Your day is 16 hours long. He's been up for 24 straight working to go racing. You take a warm shower to help you wake up. He wakes up to a one gallon shower (usually cold) The thrill of hearing that engine roar keeps him up. You complain of a "headache", and call in sick. He's chilled to the bone, hasn't eaten all day, has the flu, and then races his heart out. Everyone knows a hangover or illness just makes you focus. You drink your Starbucks coffee on your way to work. He drives 15 hours to the next track drinking a coke to stay awake. And when he arrives is forced to park outside the track until 7:00am when the track workers will give him 30 secs to get his rig moving or he gets bumped out of line. You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls. He walks back to the trailor after tearing up his car. You complain about how hot it is. He wears 30 pounds of gear in the middle of July and climbs in a 140 degree racecar. You go to the mall and get your hair cut and styled. He walks around with helmet hair, the last product in his hair probable was 10/40 w oil. You're angry because your shift had to work late. He has to travel 500 miles in the middle of the night with a torn up racecar just for 2 thousand dollars...if he wins. You criticize your local drivers and say they're nothing but dumbass rednecks. He puts his life on the line to entertain a crowd of 2,500 people. You hear the stories about fallen drivers and say they should have known better. He knows that the .001 of a sec it takes to beat to the next car, could be pushing it but is willing to risk it. You see the bright lights and lots of trailers when you go by. He sees the heartbreak, blood, sweat, and tears put into his sport, but still believes this race, it will be his day. You rush home to catch the next game on TV. He stops in some small town to wash the race car and trailer because he is proud of what he has accomplished and he wants everyone to see his car with the love he does. You sit there and judge him, saying the that its a waste of money to go do such a silly thing and call it a sport. But its not the money. It's the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. It's seeing the smile on his son's face even after having a horrible night, because no matter what his son still thinks he's the best. It's the fans that cheer for him durring driver introductions. It's a drivers life.
we have a local dirt track here in belleville illinois and a few others in surrounding communities . the drivers that make these races each weekend vary from the weekend warrior types that have a little car and trailer and make it to the racetrack on a shoestring budget and hope they dont blow a tire or worse cause the repairs and parts come out of their pocket . then there are the smaller hometown heros that have managed to grab a modest sponser or 2 and they can weather a wreck a little easier as the sponsers supplement the cost and they have a little advantage over the weekender as they might have additional parts tires to get them back out on the track if they break down or wreck to at least get a few more laps in and maybe collect at least the entrance fee or fuel costs to boot. then theres the dirt track elite that may have a couple cars with them and a hauler with parts , shop , and even possibly a sleeping quarters . they might hit a couple tracks a weekend and any extra events or practices in between .we have a local legend named don klein heres a little snippit from a local paper ......... The win went to 69 year old Don Klein. This was his first feature win since September 12, 2003 and his 558th career feature win. Hammerle, Kleine, Ed Dixon and Bob Geaschel completed the top five. this guy is a very nice personable down to earth guy as you would ever want to meet . he has been raceing since he was a young man in the late 50's and hes at the track every friday night and has always ran a ford anyone that cuts these guys down might just be jealous . if youve never seen the late models or modified roar around a dirt track on 3 wheels you should try and witness the spectacle at least once . pretty neat to say the least and loud did i say LOUD? anyway good topic . alot of bigtime nascar driver have dirt track ties and at least you can afford a night at the local track with hitting an ATM :wink:
i meant to say WITHOUT having to hit an ATM . also these drivers are usually fan friendly and gladly let youngsters pose in or near their car for a photo and sign autographs without reservations. to a kid that means a lot .
Thats one of the things I like about the ARCA series.When they come to Salem IN theres plenty of autographs to be had.A few years ago My son was allowed to tour Chad McCumbee's trailer.He was given some goggles and other stuff all autographed.I thought it was neat the way he took the time to do that.So now when he races The truck series I am always rooting for him.
It's amazing how people always notice the flaws of a racecar driver, but yet they very rarely mention all the accomplishments they have done. People often look for the bad things in a drivers habits instead of noticing the fact that they might be the nicest person you have met, or the fact that they are always runnin the front of the pack on race day.
This is very true if people only knew , I used to drag race but stoped 2 years ago after 30 years , I have a cousin who runs N.M.R.A. hot street and works his a$$ off to keep it all togeather ! Im just wore out with it rather go fishin LOL still like to go watch though , cant go to often the bug might bite me then here we go again oooh:
