Loudon, N.H. — Wednesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11th attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. When the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit hits New Hampshire International Speedway for this weekend’s New Hampshire 300, Ricky Craven and his No. 32 Tide Ford Taurus racing team will be wearing official FDNY and NYPD shirts, courtesy of Adam Mazy and Eric Rowan. Craven, a native of Newburgh, Maine, had an opportunity to get re-acquainted with Mazy, who works for Tower Ladder 79 in Staten Island, N.Y., and his cousin, New York City police officer Rowan, earlier this year at Pocono.

RICKY CRAVEN
"We actually got to know all of those people through my friend Jeff Roberson. He told me the story of what happened and when they called and wanted some pit passes, I felt compelled to help them out. I mean, that’s a small sacrifice for any of us after what those guys went through. There’s no disputing that Sept. 11th changed a lot of what we know as normal and you’ve got to think about the people that risked their lives and had to think about the idea of not seeing their children or their wives again. The thing about these people is that they don’t make a million dollars a year. They’re just people who have a passion for what they do and they didn’t hesitate to go into those buildings and do whatever it took to try and help."

YOU GOT TO MEET HIM IN POCONO EARLIER THIS YEAR, RIGHT? "Yeah. They brought a glut of hats and T-shirts and were really generous. The thing is that at the end of the day when you sit back and think about the things that are important in life, to me, it’s all about relationships and friendships you build. You never know how you’re gonna begin one or cultivate one. It’s like when I leave home, I say to my little boy, ’You’re gonna take care of the girls for me, right?’ And he always says, ’Yeah.’ At first he looked at me kind of funny, but I’ve been saying it for so long that now he understands that it has some significance. I tell my kids repeatedly that you can’t have enough good friends and you never know how you create a friendship. The fact of the matter is that when you see events like Sept. 11th and you see the victims, they’re the same exact people as us. It drives me nuts sometimes when people ask for my autograph and I’m still uncomfortable with it. As big of a Red Sox fan as I am, I’ve got Ted Williams’ autograph, but I didn’t ask for it. Somebody did it as a favor, but the whole autograph thing doesn’t really jive with me. I don’t get it. I’d rather get to know someone and shake their hand. In the grand scheme of things, we’re very, very small compared to those people and the real-life stuff. People just line up and sometimes it’s hard for us to get from point A to point B because so many people idolize this sport and the athletes, but I don’t think we’re worthy of that. I think the crew of firemen that came to Pocono, they’re worthy of it. In fact, they don’t get what they deserve."

YOUR TEAM IS GOING TO WEAR T-SHIRTS FROM LADDER TOWER 79 THIS WEEKEND AT NHIS, CORRECT? "It will be really neat to sort of carry their flag or be their team this weekend. The timing of it also is special because it’s been a year already and I’m sure every one of us will be thinking about it."

THAT’S ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHERE YOU’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE WHEN IT HAPPENED. WHERE WERE YOU? "I was at my office and it’s actually kind of ironic because the day that it happened, Jeff Roberson was in his office and I went outside to get some things out of my motorcoach. Jeff rents an office from me and he came outside and said, ’Ricky, you’ve got to see this.’ I could tell by the look on his face that something pretty big had happened and, yeah, I can remember every bit of it. Chronologically, I remember that whole morning. I remember thinking it was so uncomfortable. When things like that happen, you just don’t know how to feel, how to act or what to think. It was around 9 o’clock and I had to be in Hickory [N.C.] later that morning and I thought, ’Should I go or should I not go? Should I go get my kids out of school?’ I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to react. That’s the part I remember is not having any idea of what to do. The thing about it, too, is that we were 800 miles away. Imagine the confusion in New York City that day."

Adam Mazy, 31, is a native New Yorker and firefighter for Tower Ladder 79 in Staten Island, NY. He was one of the many who responded to the World Trade Center disaster on Sept. 11th and was actually buried under fallen debris from the South Tower after it collapsed. He spoke about what the past year has been like and how he became connected to Ricky Craven and the Tide Racing team.

ADAM MAZY
IS THERE ANY WAY TO DESCRIBE WHAT THIS LAST YEAR HAS BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? "It’s hard to believe it is a year. It’s probably one of the fastest years I’ve ever had. I don’t know. Some days are good and some days are bad. There are a lot of days where I can go through the entire day and not even think about it and then there will be a couple of days in a row where I can’t do anything but think about it."

WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU THAT DAY? "The way I got down there was kind of convoluted. The first plane had hit when I was at my original firehouse, which was Engine 3. I was there when the first plane hit, but I got hired to work overtime uptown at 34 Engine. So I tried to get uptown quick, but by the time I got there, they [34 Engine] had already gone down to the Trade Center. The 26 Engine is also in their quarter, so I jumped on their rig and got down there with them. Once we got down there, we had to put those masks on that we wear on our backs but they didn’t have a spare one for me. So I told them I would go and try to find 34 Engine. That ended up being lucky for me because everybody that I rode down there with on 26 Engine died. I never found 34 Engine, but I found Ladder 12, which is the other company in my firehouse where I originally worked. We were in the Marriott, which is attached to the South Tower, and we were told to go up to the 14th floor and start searching upwards from there for civilians trapped in the hotel. So we made it to 14 and we searched 14 and searched 15. Just as we were getting to 16 we got a mayday from another firefighter who was trapped on the 19th floor. So we went straight to 19 and just as we got there, that’s when the first tower started to fall. The wind that came down the staircase blew us down like two flights. It just lifted us up like rag dolls and tossed us down the stairs. That’s when all the electricity went out and the whole place filled up with smoke and dust. You couldn’t see anything. We made it down to the fifth floor and there were three civilians there. We were trying to get ourselves out of the hotel, but the stairway was blocked with debris. All of the windows were shattered and everything. We looked out the windows and we didn’t know what had happened. We didn’t know the tower had come down at all. We weren’t sure if it was just another plane or a bomb or what, but you looked outside and the whole place looked like Christmas morning – it was all white and silent. There wasn’t anybody moving around. We finally managed to get down to the fourth floor and, at that point, we could actually walk out the windows onto the debris because it was already piled that high. Just as we were trying to decide how to climb down the pile of debris, that’s when the second tower started to fall. Some of us dove back in towards the building –me being one of them – and got buried beneath the staircase. It took us a good 10 minutes to dig ourselves out of that and, by then, the debris was piled even higher. There were big giant I-beams propped up against the debris pile, so we just straddled the I-beams and slid down something like four stories. We managed to get two of those civilians out of the Marriott. There were eight of us altogether from Ladder 12 that went in and five of us came out."

FATE OBVIOUSLY PLAYED A BIG ROLE IN YOU SURVIVING. "Yeah, that’s about it because one of the guys from Ladder 12 that died was maybe 10 feet from me just as the second tower was falling."

SINCE THEN YOU’VE HAD A CHANCE TO COME TO A RACE. YOU WERE AT POCONO IN JUNE WITH RICKY AND THE TIDE TEAM. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT? "My dad works for a company that once sponsored Ricky in the Busch Series. Since my dad worked for the company, we ended up getting pit passes for the race in Bristol like two or three years ago. So we went down to Bristol and that was the first time I met Ricky. That was actually the first race I had ever been to and we had such a great time that we couldn’t wait to see another race. So we ended up getting hooked up with the Tide team and they were nice enough to get us some tickets for Pocono."

THE FIREHOUSE HAS ADOPTED THE 32 TEAM NOW? "Oh yeah. Everyone is wearing Ricky Craven and Tide hats and shirts. There were already a bunch of hardcore race fans already, but nobody really rooted for anybody. They just liked watching the races, but after I hooked up with Ricky and I told them about it, everybody’s got someone to root for now. We’re all Ricky fans in the firehouse now."

WHAT’S IT LIKE AT THE FIREHOUSE ON RACE DAY? "We have a bunch of TV’s in the house and there are usually one or two of them that have the race on with a couple of guys sitting around watching."

ARE THEY WEARING THEIR RACING GEAR? "Yeah. My cousin [Eric Rowan], is a police officer in New York City, so when we went to Pocono he brought a bunch of police department shirts and hats, and I brought some fire department shirts and hats. We ended up having a whole exchange. We ended up getting some Tide shirts and hats and little match box cars, so it was pretty neat. Guys wear that stuff around the firehouse all the time."

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO THIS WEEK ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 9-11? "I’m actually going on vacation for the next three-and-a-half weeks. I’m going to go to Myrtle Beach, Fla. for a couple of days and then down to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and Key West, Fla. – driving all the way."