Trading Paint (Racing on the Edge) (28 page)

Dad caught me before the main when I was lined up on the front stretch. He ran out there and stuck his head inside the car. “You got this kid, don’t think,
drive
!” He yelled over the idling engine.

I only nodded, there was no way he’d hear me even if I did say anything.

I wouldn’t say I was nervous but I was tense. The entire season came down to one night.

It had come down to forty laps. Anything could happen in those forty laps. Tires shred, engines blow, drivers misjudge and it’s the luck of the draw.

With Ryder and Justin voraciously behind me, I needed to focus so once again while inside the confines of the cramped cockpit, I was one with the car.

Giant Speedway is a 3/8 mile clay oval and by the main that night, the surface was glazed over, slick and full of ruts.

It was a night Jimi would say: “Stand up and drive.”

I did.

Ryder was all over me. I wasn’t sure if maybe he was just sizing me up or if he was actually struggling to pass. He took a look at passing me each lap but that’s all he ever got, just a look. I led the entire feature. I wasn’t sure where Justin finished so I had no idea if I won the title until I pulled into my pit and saw my family jumping up and down.

Sway was the first, always the first to congratulate me. She leaned inside of the car before I was able to pull myself out and kissed me. I froze since my
entire family
was watching but she pulled away and I realized it was just her excitement for me.

“I knew you would do it!”

“Thanks honey.” I said hoisting myself from the seat to stand through the top roll bars. Everyone was screaming and throwing beer and champagne at me. It wasn’t just the thrill of the victory that night it was finally being able to take a breath. There was an end in sight.

Ryder had become one of the best drivers in the USAC divisions that year. To beat him at tracks like Eldora and Knoxville and then to come back and beat him when track conditions couldn’t have been any worse; that was something I was proud of. I gave those beasts from the East a run for their money this season and proved to them that a kid from the Northwest could pull it off.

I may have been considered Jimi Riley’s son but that night, I was known as Jameson Riley, the eighteen-year old kid that just won the USAC Triple Crown.

I stayed at that track celebrating with my family, friends and fans until the lights were turned off. Right after the race, I started signing autographs before loading the truck. This was something I learned from Jimi.

You rarely got him to sign anything for you during a race night but afterward, that was about the fans that had just devoted their entire evening to watching him race. So did I
...
I stayed until I signed everything they wanted because without them, I wouldn’t be racing at these levels because there wouldn’t be these levels of racing without them coming out and watching.

After standing there for three hours signing for people, the last kid said what pretty much summed up the season for me and made me understand once again
why
I risk it all.

He couldn’t have been much older than ten, maybe eleven. He was all smiles as he handed me a program to sign. I asked his name, he said it was Jake. I’d seen him before but I couldn’t place him but then I’d seen a lot of kids these days. Just as he was about to leave with his autograph he stopped and smiled back at me pushing his golden blonde curls away from his face.

“Jameson?” he asked politely.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think maybe I could get a picture of you and me?” his voice was soft and timid.

“Of course buddy.”

Sway took our picture and I gave him my address and told him I expected a copy of it when he got it developed.

He eagerly agreed and then said, “I can’t wait to hang it up in my room!” he ran off to his mother after that when his dad approached me.

Right then I realized why I recognized him. It was Shey Evans’ grandson.

Shey’s
son-in-law, Greg, laughed leaning into my shoulder. “All my kid talks about is this Jameson Riley kid that is supposedly his hero.”

I smiled placing the cap back on the black Sharpie I was holding.

“Is that so
...
?”

“It is.” Sean put his hand on my back. “He just started racing quarter midgets this last year and tells everyone he’s going to be like Jameson Riley someday.”

I risked everything to become Jameson Riley and that night I did. Now was the time to cast who I would become as a racer. People in the racing community were starting to see me as me.

I will say
starting
to because the following morning when I picked up the newspaper it was packed with articles saying:

Riley’s kid making a name for himself

Jimi Riley’s son snags USAC Triple Crown title
.

I had some work to do but still, I won the title.

It’s what I set out to do this season and I did. Next season I’d work on making these goddamn reporters aware that I had my own name.

13.
      
Displacement – Sway

Displacement – A measure of an engine’s size. It’s the difference between the volume contained in the cylinders when the pistons are at the bottom of the stroke and the volume that remains when the pistons are at the top of the stroke.

I had one of those mornings where I didn’t want to move let alone wake up. But when I thought about the articles I wanted to read, I shot up with a renewed sense of motivation.

I found the daily newspaper. Smiling, I looked over the article a few times, my finger tracing over the title that read:

Kid from the West Coast outsmarts the Beasts from the East

Jameson Riley left home a few days after graduation to make the next race in the USAC Division. Having been competing since the season opener in March, he’d made all the races and managed to graduate high school. Don’t expect his dad to let him drive the team hauler to the races any longer but this kid proved he could battle all season with those fire-breathing beasts from the East.

We caught up with Jameson after the Silver Cup in Lernerville. When asked about his goals for this season he replied with “Well of course we want that Triple Crown”.

