Back when I was a young lad, and I mean young, I dreamed of becoming a racecar driver. While that phase only lasted through preschool (back when my NASCAR fandom was just beginning) I still had an opportunity to dream I was a driver thanks to EA Sports.
On the Nintendo 64 and Playstation 2 I became an expert NASCAR driver. I’d tinker with set ups like I was a crew chief, and race like my childhood idol Mark Martin.
The one race I wanted to win more than any other was the Brickyard 400.
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| The earliest photo I have of my at Indy on my computer shows off my Mark Martin fandom in my Viagra t-shirt in 2003 hours before the green dropped on the 2003 version of the Brickyard 400 |
And why not? Indy was (and still is) my favorite racetrack. It was the closest that NASCAR had come to my hometown, and the only racetrack I had ever visited where Mark Martin won, in front of my own eyes. The Brickyard 400 is like Christmas to me; it truly is the most wonderful time of the year.
Now I have two Christmases. And so do some Bluegrass natives who finally get to see a dream become a reality when the state known for the Kentucky Derby gets overtaken by the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in a dozen days.
On Sunday, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s motor sports writer Kevin Kelly featured the stories of Bluegrass natives from Owensboro (Read his story here: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110625/SPT/106260328/Owensboro-has-legacy-racing-hotbed?odyssey=nav|head).
NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip and his brother Michael, along with David, Mark and Jeff Green and Jeremy Mayfield all call the Bluegrass State, more importantly, Owensboro, home. Only Michael Waltrip will try to race in the inaugural Quaker State 400, driving a car that he owns.
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| Reutimann runs a practice lap at Kentucky on June 1st |
“When we talked about my 2011 schedule, I asked MWR to prepare me a full-blown racecar,” Waltrip told Kelly. “When I say that, the latest-greatest stuff we have for the Kentucky race, so that I've got the same thing that (MWR drivers) David (Reutimann) and Martin (Truex Jr.) have.
“This isn't just a one-off race for me. It's important.”
Jeff Green will try to run a car in the Feed the Children 300, the Nationwide Series race.
For them, winning at Kentucky would be like taking the checkers at Indy for a guy like Ryan Newman, or Tony Stewart, who has won NASCAR’s second-most prestigious race twice.
And if I had somehow learned how to driver racecars when I was four years old, I’m not sure where I’d want to win more now that the closest stop to Cincinnati is 40 miles away in Sparta. Don’t get me wrong, everyone wants to win at Indy.
“[It’s] the history, the recognition,” said Mark Martin in 2009 when he finished second in the Brickyard 400 for the second time in his career.
Who will win at Kentucky? It would be a made-for-Hollywood ending if Michael Waltrip won. And it would mean a heck of a lot to the two-time Daytona 500 champ.
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But what if a driver who hasn’t won in over 100 races snapped the longest dry spell of his career at Kentucky igniting the largest fanbase in the sport and propelling him toward a title run? More on that tomorrow.
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