Chapter 26: Construction Ends - Resume Speed

So, we had won the first short race we had ever entered and we were feeling pretty darn good. The way George and Tom were hooting and hollering you would have thought that ten lap heat race was the be all and end all of their lives. To be honest, it felt good for me too, because I knew I had done well and I hadn’t let everyone down. However, at the same time I felt a bit disappointed that I hadn’t been out there longer. In other words, even though I felt wiped out right then, I felt even more like I wanted to go right back on the track to do it all over. Instead, all I could do at the moment was to lean back against the front fender of the car and grin at the guys as they bounced around like a pair of ten year old kids.

When Tom calmed down a little, he started shifting things around in the back of Wil’s pickup truck and I frowned at him.

“Hey Tom, whatcha doing?” I asked.

“Well, packin’ up, of course. Aren’t we done for the night?”

“No, no, no, no,” I snorted “That wasn’t the race that we came for, that was only the first elimination heat of the evening. We need to get 54 ready to go out and have some more fun tonight. By winning that heat, all we did was qualify to race in the ‘A’ main. There are two more elimination heats before that though.”

“See. They’re getting the other cars ready to go now,” I gestured to the next batch of cars pulling onto the track. “I guess Frank didn’t explain this to you, but he did try to tell me how it works. Since this is a small track, they’re limited to racing ten cars at a time. Tonight, they had twenty-six cars enter for the main race. So they had to split them up and run three qualifying heat races. The heat we were in had ten cars and right now there are ten more cars lining up on the track to race another heat. Tonight there’ll be three heats and the top three cars of each heat will advance to the fifty lap main. However because of the odd number of cars here tonight, instead of automatically losing if one of those cars doesn’t get into the top three during one of the first two heats, he has another chance to qualify. The fastest two cars who are eliminated in each of the first two heats gets dropped to the back of the third heat. For that last heat, the top four cars who finish get to start in the fifty-lap main, which is the feature race of the evening.”

“Sounds complicated,” Tom frowned. “But I was wondering if there’s anything you need to have adjusted on the car before you go racing again? Otherwise, I guess all we need to do is top up the fuel, as well as check the oil and water, huh?”

“Wait a minute. Back up to what Chris was saying,” George suddenly spoke up. “There isn’t time for all that racing tonight. The sun is setting already, and we don’t have any lights on the cars.”

“Oh, I guess Frank didn’t tell you guys about that,” I grinned. “See those poles set back from the track? When I was talking to Frank before I pulled down here, he mentioned that this was the first ever evening race at this track because they’ve just installed lights. They just finished setting up those poles and hanging some big lights, so we’re the guinea pigs. We get to be the first guys to ever run a race on this track after dark.”

“Jeez, you’ve never driven this car at night,” George protested.

“So what, neither have any of these other guys.”

“But, they’re used to the track.”

“So what? I just whipped their butts in a heat race, didn’t I?” I laughed. “Who cares if I win the main anyway? Just getting the best time in the hot laps and then winning the first heat should take the pressure off of us as far as Frank is concerned. I mean it shows him that you guys did a great job of getting the car ready and I did a decent job of driving. Just getting into the ‘A’ main is a bonus. As far as I’m concerned I’m going to go out there and try to win, but I’m not about to worry about it. We’re just here to have fun tonight.”

“So I asked you before, is there anything you want us to do to the car before the race?” Tom asked again.

“Not really. Just fuel her up, then we can check the oil and water. After that let’s go watch the other heat races.”

“You go watch now and we’ll get the car ready,” Tom said shortly. “You’ve got to race against those guys later, so you should watch them to see if they use some trick or other that you need to beware of or one that you can use during a race.”

I was ready to argue, but George frowned and pointed toward the track as well. So I didn’t argue, instead I wandered over to the truck and climbed up in the back to gain a bit of height. I hadn’t been there more than a minute or two when I saw the driver that had been beside me in car number 02 heading my way. I greeted him with a grin.

“Hi there, Clarence isn’t it?” I asked, holding out my right hand toward him.

“Yeah, and Jack told me your name is Chris,” he smiled as he shook my hand.

“You got it.”

“Is that Wayne Dumont’s car you’re driving?”

