Page 10 of The Legend
Everyonewas leery of me hiring Grady for the simple reason that our business, whetherit was JAR Racing or Riley-Simplex Racing, was family only with the exceptionof close friends and people we knew. Dad and the rest of our family weren’tsold on Grady after the mess we had when we caught Kerry stealing money from uslast fall.
“I don’tknow him but I’m giving him a shot. That’s all he’s looking for.”
Dadgrumbled something else and I had to leave. We didn’t need an argument today.
When Iarrived home, I found Sway in the kitchen making dinner with Rosa, ourhousekeeper, if you could even call her that. She was forty something woman wholoved to piss me off.
Soundfamiliar?
Yeah,pretty much like everyone else in my family so she was perfect. Rosa wasn’tMexican and didn’t speak Spanish but she liked to make people think she could.She was always rambling off something she said was Spanish but I knew a littleSpanish and she wasn’t speaking that language. She was speaking bullshit. Andit’s not like her Caucasian appearance didn’t give her away but she still actedlike she was Mexican. The thing with Rosa was that she did absolutely nothingaround our house but I still found myself writing her checks each week. Who inthe hell knew why. It mostly had to do with the fact that everyone in ourfamily loved her, aside from me of course.
Swaybarely noticed me as the television in the family room off the kitchen heldmost of her attention. I found my attention diverted as well when I saw thesegment on the race in Barberville.
She turnedup the volume when they interviewed our wide-eyed son.
“AxelRiley, you’re the kid that has taken a legend’s place this year. Are youready?”
“To racehere, in his car, is unbelievable to me.” Axel smiled my same smile and the oneI knew very well. He was excited, “I just hope I don’t let him down.”
“Does Jimihelp you?” the reporter pushed the microphone back in his face.
“He helpsa ton. I couldn’t do it without him, my dad and Tommy, all of them.”
“As arookie, what are your goals for this year as a rookie?”
Axelshifted his weight, his hands fumbling with the visor of his helmet. He lookeddown from the view of the camera. “My goal this year would be to win races andhopefully battle for the championship if we’re close at the end. I’d like towin Kings Royal and Knoxville Nationals. My dad and grandpa always won thosetwo big races. I’d like that. I’d like a few at Lernerville too. I struggledthere and to win there would be huge for me.”
“What’s itlike driving for Jimi?”
Axelsmiled softly and it reminded me a little of Sway when she was nervous, “A lotof people think I’m in this position because he’s my grandpa, which it mighthave a part in it. But if I didn’t perform, then I wouldn’t be in thisposition. It’s as simple as that. With Jimi being the owner, he’s easier on methan my dad, but also, if he’s having a bad day, I’m going to hear about it.”
Man did Iunderstand that. Everyone heard about it when Jimi had a bad day but thenagain, I wasn’t any different.
ThoughAxel had given this reporter the time he requested, Axel was losing interestquickly like any other driver. The biggest challenge, that most of the mediaand fans don’t understand, is the intensity that drivers have when they suit upfor a race. When things don’t go right, mechanical failures, wrecks, oranything that can go wrong out there, happens. What the average person doesn’trealize is that these guys, me included, are doing something that we are allfocused on; very focused on. If not, we have no business being out there. It’snot just a game. It’s a race and the moment your concentration slips is themoment you find yourself tied to the back of the wrecker or in the hospital.
If someonesays to me, “Your son doesn’t smile a lot. He’s got everything he’s everwanted. Why not smile?”
They don’tunderstand the focus that he has to have and it makes it hard when all thatintensity and focus is consuming your thoughts to smile or sign autographs.
Thebroadcasting station went on to talk about the upcoming season and most of thesegment seemed to be a repeat of what was on this morning other than thatinterview with Axel.
“Do youthink he’s ready?” Sway asked continuing to watch the television and throwingpineapple on a pizza I assumed she was making judging by all the dough, sauceand cheese.
Rosasmiled as though Sway was speaking to her and not me, “he’s readynovio.”
There shewent with speaking Spanish again.
“How do youknow Rosa? You just met him last week?”
Rosa eyedme while grating cheese and then gave me a dismissive shrug. She did that to meall the time.
Swaygiggled at Rosa and then stopped abruptly when I glared. Sometimes I think sheforced me to keep Rosa around just to piss me off.
Lookingback at the screen, Axel was whipping around Volusia Speedway Park with Tommyand Willie tracking his lap times. Willie Hamlin was our new engineer for JARRacing and Tyler Sprague’s crew chief. We stole him from another Outlaw driver,Miles Leddy, also from Leddy Motorsports who was our competition in NASCAR aswell. There was always team shuffling going on so when you stole a team memberyou better be sure you treat ‘emgood. They had itgood with us.
BetweenWillie’s drinking problem, immaturity and the ability to start a pit fight atany given moment, he fit in well with all of us and was a great addition to JARRacing.
“Yes andno,” I looked down at the pizza again and noticed there seemed to be four ofthem. “Why are you cooking so much?”
