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« on: July 06, 2014, 10:51:38 AM »
drive and determination or determination and drive? read this and decide.
as many know, my son is battling lymphoma and as any father would do i want him to have something to look forward to and a reason to drive on in his fight for life. his birthday is on the 4th of july and we have always called him a firecracker. one week a go we started building an 02 neon for him as a birthday gift. it almost didn't happen. we thrashed on this project all week with the goal of him wheeling it on his b-day at penn can with me in his new car and his first race at the can.
we were in the garage until 8 oclock friday night when we put it on the trailer and left for the can in a hurry. we pulled in the pits as the first feature was exiting the track. with the great help from many great people we started last in the feature. those people are the reason we made this all happen. i won't list them individually because i simply can't. so much was going on and there were folks i don't even know in it with both hands to get us out on the track. as they called for the cars i was hanging half in and out of the new car hooking up the alternator and remembered the battery terminals were loose. i rushed for the wrench and snugged the up.
i didn't want to be the reason this night wouldn't stick in our memories as something we had regrets from.
i was still installing myself in my car as we dashed for the track to get our cherished back of the field starting spots.
i had to see how it would work out for j.b. so i let him go and followed along. i had a goal that he would not finish last if i had to head to the pits before they could get him there. after we got by a few cars i overtook him and went on to run my race. he continued to run his.
i made it to 7th and he finished 10th. it felt like a first to us. first time at the can for him, first time out with a new car, first time we ever raced against each other.(well sort of)
i'm not sure who got the better present. burt drove the 57n to victory lane at 5 mile the next night. i gave him a night to remember and he returned the night to remember back 2 fold. the best part of it is we get to share those remembories with a lot of folks. we tinkered what we could and had the m-80 in the novice division with strech ems behind the wheel. we also had that on our mission plan. overheating shortened the m-80's day but was running 2nd when he pulled off the track.
we were all dragging as$ on the ride home but grinning from ear to ear because we pulled it off some how. the group shot even included our 15 year old lab/husky who loves to go to the races, sometimes i think more than we do.
from burt, dawn and myself, we thank each and everyone of you. including those who only read this post.
its these kind of memories that make the bad nights memories seem trivial and fade away.
we couldn't do it without our great sponsors and members of the jam motorsports "hundred dollar club".
thank you all just one more time!