“I really don’t know who started to build it. A friend of mine, Frank Dolens, bought it from someone for the trailer it was sitting on, then I got the car from him. My friends completely rebuilt it, then Frank offered to sponsor us if I’d race it.”

“Well, I think it is Wayne’s car. He was building it up last year, then he got in an accident. I heard that his father sold the car to a used car dealer.”

“That’s probably it then.”

“It was pretty darn fast through the corners in that heat.”

“Yep, part of that was because we’ve got a little practise track at home and we made the mistake of setting the car up for the tighter corners and softer track that we have there.”

“I wouldn’t say it was a mistake,” he chuckled. “You made my car look darn slow out there.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

He just smiled and gestured toward the track. “Ah, one more lap and then the next heat is under way.”

“Yeah, my mechanics sent me up here to watch it for any threats,” I looked over at the racers. “Would you like to stand up here and watch?”

“No, I’d better go back and check over my car too. I’ve seen all these guys race before,” he started to turn away, then turned back and leaned close, speaking quietly. “When the ‘A’ main starts, watch out for number 19, painted dark blue, that’s Gary Wagner. He’s got a habit of bumping cars a bit if he can. He’ll tail guys into a corner then tap their rear bumper or inside fender just at the wrong time. Sometimes they spin out and he can pass them. He uses the excuse that his brakes faded.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” I gave him an ‘OK’ sign with my right hand.

He just nodded, then walked away.

I turned to the track then and paid attention to the heat that was on at the moment. The lead car at the end of the heat was number 7 and sure enough, it was closely followed by the infamous number 19. There was a gap of few car lengths, then the next few cars in a jumble, two of them almost abreast and one less than a car length behind them. In the third heat the guy who had placed fourth in the first heat won it, followed by the guy who had been fifth in the second heat. The third and fourth places were cars who were on the track for the first time that night.

In order to give the guys who had just raced a chance to ready their cars for the ‘A’ main, there was a fifteen-lap ‘bump to pass’ race next. Tom and George were done with the car by then and were standing with me, watching it.

“Hey, I think I could do that,” George laughed.

“The bumping maybe,” Tom snorted. “I’m not so sure if you could managed the passing though.”

“Just don’t even think about trying it with car 54,” I grinned. “Those cars look like they were rescued from the auto wrecker’s yard and hauled here just for this.”

“Yep and it looks like that’s where most of them will end up, too,” George responded.

Just then there was a spin half-way through 1-2 corner and two other cars piled into the one that had spun out before they could stop.

“Now, I think you could handle that part of this race,” Tom hooted, slapping George on the back.

Of course that set them off even more, and the two of them were kidding back and forth as the wreck was being cleaned up so that the race could be restarted.

About then the guy who had his car parked next to us and was trying to get ready for the ‘A’ main started to swear about the jack he was using on his car. The three of us hopped down from our viewpoint in the back of the pickup and gave him a hand, using our jack to raise his car so he could change a wheel. That kept us busy until we were called to get our car warmed up to pull out onto the track, so I never did see who won the ‘bump to pass’ race.

There was a short break after the ‘bump to pass’ race while the water truck went out and wet the track down a bit. However, it wasn’t long before I was being signalled to pull out onto the track. I was the second car out of the infield and onto the track. Clarence was ahead of me and while I knew I was eventually going to be at the front on the inside lane, I wasn’t rushing to do that. Instead of pushing to the lead right at the moment, I hung just back of the lead car’s rear bumper, sticking there like glue for a few laps. For one thing I wanted to know what it felt like to be close behind another car. Clarence did a few zigs and zags, and I followed him as close as I could. In other words, we played around a bit as the other eight cars in that race pulled out and lapped the track behind us.

I was hanging on 02’s bumper just for fun, but I was also getting a handle on the speed we’d be driving during any laps under a caution flag. Another thing that I wanted to get used to was the sensation of running under the lights and the way the shadows played amongst the cars. After about four laps of driving in a close second position, I dropped down and pulled to the front inside position on 1-2 corner. I wasn’t surprised at all that Clarence slowed slightly, then dropped behind me to return the favour of hanging tight to my bumper for a lap or two. I’m not sure if he was trying to intimidate me or to get used to things, but actually it settled me down, so I grinned and gave him a ‘thumbs up’ sign as we sped along the back straight.

