On Saturday afternoon I got to live out a life long dream and drove a stock car around Charlotte Motor Speedway to celebrate my birthday. As a kid growing up in Spartanburg I developed a love for stock car racing from my grandfather who spent many Sunday afternoons either at a race track or in front of a television watching a race. In fact, watching races on Sunday became a family tradition as myself, my dad, mom, brother and my grandfather all cheered on a driver that drove a black number three car while my uncle Keith pulled for Davey Allison (or whoever was driving a Yates Ford) and my uncle Eddie would pull for Mark Martin to finally win that championship that had eluded him. I remember fondly as a kid sitting around and watching those races on Sundays with family and a large table of food for lunch that my grandmother had fixed. I can also remember my grandfather telling me the stories about all the legends from Spartanburg in NASCAR and how we were related in a way I can't remember now to NASCAR Hall of Famer Cotton Owens. I can always remember as a kid wondering if I would ever get the chance to be a NASCAR driver and be the next David Pearson or Dale Earnhardt.
In 1995 I lost my grandfather to cancer and in years since both my uncles have passed away as well. This past Christmas my little brother bought me maybe one of the greatest presents I have ever been bought, a chance to drive a NASCAR stock car with the NASCAR Racing Experience. When I read the letter telling me that I was going to get a chance to live out a life long dream I couldn't help but be reminded of all those Sunday afternoons as a kid and smile. Finally on Saturday I got the opportunity that I had been waiting on for so many years. My dad, mom and little brother all went with me to Charlotte because they were almost as excited about this opportunity as I was. I arrived at eleven and between going through a driver class and waiting on some drivers ahead of me I didn't get to climb into the race car until almost two o'clock. After you sit in the car and get buckled in you have a few minutes to sit there until it's your turn and it was at that moment it truly hit me what I was going to get to do. As I glanced over at my family and saw how excited they were I realized how cool this was and began to think of what my grandfather would be thinking. When I saw my families faces though I knew that's the same reaction he would have and was probably smiling down with that same look of excitement. I didn't get long to think about it though as my spotter soon came on the radio and said, "James, you got me?" "10-4" "Alright then, let's get that car rolling." It was then that I got my opportunity, I had five minutes to do what I had been waiting thirty-four years for, drive a NASCAR race car. I was finally living out my dream.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
JamesBoiling Springs native, lover of sports and food. 15x SC Press Association Award Winner. I do some sports writing and radio every now and then. Archives
April 2020
Categories |