Page 40 of The Champion
“With everything this family has been through you onlywish that they can get a break from all this heartache at some point.” Rockysaid looking to Larry, the other announcer in the booth.
“We haven’t talked a lot about this family in the pastbut on both sides Jameson and Sway’s families come from a long line of racingblood.” Larry said conversationally. “You’ve got the Riley side where Jameson’sgrandfather, Casten Riley, who, from the ground, built one the largest sprintcar/stock car engine manufactures in the mid-west; CST Engines out ofBloomington, Indiana. Jimi, Casten’s son, followed in his footsteps into theOutlaw series and then came Jameson who has made NASCAR history in just oneseason. Now you look at the Reins family and Charlie’s dad, Luke Reins, whoraced sprint cars around the Northwest until he passed away from diabetes inhis late 40’s. In the spring of 1987, soon after the passing of his wife,Charlie bought Grays Harbor Raceway, which happened to be the first track hisdad Luke ever raced. Now Jameson owns the track and his wife, Sway, is heavilyinvolved in the day-to-day operations. Racing is a huge part of their familyand always will be.”
Rocky spoke up again as I moved Axel back to my lap wherehe sprawled out stretching after his milk-meal. “You know we haven’t talked alot about this over the years but we lost Ron Walker last year in WilliamsGrove and now the racing community loses another great track promoter, CharlieReins. When he took over ownership of Grays Harbor, he was quickly drawing inthe track sponsors and cars flocked to the shady side.”
They went on to talk a great deal about track promotersand how the racing world wouldn’t be what it is without these guys selling thesales the way they did.
Ryder showed up after that. I thought he’d be in Ocala,so when he walked in wearing a tie, I choked on my beer.
“What are you doing here?”
Ryder smiled down at Axel, “Nice to see you too.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t good to see you man...just caught me off guard.” He leanedforward and patted my back before removing the blanket over Axel to get a goodlook at him.
“Sid is driving for me tonight.” He said sitting next tome. “I leave in the morning but I wanted to stop by.”
I knew why he came. Racing in a sense is all about whoyou know. We get introduced to car owners that way, sponsors...that’s how the sport operates.
Look at what happened to me at the Chili Bowl when I wasintroduced to Tate.
Ryder knew Charlie from back in the days when he startedracing quarter midgets in the late eighties. At the time, Grays Harbor was oneof the fastest tracks around and everyone wanted to race there. It wasn’tuncommon for the kids from the East to venture out to Grays Harbor.
So every year Ryder came out a few times at least and gotto know Charlie. Charlie then introduced Ryder to Sid Donco who owned DoncoControls.
Donco Controls has been sponsoring Ryder in the USACdivisions since he was fourteen years old. Right there goes to show you it payswho you know and treateveryonewith respect in this industry. You neverknow when you could be working for them at some point.
Ryder and I made small talk for a few moments before Ifocused on the television again as they started the pre-race activities. Ryderlaughed when he saw Justin. “He looks awkward.”
“He’s looking for the wing.”
“I bet he is.” Ryder laughed.
Spencer walked into the family room where we were sittingholding Lane by the ankles. They sat down in the chair next to Axel and me.
Lane looked over at me as the race began.
“Can I hold him?” his expression was anxious.
It was hard on the kids. I’m sure they had no idea whyall the grown-ups were crying.
“He just ate.” I told him. “Are you sure?”
Lane seemed to contemplate this for a moment beforenodding. “I want to.”
Spencer helped him and soon Axel was sound asleep inLane’s arms. I decided it was time to stretch my legs for a moment and thenfind Sway. I left her in the attic this morning, knowing she needed some timealone. I wasn’t really sure what to say to her. She was only twenty-three andboth her parents were now gone—nothing I said would be comforting.
When I walked toward the front porch, I heard my namementioned from a group of women talking amongst themselves. I recognized theone as Mallory and the other looked to be Jen, our new media relations forGrays Harbor.
“How’s Jameson holding up?” Jen asked Emma who approachedthem.
Emma smiled as she always did. “He’d never let on but Iknow he’s hurting inside.”
“He can’t stand to see Sway in pain.” Mallory added.
I leaned against the wall when I saw Sway sitting on theporch staring at the driveway and listened to the conversations surrounding me.
Everyone asked the same thing: “How’s Sway?” followeddirectly by “How’s Jameson?”
