My Introduction to Motorsports

When we moved into our Statesville home I had reservations. A corner lot with immature foundation plantings and Bradford pear trees, a maple and in the backyard there was a little oak tree. If you looked out the back door across the deck you saw the tree line that defined the perimeter of our lot. To the left of the oak you noticed a weed covered bank that had difficulty supporting enough topsoil to sustain much else. The view to the right was an unobstructed view of the street and our neighbors. The front yard view from the driveway to our right was of our next door neighbor’s yard and driveway and into a carport where apparently all of the family overflow storage took place. A decrepit Volkswagen beetle of early vintage painted in that faded anti- social orange color of the mid sixties had taken up permanent residence more or less beneath a rust encrusted basketball goal to complete the picture. Activities in that driveway mainly consisted of shuffling vehicles into the street as the residents and their progeny parked and unparked their fleet of operable vehicles. Occasionally the boys would start a lawnmower. This activity was applied inconsistently during the mowing season. Home sweet home.

On the occasion of a decision by the local mental health authority to locate a small group home for the adult mentally handicapped on the lot directly behind our house, we determined a need existed for some additional landscaping on our part if we were to coexist. The plan was hatched as we watched the woods behind our house disappear, replaced by a vacant lot of red clay. What fun. I can’t recall exactly what force of nature impacted our decision to make the call, but I do rather precisely remember that the red dust clouds thrown up in rooster tails from my garden tractor hung in a rusty haze over our corner of the world every time I groomed the lawn out back. Combined with the tree pollen, the arrival of spring brought joy unspeakable.

We decided to take advantage of the expertise of our friend David who lived down the street from us. David is a very successful real estate developer and has connections throughout the industry. David would know who could get a plan worked up for dealing with the development of the property behind ours.

We had several parameters for the design. Neither of us has been impressed with the quality of fences and fence materials we’ve seen in Statesville, and fences really were not characteristic in our neighborhood. We determined that we wanted a visual barrier nonetheless and we needed to plan for our privacy. A vegetative screen was the logical answer and would also provide a backdrop for any landscaping to follow. We did not wish to completely isolate ourselves from the new neighbors with the planting group or convey the notion that we were shutting them out of our lives completely, so we planned an opening in the middle section of the screen. How it would be used we could determine later. We wanted to enhance the space and maximize the appeal of outdoor use year round. The house had a two tiered deck with steps into the yard space which provided a transitional structure to the outdoors. We enjoy plants, and we wanted to have beds for our flowers of choice. We also wished to have privacy from the street, so the screen would flow from the rear property line to the corner next to the street and alongside to the rear corner of the house.

Ed Evans came out and looked the site over, making notes of the features of the property. He took into his consideration the sizes of the existing plants and their growth habits and future scale. He even noted maintenance issues when he found things that he felt would need our attention before or during the process, as these could affect our budgeting and implementation efforts. Ed interviewed Elaine and me separately and together. We shared our preferences in terms of upkeep and maintenance, favorite varieties of plants, expectations as to scale and expense, and vision for the finished product. Ed was able to give specific recommendations as to certain varieties to be included and compatibility with plantings elsewhere in the neighborhood since he had made some observations in his drive through before coming out to our home. Then he arranged to return within a week or two and take measurements, making a site map taking specific note of the orientation of the lot and so forth. This would lead to a working set of blueprints which we would have for the actual installation process.

As he was taking his walk around the front of the house Ed noted the red ’92 Miata in
our garage. The conversation from that point turned to our sports cars. Ed had driven up in his white RX7 convertible and as we spoke further he shared that he was a member of the regional chapter of the Sports Car Club of America. When Ed asked me if I ever considered racing I told him about my fondness for road racing but I wasn’t keen on Nascar. Ed asked me if I’d like to come as his guest to the SCCA “June Jam” races being held at the Charlotte Lowe’s Motor Speedway and I got weak in the knees. “Absolutely” I said, while the little boy inside my head jumped up and down, turned cartwheels and hugged Ed’s neck. It was all set. We would meet at the back entrance to the speedway, I’d get my weekend credentials and we would proceed to the infield to get our work assignments. SCCA is a club, and all participants also work the course or assist with setup, safety, grid, whatever all it takes to put on a big road race event. Since I was not a member I could sign the waiver and basically just watch. I only had to show up dressed in white from head to toe so I’d not be mistaken for a non- waivered spectator, as they are not allowed in the infield.

The day came and I was excited. I signed the waiver, collected my pass, and off we went to the infield. Emerging from the tunnel I could already hear cars whizzing around the course doing their practice sessions. As I ambled through the paddock and observed all of the trailers and cars, I crossed over to the garages and thought to myself “This is going to be one great day.” The sights and sounds of race day preparations were all around us. The smell of fresh rubber and pneumatic wrenches as tires were changed, the smell of motor oil, exhaust and gasoline wafting through the air on the breeze, all combined to pump the adrenalin in anticipation.

Ed was a wonderful host. He introduced me around as he greeted the safety staff and his fellow racers, and all the while he was explaining various aspects of how the event would be run and what we would be doing, where I could go to watch and what to expect. He talked about my personal safety and told me never to turn my back on a moving car, and even checked to make sure I had brought sun screen. As long as I minded what I was doing I basically had the run of the place. I could roam the garages and the pits, ask questions, talk to the drivers, pretty much anything I wanted. Since I was there as an observer and not a competitor I wouldn’t be asked to work. If I wanted I could even go up in the Timing tower and sit in air conditioned comfort while sipping a complimentary soft drink.

I felt like these guys were my kind of people.

What a terrific day it turned out to be. The weather was ideal, although out on the grid and the track the heat of the sun radiated back up from the asphalt like an oven. After the morning practice sessions were run, the course workers and the crews came in for lunch in the garage area. There were more than enough drinks and sandwiches and all the fixings to go around, and I was invited to join Ed with some of his buddies for lunch. There was a lot of friendly smack- talking and good-natured joking around among drivers and the volunteer crews. There were also serious conversations about car setup and mechanical issues that had come up during practice, and the occasional announcement over the loudspeaker about run groups and worker assignments and the like.

After lunch was over the event went into high gear and things started happening pretty quickly. And I found that I was going to be allowed what I considered to be an opportunity for a lifetime. I would be allowed to join the crew behind the tire wall at Turn 1- the work position at the lower end of the front straight where the traffic dives into the road course!

Turn 1 is one of the hottest corners on course for several reasons. As the cars come off of the banking in Turn 4 of the oval, they are at full speed sometimes as many as four abreast. Most of that speed has to be scrubbed off under hard braking to manage the transition into the road course through the narrow chute of Turn 1. As I found on the very first lap after the rolling start on the back straight, some drivers were more successful managing their speed than others! On that first lap the sight of a pack of sports cars roaring straight toward you at full chat four abreast immediately sends your body into fight or flight mode. Your mind short circuits for an instant as you realize the front runners cannot possibly slow down in time to enter the bottleneck without squeezing someone out! They just can’t!

Well, mostly they succeeded. There were only a couple of mishaps that occurred at our corner early on, probably attributable to cold tires and driver error. And I didn’t soil my whites.