Page 213 of The Champion
“You guys should leave.” He told the girls.
That caused an actual fight between him and his cousinsthat Aiden and I had to break up. I think I’ve said this before, but Axel isnot a big kid by any means. Where I was nearly six foot three, Axel is roughly fivefoot nine and weighed just under a hundred and fifty pounds. Noah and Charlielooked more like one of Spencer’s kids with their burly builds.
Axel didn’t stand much of a chance but when Lily wasinvolved, Noah and Charlie didn’t stand much of a chance.
Axel ended up breaking Charlie’s nose and giving Noah alarge gapping cut just above his eye before we got to them.
See, I told you our family gathering never went well.
Emma got upset with Axel, which made Lily even madder andshe replied with. “If your sons would keep their fucking hoes under control,this would have never happened.”
Emma stood there dumbfounded because she knew her sonswere jerks and couldn’t say much about their girlfriends. She hated them too.
Sway laughed and stepped in between them. Slinging herarm around Lily she pushed a plate of brownies toward Emma.
“You’re going to fit in nicely with this family.” Shetold Lily.
The rest of the night seemed to go smoothly which was anice surprise. With Speedweeks just around the corner, I need smooth andrelaxed.
The rest of winter went by quickly as usual. Sway and Imanaged to sneak away to our other home in the Florida Keys a few weekends butmost of the off-season was spent restructuring Riley-Simplex Racing.
Jimi Riley was hanging up his helmet after forty-fiveseasons with the World of Outlaws. Though he was keeping his position as theowner, he was no longer racing in the outlaw series.
So he said at least. We all knew him well enough to knowhe wouldn’t be able to stay away completely. I had a feeling if it was me, Iwouldn’t be able to either. He would still be the owner of the cup team and hissprint car team as well so no, he wasn’t walking away completely. He’d still bearound to tell us how badly he thought we were fucking up his business.
I wasn’t retiring though, no, I was on top of my careerright now. Having just won my fifteenth career championship, I felt like Icould still give this sport a run. I was a champion and in my mind, I could bethat legend everyone was pegging me to be.
With Jimi retiring, guess who he hired to take over hisposition?
Yep, the kid and my son, Axel.
Axel would be racing his first season in the World ofOutlaws.
I had mixed feelings about this. Though USAC resembledNASCAR with its frequent rule changes and drama the Outlaw series was where thebig money was at in sprint car racing. When drivers entered into that series,they usually stayed. Axel and I had a long talk when my dad came to me with hisplan.
“Did you know what series you wanted to run in rightaway?” he asked me one day when we were at the sprint car shop. I wasfinalizing the schedules for appearances for the guys and going over anysponsorship appearances we needed to attend.
“I knew I wanted to race. That’s all that mattered to me.”I told him pushing my laptop aside to look at him sitting in front of my desk.“I did look at everything from Indy to even drag racing. In the end, I lookedat where I could get the most exposure and that led me to NASCAR. It wasn’tabout the money for me, it was about beingme. My dad raced sprint carsand while my love for racing will always be related to sprint cars, NASCAR gaveme the opportunity I was looking for.”
“Was it hard for you being his son?”
I thought about this for a moment because any pressure Iever felt from being Jimi Riley’s son, Axel felt but doubled. He not only hadeveryone telling him how good his grandfather was but then they told him howgreat his dad was.
“It was hard but I think if anyone, you understand thatfeeling.”
Only another racer can understand that feeling put uponyou during a race but then you add who your family is. That legendary bloodlinejust adds that much more pressure to what you already feel.
Axel sat there in the leather chair across from metwisting a spark plug around his fingers. “I want to race sprint cars.” He saidafter a few minutes of silence. “I think that’s where I’ve always belonged.”
I knew that already. Even when USAC went to asphalt, hehated it. Much like me, his love for dirt would always be there. Both fordifferent reasons. Asphalt scared Axel, I don’t know why and neither did he butsome of his worst wrecks occurred on asphalt tracks. Dirt felt comfortable forhim.
For me, dirt was home. It reminded me of the greatestsummer of my life, both frustrating and exciting. When I got inside a sprintcar on dirt, to me, it was like coming home.
“Do you think I can do this?” Axel asked when I smiled atthe picture on my desk of me and him when he won the Chili Bowl.
“I do buddy. Without a doubt, I know you’ll be good inwhatever series you run. Go with your gut instinct.”
His gut instinct was to race.
