There must be a little dirt in my blood, more specially, clay. It sounds like a cardiovascular nightmare, but the point is I have always liked dirt track racing.
When I was a kid, my parents frequented the local track at a nearby town in Northwest Missouri. When we moved to Decatur, in central Illinois, we had Macon Speedway close by. Finally, when we lived in northeastern Illinois, we had Wilmot Speedway just across the state line in Wisconsin. They each hosted various classes of cars, classics, late models, and sprint cars.
As life got busy, we only went to races occasionally
Now that I live in New Tazewell, we have Tazwell Speedway just up the road a bit. Just a few days ago we made our inaugural visit to the track, which is positioned to have a scenic backdrop of distant mountains and rolling hills.
The most impressive thing is the track itself which is low and highly banked while the seating is elevated so you are right on top of the action. If you are seated up high, you can see the entire track without turning your head.
Things moved rapidly and efficiently: hot laps, qualifying, and feature races for each class.
Racing always seemed very Americana to me, with overtones of evangelicalism, patriotism, conservatism, good-ole-boy-ism, competition, and danger. Obviously, these drivers are highly skilled adrenalin junkies. The fans are too, in a different way.
It’s fast, loud, powerful, exciting, dangerous, and unpredictable. No doubt, it takes a lot of money, technical skill, and driver instinct to do well in this sport.
In reality, it is a bunch of overpowered cars being driven in a circle making four left turns. When you think of it in those terms it sounds a little silly. But so does football, which is a bunch of big, extravagantly paid, stout young men battling to get a weird-shaped ball to the end of a field.
I guess a similar observation could be made about numerous sports and pastimes causing some people to think these pursuits have no value, but, in fact, they do.
They give us someone to cheer for (our favorite driver, player, or team.)
They give us a tribe (fans of the same driver or team.) It opens up a family-like relationship, providing a sense of belonging.
Here is another example. Since we are originally from the Kansas City area. We have watched Kansas City Chiefs games weekly with our son, daughter-in-law, and occasionally, others for about twenty-five years. For several years, we have gone to Chiefs training camp at my hometown in St. Joseph, Missouri. We have bonded together around this crazy game and it gives us an excuse to get together and eat good food.
These sports give us something to cheer about (or to complain about) that really doesn’t matter. We have a few hours together of free emotional expression and community over something other than our usual responsibilities and worries.
They bring us together, providing us a break in the routine of busy days, worries and preoccupations.
While it might seem trivial in the ultimate scheme of things, it really does matter.
