Conquests - Part 10

I have raced Stock Cars.

In Montana, people have this strange obsession with their cars. I, too, was guilty of obsessing over a certain 1957 Jeep Willie's Truck, but that's a story for another time.

The radio station I worked for had a fundraiser every fall at a 3/4 mile racetrack outside of Polson, MT. The fun part for DJs was that we could either help at the booth, or be in the race if we found a sponsor to let us drive their cars. I happened to have been friends with a couple of kids from Polson back when I was in High School, and it just so happened that one of them had a stock car they raced regularly at the track our fundraiser was to be held at. A little flirting and a case of beer later, I had a car to race... I was thrilled!!!!

The day of the event was stormy, and just when it looked as though everything would be cancelled due to "slippery" conditions - - the sun came out, a bright double rainbow arched over the mountains the served as the backdrop to the track, and we were back on! I had an '88 Chevy Camaro, V8 with a custom B&M shifter, and at the time Montana had no speed limits, so I knew how to drive a hot car.

The race began with a rolling start, and DJs from all over the region were battling on the racetrack. It was an incredible rush! Fifty laps on smooth asphalt ended with me taking a close second to a DJ who was driving his own stock car. Oh, yeah, and we raised about $5,000 for the local charity ;-)