Chapter 26: Fast Cars, Fast Women, Part III

August 1982, Talladega, Alabama

Stephie knocked on the door of my room at 4:00am. I decided I had enough time to take my run, so I did that, then showered and ate breakfast. I finished just as Red knocked on the door. We said goodbye to Stephie’s mom and dad and went out to the car. We took the T-tops off, put the beer cooler in the back and Stephie got in the back seat and Red in the front and we drove to Emily’s place. She was waiting on her porch and ran out to the car. Red got out, let her in the back seat, and we set out for Alabama.

Red gave me directions along the way, taking us through Atlanta, then west towards Talladega. We made good time until we got about fifteen miles from the track and then traffic started building. When we were five miles away, it was bumper-to-bumper, and those last five miles took nearly thirty minutes. We finally pulled into the track parking lot about 9:30am. We put the T-tops back on the car, locked it up, grabbed my bottle of bourbon and put it in Stephie’s bag, and headed for the entrance.

Red handed over the tickets and by 10:00am we’d found our seats high up in the grandstands just before the start-finish line at the entrance into the tri-oval portion of the track. I couldn’t have asked for better seats. From where we were, we could see the entire track, despite it being 2.66 miles long. The infield was full of campers, tents, and motor homes, and there was a veritable sea of Confederate battle flags and racing team pennants. Red handed Stephie a beer and Emily a bottle of Dr Pepper, both from the cooler, and Stephie handed me my bottle of Jim Beam.

“Been to a race before, Steve?” Red asked.

“Riverside in ‘69. I saw The King win. That’s the only race I’ve been to, though. Of course, I saw the ‘500 on TV when the Allison boys mixed it up with Cale Yarborough in the infield after that crazy wreck!”

“You know the history of this track? That same year you saw Petty win in California, he and the other drivers refused to race here, sayin’ it was too dangerous. My pappy and Emily’s uncle was at that race. The tires were just wrecked by the track and they had to have cautions every 25 laps for safety. Finally, Goodyear figured it out and they could race here just fine the next year. Big Bill France was right pissed at Petty for causin’ problems, but it wasn’t just The King. Nobody wanted to race on that track. Well, nobody who mattered, anyway.

“Right before the race, Bobby Allison and LeeRoy Yarbrough tried to get Big Bill to slow the cars down for safety, but he refused. Legend has it that he told them if they was scared they should just go home and Ol’ Leroy, that’s Cale’s pappy, hauled off and punched Big Bill right in the face and knocked him down. Then the drivers in Petty’s union all up and left and went home. They raced here the next week, and the union was basically dead. And this here became the fastest track in all of NASCAR.”

“Steve, if you’re interested in a race in Michigan,” Emily said, “my daddy can get you two tickets. It’s August 22nd. I told Stephie, but she didn’t think you’d go because it’s the day before school starts.”

“Do you know how far it is from Chicago?” I asked.

“I looked at a map,” Stephie said. “It’s about four hours. It’s over by Ann Arbor, so we’d have to leave super early in the morning like we did here and then we’d probably not get back until real late. I didn’t think you’d want to do it. When she first asked, I said ‘no’ because Kara was going to be there, but then when that changed, I thought about it but figured you wouldn’t want to.”

“I’m going to be in Chicago starting next weekend. I could see doing that. I don’t have a class at 8:00am now that I’m no longer a Freshman. Even if we got back at midnight, I’d be OK and we should get home before then, right?”

“I would think, yeah,” Stephie said.

“Emily, tell your dad we’ll take the tickets!” I said.

“I’ll bring ‘em by tomorrow. I wanted to see you again before you go home,” she declared, then added, “If’n I let you go home, that is!”

“Better watch out, Stephie,” Jason teased, “it looks like Emily’s tryin’ to steal away your man!”

“It’ll never happen!” Stephie replied, “Not if the Damnyankee knows what’s good for him!”

“Why doesn’t Rose come to races with you, Red?” I asked.

“Her pappy drives at the local bull pen. He had a bad wreck about three years ago and was laid up for a few months. It scared her to death and she won’t go to races no more, even if her pappy isn’t drivin’. I’ve been goin’ to races with Stephie here since I was little. We been here four times before, first time when we was eight, my pappy and her pappy brung us.”

Red and Stephie were on their second beer, and Emily had her second Dr Pepper. I was taking occasional swigs of my bourbon and drinking a Dr Pepper as well. Emily held out her can and tapped my bourbon bottle. I poured a small amount in for her and she smiled. I figured if she could drink a swig of her dad’s moonshine, a swig of bourbon in her soft drink wasn’t going to be a big deal.

