds like he is doing great. Maybe we'll see him on Lottery Changed My Life.
I love the last 10 - 15 laps of NASCAR. Lots of action. Kind of like the last 5 minutes of college basketball. Those are my fave to watch. Forget the rest tho. I'm off to watch my nephew play college baseball today. Even tho it's the first time I'll get to see him play, I'll probably have to work to keep from falling off the bleachers....
Not that I know much of anything about NASCAR - one thing that you can't say about this guy "MY TEAM" IS HIS TEAM! He owns it! I say follow your own dreams and if you can make it happen go for it. Sports, Lottery, luck, what ever a person may call it. He won big and he living his life - good for him.
I suspect it will end in tears! If Joe starts spending his jackpot willy-nilly and doesn't invest it wisely, I'm afraid he will have to work again.
Good Luck Joe!
Please don't screw it up!
Just show me the parts where they beat the heck out of each other....lol
I like to bowl....
SCREW IT UP JOE SCREW IT THE FUBAR UP !!!!!
You like to bowl?
Now there's a sport that keeps everybody on the edge of their seat!
And women swoon at the thought of it! That's why professional bowlers are all married to Super Models!
Ha ha..
If I had millions I would have a harem....no weddings....
Now frog jumping contest is where the action is...
in regards to him eating all his money away, this is how i reason it:
let's say you've played the lottery reasonably for 15 years [$4 per week] so far and would for another 40yrs = $3,120 x 40yrs = $124,800
you make $52,000 yearly [just stating national medium= $52,000 - now let's say you would have to continue to work for the next 40 years = $2,080,000
let's consider debts [$100,000] and car payments [$500 monthly] and mortgages [$3,000 monthly], car and insurance [$2,000 monthly] that you'll probably have to pay in that lifetime = $2,740,000
let's throw in vacations, clothing allowance, food, personal beautification, toys, fun stuff that you would spend in those 40 years = $500,000
let's dream about that fortune a long lost great uncle is sure to leave you if he can find your address= $1,000,000
----------
the total will reflect what you've been and would have likely used up for the next 40 yrs = $ 6,444,800 <-- this is the LEAST total net [after taxes and everything] the lottery will have to be for me to consider playing - this is what the lottery sugar daddy has to provide to you and i in order to allow us to live the life we have been so accustomed to and to come out even
SO YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, RIGHT? THAT WHEN THE LOTTERY IS AT $12 MILLION [STARTING POINT ANYWAY] YOU SHOULD START PLAYING!!!
anything else is A BONUS AND YOU PRETTY MUCH CAN BURN IT IN THE FURNACE IF YOU WANT
What an idiot!!!
Theres nothing more pathetic than dumb Rednecks making left hand turns:(
The guy won the lottery and he's living his dream.
How does that make him an idiot?
well, in his own words...he said, "I don't want to be in business. I don't want to have to work at anything. I want to have fun."
I hate to rain on his picnic, but racing is big business. I have a friend that was once on a pit crew
back in the old days as he puts it, anyone could get into it and be competitive. with the amount of money it takes to run a crew these days, unless your making a whole lot of money, you'll go in the hole quick.
I personally think its a bad business decision.
you brought up a great point though; maybe your right; refering to him as an idiot; may have been a bit harsh. He is after all living his dream. and he will get to do so for about 5 years until he's bankrupt
nobody can ever take those moments from him.
even if he does end up living in a cardboard box under a bridge
Wow, you should be a motivational speaker.
You're so upbeat and effervescent.
Ridge, for a hillbilly, you sure have a way with words. LOL.
The guy is living his dream. Why on earth would anyone criticize him for that. Maybe jealousy.
I'm happy for him, and hope I'm next.
Much obliged buckeye.
There are always people who want to throw a wet blanket on the party.
I've even married a few of 'em (they got that way after I married 'em, natcherly).
Rdgrnr, you're alway right on Q
Can I be your Agent.
Anybody who says making left hand turns is a waste of time or dumb probably think their bong is a work of art.
Ask Juan Pablo Montoya or Danica Patrick if going around a Nascar track is easy, you have to be in great shape and have very fast reaction times.