The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

NASCAR is back! I'm not sure why I'm so thrilled by this news or why it's been on my brain since yesterday.

I come from a line of race car drivers, strictly short track (or dirt track...or bootleggers...you get the idea). My dad (God love him) bought me a cherry red 1987 special edition Trans Am (with t-tops) for my 16th birthday. I wrecked it 4 months later, but that's not the point.

Once upon a time, I was obsessed with racing, with speed, with driving to my grandmother's house through a series of curves as fast as I possibly could. Facts, minute details, qualifying speeds, towns where races were held -- I knew it. I had a favorite driver (and a couple of back-ups). I taped the races. But my favorite driver died (no, his name wasn't Earnhardt) and I moved on to other things.

For some reason, I tuned in to Fox yesterday afternoon. My mother-in-law and I watched Kelly Clarkson almost flash everyone. Then something amazing happened: my m-i-l asked me about racing. My heartbeat accelerated, my brain clicked, and I started talking. I kept talking, mentioning names and facts that had sat long unused in the recesses of my mind. It. Was. Awesome.

Now, I'm itching to write, to pull out that Earnhardt-ish book idea I told my younger brother about one evening in my driveway almost 6 years ago (the one that still makes me cry), to finish this dirt track romance currently brewing, but most importantly, I want to feel my heart pump.