Guest Writer

Champions Don’t Run Second, Do They?

Saturday night under the lights; great weather; no dust; perfect time to be at the track—the young driver’s wife and baby girl are in the stands with family and friends.  Dirt track racing is so much fun and it’s even better if someone you know and love is behind the wheel.  The baby girl is in the stands for the first time – seven months old is pretty young with all the noise from the sprints and late models, but mom can console her when her lower lip puckers on the restarts…The young driver draws the outside pole.  Maybe, just maybe,  tonight will be the night when all things come together.  Maybe no bad luck, fewer mistakes,  the tires will hook up and maybe, just maybe, a top 5 finish.  It’s a pretty good field.  One old driver has the most wins on record at this track and a track championship.  One is a series champion and a past track champion.  Another is a past track champion.  One is a past track champion at a faster, wider, more competitive place.  The young driver has a couple heat wins…WOW!  Maybe a top five tonight.  That’s not out of line to think about.  Lap 1 – He roars past the inside pole sitter and takes the lead on the front straight; into turn one on the high side and a 5 car length lead on the backstretch and into turns 3 and 4 on a tear way too fast and nearly hits the wall on the front straight, but he regains his bite and screams past the flag stand---leading a feature for only the third time, the others resulting in busted possibilities.  Lap 2-4 he must be on the edge because out of 4 he is wiggling and fishing as he teases the wall. Caution 1 and possibly as many as 6 or 7 more before Lap 23.  The young racer has somehow led them all.  How could this be?  He wants to win, but things always seem to go wrong at the worst times—MSD boxes die; switches bumped when a wall gets too close; drive shaft bolts release; engines explode and those big earthmover tires jump in the way.  Restart on lap 23 seems to be the slowest one so far and after the last caution the past track champion with the second most wins;  the driver who helped him most understand the set-up starting point for his chassis and the one who started in the fourth row is breathing down his rear bumper.  (“He’s gonna pass him on the inside on the next lap.  He can do that and the youngster can’t stop him.  Second place will be a really strong finish for the youngster!” I told the nervous faced lady next to me.)

            And now the exciting conclusion.  The youngster has run all his laps up high, on the cushion.  The Champion has been low and high and knows what his car can do.  Into turn 1, the youngster goes high, again, and the Champion dives tight to the inside.  He knows the shortest way around because he has owned Victory Lane here for quite a while.  His maneuver earns him a car length lead midway through the turn.  The youngster sees his nose down low, so he knows exactly what the Champion is intending to do.  “Oh no you don’t!”  he says to himself, as he exits with a two-car length lead from  2.  Around they go and Lap 24, the Champion could bump draft the leader, but dives again for the inside of  1.  Again, a car length lead mid curve but the youngster powers up high to a two-car length lead out of 2.  Last lap, here comes the Champion, refining his dive into 1.  Quicker. Tighter. Faster…

            At this moment the end of the race is not very important.  On lap 23 the Champion had enough of a lead to be in front of the race leader, and slid up the track some,  but not TOO much.  On lap 24 he was burning up his tires and midcurve was in position to do a sprint car slide job on the youngster, who would have checked up or hit the wall on his exit of 2.  And lap 25, the last lap, was a repeat.  The Champion maybe could have won—he held the advantage in the middle of the curve—but he wouldn’t crowd the youngster, take up his lane, pull a slide job, or make him check up.  He didn’t and wouldn’t do that.  Not even to a youngster.

            At the checkered flag we were elated—the baby girl was in the stands to see her father’s first feature win.  So was the mother, uncle, grandmother and grandpa.  Photos, flashes, smiles, interview, payout.  Incredible excitement.  A first for so many things.  But, the Champion remains.  Not for finishing second on a perfect night under the lights with a great track, no dust.  Rather, because he was fair, sporting and held his lane against a hard-charging youngster looking for his first win.  Sort of reminds me of why Bill Elliott’s name is on the NASCAR Fan’s Favorite Driver trophy even though he hasn’t won a championship since 1985.  And why Ray Cook was inducted into the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2006 – just good ol’ southern boy fairness and sportsmanship with a willingness to help other competitors.  Everybody knows that Champions don’t run second! Do they?  So, thank you to the Champions