Are you ready for some ... football? And a little short-track racing mixed in…
By: Ron Hornaday Jr.
Fall is in the air. I can see it on the trees as the leaves are just beginning to show signs of changing colors, and I can smell it in the cool, crisp air. I can also see it because everyone around me has started to slip on hooded sweatshirts in the afternoons when we are all hanging out at my house. I also know it’s fall because football season has started. I’ve never really been a fan of sports outside of motorsports. My whole life has been nothing but racing. However, I have recently start to learn more about football and it all started with a trip to the Tennessee Titans training camp when we were in Nashville for the race in August.
I had originally been a fan of the L.A. Rams (now known as the Saint Louis Rams) because they were considered my hometown team and that is who my wife Lindy’s dad always pulled for. When we traveled to Nashville last month, Ricky Carmichael, Austin Dillon and I went to the Tennessee Titans training camp. Dennis Adcock, who is a Truck Series official and has been in the series as long as I have, came with us to the camp since he is a really big Titans fan. He and I talked while standing on the sidelines watching practice. It was amazing to me how big these guys were. I mean I’m a pretty average guy in terms of height, but the players towered over me. Dennis helped me understand who each player was, and at the end of practice, we had the opportunity to meet Coach Jeff Fisher. It was really cool standing around talking with him. I had no idea, but he is originally from the same area in California that I am. He knew all the local places and we talked about how that area has changed. I was really impressed with how down-to-earth he was and what kind of leader he has to be in order to be the coach of an NFL team. I told some of the people there that day that I had become a Titans fan.
Football has started to take precedence in the day-to-day life of Lindy and me on a personal level, too. Our only grandson, Slater, joined a Pop Warner football league in our hometown. After our last Truck Series race in Kentucky, Lindy and I got home around 2 a.m. The next day we woke up bright and early to attend Slater’s first football game of the season. He was awesome! He made several touchdowns and played hard. I know that as the Truck Series schedule comes to an end, I’m going to be making a lot of those early Saturday morning trips because I don’t want to miss any of his games when I’m in town. He is a really good player and I have a lot of fun at his games.
This past week, Lindy and I took some time for ourselves and headed to the beach. We joined some friends to celebrate Lindy’s birthday. We love going to the beach and spending time with our friends and family. It is nice to get away sometimes. But now, I’m ready to go back racing at my favorite style of track: a short, flat one.
Throughout my racing career, tracks like Loudon have always been my specialty. I love racing at these types of tracks and I have always been really successful at them. I don’t know if it is the finesse that it takes with braking at these tracks, or just the fact that you have to roll the center of the corner so well to get around them. New Hampshire, Phoenix, Milwaukee and Memphis come to mind as all the flat, short tracks that I have won at in recent years. They are so much fun and require the driver to really work the truck to have a good day at the track. I have been very lucky at New Hampshire. I have been able to win three times, once from the pole.
I’m looking forward to getting back to a short track. I feel really good about our chances this weekend. I know the team is working really hard to get our truck ready. We will be using the same truck we ran at O’Reilly Raceway Park (ORP) earlier this season. It is the only truck I’ve been able to win with so far this season. Before I climbed behind the wheel at ORP, the boss, Kevin Harvick, drove it at Martinsville, winning that race. It has a really good track record so I’m expecting good things. Our competition will be tough, though. Kevin is racing the No. 2 this weekend and he is just as good at New Hampshire as I am. Plus, we will all be racing against Kyle Busch, who has a lot of laps on the track. I know that the No. 33 will be right there at the end of the race. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that everything goes our way and attempt to get that record fourth win at New Hampshire.
Check out the original piece at: http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/trucks-ron-hornaday-driver-diary-new-hampshire