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A Sunday Afternoon Well Spent

I am blessed. I have a career in motorsports that I absolutely love and stay very conscious not to take it for granted.

I enjoy everything I do in the racing world, but ultimately it comes down to my core – I am a race fan.

During each NASCAR event I try and take a few moments to reflect on what a blessing my career is. I generally do this during the invocation and national anthem of the events. I also think about being that race fan, smiling when I think of the seat I get to watch the upcoming race from.

Sometimes though, I need to live out that core race fan mode. I get to do it occasionally on Wednesday nights at Millbridge and at other times and places over the course of the year. .

I love Cherokee Speedway – “The Place Your Mama Warned You About.” Occasionally the schedule makers align so that I can take in an afternoon of Super Late Model races at the four-tenths mile red clay oval in Gaffney, South Carolina.

My routine has been sacred; go early so I can put my lawn chair in a good spot, walk the pits, have food and a cooler for tailgating all in the morning and early afternoon leading up to the event.

I woke up yesterday with just a little anxiety; I needed to leave by a certain time to be there by a certain time; but had to plan in a stop at the store because if I was going to be there that early, I needed to have tailgate supplies.

It struck me, I had turned my “sacred” days at Cherokee into quite the exercise. And since when should a day at the track cause anxiety.

Yesterday I opted to go stress-free. Racing started at 3:30; my goal was to be there before 3:00. I made stops along the way, grabbed fast food via drive through and at 2:37 pulled into the parking lot.

Hot laps were happening, but I was not working and who won hot laps was not a major concern for me.

I enjoyed my lunch, grabbed my chair, and leisurely made my way into the grandstands. Ironically, I found an open spot about where I sit every time there. And I did not have to stake it out hours in advance.

By the time I got situated it was about 20 minutes from the start of racing, and I was good: 70 degrees, sunshine, Super Late Models, and no stress.

It was an afternoon show at Cherokee: I did not expect a three-groove, dust-free Super Late Model race with a photo finish. Honestly once the dust blew off everything was fine. The racing was solid with Joseph Joiner – The Flyin’ Floridian -- winning the 40-lap main event.

The main event was a tribute to the late (passed in 2017) Mike Duvall of nearby Cowpens. He drove a car “numbered” with “Flintstone Flyer” and was a kid and crowd favorite wherever he went. He won more than 700 races, including the 1982 World 100. He was a National Dirt Late Model Association Champion and inducted into the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2001.

Once the Super Late Model feature ended, I watched the start of the Extreme 4 feature until they wadded a few up on the front stretch. I made my way to the exit.

It is a little over an hour from home, where I arrived just past 7:30 on a beautiful Sunday evening.

Of all my “gigs” in racing, race fan is my favorite. Sunday evening, I sat in my big comfortable chair thinking about the day realizing it was a Sunday afternoon well spent.

-Postman

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