PORTLAND – Just about everyone knows that Carrie Underwood was the spring season winner of the hit talent show “American Idol.” Almost everybody knows she is also a top-selling country music star.
Few people know the 22-year-old superstar is a fan of professional racing.
In January, Underwood will be performing at the Cumberland County Civic Center in a days-long fundraiser that will also feature racing icon Jeff Gordon. Underwood will perform the afternoon of Jan. 14 before meeting one of her own personal heroes.
“It turns out she’s a closet NASCAR fan and she’d love to meet Jeff Gordon,” said Mike Wood, Brunswick-based Get-Etched.com, one of the groups responsible for bringing Underwood to Maine. “That’s what her manager told me. It turned out very well for us.”
Country music stars Big & Rich were originally expected to play at the event in January. The duo have since backed out of the deal, leaving organizers scrambling to find new talent. They wanted Underwood. They had little time to get her.
“She’s kind of the hottest country act out there right now,” Wood said. “It all came through at the last minute.”
It was unknown why Big & Rich pulled out of the performance. But organizers are happy to have Underwood to draw people to the event aimed at raising money for the Jeff Gordon Foundation, which is dedicated to helping chronically ill children.
When she was voted most popular contestant on American Idol in May, Underwood won a recording contract and a key to a private jet. Since then, the crooner from Muskogee, Okla., has won three Billboard music awards for her song “Inside your Heaven.”
In November, Underwood sang her newest hit single “Jesus, Take the Wheel” at the 39th annual Country Music Association awards show in New York City.
Wood stressed that all money raised through ticket sales will go to the Gordon Foundation, which was created by the four-time NASCAR Cup Series winner. Underwood’s performance will mark the middle of a weekend full of events that will also feature the Portland Pirates and local residents racing go-carts against professional drivers.
The news for Big & Rich fans is offset by devotees of Underwood, according to Wood. And organizers are expecting the event to be big.
“It’s going to be very good for Maine,” he said. “It this goes well, it may become an annual event.”
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