As race wives, we all know the “pins and needles” feeling while watching your racer or waiting at home for updates from the track. It is crazy, we watch them all year, endless hours in the garage, more hours racked up traveling to races, hours upon hours at the track, and more travel hours logged for the ride home, it’s exhausting. They put in so many man hours and we wives sit and cross our fingers and pray they have a great race… Every. Single. Time. And when it doesn’t go well, we are heartbroken… Every. Single. Time.

We are heartbroken because we know the hours of work they put in, the “regular-life” things they miss because because of it, and we know how much they just love the sport, and we only want great things for them. MyRacer is a really great man, he’s a great sportsman, has the biggest heart for the sport, and will help anyone. He is in no way perfect, he gets hot-headed after a track incident just like the next driver, but he takes everything in stride and I only want great things for him.

There are nights when things actually go right and boy let me tell you, what a high! We generally have THE WORST luck on the planet. I kid you not. We’re talking about when we rush a part to be ready for the weekend we end up with like the ONE in probably 500,00 of these parts that wasn’t machined; and when you call the parts place about a return they actually laugh at you because they think you are crazy, yes, that’s us. Often, if it weren’t for bad luck we wouldn’t have any luck at all. So when a great weekend goes by we revel in it. We have been chasing a track for YEARS now. We have had a car good enough to win this annual race I would say at least 6 times, but something always trips us up. A water pump goes, lapped traffic takes us out, we cut down a tire with 5 laps to go, etc. Ya, THAT kinda luck, and every year I come home all bummed out because our car was hooked up but something once again kept us from that checkered flag.

This year was freaking fantastic! This year was our BEST race at this track ever and we will never forget it. MyRacer looks forward to this race at the end of every year. We book our hotel as soon as the dates are announced, which is pretty much almost a year in advance, we are THAT into this race. The track is big and fast and the competition is even better. MyRacer and his dedicated pit crew spend a four-day stretch there between practice days, qualifying, and other classes having their features on a different day. I make the 4-hour drive alone, our littleRacers just aren’t built for days like these yet, I watch the racing action all day, then head back home the same night. It can be quite exhausting but I gotta tell you, after the race we had this year, it felt like my drive home was only 10 minutes, I was that high on adrenaline. We started in the middle of the 35-car pack for the 75-lap feature and our car was ON FIRE. MyRacer expertly drove around and through wrecks and picked off positions lap-by-lap, inching his way to the front. He was running 3rd with only a few laps to go, P1 & P2 were going at it pretty hard in the final turn, P2 got loose, fans, friends, and I jumped up from our seats with excitement to see the action and BOOM! P2 feature finish for MyRacer!

Now I know what you’re going to say, we didn’t win, it was only P2 but it was a hard-earned, well deserved P2. It was an AMAZING finish to a race we’ve loved for many. many, years. P2 was AWESOME. There was great racing and great competition. It was something to be incredibly proud of. I teared up, watching MyRacer in victory lane with P1 and P3, having his photo taken and being given Top 3 attention and spoils. My heart was so full, he deserved it so much, he worked SO hard for it. I hope he remembers that moment forever, it was a really big deal for us. Sometimes, these moments are few and far between and it is hard to remember why you started doing this in the first place, so revel in your victories. A victory isn’t always winning, it’s pouring your blood, sweat, tears, and time into something, giving it everything you have, and finishing your best. It’s being proud of the racing you did and the performance of the car you’ve spent so many long hours working on. Now it’s time to get back in the shop and get ready for the next race, the season isn’t over just yet!