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Two weeks ago, dad and I headed north to challenge five series in consecutive nights at two historic race tracks with several Racesaver sanctions.
Initial observations went as followed….
Wayne County – Holy shit, look at all the sprint cars. This track is bad as hell. The food smells amazing. And did one of the legendary Jacobs brothers just walked by my car? Dad and I both proved cowards as neither of us proved man enough to ask for a photo with him in front of my car.
The Wayne County warm ups proved to be one of the scariest moments of my life as practice and qualifying happened at the same time. Dad and I knew shit was about to get real and all he could say was do the best you can. I glanced toward him with a fist bump, then toward God, and closed my eyes for a split second so I could realize how bad ass life was going to be for the next minute or so. As soon as my engine caught life, the green flag was thrown and I hauled ass into turn 1, 2, 3, and 4 not knowing what the f*** awaited me on the other side.
I did alright… Cause…
I would end up winning my heat race which, in itself, paid for the entire trip in memories.
The feature found me battling in the top five all night until tragedy struck a quarter mile from the finish line, and I, a depressed victim of the situation.
Nothing was placed properly in the trailer afterwards. The jack wasn’t laid near the wheel base lightly. Fuel jugs just found a conforming location. And the uniform was still on the driver two hours after we pulled out of the track.
Man, we were pissed…
But half way between Wayne County and Youngstown, our negative expressions took a positive turn when we both realized we were half a lap away from having one of the greatest moments of our lives. Two guys from Charlotte driving a long ways North to an extremely historic track and we didn’t make fools of ourselves.
It was a great enough reason to haul ass to Bedford Fairgrounds in PA the next day. We were so broke and so thankful Wayne County paid cash. Starting the WC A-Main paid three fifty. It was enough to pay our hotel, a tank of diesel, pit passes, and some Burger King on a turnpike we aren’t sure of.
Dad and I were too busy repairing the car to be intimidated by Bedford Fairgrounds. They never had a drivers meeting or anything. An announcer just came over the loud speakers and said winged sprints heat one, your next.
Dad looked at me and said “Aren’t you in Heat One?” Yeah!?… I threw on my uniform and set my mind toward praying everything was tight.
I would set 5th quick in the toughest RaceSaver region in the country at a track I’ve never seen during practice. The crew and I looked toward each other knowing we had another shot at stealing a big one.
As the prayers went up, the rain came down.
I was already soaked when dad asked me if Bedford might give us our pit pass money back. $60 meant a lot so I hauled ass toward the scorers stand in the infield and waited patiently under a tent.
Drenched and cold, an official came by asking my situation. I told him just what I told you and he broke out his wallet and handed me a 50 and 10. “Are you serious?” “You’ll get this back right?” “I don’t know, maybe.”
Dad and I would haul ass back toward Charlotte because I had to be at work Monday morning. We made it to the Cracker Barrel on 81 ten minutes before closing. It was fun helping train the new hires.
We rolled into the shop around 6AM so dead tired. A massive hug was exchanged because we got to live a real sprint car weekend. Dad went home and went to bed. I went home and went straight to work. Mom called me at 8AM to make sure I made it to my sales meeting.
I did…
With a smile…
Because I got to race sprint cars all weekend!
Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's
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