Drive by Kelley Earnhardt Miller

"Believe it or not, there were times years ago when people referred to me as the best driver in the Earnhardt family, which is quite a compliment.  I definitely know how to handle a car at high speeds, and I know what it feels like to thrive on the rush of racing..."
"People are understandably curious about how I came to be a racing executive.  I don't have a dramatic story about breaking glass ceilings as a woman in a man's world...I was simply born into it, and it has been my world all my life."

While I'm not a national racing executive and I never actually won a race as a driver, I WAS the girl at the track.  Me and Jackie (who coincidentally both went to WHHS and are still very close friends) were a force little girls looked up to at the track.  We were dirty, covered in track dust and oil and smoke and heaven knows what else coming off that toxic stream in the back.  Our long hair in braids, wearing pink Mechanix gloves, we were actually opponents at Waterford.  And I loved every minute.

Although my track days are long over, I still try to go once a year at least.  It's fun to run into the guys who once feared you and the cars you could set up.  I get comments every now and then on FB on memories "you were one of the best", "your Dad taught you so well", "you could make a Fedex truck run on rails". I reply with "retired" usually.  However, the thought of putting my son in a Strictly has crossed my mind on occasion.  I could fling tires and bench press a full-weight jack a lifetime ago.  Not so much now.  Jackie's old team has a young man driving a Modified today.  He won a track championship at 16.  Johnny P. is going places, you watch. And funny enough, his Dad became a teacher too.

Anyway, enough reminiscing.  I think it's plainly obvious why I chose to order this as a quarantine read.  WHEN we go back, find it with the athlete memoirs.

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.