VICTORY LANE: THE CHRONICLES

Most of the attention from the emergency crews was directed towards the mangled car that lay on its roof in the grass by the start/finish line. The driver in the 4 car—the other vehicle that was overturned—had already been able to crawl out from underneath his car with some assistance.

The fans were quiet as they watching the horrific scene. The current series point leader was trapped in his demolished car. With no sign of the condition of their championship driver, the fans waited anxiously for the outcome.

Within five minutes, applause erupted throughout the facility as the driver was helped out from the wreckage. A little dazed, he was then helped into the ambulance for a trip to the very busy infield care center.

“That was so cool!” Jared exclaimed, with little concern of how serious of an accident it had been for the drivers.

Matthew added, “Yeah, cars running into each other and flipping all over the place! It was just like a demolition derby!”

“Hey, they could have been hurt!” Caleb shot back in the drivers’ defense. “How would you like it if you were in one of those cars?” Even though Caleb’s concern seemed genuine, he too could not help but get excited about seeing “The Big One” unfold right before his very eyes. He then secretly whispered to John, “Did you get pictures, Dad?”

After half an hour of cleanup, the signal to restart the engines was given. The pace car then led the field back around the track. Within a few laps, the flagman waved the green flag once again with only seventeen laps to go. The rest of the laps were run caution-free. On lap 188, the flagman waved the white flag to signal the drivers that there was only one lap to go.

With only sixteen of the twenty-one cars left on the lead lap, the competition for the win was very tight. The cars screamed out of Turn 4 and into the tri-oval. The fans jumped to their feet as the checkered flag waved.

The winner of the race did a few victory donuts, causing a large cloud of white smoke to engulf the stands. The crowd continued to cheer and applaud, and then after a few more rubber-burning donuts, the winner drove his car to Victory Lane for post-race celebrations.

Caleb watched the celebration through binoculars and fell into dreamland imagining himself as the driver celebrating the victory.

“That’s gonna be me down there one day,” Caleb said with a confident smile on his face.

“In your dreams,” Jared mocked.

Caleb insisted, “You just wait and see! I’m gonna be a big NASCAR driver one day, and I’m gonna win lots of races too! I’m gonna start by racing in real go-kart tourneys.” Caleb then looked up at John, “Right, Dad?”

“What? Oh, I don’t know, Caleb. We’ll see.”

Jared advised, “Don’t get your hopes up, Caleb. You don’t—”

“Save it, Jared,” John broke in, “I’m not making any promises, but if racing is your brother’s dream, you shouldn’t knock it. You have your dreams and he has his. And this is the last time I ever want to hear you tell Caleb he isn’t capable of doing something. Is that understood?” With no response, John repeated, “I said, is that understood?”

Jared nodded, “Yes, sir.” Without even being told to do so, he apologized, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” With some hesitation, Jared added with concern in his voice, “I just don’t ever want to see you get hurt.”

“Really?” Caleb responded with a surprised look on his face. The huggable child then wrapped his arms around his brother saying, “Thanks, Jared! You’re a good brother.”

Looking around with embarrassment, Jared pulled away after hearing a young woman standing near them say, “Oh, that’s so sweet!”

Jared’s face turned red and then asked his dad, “Can we go home now?”