Dakota Orton is a average sixteen year old girl with her own dreams. Her mother has been raising her on her own for most of Dakota's life. After five years though her father wants to step back into the picture. Her father, Randal Orton never really...
"Brendan Riley, the star from Tennessee is in our field tonight here at Eldora."
I hear as I show the track official my and Kayla's pit passes. It's kinda funny, Kayla has never been to a dirt track race before. So I had figured why the hell not, and brought her along with me. It was only a three hour drive from Columbus, Ohio.
As we step foot onto the loosely packed dirt, I stop and take a deep breath breathing in all the smells as my eyes look over everything. That amazing rich smell coming from the race fuel that the cars run off of was always the best smell I believed. I look over at Kayla as she kicks up a little dust from shifting her right foot in the dirt.
"Where's pit road?" She asks curiously.
We both walk down towards the center of the track as more haulers come through the gate which is on the beginning of turn three. I grin at her and then point at the center of the track where a lot of the haulers or small trailers are parked. Each one had either one or two very decorated cars parked behind them set up on jack stands. Some had the tires on while others where just free floating as it looked.
"The cars only run 25 lap races. And the hot laps or qualifying laps are maybe only four or five laps long. Dirt track racing is very confusing, trust me." I answer her as we finally make our way down the road that is lined with haulers and cars.
As we walk down the road I can only think to myself, " Man, it feels like its been forever since I've been here." Then my eyes catch something down at the end of the road. A massive black and lime green NASCAR like hauler. I could barley make out what it had said on the side. I know for sure though that the sponsor is Monster Energy. We walk closer to it as Kayla continues to look over at every car. There are almost seven different kinds of cars here tonight. We have the normal bud thunder stocks which are the stock cars. (Limaland speedway Ohio calls them Bud Thunder stocks.)
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Then we have the dirt Modifieds. For people not used to dirt, they look really odd looking.
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When I first started out racing, I was racing the stock cars. Then I had moved up to the Modifieds before I went to WWE. Yes I had also ran many winged sprints. I can tell you one thing. The stock cars are the most fun to drive out of the three. Bu the Modifieds can swing into the corners at a better angle.
There are a lot of Sprint cars down on the other side of the pit area. Compact cars were also on the other side. They are parked over near turn one.
Kayla and I walk up to the huge Black and lime green hauler as I almost skid to a dead stop. My eyes stayed glued to him as he looked to be testing out the adjusted clutch pedal on the car. There was a guy under the rear end of his car as well working on the gears.
"There he is...Brendan Riley." I say out loud.
"That is your old friend?" Kayla asks me.
Thats when I nod my head. He now is racing dirt modifieds. Back when I had left him, he was still in the seat of a stock car trying to keep up with the faster guys. I guess he finally grew up or his sponsor just decided to dish out more money for a faster car. The base color of his car seemed to be black. The lime green design on the sides were out lined in a greyish color. And the number on the side now says 41x. The tail wear a Chevy badge and a set of sticker Camaro taillights. Even the silver rims on the tires had special glossy like lime green covers to go over them.
Kayla instantly walks over to the crew and starts watching what they are doing. Even adjusting the car is different then her race cars back in Charlotte. No adjustment is or will ever be the same since the track condition ALWAYS changes. No two laps are the same, since the driver must change their line because of how fast the track grows slick.
One guy was working on the little wing on the back of his car, trying to bend it at a certain angle. And there was Kayla almost up his ass, watching him closely. I let out a slight sigh and walk over towards the car. Brendan was still inside the car telling his mechanic where to adjust his clutch to. I take a deep breath and walk up to them like I used to.
"He likes it halfway. It's more to save the clutch then anything." I say out loud.
Both of them grow silent and his mechanic pops his head out from under the car. Brendan turns his head to look at Kayla and I.
"Dakota?" He says shocked.
Brendan looks at me surprised. Like he's never seen me before.
"Wow have you changed." He says. . . .
"And Brendan Riley takes the lead here in our A main of the night! Ladies and gentlemen we have twenty to go here at Eldora!"
Kayla sits intensely on the edge of the wooden bench as the stock cars come whipping around the corner again, kicking up a lot of dirt and dust. Brendan was doing amazing. He has gotten a lot better since the last time I've seen him race. He is now right on the 82's ass as they go through turns one and two.
"Come on Brendan!" I cheer him on enjoying the race.
As they go down the small back stretch, the cars make it three wide just as they enter turn three. Cars are bouncing off each other and rubbing left and right. . . Laps continue to die down as Brendan yet again laps another car. He has maybe half a second stretch of a lead as the caution comes out with only three to go. A few cars in the back are now tangled up with each other. The Saftey crews quickly get to work taking care of the wreck as the pace truck Silverado takes the field around the track on the higher line.
"This is an awesome race." Kayla says.
She takes a sip of her beer and the. Places it down on the floor. I almost laugh because of how funny she was acting. She had been to NHRA events, and she has been to Nascar. But not dirt. Hmmmm.
The engines grow louder as they go green once again. Brendan misses a shift and the car backfires loudly. He loses first place but retains second with only now two to go. Coming around the turn he hugs the high line as the first place car hugs the low line. Now one to go as they come back across the line. As the white flag waves both first and second go into turn one side by side. They touch slightly and Brendan backs off slightly but pulls his car hard to the left to dive down below the other car. Sid by side they run down the back stretch. On entry of turn there Brendan lets off slightly and rides the brake for only moments. The other car pokes it's nose down beside him but Brendan then hits the gas and comes out of turn four as the checkered flag waves.
"Brendan Riley will take the win in the A main tonight here at Eldora!"
I smile and stand up poking Kayla to come with me. As we make it down to the track Brendan had his car in victory lane and his small crew around him. Both Kayla and I joined the fun before a long night ahead of us.
Authors note: another chapter done. Lol vote and comment if you guys want. Figured I would add something a little different then just wwe all the time.