About 12:30pm Red went to buy us all some hotdogs and chips for lunch and by the time he came back, the drivers were getting into their cars and the crews were making their final checks of the equipment. The National Anthem was played, and the command was given over the loudspeaker — “Gentlemen, start your engines!” — and the crowd cheered lustily. A few minutes later, Geoff Bodine, driving the #50, led the cars out onto the track.

“There’s Bill’s #9!” Stephie said, “He’s startin’ 7th looks like.”

“Looks like The King didn’t qualify so well, he’s back in 13th. But he’ll come up right quick, I suspect,” Emily said.

“Who are you rooting for, Emily?”

“If I say, Stephie will toss me off this here grandstand!” she giggled.

“I can’t believe you root for that idiot from North Carolina, ya’ damned traitor!” Stephie said.

“She roots for Dale Earnhardt,” Red said, “but Stephie doesn’t think I’m much better because I’m partial to the Allison brothers. Bobby is in this race. His kid Davey is up and coming, too. He runs at a track in Birmingham, but he should be in ARCA next year. In a couple of years, he’ll be racin’ here, I’m sure.”

“Well, I’m a Bill Elliott fan because of Peaches here,” I said.

“Figures,” Emily said.

“Hey, your guy is starting behind all of our guys!” Red said.

“We’ll see at the end!” Emily said smugly.

The green flag dropped, and the cars were off like lightning. Cale Yarborough led the first lap, but then Darrell Waltrip jumped out in front of him on the second lap and held it for about a dozen laps. A couple of cars dropped out early on and Red and Stephie both cheered when on lap 29 Earnhardt, driving the #15 Wrangler car, crashed out.

“Darn it all!” Emily said. “That sucks!”

“All our boys are going to beat your boy today!” Red said with glee.

Two laps later, Stephie and I cheered when Bill Elliott briefly took the lead under the caution flag.

“Aw, that don’t count for nothin’!” Emily teased.

“We’ll just see about that!” Stephie said.

It wasn’t until three beers for Stephie and Red and nearly two hours later that Bill took the lead with about 25 laps to go. He couldn’t hold it and Buddy Baker passed him and held the lead for four laps, and then all four of us cheered when Richard Petty took the lead. It didn’t last long, and Buddy Baker passed him two laps later, only to be passed by Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip held the lead for good, with about fifteen laps to go. The drivers behind him, Buddy Baker, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Terry Labonte, and Bill Elliott, traded places behind him but could never pass him. In the end, Waltrip won, Petty was third, Elliott was sixth, Bobby Allison was tenth, and Earnhardt was 35th.

“That was a good showing for Bill!” Stephie said. “He’ll be happy tomorrow. We’ll stop by and see him late in the afternoon, if’n he’s home.”

After Waltrip celebrated in Victory Lane, we headed for the exit. It took a bit of time to get to the parking lot, and we had to wait for nearly an hour to get onto the road. Traffic was bad until we got about fifteen miles from the track, and then I could finally pick up some speed. We stopped for dinner at a roadhouse about five miles into Georgia, and after we ordered, I excused myself and went to the payphone to call Kara.

“Steve! I didn’t expect to hear from you until you got here on Wednesday. How are you?”

“Good, Honey. I had to call to wish you well because you’re starting your job tomorrow. And to tell you how much I love you.”

“I miss you Snuggle Bear! What time will you be here on Wednesday?”

“I figure if I leave here by 10:00am I’ll by at your house by 5:00pm or so. I’m going to want a sauna for sure!”

“We can go after dinner, if that’s OK. And I want to be in bed early,” she giggled.

“Me too!” I said. “I love you Kara and I’ll see you on Wednesday!”

“I love you, Steve! See you Wednesday.”

I hung up and rejoined my friends just as the food was being set on the table. We finished dinner and got back on the road, arriving in Dawsonville about 10:15pm. We dropped Emily at her house and then took Red home. When we got back to Stephie’s house, we said hello to her parents and then sat on the porch swing with lemonade to relax before bed.

“That was a lot of fun, Stephie! I’m glad I came down for the race.”

“Just the race?” she grinned.

“Emily is a lot of fun!” I teased.

“You jerk! What about me?” she asked with mock indignation.

“Stephie, if the only thing I did when I was here was spend time on this swing with you, the trip would have been worth it.”

“You really mean that?” she said, her voice softening.

