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| A Night of Nostalgia – 20 June 2007 Mother Nature has not been the greatest to the race fans in Iowa, but on a night as important as this, she pulled out all the stops. Vintage race cars ranging from stock cars and modifieds to midgets and sprints joined the Lee County Speedway weekly stock cars and O’Reilly POWRi Midget series for a tribute to the late, great Kevin Doty. Kevin Doty holds a special place in the hearts of race fans, competitors, and the great people of the state of Iowa. Everyone in attendance had their own memories to reflect on. My memory of Kevin Doty stems from my very first Chili Bowl Midget Nationals when I met another gentleman gone too soon. Rich DeReu was a great man who lived to race. Kevin Doty drove for Rich in his #50 winged sprinter. From here, the thoughts and memories flowed like water. The vintage cars provided a unique sight that brought back memories for many. Having only been on this planet a mere 30 years, I suffered from an extremely deprived childhood. In fact, it was I who had to drag my parents, kicking and screaming, one fateful Saturday night to Eldora Speedway to see the World of Outlaws sprint cars in action. Now, they pretend to visit me every year during Knoxville Nationals. My mom has it so bad, when I called last year to let her know that we had a critical deadline at work and I might be missing Christmas with the family, her first response was, “You’re going to make it to the Chili Bowl, aren’t you?” This leads me to my date last weekend. How do you explain to someone with no passion for anything in life that you live, eat, breathe, and sleep racing? How do you explain the fact that it gets in your blood in a way that infects you worse than any communicable disease ever could? How do you explain that the best part of Christmas is the knowledge that the Chili Bowl is near? Then I realized that this annoying night brought me the answer I have been looking for. When I find a man who makes my pulse race the way the sound of a sprint car engine does, I’ll know I have found the one. But, I won’t be registered at Nordstrom or Bloomingdales. I’m thinking Midland Performance or Jocko’s Sprint Car Parts. I already have plenty of plates and towels. Do any of the engine builders have bridal registries? But, I digress. As Brett Anderson and Brad Loyet traded slide job after slide job like God’s paint brush painting a flawless rainbow on His canvas of dirt, the night came to a perfect end with a very enthusiastic Kevin Doty, Jr. waving the double checkers over Loyet's last lap pass for the win. I got in my car and began my 90 mile drive up the Avenue of the Saints to get some sleep in preparation for my “real job” worrying about schedules and earned value. A thought popped into my head, and I chuckled to myself. You would be hard pressed to find a saint in the pits at any race track, but I know there were two angels with us all night. -- The Mermaid |