Some USAC drivers spend their entire lives trying to win a championship in all three of the USAC divisions, only two other drivers have ever done it at this point so what made the son of legendary World of Outlaw driver, Jimi Riley, think he had what it takes. “I’ve always had too much confidence,” Riley said after Summer Nationals in Williams Grove. “But I know what I want and well
...
I spend every chance I can in a race car preparing myself. I’m ready.”

And that he was. Jameson struggled in the early part of the season with engine troubles, and pushing a USAC official didn’t help his standings but he prevailed and won events like Oil City Cup, Knoxville Nationals and still came back to pull off wins in the USAC midget, sprint and silver crown divisions. He’s a dirt track prodigy from the passive Northwest but his talent hasn’t gone un-noticed where the heart of open wheel racing resides. Bucky Miers, USAC owner and World of Outlaw driver saw his talent back when he raced quarter midgets. “You know I was there when that kid first sat in a quarter-midget and I remember telling Jimi that kid of his would give him a run for his money someday.” Bucky said. “Now look at him. All I do is provide a car and that kid drives the wheels off it. There is nothing he can’t drive. I can give him a fifth place car and he’ll bring home a victory in it. That’s just Jameson.”

We asked Jameson what his plans were for the winter, you have to remember, he not only competed for the Triple Crown and won it by less than ten points over Justin West, he competed in numerous World of Outlaw events, and various winged-sprints and dirt late models, surely the kid needed a rest, right?

“Nah, I got Turkey Night planned and then it’s back to racing in February.” Riley told us in victory lane at Giant Speedway.

So what’s up for the new eighteen-year old Triple Crown Champion?

“Another Triple Crown?”

Riley laughs.  “I don’t know, maybe. West was tough competition.”

I read it again. I couldn’t stop. All that hard work led him to the title he so desperately wanted and I was there to witness it.

We got into town late last night; Jimi flew us home on a private jet because god knows all of us just wanted to get home. I personally couldn’t wait to sleep in my own bed. Not that I minded sleeping next to Jameson every night because let’s be real, I did. I missed my bed though. I had a good bed, comfortable. I was also excited not to be riding around in a car.

I planned my morning out, decided to go for a run as soon as I got up, the road trip did nothing for my ass.

Taking a fist full of it in the mirror, I admired my tan. I looked good, just with a few extra pounds.

Charlie was finally up when I bound down the stairs. He smiled, I smiled and then I lunged for him wrapping my arms tightly around him. We had talked every few days or so but I hadn’t seen him since the morning I left in June; it was now a week before Thanksgiving.

“You’ve grown up!” he said with wide eyes.

“Is that your way of saying I got fat.” I questioned arching an eyebrow at him.

“No Sway, it wasn’t.” he moved to sit down at the kitchen table pushing a plate of cookies toward me I was sure he didn’t make. “What’re your plans today?”

“Nothing much,” I sat down beside him toying with a cookie before taking a bite of one. I then thought about my run, spit the cookie out on the plate and said, “I will be going for a run today.”

Charlie chuckled. “You free for dinner tonight?” he picked up the paper, thumbing to the sports section to read the article about Jameson.

“I don’t have any plans per se, you?”

“Just thinking that maybe we could go to dinner together.”

I looked down at the paper in front, shocked to see the photograph they used. It was the one of me kissing him after the race. My brow furrowed as I examined it, scrutinizing it carefully for any sign he might have felt something. He was still inside the car and I was strained inside his wingless sprint, my chest pressed against the side. He had just taken his helmet off, his hair was a mess, eyes closed and to my surprise, he was leaning into the kiss, one gloved hand touching the side of my face.
Hmmm
.

“I see you had fun this summer.” Charlie remarked.

I slapped at his shoulder jolting him. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Have you thought about college?”

“Yes dad,” I sighed standing. “I’m going for a run before I need to roll myself out the door.”

He grabbed my shirt before I got two steps away. “You’re plans then?”

“Oh, yeah, dinner
...
hmmm,” I evaded. “Sounds good,”

“Though I’m happy we’re going to dinner, I was referring to college.”

“Yes dad, I start online classes after winter quarter.” My plan was for taking online courses because I thought for sure Emma or Alley would kill Jameson if left alone with him on the road. I seemed to be the only one that could tolerate his bullshit.

Charlie let me be after I promised I would be taking online classes so I continued on with my run. Jameson called asking where I was which then resulted in us going for a run together.

We ran in comfortable silence, both of us listening to our music, conversation wasn’t needed. After the five-mile run, I thought for sure I was going to die and collapsed in the street. I moved when I thought I would actually die when a car came and stumbled into the grass where Jameson fell next to me.

“Holly shit, I’m out of shape.” He panted fumbling with the hem of his t-shirt.

He lifted his shirt to wipe sweat from his face. I watched the muscles in his honed physique as they flexed with each breath.

I was becoming morbidly obsessed with him.

I felt like every other pit lizard out there but I knew there was more to my love for him. I didn’t see him as this idolized figure, I saw him as the boy I grew up with that over time, over the span of our summer together, and I discovered that I loved him.