Some of the regular visitors to this Busch page may have wondered about the rather long time span between articles. In fact, I've been in the same boat as many Americans - faced with layoffs. My company has had three major layoffs since the middle of last year, and now has informed us that they will be shutting down second shift entirely. In between working long hours in an effort to maintain my job, and putting my resume out for potential leads, my free time has decreased dramatically.
Why does all this matter in the context of racing? Well, it was with a sigh of relief that I sat down to watch the Daytona 500. Finally, racing season was here, and there would be something to counteract the misery of the past winter. Everyone had shiny new cars, there was a feeling of hope in the air, and racing fans everywhere looked forward to putting the awful events of last year (Petty, Roper and Irwin) behind them. While watching the Daytona 500, I was actually at the house of a local Late Model racer, interviewing him for an article I'm putting together for publication this summer. Guess who his favorite driver was? Luckily, we had to leave about 30 laps before the race ended, so we weren't with him when the fatal crash occurred. We were on our way home, listening to the race on MRN Radio. The announcers mentioned the crash, of course, but we had no idea how serious it was. When we got back to town, we stopped by a friend's house to visit and tell him how the interview went. While we were casually sitting around the TV and discussing the race, someone called with the news. We immediately got online to confirm it, and discovered that our worst fears were true. No one could speak. My fiancee went in the bathroom to compose himself, but his eyes were still brimming with tears when he eventually emerged. Being a racer himself, I think it affected him a little more than the average fan.
We drove home that night in a daze, and spent the next week asking, "Why?" Finally, Rockingham rolled around, and we hoped that everyone would be able to get back to the business of racing. Nope, foiled again. We couldn't even watch the race the next day, since TNN no longer broadcasts the races. They're on some special cable channel called "FX."
