By Deb Wuethrich
One of my earliest memories is of hanging out at a local race track. I think I spent more time under the rough plank bleachers playing with friends than up top, but when the adult feet started stomping and the yells and whistles through the teeth commenced, out we came. Especially if a certain driver was in the lead.
I saw that old car a lot in my youth. My daddy Will Brown was the mechanic while his good friend “Stub” Wiegartz drove. I guess you could say my father WAS the pit crew in those days. They tinkered excessively on that old beat up car, revving its engine till they were satisfied it sounded just right.
Nostalgia brings up these memories in sensory and emotional form now. The cheering crowds. The anxiety when wrecks occurred. The sights of a whirling kaleidoscope of colors and rumble felt in the belly as the old cars sped by. And the smell of exhaust. All these formed a pleasurable blend that would turn a fledgling observer into a race fan.
The high-octane smell was what hit me first when, years later, I broke through a grandstand portal for my first up-close look at the sport of NASCAR racing. I felt like I’d come home! It had been years since I’d watched a race, but soul memory brought it to the surface. Being a race fan was in my blood.
During the early 2000s, an exciting era for racing with the likes of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and other young racers chasing their dreams, I got lucky. The community newspaper that employed me wanted coverage of events at the neighboring Michigan International Speedway. A photographer colleague and I began a spectacular decade of work and fandom at racing’s highest level. What fun!
As a faith-filled fan, God also worked on my heart at this track. While I spent time in the garage and on track properties, He revealed spiritual connections between the race experience and living out a life of faith. These times formed my latest book, “Victory on the Gracetrack: 101 Devotions for Race Fans.”
It’s difficult to describe the fun of racing, as it sometimes is the inspiration to be found by faith in God, for one who does not feel it personally. My new book attempts to do this, however, as will this new blog as we walk through some fan experiences together, sharing the racing you love with the life you live.
I look forward to connecting with race fans here, from earlier times and eras as well as new fans as we take some laps together around life’s gracetrack.
