When I was growing up I wasn’t much into sports. To be honest I felt no love of sports because I felt sports had no love for me. Growing up being the last or next to last picked to be on teams sort of sticks with you as you get older. With all the talk about the positives that sports can have in one’s life, I think we fail to see the negatives that they can play as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that their needs to be a level playing field in sports. You have people that excel at something and they should be recognized. However, I think that so much is placed in winning that we have forgotten what sports should be about. Yes, winning is important but so is teamwork and learning to work well with others. Plus my father wasn’t like all the other dads pushing me to be in sports and all the hoopla that went with it. I wonder if we would have had an even better relationship if he had.
I got to thinking about this Sunday evening because I came across the 2012 Nascar Hall of Fame induction ceremony and it started bringing back memories.
In the mid 80’s I got into NASCAR. I started watching the races every Sunday afternoon. It was something I understood. I understand the basics of football for the most part but to get into a drawn out discussion on who’s best and why is something I’ll never have. NASCAR was different. I understood cars. I could understand drafting, cars being too tight or loose. I liked Speedways and short tracks. I had my drivers that I followed religiously. My favorite was Davey Allison and Bill Elliott. Earnhardt was the “enemy” however I do miss how he made the races exciting. I always had a dream of being on the last lap of the Daytona 500 and tapping Dale to take the win from him.
So during high school, my junior and senior year, this is what I wanted to do. I mean, we had another Hampton Roads native, Ricky Rudd, who made it why couldn’t I?
Well I guess maybe I was not hungry enough. This sport takes money and it was something I didn’t have. The closet I got to being in the mix of the sport was in 1988 during my senior year of high school I became a helper on a race team from Portsmouth, VA. It was a lot of fun that year. I wish I had have tried harder to have made it into Winston Cup. I think it would have been great! Here is my 1988 Nascar drivers license I discovered.
Especially when the Busch Grand National (Now Nationwide Series) teams came to Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA. Those guys tore that little 1/4 mile track up like we were at a Nascar Winston Cup (Now Sprint Cup) event. It was exciting to watch. On our team once the race started, we were not doing anything. The Bush team came in and they were tearing into pits, changing tires, rushing back out.
In fact it was at the last Busch series trip to Langley that I got few of the drivers signatures on my license, it was the only thing important on me at the time I could get. I have Larry Pearson, Elton Sawyer, and Rob Moroso, who was getting ready for Winston Cup series and died in 1990. I’m tempted to find out if these signatures are worth anything in todays sports market. I don’t think I could sell this but I do intend to get it protected better.
My favorite driver, Davey Allison died in the 90’s in a helicopter accident. A few others I followed got killed in unrelated driving accidents so as the years have passed I sort of fell out of the sport. In the 90’s I did get to go out to Martinsville, VA to see a Winston Cup race but since then I haven’t made it to any events.
Watching the Hall of Fame show this evening, I realized I missed my favorite sport. I do plan on watching and figuring out who should be my driver to follow and start to enjoy the sport I understand front and back again.
I said in high school I wanted to do this for a living. That hasn’t happened but there is an opportunity for me to experience my dream if just for a moment. There are driving schools and The Richard Petty Driving Experience, that operate at over 20 tracks and you get to get behind the wheel and experience what it is to race a stock car. There are several packages that you can try and The cost is not cheap but you know what. I am going to live on this Earth only once. There is a package to drive 8 laps at Richmond International Speedway which is only an hour and half away from me. The nicest package is the Daytona Speedway package for 30 laps. May not have made it as an Auto Racer, and at my age, I don’t think I could now with the younger drivers but how many of my friends will be able to say they did this? 
Something nice to think about while I’m sitting at my desk enjoying my boring, desk job.
