The Suite Life of Thelma & Louise

(Val) Last week when the idea for our trip down to Wheatland was first discussed, I started calling Spring “Thelma” in my emails, and signing them “Louise.” I knew that our trip would be nothing like that infamous journey, despite the fact that we would come very close to Brad Pitt’s hometown, yet the idea of taking our first Girls Gone Racin’ road trip with just us two girls held mighty appeal for my adventurous spirit.

I know that the story of our trip to Lucas Oil Speedway must seem to keep dragging on for some of you, but there is just so much to say. We spent a total of 21 hours away from home, eight of which were on the road, and slept only 2 and a half of those, so we girls had a lot of time to talk. In fact, by the time I finally fell asleep last night, I had come very close to losing my voice. By the way, I’m sure the people in the other half of the cabin were probably not very happy about sharing such close quarters with two mysterious guests who showed up way after midnight and left before the sun had made an appearance. We really did try to be quiet, but I’m sure they had to have heard us hauling all of that camera and computer equipment across the porch.

As is the case after many great nights of racing, it takes me a long time to unwind enough to finally fall asleep. There is just such an adrenaline rush that occurs when one watches a close race, and the Sprint Car racing at LOS was VERY close. Josh Wise and Jerry Coons, Jr. duked it out lap after lap and used every inch of that track to get the job done. I can only imagine the kind of high a driver must feel after being involved in a race like that, despite the order that you finish. Of course every driver wants to win, but to get to put a car through its paces like that in close competition with another driver of equal caliber just has to feel good.

What truly amazes me when I watch these guys drive is how they finesse the throttle, saw on the wheel and manage the brakes in the perfect combination that sends them right to the edge of the line of danger without sending them over it into disaster. When that front tire lifts as they go through a corner, it is like watching a perfectly choreographed ballet. You don’t get that kind of grace and style in any other kind of racing.


Right now it’s Saturday night and I’m kind of halfway watching the Cup race on TV as I type this. It’s just funny to me the amazing difference between the race on TV and the one we saw last night. It doesn’t take a whole lot of thought to figure out why so many of the guys who make it to the Big Show, spend their off nights at dirt tracks behind the wheel of a Sprint Car or Late Model. And why guys like Ken Schraeder, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Tony Stewart own Sprint Car teams or race tracks, or both. They obviously want to get back to their roots and experience the kinds of thrills that they knew as they were working their way up, and they want to be sure that kind of racing is still around for the next generation of drivers and fans.

I told Spring last night that I can’t imagine being someone who was raised on Cup racing, and has never gone to a local dirt track. They have no idea what they are missing! I admire those drivers who remember where they came from and I hope they are successful in bringing new fans into the fold.

Right now I am so tired that I know if I were to lie down and close my eyes, I’d be asleep in less than half a second yet it’s only 8:30 and it seems a shame to waste a perfectly good Saturday night in slumberland.

After arriving home this morning and transferring Spring’s belongings into her car, I headed over to my Dad’s to lend a hand. Two big trees needed to come down in his back yard, so we spent the better part of the day holding lead ropes and gathering felled brush into piles. It was warm, and I was already tired, so the 4 hour drive combined with all that physical labor has me pretty wiped out. But all I can think of is the fact that at this moment Spring is still working on a wedding shoot and has about an hour and a half to go. With the little sleep that she’s gotten already this week, that poor girl ought to be ready drop when she gets in the door.

Funny thing is, if I was a betting woman, I’d put money on her to stay up looking at the photos she took at the wedding, or the ones she shot last night at the races. She’ll be analyzing and playing with different artistic effects and driving herself nuts trying to make each photo perfect. Spring is driven to do her job well, and it shows in everything she does. She has a passion for her work, much like the passion that I see in the eyes of the drivers we meet at every track we visit.

Passion is easy to spot. There is intensity in a person’s eyes, a spirit of determination that is unmistakable. You can hear it in their voice when they talk about that one thing that they love to do above all others. How fortunate are the few who have the privilege of making a living doing that about which they feel truly passionate.

That’s what I love about meeting the drivers, teams and people behind the scenes in racing. Every one of them has one thing in common: A passion for racing. We hope that through the words and pictures we post on GGR and in this blog, we can help to feed that passion.