Finally, as we came around the front of the track, the flagman was holding out both a yellow ‘caution’ flag and a white ‘one more lap’ flag, so I knew we were almost ready to start. During the next lap Clarence pulled out and up beside me. As soon as I saw the number 02 in my peripheral vision, I felt my whole body tense slightly and the adrenaline start to flow through my veins. It was strange, but in only a few seconds my world seemed to shrink to my near vicinity and all I really noticed was the track, the cars and the nearby objects.

Instead of one lap under the dual flags, we actually made two, but when I came out of 3-4 corner and I saw only the green flag hanging there, I was ready. When that green flag dropped, I gave Car 54’s engine full throttle down the straight in front of the stands, then stood on the brakes for a second as I hit 1-2 corner. I was in a full four wheel slide in an instant and as I counter steered, I felt great. By shoulder checking as I came out onto the back straight, I could see car 02 was back a full car length. That meant I was clear, so I used the whole track, diving into corner 3-4 faster than I’d gone into it before. I used the brakes to slow a bit, but also to lock my tires into a skid, then hit the gas to improve my slide.

I was still in a full four wheel drift as I came out onto the front straight, but by breaking the slide with a blip of the gas pedal, I managed to pull the car into my line without hitting the outside wall. Then it seemed I was instantly lining the car into the next corner. I knew that anyone behind me didn’t have much chance of passing me right then, even if they were fast enough to catch me. That’s because I was using every inch of track available to me.

The first heat race had given me the confidence to open the car out and give her as much gas as she’d needed to go ‘like a bat out of hell’ and I was using that open track. The next few laps were just pure fun for me. I was on a track, in a race, but there was no one near me. I was able to play with that car, feeling out her potentials and growing accustomed to her little idiosyncrasies.

I’m not sure how many laps went by before I found myself coming up behind a car on 3-4 corner, but I was right on his rear bumper as we came out onto the front straight. I tucked up close, then on 1-2 corner I managed to hold a slightly tighter line and passed him as we raced into the back straight. That was the very first time I’d managed to make a pass using 1-2 corner, up until then all my passes had been on the other end of the oval. Oh man, that felt good.

From that point on I felt that track belonged to car 54. She had just the right acceleration and lots of power for the straights, but as well as that she held on in the corners like a cat on a shag carpet. All I had to do was to keep her out of bumps or accidents and I was certain she could win the race. That night, that car owned the track. We passed cars in both corners and on both straights. All of my passes were clean. I never touched another car as I was passing and I wasn’t about to let anyone bump me either.

I did touch another car’s bumper once, but that was intentional. Well into the race I saw that I was coming up behind the dark blue, number 19, the car that Clarence had warned me about. I caught up to him on 1-2 corner, followed him down the back straight, then eased off just enough to follow through 3-4 corner. As we were going down the front straight, I slipped up close and just touched the right front corner of my front bumper to his left rear corner, backing off slightly almost at the same instant. I wasn’t about to bump him harder. I just wanted him to know I was there. After following him at a few feet distance through 1-2 and down the back straight, I tucked down and passed him on the inside of 3-4. By letting car 54 have her head as we exited the corner, she blasted out into the straight slightly ahead of him and dove into the next corner. Once more she made like a cat as she dug in and scratched her way around 1-2 corner, then streaked down the back straight.

During the race I had passed every car on the track, but number 02. Clarence was fast and he was crafty. Somehow he managed to fill that track with his car so that for the last four or five laps I was right on his tail end. I simply wasn’t able to pass him. As far as race standing was concerned, he was behind me, but on the same lap, so it really didn’t bother me that I didn’t pass him. In fact I was learning a lot from him while I rode in his dust, all about keeping a faster car behind by using a car’s width and drift to the best advantage.

Clarence definitely deserved second place in that race. As soon as I was back in the infield after the checkered flag lap of the race, I went looking for him to shake his hand, dragging along Tom and George who were acting like kids again. When found him, he was leaning against his car, drinking a can of coke and talking to a tall thin drink of water with bright red hair. I walked up to Clarence and held out my right hand.

“That, sir, was one great ending to a race,” I grinned, shaking his hand with a tight grip. “Thank you for the lessons.”

“Lessons, what flippin’ lessons?” he stared at me in astonishment. “You must have wings on that bloody car. You were flying low out there.”

