The anticipation is in the air! Changes to cars are being tested and the smell of race fuel is dancing around again. Giddiness has replaced the exhaustion from the previous season, and the itch to be back spending days at the track is intensifying. After months of being cooped up indoors shivering in the cold, race season is back . . . unless your name is Florida and in that case you can just remain quiet, while you nod sympathetically.
Even as my fingers type the words out I can feel a bit of guilt, because in many ways I have been able to experience the warmer weather and a good amount of racing already this year. There is however a difference when you get back to the comfort of your home track and being surrounded by all the faces you have grown so accustomed to seeing for countless hours doing race car schtuff.
Without a doubt this year I have been subjected to the cabin fever of missing being at the track. It has only been 5 days, 17 hours and 37 minutes since I have stepped foot at a track. I despise that it has been that long and know countless people that it has been a lot more days, hours and minutes since they were there. That’s where the other, less loud side of racing happens, the off season. The point of reassessment. Tweaks to be made that were learned throughout the year. Reoccurring issues that now have adequate time to be dived into and solved. Money saved now invested into the upgraded option. The time that is spent grinding before gates open and the season opening passes are made.
Getting back to the track is home. It’s the full circle and heart of racing. It’s the moments of fulfillment, excitement, failures and redemptions. It’s the exuberance of supporting your friends as you see them crush their personal bests. Seeing the growth in both the large and small wins. It’s the exhaustion caused by late night thrashes in the pits combined with the summer heat that is regretfully remembered. It’s laughter caused by the sheer orneriness that every single person seems to be possessed by. It’s burning leg muscles caused by walking and running back and forth to the start line to see a friend’s pass. It’s the fine dining breakfasts, lunches and dinners shared with friends consisting of Lunchables, Uncrustables, chicken strips, Gatorades, waters and energy drinks for an entire weekend. It’s the feeling of competition caused by pulling your car off the trailer and getting it prepped. There is no greater feeling. It is the feeling of home.