For those of you who missed the races on Friday night, I'm here to bring you up to speed. This was a special night of racing for a few reasons, so listen up.
First off, the engine work that needed to happen on the Rev's car had been completed and tonight they were really ready compete!
Secondly, Eden was chosen at random to be the trophy girl, which means she got to go out on the track after the races and hand out all the trophys. This was especially fun for reason number three, below.
Third, one of our young race fans was picked out of a hat to be the Junior Racer of the night. Kalli got to suit up with a fire suit, don on a big red helmet and ride in the passenger seat of the racing number 92 in the Super Stock Class for the intermission fan race while all of REV'd Up Racing cheered her on from the stands. Her mother & father stood near the fence, anxiously awaiting the finish line. When that race was finished, Kalli had the biggest smile on her face, trying to get the helmet off. And there was Eden, with a huge trophy in her hand, ready to give to Kalli.
After all this, when the main races were about to begin, the 20 or so of us from Bridgeport gathered in our usual spot and stood to watch the yellow number 66 come out of the shoot and get in line to race for the main even. Everybody started looking around at each other and asking, "How did Rev get to start up front?" Nobody really knew, but we all thought it was going to be a great race. OH how he did not disappoint us! Everything started out well, he made a fast get-away out in front and kept a few foot distance lead. Looks like we were taking home the pot tonight!
Then, about 6 laps in, a collective gasp was heard, as well as a few panicked profanities, when #66 had a black out in his field of vision. Because of the vicious wind, and a sudden burst of driving rain, I was sure a garbage bag had blown onto the track and right onto his windshield. Not so. It took only a second to realize that the hood pins had not been put back and his hood flew up into his face. The windshield spidered, the sponsor "Christensen Chiropractic Clinic" sticker had a hyper-extended dent and was in bad need of an adjustment, and The Rev was headed into turn three. Blind. (I recently found out there are no mirrors on race cars).
He made turn three and by now, everybody had eyes glued to Yellow #66. Turn four, check. Now the straight away, now we're getting worried. Why isn't he stopping?! Everybody had a solution to his problem and is yelling it loudly to the track. The Rev's Wife? Well, she turned slightly around, as to not witness the crash that would end the marriage. Then one of the guys told me it was safe to look. When I did, The Rev was back at turn two, headed out of the track field. What happened after that, I don't know. I just remember thinking, "What did I agree to when I bargained with God just now??"
In the end, it was a great night of racing (at least for the fans) and everybody around us seemed to be having fun. Don't tell anybody, but I'm starting to look forward to Friday nights at the race track.
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