J. Geils Band 'Love Stinks'

Saturday night, I got to do something really cool….

It was Rock 92 Bike Night at Caraway Speedway ( www.carawayspeedway.com ) in Asheboro and I was the promotional person sent out there. I put banner-wrap up all over the place.

I started with the plastic fencing around the ticket box offices. Everyone that walked up or drove by knew that Rock 92 was in the house. I did this in the hot late afternoon sun. Mother Nature’s heat was wringing the previous night’s beer out of me. I can’t be sure because the sun can play tricks on you, but I think my sweat was the same golden color of Miller High Life.

I was amazed to find what kind of cars the Caraway Speedway drivers were competing with. There were Camaros, Ford Escorts, Ford Taurus’, Ford Mustangs, Toyota Celicas, and there was even a Ford Pinto.

Right away, I knew that Pinto was there for me to pull for. Any race driver willing to be rear-ended in a Pinto must be a helluva driver. That my friends, is guts.

As I was meeting people around the track, the same questions kept popping up.

“Which Chris are you?”

“Where’s Junior?”

“Is Deidre here?”

“Are you Chaz?”

“You wanna beer?”

“You got any T-shirts?”

Besides putting up some banner and meeting all of the cool Rock 92 listeners, I was to drive the Rock 92 van around behind the pace car. Everyone that had a motorcycle was to follow me for a Victory Lap.

I was a little unsure as to how it was going to go. The Rock 92 van is a little top heavy and you have to be very careful with sharp turns. I didn’t know how much speed the pace car was going to lead us around at.

We went around for one lap and everything was fine. The bikers followed behind as planned.

But when we hit the start/finish line for the second lap, bikers were taking off around me. One passed me on the right side. Another passed me on the inside and they followed the pattern that was now established. I felt like Ray Charles in a riot because you can’t see that well around the Rock 92 van. Bikers were going by me at high speeds and I couldn’t see them until they got along side me. The engines were loud and coming from all directions.

I think that Matt Sides (Rock 92 / 1075KZL Salesman) was pleased that he was not driving.

But watching years of NASCAR racing paid off for me… I remembered a little knowledge passed on from Kyle Petty. If I couldn’t see around me, I should just hold my line. It WORKED!

Everything was fine and it was fun as hell! I hadn’t ever had that much fun driving the Rock 92 van. I’m not sure, but I think Matt and I got her up to around 50mph in the straight-aways.

We did have a caution… A biker getting off the track didn’t realize how steep the track incline was and they bottomed out. That caused the Harley to tip over. Since I had to pay attention to the driving, Matt told me that it took 4 people to get it back on two wheels.

The fun had to come to an end and we were shown the way off of the track. I got out of the truck and started talking with the other bikers. We all had a blast! One guy claimed that he reached 110mph in the front stretch. I do remember him passing me so fast that his front tire came off of the ground with ease.

Attractive women wanted to have their picture taken with me and that never happens… Thank you Ashley and Tina.

The Rock 92 van did all right. She was pushing a little in the turns and she wanted to drift up to the wall but we got her back in one piece. I want to thank the boys and girls back at the shop, they do an excellent job week in and week out. We all had safe laps out there.

Caraway Speedway was a hoot! The fans there were excellent and treated me just like family. They calling me the same names that they were using on each other. I would tell you, but I can’t list them here. I felt right at home.

I’m going to go sometime when I’m not working and enjoy some short-track racing.

Oh, and keep your eyes on that blue, number 27 Pinto.