“I do, Peaches,” I said.

She snuggled close to me and I put my arm around her.

“I wish you were my man,” she said softly.

I stroked her hair and pulled her tight, “I know.”

We finally went inside to go to bed around midnight and I quickly fell asleep.

I woke up a bit later than usual, but still ran before breakfast. I showered when I got back to the house, then went to the kitchen to eat. Stephie was already eating when I sat down. Mrs. Grant set a plate of bacon, eggs, and hash browns in front of me. I cleaned the plate, then took a cup of coffee out to the swing and Stephie went to shower, then she joined me on the swing.

“What’s the plan for today?” I asked.

“Well, Emily should be here soon and we can spend the day at the barn. We’ll need to leave there around 4:00pm to drop by the Elliott’s place. I talked to Martha last week, and she was pretty sure that Bill would be home today. They don’t have to leave for Michigan for about ten days.”

“Speaking of Michigan, when are you coming to Chicago?” I asked.

“I was thinking the 16th. That’s a Monday. Can you pick me up at the airport?”

“Of course. Can you move into the dorms that soon?”

“Yeah, that’s the first day you can move in. I figured I’d drop a few things there, but I’ll bring most of my stuff to your place, if that’s OK.”

“I don’t see why not. You’ll probably be sleeping there most nights, I guess.”

“Every night you let me. I hope it’s only when Kara’s there that I can’t.”

“Most likely. One of my friends from Sweden might come visit in the Spring, but otherwise, I’m pretty much yours.”

“I like that. Now, if we could just drop the ‘pretty much’ part, life would be perfect. I can’t believe I fell in love with a Damnyankee, but I did.”

There wasn’t really anything for me to say to her, so I just put my arm around her and held her. About 9:00am, Emily’s dad dropped her off. She was wearing her yellow sundress again, and waved as she walked up the driveway. Stephie went inside and packed a picnic lunch and the three of us headed for the Jenkin’s farm. We parked in the same place as we had on Saturday and made our way to the barn and up into the loft.

Stephie and Emily spread the blankets and sat down, patting a spot between them. I went and sat down and the girls reclined back and I did the same. They turned towards me and I put one arm around each of them and pulled them to me. They both giggled.

“Don’t get any crazy ideas, Yankee,” Stephie said, “we’re just cuddling you.”

“We could do this naked and it would be way better,” I chuckled.

Emily raised her head from my chest, “I’m game if you are, cousin!”

“Just cuddling? OK, yeah, I can do that.”

Emily jumped up and quickly shed her sundress. Once again, she wasn’t wearing a bra. She dropped her panties and lay back down. Stephie and I moved a bit slower, but a minute later the three of us were cuddling again, but this time bare breasts with hard nipples were pressing into my chest. I put one arm around each girl and held them tight.

I was surprised a few minutes later when I felt a hand on my dick. I looked and saw it was Emily’s. She lifted her head and smiled, then put it back down on my chest. It didn’t take long for me to get hard and she moved her hand around, exploring my glans, shaft, and balls. It didn’t seem like she was trying to make me cum, but more like she was testing out a new toy.

“Stephie,” Emily said, “do you mind if I try giving Steve a blowjob?”

Stephie giggled, “Oh hell, why not! Make his day!”

Emily slid down and kissed the tip of my dick, then tentatively licked it. After a few more licks, she took the head into her mouth and started gently sucking. She ran her tongue around my glans and I moaned softly, then she released me.

“I take it I did that right?” she grinned, looking up at me.

“Yeah,” I panted. “Perfect!”

She smiled and turned back to my dick, once again taking the head into her mouth and running her tongue around it. I moved my left hand and put it under Stephie’s chin and turned her face towards me. I touched my lips to hers and we kissed, our tongues tangling softly. While we were kissing, Emily slowly took more of my dick into her mouth. I moved my hand from Stephie’s chin to her small breast and ran my finger over her nipple. I felt my dick touch the back of Emily’s mouth, then felt her back off until she was sucking just on the glans.

I kept kissing Stephie and playing with her breast and Emily began slowly bobbing up and down on my dick. I broke the kiss with Stephie and whispered in her ear, “Put your breast in my mouth!”

She smiled, slid up, and pressed her nipple against my lips. I opened my mouth and gently sucked on her nipple as Emily cupped my balls and took me deep into her mouth, sucking harder. Emily began bobbing faster and swirling her tongue around me. I knew it wouldn’t be too long before I came, so I released Stephie’s nipple from my mouth.