I was watching the post race interviews from the Cup race at Kansas. After talking with the winner, it was time for the “Agony of Defeat,” interviews, not to be confused with the “Agony of De’ Feet,” that many of us old timers suffer from.
The interview that caught my interest was with one of the supposed up and coming young drivers who was eliminated from the chase, due somewhat in part from his failure to lift his right foot from the accelerator, causing him to run into another competitor and causing the dreaded aero damage to the front of his racecar.
Taking time to mention his sponsors, wearing the obligatory designer sunglasses which probably cost close to a factory worker’s weekly wages before taxes, taking a refreshing sip of his favorite beverage, he finally spoke about the race. He said after incurring the damage to his car, his day was essentially over he was just out there logging laps waiting for the race to end. Poor guy looked like he just got the news that his girlfriend ran off with his best friend. And took his dog, too.
I thought about his words and how bad his day was. I imagined him telling this to some guy who pumps septic tanks for a living. (No offense intended to anyone who does this!)
Septic Tank Guy: “Let me get this right? You get paid a truck load of money to drive a racecar, hang out with half naked chicks and you had a bad day? Dude, let me tell you about my day.”
Flashback to a Friday night in July 1971, Spencer Speedway. We are there in pits with our modified. Dude pull in, parks next to us with what could best be described as the remnants of a Late Model. He is alone. He starts to unbind his car from the trailer. We ask him if he needs a hand with anything until the rest of his pit crew arrives? He says, “Pit crew? They’re here. It’s me.”
We end up helping the guy get his car ready. He runs his heat race, gets some minor fender damage to the right front. I use my finely honed skills with a hammer to pound out the fender with a 3 pounder so he doesn’t damage one of his top quality used racing tires in the feature.
Guy runs the feature, and finishes close to last in what were then 24 car features. He pulls in behind his trailer, unbuckles, crawls out smiling, raises his arms in the air like he just won the race and lets out several loud “Woo’s!” High-fives hadn’t been invented yet so he came over and grabbed our hands and shook them, thanking us for helping him have a great run, how it was a blast out there racing and how he can’t wait to get back next week and……. wait for it…… “turn some more laps!”
Yeah. I understand that the pressure to win at the top levels of racing can be intense. I know about aero push. I know that sponsors demand a lot for their money. I can understand that it may be difficult to give an interview when you have a bad race. I can imagine that pumping septic tanks might not be a great job.
But, I also understand that some people enjoy driving racecars and logging laps.
