The Streak is Over!
Hemby Bridge, NC – Brandon McLain, me, has been coming to the “Speedway of the Carolinas”, aka Carolina Speedway, since 2003 and never once, not even one time, seen the feature checkered flag.
Since his Junior year of college, Brandon (myself) has blown a tire coming out of four, destroyed a rearend on the backstretch, slung a rod over the front stretch grandstands, lost torsion stops coming out of two, rode a left rear going into one, and ran out of tear offs running over infield tires entering three.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, thirteen years later, I… I mean Brandon finally put all his ducks in a row… Not really sure what that means. I mean, why do you really want ducks to be in a row. Is it a momentum thing or something, or do they just look cute that way? So confusing…
Practice saw me 6th fastest, just a mere eight seconds behind fast timer, Trey Starks. Heat Two saw me finishing sixth, wondering why legends like Terry Gray and Danny Smith run so much harder in heat races than practice… Local legend Bridges outside pass made me contemplate my place in life just a few seconds before Smith’s visor covering slide job put me in my place.
O’Shields made sure he came to my trailer three, maybe four times, to let me know I was starting near the rear. I told him I appreciated his service in the Marines, but if he came in my trailer one more time to tell me I’m starting last, we’re gonna have problems… I’d like to think he respected my patriotism and he didn’t bother me the rest of the night.
Feature time came and hard fought battles were had with everyone near me, whether they thought I was racing them hard or had no clue what I was doing! I put up a good fight...
When Danny Smith and Super Dave were waving big checks and bigger trophies in victory lane, a quarter-mile away, Brandon McLain was high fiving extremely random people who had no clue what the hell was going on!
I finished a race at Carolina Speedway BABY!!!
Only took me thirteen years! Never give up on your dreams!
((Mic Drop))