Page 99 of Trading Paint

Jimi found humor in it and joked that he was going to retire but other drivers, like Hank Feldman, didn’t like it. Hank had been racing in the series as long as my dad but he was not about to let the kids over run him.

I understood why Hank raced that way. He was a veteran driver but no one realizes the pressures put upon these guys to race, but not only race, to win. The longer they go without a win and shoddy performances, the harder it is for them. I knew why he raced that way and respected him and the other veterans. They made this sport what it is today and they deserved respect in my mind so that’s how I raced them. I raced them as if they wereall mydad and I’d never rough up my own dad on the track for the simple fact that I feared him out there. If there was one driver who could fool you, it was him.

Sway took another break in October for Thanksgiving and Christmas so this meant she was there for the last few races of the season.

Having Sway back around also meant the women I usually found myself giving into, didn’t exist. I had all eyes on Sway these days and that scared the shit out of me after what happened to Justin and Ami. It didn’t stop us from kissing and touching but I kept it innocent as did she.

She seemed different, hesitant even. I wondered if she found someone at times but then again I thought she’d tell me. Tommy kept tabs on her and said she only hung out with girls at school that he could see. Tommy also took a break but was finishing his degree in Engineering. He wanted to continue working on my cars but also felt he needed to get the education to back it up. It made me feel better to know that Tommy was there with her and was ensuring the scum bags stayed away.

When she was here with me on the road, it was like she never left. We were back to our usual selves, flirting, touching, and teasing each other. That’s what I enjoyed most about her company. I could be myself for one but it was just easy. Even after months of separation, it was as though we’d never been apart.

Slowly my engine was rebuilt and now was time for maintaining it. Proper maintenance was essential. What maintains the life of your engine?

Proper maintenance and lubrication.It took me a long time to discover the cause to the failure, an entire racing season to be exact but it was me.

I let it happen and damn sure wasn’t about to let it happen again.

16.Tether – Jameson

Tether – This is a braided Kevlar double strap that is bolted to the wheel on one end of the chassis as well as on the other end which keeps the wheel attached to the chassis in case of an accident.

With a handful of races remaining in the 2000 season, we found ourselves in Williams Grove toward the end of October racing with the Outlaws before we finished out our USAC season the following week in California.

Here’s what you have to remember. You can’t expect a group of guys like us to just go out and ride around when we weren’t racing USAC because that wasn’t us.

All four of us were running in the top five in all three USAC divisions so racing was what made us. We lived for each race and to just go out there and hang back wasn’t us.

Ryder had been running up high on the cushion all night and at tracks like Williams Grove, that meant trouble.

“You better watch that,” Jimi told Ryder after his heat race. “That wall bites.”

Ryder just laughed and went about his way.

Half way through the feature Justin and I were up front battling with my dad when we saw the lights flash yellow and then immediately red. This usually meant someone crashed badly or something was wrong with the track.

They stopped us coming out of turn three. When you’re inside those cars cramped in small quarters, it seemed like hours waiting but when they landed a helicopter in the infield, I knew it was serious.

I had no idea who was injured or how badly. The outlaws don’t have radios so we couldn’t ask.

Sometime after about forty-five minutes, they had us make pace laps and then I saw the car being hauled away. It was the number two of Ryder Christensen. I groaned to myself knowing he was badly injured. I hated to see him get hurt but as I said, none of us did things half-assed.

That night at Williams Grove, the wall bit back hard and Ryder saw that.

From the time I was old enough to know better, I knew the dangers of racing. I was also too caught up in racing to be scared when I was inside the car. I’d seen first-hand the gnarly wrecks my dad endured and I’d had my fair share over the years as well but that night in Williams Grove scared me.

I knew Ryder well from our times racing in the quarter midgets together and now with racing USAC and seeing him airlifted away was not something I took lightly. I wasn’t naïve, I knew we could get killed doing this and I’d seen it before and I was sure I’d see it again.

Spencer, Justin and I drove up to the hospital in Pittsburg that night to check on Ryder while everyone else went back to Mooresville. They had him listed in critical condition but they said he’d be all right. Broken ribs, concussion, broken arm, broken leg, broken pelvis and broken back was bound to keep him out of racing for a while.

Dad and Bucky met us at the hospital as well to check on him and for the first time, I talked to my dad about the dangers of racing. It’s not that I didn’t know how badly we could get hurt but between racers, it’s not something you talked about, it just wasn’t.

I think that night shook Jimi a little as well because Ryder and I were around the same age.

He saw me walking down the hall with Justin and reached for me, pulling me into a hug. I didn’t pull away, I just stood there, part of me shocked that he was hugging me but also relieved that he was all right. That could have been him and that could have been me. It could have be any of us.

“How’s Ryder?” he finally asked pulling away.

“Pretty banged up but he’s stable. His dad is back there with him now.”

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