The first time I met Carl Wegner, his huge meat hook of a hand completely swallowed mine, when he grabbed it as my husband Toby introduced us. They were hard working hands that built so many engines that powered many racers to Victory Lane. My husband Toby called me on Monday to tell me the…
The older we get, the younger people seem to be as we read the obituaries. Perhaps you’ve noticed that as well. I distinctly remember the first time I read a death announcement and found myself fixated on the age—68—and found myself saying, that’s so young! And technically, it is—at least to me! “Old” is a…
He is the life of the party, usually spotted with a glass of Blue UV Vodka mixed with Mountain Dew. I’d heard hilarious stories about him and was well aware that he is quite the wheelman, having nailed down his 5th Thunder Car Championship at Elko Speedway this past season. However, I had never “officially”…
I had to pee. It was a sweet relief, as I had been making an effort to drink more water and my bladder was burgeoning. I turned to grab some toilet paper and was greeted by what was essentially an empty roll, with three shredded strips barely clinging to the cardboard tube. Yep, my husband…
When my father-in-law, Erv fell ill and it was revealed that he didn’t have much time left on this earth, the family arranged to have a hospital bed delivered to the farm to allow him to be able to rest near the picture window that looked out over his fields and valleys. Erv was a…
If you’re like me, you probably went into a bit of a depression a few years ago, when Steve Holzhausen announced he would be retiring from racing. I haven’t fully pulled out of the funk that announcement had on me. Not only is he a phenomenal race car driver, but he’s easily one of the…
It’s the unexpected in life that brings out the best or the worst in people. No one goes to the race track intending to haul their car home on a flatbed, looking like a mangled mess. Some racers act like lunatics when that happens, and lash out at anyone within a six-foot radius. Others become…
Racers are truly a tough breed. They’ll pour every spare minute they have into their cars and some even ante up their last dollars to get a set of tires to go racing. I’ve known several racers–male and female–who have raced with a cast on one of their arms. I couldn’t imagine trying to wheel…