My attention quickly turned to getting to the stock car races. I’d calculated that it would take about an hour and a half to get to the track and that was if everything went my way. I knew I wouldn’t make the practice or warm up period and had asked Darren to tow the car to the track to save time. Driving there I was concerned that any delay at all would get me to the track after 7:30pm, the start of the first race. When I saw the sign for the track it was 7:20pm. As it was I was the last car out onto the track. Darren had told me as I strapped in that I was starting on the front row but on the outside. I didn’t care. I was so tired of having looked at the rear ends of so many cars over the past three weeks.
When I looked over to see who was beside me I was surprised to see my old friend Cliffy. He’d been racing in the faster modified division for a few years and I wondered why he’d dropped back. In any case when the green flag waved we raced side beside into the first turn. We were still side by side when we hit the third turn. Going down the front stretch I was certainly missing the powerful motor that I’d blown up on opening night. However, I had to deal with what I had. The car handled so well that being on the outside wasn’t a problem. I don’t remember how long it took for me to take the lead but it wasn’t last long before I passed Cliffy. I ended up third but was satisfied that I'd qualified for the main event and knew I’d be starting up front.
Cliffy came over to “rib” me a bit once we were back in the pit area. He chided me by saying that we could’ve stayed side my side the whole race and finished higher than we did. Thinking about it I realized he was probably right. He was upset because he didn’t finish high enough to qualify. I did find out that the car was built for his brother in law. He’d gotten discouraged and quit and, on a whim, Cliffy had decided to give the car a try.
My race had been the first of the night and it would be at least 2 1/2 hours until I raced again I decided to wander around the pits and take a look at some of the faster cars. That took me to Chet’s pit as well. Darren was there and was chatting with Seeg but the cute girl was definitely within his sight. Since it was still daylight I was able to get a really good look at her. Even in the poor light after the races I’d been able to see the outline of her panties through her white pants. With sunlight, the look was spectacular. Although my interest was primarily in panties in this case I wanted to know who made her pants and just what material they were made of. I hung around for a while trying to get close enough to observe the texture of them. It took a while but I was able to see that it was somewhat different from anything I’d noticed before. I knew I wanted to find out more and to get a pair for Elle.
When they posted the starting positions for the feature I was happy to see that I was on the “pole” (starting on the front row and on the inside). I hadn’t been the least bit nervous until I saw that. Starting in the rear is frustrating but not nerve wracking. With 23 cars starting behind me and with most of them faster than me I was “concerned”. Because the week leading up to that night had been so hectic I hadn’t made my usual calls to round up a pit crew. It was only Darren, Donnie and me. There wasn’t much for anyone to do to do but while waiting thought of Jay. In the three years I’d been racing this was the first time I was on the “pole” and it would’ve been nice for him to be there to see it.
As we came down for the green flag I wondered how long it would take before someone would pass me. I’m not sure how many laps passed before a yellow flag was waived. That was the signal to slow down as there was a problem (crash) somewhere around the track. The cars continue to go around the track as the problem was cleaned up. When the green flag was waived I somehow managed to keep the lead. A few more laps and then another yellow flag. I don’t really remember how many there were in all but when I saw the white flag waiving I was still in first place. One lap to go and I still hadn’t been passed. I’d been looking in my rear view mirror the whole race long and the last lap was no different. However, it almost proved to be my downfall.
The #2 car was on my rear bumper and I knew him to be a rather aggressive driver. Rather than paying attention to the racetrack ahead of me my focus was on the mirror and what I saw in it. I went into the first turn way too far and gave the car behind me a chance to get under me. Going down the backstretch I could see his green hood right at my window. That meant I had to give him room to go through the last turn and I was mad at myself for having given him the opening back in the first turn. As we raced into the last turn I remembered my qualifying race and racing on the outside of Cliffy. I kept my foot on the accelerator and prayed that the car would “stick” (to the track). Seeing the checkered flag I could also see the green hood still at my window. I’d won!
Reality was that I’d survived... and that gave me the win. Twenty four cars had started and only eleven had finished. The good, fast cars had started in the back and managed to crash on their way to the front. I’d led for every lap. I couldn’t believe it... and neither could Darren and Donny. After getting my picture taken with the checkered flag I drove into the pits and saw Darren jumping up and down. Back at my pit stall one of the first people to get there was Seeg. I don’t remember my exact words to him but in some way I jokingly asked if he’d come to take his motor back.
To be continued...
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