“Ah, blame that on these two,” I gestured at Tom and George. “One extremely fine pair of mechanics. The closest guy is Tom, and the second guy over there is George.”

“Well, it wasn’t just the car that drove that race,” The tall guy spoke up. “Clarence just told me that he warned you a little bit about me, but you damn near spooked me out there when you tapped my bumper.”

“Aha, so I get to meet the infamous Gary Wagner,” I grinned, holding out my hand to him as well. “Clarence told me that was how you said howdy to folks, so I thought I’d try to be friendly and speak the same language.”

“Smart ass,” Gary shook his head and grinned at me. “I wasn’t sure what the hell to expect next, so when you wanted by, I just let you go.”

“Aww heck, I thought I’d earned that pass,” I tried to frown, but was having trouble hiding a grin. “Now that I find out you just gave up, I want to do it for real next time.”

“Oh, you earned it and if that damn car hadn’t already passed inspection, I’d accuse you of cheating,” he laughed. “Fuck, you drive like a pro. Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?”

“I think he learned how to win races while he was riding horses,” Tom laughed. “But, as far as driving is concerned, he’s always been a natural. He learned to drive on a farm tractor and an old Model A Ford, but he can get any horse or car to do things no one else even wants to try.”

“Aw heck, his little sister is just as good on a horse, maybe even better,” George said loyally.

“You’re just saying that because she’s got you completely whipped, George,” Tom teased as he winked at me. “She could be good, but she likes things to be fun, not competitive.”

“Well, whatever she is, I’m just glad she wasn’t out there today too,” Clarence laughed at the two of them. “I had enough trouble staying in the race with one member of the family.”

“Oh hell, here come the fans. It’s time to get back to our cars or we’ll have kids all over them,” Gary growled. “Last week I had to chase one off the damn hood. I’ve still got big bloody dents all over it from his fat feet.”

“Jeez, are the fans that bad?” George asked Clarence as Gary hurried away.

“Worse,” Clarence sighed. “With that new paint job you’d better get back to your car too. Otherwise you might find that some little monster has scratched his name in the paint on your hood, or something just as stupid.”

None of us wanted to see that, so the three of us said ‘So long, ‘ then rushed back to the car. Since we really had both our car and Wil’s truck to protect, we were lucky that the first people to reach us were Wil and Frank.

As it was, Tom had to warn a kid with a ballpoint pen that if he touched the car with it, he wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week. I calmed the kid down by offering to sign an autograph, but I think his old man was still pissed with Tom. I really wasn’t worried about the situation, but Frank defused things even more by taking the old man aside and explaining that he was quite willing to ask the cops to come down and stand by the car. Then he told the guy quite loudly that since the cops were partial sponsors of the car and were there at the track, the old man might be wise to warn the kid about the legal penalty for slapping graffiti on private property.

I was surprised that Frank was so loud about it, but at the same time, I knew it was intentional on his part. Almost instantly the pressure around us seemed to lessen as if everyone took one step back from the car. Then the rest of our group of family and friends joined us and the pressure really eased off. For the next half hour or so we were all busy answering questions and trying to sound like we knew more than we really did. After that other people had started to load their cars out, so Frank and Wil guided me through the crowd as I drove car 54 out of the infield and up to the trailer.

By the time we got the car on the trailer, the adrenaline had burned out of my body and I was simply beat. All I really wanted to do was sleep, but I thought I was still going to have to drive home. Thankfully Dad and Mom were along, so when Dad offered to drive I jumped at the idea. Carissa and I clambered into the back seat of my car and Dad drove back to the farm.

I don’t remember the conversations that happened on the drive home. In fact all I can remember of the trip was that it seemed to take a long time. I do remember that when we got back to the farm, Carissa insisted on driving back to the cabin.

Surprisingly, the closer we got to the cabin, the more wide awake I felt. Actually, by the time we pulled into the yard, Carissa and I were having an animated discussion about the race. We were comparing the differences between her perspective of what went on while she was sitting in the stands, to mine, while I was driving the car. For her, the most exciting time was when I was racing the last few laps with Clarence. For me, it was when I had caught up to Gary and tapped his bumper with mine. Honestly though, I was just happy that she had enjoyed herself.