Get Back to Roots

There are things in my life I'd like to just get away from, my redneck roots being one of them, but I just can't seem to do it!

I was born a poor black child in a very small town in Eastern Washington. Some of my earliest memories involve sitting on the bleachers on Saturday nights at the Ephrata Raceway Park while my uncles raced street stock class. The smell of burning oil and rubber, the deafening noise, and the drama - ohhh, the memories.

My family got out of racing when most of them moved to central and western Washington. Life happened, and I never thought much about it until a visit home about seven years ago. Seems the family has gotten back in to racing - this time in Idaho at the Stateline Stadium & Speedway - Bump-to-Pass class. Dig deep for that stereotypical image of a "good old boy" and you'll be able to fill up the grandstands! Here I was, building those same redneck memories for my son, who thought there was nothing better than having "Rhino" sign his cheap plastic checkered flag!

I recovered from that visit, and although that signed flag still hangs in my son's bedroom, stock car and bump-to-pass racing never crossed my mind again. How could they? I am a well educated, well traveled, city dwelling refined redneck woman ... or so I thought ...

Friday night, my husband is flipping through the 9,486 satellite channels trying to find something to watch. He settles on the SPEED channel which is showing Get Back to Dirt. Sounds like it could be a great flick to get hubby in the mood, especially if it involves a little water mixed in the dirt, but no, it's an award winning, 90-minute documentary on street stock, dirt track racing.
You'd think he would have had a fight on his hands, but "Honey, would you please turn on the Lifetime channel?" never crossed my lips. I watched the entire 90 minutes like it was CNN. I just couldn't rest until I knew:

1. If Gayla Jones, the only woman racing in any class at Devil's Bowl Speedway, would finally ask her race suit sniffing sponsor move out of her home like her husband wanted (she did, but her marriage broke up anyway),
2. If Bubba Meeks learned how to read (he didn't, but he did get his teeth fixed)
3. If Travis Pace would blow up his garage again while working on his car (he didn't, and seems to have recovered from last year's accidental burning down of the family home)
4. If Doug Smith's 16 year old daughter would follow in his footsteps (she did, and Doug cried when he had to sell the engine from his car to pay for her car), and
5. If Trandel White would get caught cheating (he did, but no one seemed to mind much).

The truth hurts, and that moment was excruciatingly painful. I knew I would never be able to deny my redneck roots - that they were always simmering just below the surface of my tarnished polished image.

Did I mention it is only 48 days until Daytona???