Welcome to the Wheel World

Today I would like to welcome a new Sprint Car and Midget site to the web. It's called Open Wheel and you can find it at www.openwheel.org plus we have it listed in our Favorite Links section on the right.

Just got word of this site today, so I cruised on over and checked it out. I have to say that I absolutely love the old photos that have been put up so far. That's my favorite part, but look around and see for yourself, because there is definitely more there than just eye candy.

Open Wheel boasts news, photos and a message board for those of us infatuated with everything to do with dirt track Sprint and Midget racing. I have a feeling that as the weather heats up and all of our fancies turn to dirt, this site will be a very popular place indeed.

Welcome, and best of luck to everyone at Open Wheel!

Three years and 364 days to go...

Bumper Sticker Slogan of the Day: "I'll keep my money, my guns and my freedom. You can keep your change."

Ok, I gave myself one day to mourn and yesterday was it. Today it's back to life as I know it, plugging away at my job, working around the house, raising kids and trying to be the person God wants me to be. I don't like this new administration, but the only choice is just to live with it until things can be made right. My prayer is that we can do that four years from now instead of having to wait eight!

Yes, it was tough knowing that a new President was being inaugurated yesterday, but it was cool having a couple of girlfriends with which to commiserate. Made me feel a lot less alone in my funk, that's for sure! It's just weird looking around this country and not being able to recognize it anymore, and for me, that's the toughest thing to deal with. I have no idea when the moral fiber unraveled and how we have come so far from what our Founding Fathers stood for.

Do I wish Mr. Obama ill or do I hope that he is a big failure? Certainly not. My prayer for him is that he would be successful in helping our country get back on its feet. My prayer is that God will get a good firm hold on his heart and help him to see the importance of life itself. I hope and pray that he finds salvation by grace and he brings that important element back to the White House where it belongs.

In the mean time, he and his family are in my prayers. They will be scrutinized and criticized over the coming months and years. There will be danger, there will be hard and difficult work. I can't imagine being a child growing up under he magnifying glass that will be ever present in their world. I wish them all the best.

Here in my little slice of home town America, we will continue to work hard, pay our taxes (unlike some of those incoming cabinet members), teach our kids ethics and morals and the importance of serving others, and pray that we can continue to do so without unnecessary intrusion.

We'll keep looking forward to 2012 when we hope Sarah Palin gets another chance.

Where Can I Buy a Pair of Ruby Slippers?

In The Wizard of Oz, we follow the story of Dorothy Gale as she is whisked away from her boring life in Kansas to the magical land of Oz and all of its intriguing characters. I have heard it said that this tale is actually a metaphor for modern society or government and when you think about it, the story still fits today.

The way I see it, Dorothy finds her life in Kansas to be pretty lame. Everybody is always telling her what to do, a creepy old bat down the road hates her dog and wants to take him away, she spends a lot of her time doing chores and no one really has a lot of time to spend with her because they are working so hard to keep up with the responsibilities of farm life.

One day, Dorothy finds herself caught up in a storm and carried off to a strange new land inhabited by little people, witches, talking scarecrows, a lion that walks upright and is afraid of his own shadow and a heartless tin woodsman. They embark on an adventure to find a mysterious wizard who has amazing powers and can puportedly help Miss Gale find her way home. We all know what happens with the good witch and the bad witch and those creepy flying monkeys, and how, in the end, Dorothy has the power to return home any time she wants to, right at her feet.

In thinking about this story in current times, I pondered the idea that even though Dorothy was bored to death and felt neglected in Kansas, it was still home and all she wanted was to get back to her home and family. While she imagined a life more glamorous and exciting, when she actually lived it, she found that familiar and humdrum were actually much more appealing. In effect, change wasn't necessarily a good thing.

So how does this match up with current events? Hmmm, let's compare and contrast, shall we?

First of all, there are a lot of folks who think that this new administration will cast a magic spell on our country. That imaginary potion will supposedly solve all of our financial problems, end the war on terror, end our energy problems, find a solution to the imagined "global warming crisis" and give everyone free high-speed internet access, among many other things. Wow. All this and tax cuts for people who aren't even paying taxes. Who wouldn't love this kind of change?

Well, pardon me if I find it a bit far-fetched to think that one guy can do this, but hey, who am I to doubt? A promise is a promise, right? All I know is that behind every curtain that supposedly hides a wizard is just a man throwing switches that power a smoke machine and some loudspeakers. And all it takes is one persistent and nosey little dog to rat him out.

The key to the whole Wizard of Oz story and today's world is that once Dorothy realized that the beautiful land of Oz was not all it was cracked up to be, she longed for the simple life she knew. That life was made ideal by the basic tenets of life: Hard work, following the rules and most of all, love of family. It was all black and white. Glitter and pretty colors were simply an illusion.

There will always be mean people who want to take what we have, but we have to stand up for what's right and tell them to stay out of our business, the way we need to keep the government in its place and out of our personal lives as much as possible. Instead of depending on special programs, handouts and bailouts, we need to put God and family first, work hard, live within our means and help our neighbors when they need a hand.

When we do those things, we use our brains, our courage and our hearts and we have no need of a fake wizard behind a pretty curtain making bargains he can't keep when we bring him the remains of the evil witch's broom. We need to remember that there's no place like Home Sweet America while we still have our home and before we put our faith in man instead of God.

Instead of blindly following the yellow brick road shortcut to better times through a field filled with beautiful, drug-laced poppies and waiting for a freak snowstorm to wake us up to reality, maybe we should just take the longer, more difficult road around the field and earn our way back to economic stability and a better standing in the global community the old fashioned way: Through the positive example of good old American hard work and dedication.

I keep hoping that we will wake up from this nightmare and find it was all just a bad dream but it hasn't happened yet. Those ruby slippers may be our only hope after all.

Seeing Red

Well, here it is January, the garnet month, and most folks have probably already broken any resolutions they made. That's why I don't make them!

Since 2006, when we first started Girls Gone Racin', later re-named Two Girls Gone Racin', the web site and blog have been an up and down thing. That stands to reason, since at times like this, we aren't going to any races and it just seems like the beginning of the season is so far away.

With the Chili Bowl over (congrats, Sammy!) and the Bud Shootout and Daytona 500 still a ways off, our focus right now is on football. Yesterday we gathered to watch the Cardinals beat the Eagles, which was very exciting. Since the Cardinals moved from St. Louis to Arizona, and since the Rams released Kurt Warner and he subsequently made his way to Arizona, there are a lot of St. Louis football fans who were more than happy to see Cool Hand Kurt and his team pull off that victory.

It was a very exciting football game, and nearly became a heartbreaker at that, but all was well when the clock finally ticked down. Now it's time to plan a Super Bowl party and cheer the Cardinals on to victory over the Steelers. With the lousy season our hometown team had in 2008, it's nice to have something positive to focus on when it comes to football.

Go Big Red!
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Oh, and just a note to the guy who likes to send comments to the site about trademark infringement: I still own the domain www.girlsgoneracin.com, pal, so you can pester me all you want about who owns what, but when it comes down to it, the domain registration dates tell the truth. I know your real agenda and you are NOT getting my domain name so buzz off.

Feel free monitor the site and the blog all you want, leave your little comments, whatever. I can and will use and refer to the original Girls Gone Racin' at www.girlsgoneracin.com for as long as I want to. It's legally mine because I bought it and I will continue to renew it long after your little "business" is just a "page not found" error.