A Day At the Races

Last weekend we met up with some of our friends at FireBird Raceway.  Mitch and Lynda are friends of my parents and I was the babysitter for their kids growing up.  They used to bring me along on family vacations.  They had even taken me on their space needle trip to Seattle.  Pretty cool when you are only 12 years old.  Now their kids are all grown up and married.  Michell just had her first baby last fall and Justin is running part of the family business.  Mitch is somewhat of a thrill seeker and has been racing cars for quite some time.  Every few years, his cars seem to get bigger and faster.  His latest car is the "RodFather".  It is a tricked out 51 Chevy that reaches 200mph and then some.  CRAZY!

This was his third race since his big crash last year.  He recounted the story.  He flipped over the rail and then back onto the track, cartwheeling and skidding along the entire way.  To him everything had happened in slow motion.  He walked away with only minor scratches.  The first thing he did after returning home was thank the guy who had built the car.  He told us the story of his first race after the crash.  He had told his crew chief that he was only going to go about halfway down the track and stop for the first run.  He said that once he got going, it felt so smooth he just finished the race.  His crew chief was freaking out thinking that his throttle had gotten stuck.

It was a good time to catch up with friends, eat good food and enjoy some great stories.  Here is the RodFather in action.