Page 11 of The Legend
Swaysmiled and I knew I was in trouble. Rosa laughed holding her side as thoughthis was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.
“I don’tlike my family,” I gave Rosa a bitter smile, “stop inviting them over fordinner.”
“Oh don’tbe like that,” she tapped the tip of my nose with a slice of peperoni when Ileaned against the counter, “they’ll be here in about an hour.”
I tried, Ireally did, but the thought of the oil from the peperoni on my nose freaked meout and I had to take a shower.
Knowing myphobia, Sway laughed as I headed up the stairs, “don’t be long.”
Backing it In – Axel
I had totake time off that first week in Barberville from preparing for the season tomeet up in Knoxville with my grandpa to sign contracts for his team and thenthe sponsors.
Readingthe contracts for the upcoming Outlaw season was probably the coolest thing I’ddone besides being the youngest driver to ever win Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.That was pretty awesome if you asked me.
Thecoolest part for me was taking over for the king. Forty-five seasons he’d racedin the series and now, this eighteen-year-old kid was taking over.
Throughouthis forty-five seasons, he had raced in over three thousand races, brought homewell over thirteen hundred wins and twenty-seven championships. He had won moreraces than any other driver in the series and the most championships. It was ahuge seat to fill but I knew I could, at least I thought I could.
“What’sthis one for?” I held up a yellow sheet of paper my grandpa pushed in front ofme. He sighed,squintinghis eyes before he had to puthis glasses on.
“I don’tunderstand. Do they just keep making the print on these goddamn thingssmaller?” he read silently for a moment before pushing the paper back toward meover the wooden table. “It’s the liability form. It basically says that if youwad one up in the wall youain’tgonna sue me fordamage to your brain.”
Eventhough I was driving for him now, he was still the owner of the team and Iworked for him.
“Oh.”
“Hey,”grandpa shrugged with a twist of his head, “it can happen, kid.”
He wasright. It happened. Safety had come a long way recently with most dirt trackshaving SAFER barriers just like the NASCAR tracks. Quick release helmets,advanced fire suits and new chassis that were meant to take force the same asthe wall. These were all safety improvements but things still weren’t foolproof.
Look atwhat happened to Ryder Christensen this last fall. Sometimes, it happens. Yourhead can only take so much force before it gives just like anything else. Lifewent on as it always did after Ryder and the souls lost in that plane crash butI could tell that it took a toll on everyone in our family, my dad especially.He had known Ryder since they were kids. His passing wasn’t easy for him.Personally, I think it had a lot to do with grandpa’s decision to hang it up.
We signedmy life away that day with grandpa’s sponsors, CST Engines andEdanManufacturing. Over the winter, grandpa had decided toretire and spend some time with grandma before his old ass couldn’t. Those wereLane’s words, not mine.
I had toomuch respect for the legend to say something like that.
My cousinsand brother said that shit all the time. Not me, he deserved more. Out ofeveryone who has stood by and helped me along the way, Tommy, Justin, Ryder,Cody...my dad and grandpa were the ones who had thebiggest impact. I guess that’s to be expected, right?
They aremy family after all. But it’s not always like that. My buddy Shane didn’trespect his dad one bit but his dad also never gave two shits whether he won orwrecked; just as long as he was out of his hair.
My familywasn’t like that. Either my mom or my dad was ateveryrace I had everraced in and more times than not, my grandpa or grandma were there too. Familywas important to us and with me racing in his car, it was important to mygrandpa.
Aftersigning everything, the president ofEdanManufacturingtook grandpa and me out to dinner in downtown Knoxville. Then we walked throughthe Sprint Car Hall of Fame where both my grandpa and my dad were inducted.Talk about pressure.
“I can’tbelieve you’re driving my car this year kid,” Grandpa said conversationally aswe pulled onto the freeway heading back to Mooresville after the walk through,“it’s hard to believe two dumbass idiots created such a good kid like you.”
“Why doeseveryone say my parents were dumb? They seem normal to me.”
“Normal,”he snorted throwing his head back with deep laughter, “there is nothing normalabout those two. I’m utterly amazed they made it to see twenty-one or managedto raise three kids without too much disaster. Aside from the time you threeset the race shop on fire.”
“When didthey fall in love?” I ignored the fire comment, wanting to forget my littlebrother’s moronic idea that day and focused on the love story between myparents. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen and I’ve seen it all around me.My grandparents have a good marriage and my aunts and uncles always seemedhappy. That’s not to say I didn’t see tension at times. This lifestyle createdtension and a lot of drama.
Myparents, they were different. Something about them stood out. It was as iftheir love formed at first sight and grew with time into a full-fledgedfire. A fire that burned brighter than the day they promised a vow.
I wantedthat eventually.
More andmore I was becoming curious about marriage. I just turned eighteen last monthand to me, it seemed like the right thing to do. More than anything, I wantedto make Lily West my wife. Some thought I was too young when your average agethat most got married nowadays was thirty. I was never a ‘most my age’ type ofkid.
