Tuesday, December 19, 2017

I grew up in Simpsonville, South Carolina.  It’s a small town that is in prime distance of seven of the best race tracks on the NASCAR circuit: Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Darlington, Martinsville, Rockingham and Talladega.  Our home track is one of the best known home tracks, Greenville Pickens Speedway.  

Being that I am close to one of the greatest short tracks, NASCAR runs in the family.  I heard stories from my PawPaw about the days he, great granddaddy, and other family members used to race moonshine on the old dirt tracks in the Carolinas. One family member stuck with racing while everyone else kind of dwindled out of the sport. I have only met this family member once in my life as I am not close to that side of the family any more, but racing still runs in my blood.  Cousin Cale Yarborough is, and will always be, my favorite NASCAR legend.
 
I grew up a fan of various Nascar drivers: Sterling Marlin, Cale Yarborough, Terry Labonte, and Dale Earnhardt Sr.  When Dale Sr, formed Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, I turned my sites to Dale Jr and his teammates.  I was quite happy, until that dreaded Daytona 500 of 2001.  A piece of my world came crashing down, as well.  I watched the next few races. They just weren’t the same for me. Many were thrilled that Kevin Harvick got his first win and was off to a great start in the number 29 for RCR. However, I still couldn’t bring myself to watch it I drifted away from NASCAR for 3 years, paying attention to the standings only by the newspaper and then the internet. 

About the time of Daytona 2004 my friend got me back into watching it and well, I jumped back into NASCAR head first. I started watching all the shows because we had cable for the first time at our house. We had the Speed channel and all that good stuff. Well, I was never one to pay much attention to the Busch Series until then. 

I started watching a weekly Monday night show called NBS 24/7 because the guy that drove the #12 Hot Tamales car was on it. Never mind he had been racing since forever ago. But anyway, this is how I began to follow Timmy Fedewa, who 12 years later is now a good friend of mine. Timmy was also the first Nascar drive I met when I went to my first race in Charlotte, October 2014.    When he lost his Busch series rides and started spotting that was how I began following Clint Bowyer. I sort of followed Clint in the Busch Series, however when he first moved up to Cup his spotter was none other than Timmy Fedewa.  I saw a lot of the aspects of Tim showing in Clint so I became a fan of his.

After Tim left as Clint’s spotter he was Kevin Harvick’s spotter for part of a season at RCR.  He moved to Redbull and then to Petty’s before settling back as Harvick’s spotter. He always knew that when he left Clint I would stay a Clint fan, but still follow along wherever he went.  Ultimately, I guess it is because of Timmy Fedewa that I have become a huge fan of Clint and see him in Charlotte when I get the chance during May and Charlotte Race Weeks.  I love him to death and I could tell you countless funny stories of when he sees me. That is how I got into NASCAR. Since 2004 it has been history.
 
A little about me today. I have two Associates in Applied Science degrees from Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. I loved living in Nascar Country and I miss it.  I graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelors in Science in Agricultural Education, August of 2015. I would love to teach community college level Horticulture and Agriculture.

However, in October of 2013 I was diagnosed with Peripheral Neuropathy. It quickly spread from my feet to just below my knees, and now its spreading further up my legs and is getting worse in upper extremities.  I am supposed to use a walking stick or mobility most times, but I am stubborn and hardheaded.  I love country music, novel and poetry writing, Clemson football, Panthers football, gardening, and fishing. My current job is Freelance Writing for NascarFemale.com. I am the official reporter for Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. I have been writing for the website since August of 2016.  I hope you enjoy reading my writings. 

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