Page 112 of Trading Paint
Now knowing me, what do you think I would want to drive?
“Probably the following season,” Dad said.
This would mean being under the reins of my dad and my uncle but this also meant a chance at my own name. No matter how hard I tried, open wheel guys knew me as Jimi Riley’s son.
NASCAR, they knew me all right, but they knew me as Jameson Riley.
“Yeah,” I finally said. “Who’s sponsoring us?”
I knew dad had been in contact with Simplex, as was I, but I wasn’t sure exactly what they had planned.
“Simplex offered full sponsorship for next season.”
I think there comes a point in your life when you realize that everything is falling into place, that dream you’ve dreamed about, you know the dream you thought was so far-fetched, isn’t anymore, it’s looking at you in the face.
What did I say in that moment?Stupidity.
“Are you sure you want me driving the car?”
Rex laughed. “That’s what I said.”
“Shut up asshole!” I snapped glaring at him. “You’re still racing super stocks.”
“At least I race on asphalt. You can’t race on anything but dirt.”
“Really?Half the fucking USAC races are on asphalt smartass.” I chuckled sarcastically. “But you wouldn’t know that because you’ve never raced anywhere but Havasu.”
“Boys!” dad barked. “Jameson we want you in the car because you have the most diversity. You’re the only driver I know that can jump into any open seat and be competitive. That’s not something you learn. And to be competitive in NASCAR, we need that. We need a driver that can just get in and drive so that’s you.”
I always knew my dad had confidence in me but I’d never heard him say something like that before. I haven’t met a parent who didn’t believe in their kids and tell them but with Jimi, he didn’t just say things to make you feel better. When he spoke, he spoke the truth and meant every word of it.
Later that night—after a confrontation with Rex in the parking lot—I was back in my hotel wishing I could call Sway. With the time difference in the states, it was near four am and I doubted she’d be real happy if I woke her up so I just simply sent her a quick text telling her I missed her. I know, pretty pathetic but I did. I hadn’t seen her in three months now and well, I did miss her.
No matter how much time you spend avoiding something, eventually it will rear its ugly face and forces you to make a decision.
I still hadn’t.
I knew something had changed in regards to my feelings for her—there was no denying it any more. No one made me feel the way she did. I think I started to understand the difference when she was no longer around every day.
For so long it was just there, taunting me. It’s like trying to find the remote to the television. You know it’s there, your searching everywhere for it, overturning everything just to find that goddamn remote you know is there somewhere but can’t quite find. Then you find it in the same spot you looked for it ten minutes ago but didn’t see the first time. You see it because you got the point you were so frustrated that you gave up. You throw yourself down on the couch, refusing to get up to turn on the television without the remote to find that you’re now sitting on it. It was there all along but because you were looking so hard for it, you looked right over it. You found it because you were no longer looking.
Just like the remote, I stopped looking at what she meant to me and just ignored it all together. Then, when I least expected it, I felt it. I couldn’t tell you if I loved her because I don’t think I knew the meaning of love. I’ve seen it in my parents and my brother but did I feel for Sway that way?
So while I found the remote, the batteries were still missing.
18.TurnIn– Jameson
Turn In – As a car reaches a corner, this is the moment at which a driver begins to turn the wheel. The timing of the action and the car’s response to it are crucial for setting fast lap times.
“What is this?” I asked examining the documents set in front of me.
I was sitting in a large conference room in downtown Charlotte with my dad, my uncle Randy and Alley going over the sponsorship for our new team, Riley Simplex Racing.
“It’s your prohibited activities.” Melissa Childers, Simplex’s representative stated.
I was silent. They can’t be serious...no sprint cars? I must be reading this wrong.
Melissa continued. “You can’t do thinks like skiing, motorcycles, or...any other form of racing outside of the car we sponsor.”
