The ladies were out of town this past weekend, so I took Henry to the stock car races on Saturday night. Oh yeah! It was our first time ever.
We had a great time. It’s cheap and local and out in the sticks. It was really so stunning that I forgot to take a picture. Dang, I had a GREAT one lined up, too, when I realized I left my cam in the car.
It was a high-bank 3/8th mile track with lights. There were maybe 6 races and they had 1st prizes of about $500 as I recall. They race twice a week.
Henry thought it was going to be no fun. At the halfway point we went to get a blanket because the sun went down and it got cold—and he said to me, “You were right, Daddy, this is good!”
When we got there a heat was just starting and after a few laps of wild speed and noise we got to see a good nice crash. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Henry was wanting some bloody mutilation—but he toned it down when I told him that just as often it was boys in the bleachers who got crushed when a wild car blew apart and crashed into the stands.
These homemade looking racecars looked that way because they had sheet metal bodies. And they were probably mostly sponsored by local auto body shops and the like.
The weather was perfect. A great night to be outside. The air was fresh, for the most part. Lots of locals showed up for the action. The crowds were a bit alarming but friendly. There was much disability in evidence. The place was sponsored by Bud but no beer to be found.
So we watched the heats then a Figure-8 race in the dirt infield. One guy knew what he was doing the best, so he won—he timed the gaps just right. So did most of the others. It was cool to see them gun it to avoid a crash. The car that was in 2nd place for awhile just couldn’t stay in control—too wild. He crashed a few times. It’s like a fast demo derby.
After that there was a Spectator Drag. We were wondering what it would be. Sure enough, spectators could take their own cars on the track and race against each other for one lap, in eliminations. It was great! There’d be pickups out there. And Tercels. And a 70’s Chevy. And a VW. You could tell that people had no idea how fast to go on the straight so they could make the banked turn. Dicey! In the end it was the VW Jetta and a Caprice. They went nuts! The VW stalled on the start-line in one heat, then another time almost lost it in a corner. It was a nice car—and it almost hit the wall! He also even scraped another car once. In the final race he was high on the last turn and behind—but somehow he dropped down and zipped past the Caprice at the line. It was mayhem and the crowd went wild. But the Caprice won the next two, for a 2 out of 3 victory.
Then they had The Feature race—with the best cars from the earlier heats.
Man, they gun it when the green flag flies as they come around after their white flag lap. It’s quite a roar!
It turned out that the lead car was being driven by a 17-yr-old girl!!! She held the lead the whole race and WON! That was great. When she got out of the car at the end, she was a husky gal. She shook her big flowing hair out of her helmet and her family ran out to get a photo with her. That was just great.
At the back of the pack the whole time was a 15-yr-old boy! He was near the front at the start but spun out. Then he was at the back, but he kept trying to get in the action.
Another guy also spun out and was having trouble with control. Man, those guys don’t give up! The wild guy once exited a turn and almost kept going high off the track on the straightaway. The announcer noticed that and got a bit fretful. We’re talking slingshotting out of the corner at 100mph and keeping on going out into the sky.
It was getting late and Henry was finally done, so we left. On our way out the Mini Stock class got under way. We glanced and saw only 2 Tercel like cars take the track. As we got to the parking lot the announcer said one driver was 4 years away from getting his license. Crazy!
We almost went to some motocross races the next day but instead went fishing. H loved catching a few little ones. He really studied putting worms on the hook. No attempt at tying a knot yet, though. First times are really something!
To kick the weekend off on Friday we went canoeing at our river just down the street—and it was H’s first time to really paddle. A little. Lots of firsts! We used my old woodstrip pro boat. Narrow and low. Some might say tippy. But I figured he could easily reach the water from up in the bow and it worked out great. He didn’t notice it was tippy. I even felt that he was helping the boat move at one point. Then once when I was working hard to push us back upstream and he was gazing off to the side he suddenly said mildly “There goes 3 wolves.” I said Huh? He said, “Bouncing, with pointy ears and scruffy necks.” —He must’ve seen some big coyotes. Maybe even coy-dogs. I’ve heard they’re around—a local dog expert said he saw a coyote that was twice as big as normal coyotes. I’ve seen a stray German Shepherd. We might have some intense mating results out there. Might be time for some *abatement.*
A friend said there didn’t seem to be as many turkeys around and he said a coyote pup when scampering past when he got out of his truck to go turkey hunting once. Then they heard wild sounds and a bloody white husky came running out of the brush. If they hadn’t started walking into that area it probably would’ve been eaten. The neighbors were shocked.
