Revved Up Hearts

To Mom and Dad, who always supported and believed in
me.

To Patrick and Shane, I’m proud to be your big
sister.

To Travis, I’m proud to be your little
sister.

I love you all so
much!

To Rachel, Becky, and Toni, who read this before it was done and encouraged me to finish it. I couldn’t have done this without any of
you!

Most of all, thanks to my heavenly Father. With you all things are
possible.

Wow. Dawn had watched NASCAR races on TV before, but that didn’t hold a candle to being there in person. The track at Daytona International Speedway was huge. People were everywhere. They wore the colors and numbers of their favorite drivers. She couldn’t move without bumping into someone or someone bumping into her. A man with no shirt but his body painted red with a white 14 on his chest nearly knocked her down. It was a sea of 3s, 6s, 14s, 20s, 24s, 48s, 33s, 88s, and 91s in every color imaginable. The most impressive thing was the noise. It was unreal. The crowd was loud, but the roar of the engines easily drowned them
out.

Dawn was here because she had gotten a job as a personal assistant for one of the best drivers on the circuit: Bryan Richardson. His wife, who had been doing the job, had decided to stay at home with their young daughter. Dawn had worked for the company that sponsored Bryan’s car, heard about the job opening before the general public, and got her résumé in early. Her job with his sponsor also helped her get her foot in the
door.

Dawn had hated to leave her last job. She loved her work and the people she worked with, but this was an opportunity to travel and see the country. Growing up in rural Arkansas, these types of opportunities didn’t come along very often. She couldn’t pass it up. Dawn was also at a point in her life where she needed a change. Hopefully, during her travels, Dawn could practice her favorite hobby, photography, by taking pictures of the places and people she would see. If she had time, she would start at the world-famous beaches at Daytona, Florida. One day, Dawn hoped to open her own photography studio. It was something that her and her best friend wanted to do together but that was a far-off dream. Right now she needed a steady job that paid the bills. Hopefully, the photos she took now as she traveled with this job would be hanging on the walls of her studio, advertising her
work.

Bryan Richardson drove the red and black #33 Ford. The first thing Dawn had to do was find Bryan’s garage stall. She was in front of the entrance to the garage area, but she realized that getting in might be a problem. Everybody wanted inside the garage. There was a huge crowd, and everybody was pushing and shoving. It was times like this that Dawn was glad that she wasn’t a petite girl. At 5’8”, she could hold her own and push back if needed. She finally made it to the gate only to be stopped by a mountain of a man. “Hi,” she said. “I’m trying to find Bryan Richardson’s garage
stall.”

“Do you have a garage pass?” the mountain
asked.

“Yes.” Dawn reached into her purse, looking for the photo ID that had been sent to her. She finally found it and showed it to the guard. He quickly glanced at the picture and then at Dawn’s face. He nodded and opened the gate for
her.

“Richardson’s stall is the last one in the second
building.”

“Thank you,” Dawn said as she passed through the
gate.

“You might want to get a lanyard or necklace or something like that to hang your pass around your neck. It’ll keep it from getting stolen, and it will make getting back here a lot
easier.”

“Thanks again,” Dawn said, but she didn’t think he heard her. He was busy trying to keep an overzealous fan from climbing the
fence.

This area was crowded as well, but it was a different type of crowded. In here, it was racecars and equipment that she had to look out for in addition to
people.

“Hey, you’re new around here, aren’t you?” Dawn heard a voice from behind her say, but she couldn’t reply. She was too busy ducking out of the way of a guy pushing some kind of huge toolbox on wheels. “Hey, watch out!” the same voice said as a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way. She landed against something hard. It wasn’t a wall. It was a person.
What in the world was going
on?

“Just because she wasn’t in the walkway doesn’t mean you can run her over. Watch where you’re going!” the voice yelled at the person pushing the toolbox. “Are you
okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for the assist,” Dawn said as she dusted herself off. “What was that guy’s
problem?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. You were not where you should have been, but that doesn’t give that guy the right to run you
over.”

“What do you mean I wasn’t where I should have been?” she asked as she looked at her rescuer for the first time. It was Jeremiah Jones, driver of the #91
car.

“See the orange pathways that connect the buildings?” he said, pointing down. “Those are for pedestrians. You need to stay in them for your safety. The guys pushing equipment are supposed to watch out for people, but they can’t always see around whatever it is they’re working with,” Jeremiah
answered.

Dawn looked down at the orange path she was now standing on. She noticed that it weaved its way in front of all the buildings and intersections between them. She hadn’t noticed them earlier, because she was concentrating on looking for Bryan’s stall. “Thanks for the advice. I’ll definitely remember it,” she
said.

“I’m Jeremiah Jones.” He extended his hand to
her.

“I know,” Dawn said. She had known that she would be around famous racecar drivers, but this was her first encounter. She was a little awestruck. “I’m Dawn Montgomery, Bryan Richardson’s new personal
assistant.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said with a
smile.

Dawn was embarrassed. She was still in awe from meeting her first celebrity, and now she realized that she was standing there holding his hand and staring at him. She dropped his hand. She could feel her face getting warmer and warmer, but she refused to look away from him. Her dad would’ve said it was that Montgomery stubbornness and pride. “Sorry about that,” she said. “I’m just
overwhelmed.”

“It’s okay,” he answered. “Is this your first time in the garage
area?”

“Yes. This is my first race and everything. I took a tour of this place on vacation several years ago, but it wasn’t a race
weekend.”

“Really. When was that?” Jeremiah
asked.

“March 2001. It was about a month after James Fowler was killed here. It was the only other time that I’ve been to
Florida.”

“James was the best. I didn’t get to race against him much. That was the first race of my second season, but I loved racing against him. We all still miss him,” he said with a note of sadness in his
voice.

“I wasn’t really a NASCAR fan at the time, but I still knew who he was and how his death impacted the
sport.”

“Not a NASCAR fan,” Jeremiah said as he put a hand over his heart in mock
shock.

“I like NASCAR, but to be perfectly honest, baseball is my favorite
sport.”

He leaned in close and whispered, “I wouldn’t say that too loud around here if I were you.” He leaned back and
smiled.

“Okay,” Dawn said with a laugh.
He’s a funny guy
, she thought.
Racing is quickly becoming my second favorite
sport.

They talked for a few more minutes, and then he pointed the way to Bryan’s garage stall. He told her that he would’ve walked her there himself, but he was working on engine problems on his own car. When Dawn finally made her way to the correct garage stall and asked for Bryan Richardson, she was directed to a pair of shoes that were sticking out from under a car. “Hello, Mr. Richardson. I’m Dawn Montgomery,” she said to the
feet.

“Hello,” came a reply from under the car. “I’ll be out in a
minute.”

Dawn had seen the driver on TV, so she knew what he would look like. She had been told that he was a fairly large man, but when he slid out from under the car, he was larger than she had expected. He was tall and lean, but Dawn could imagine that it wasn’t easy for him to squeeze into the window of the #33 Ford. He wiped the oil off his hands and extended his right one to her. “I’m Bryan Richardson.” He released her hand and pointed to where he had been working. “Sorry about that. I knew you were coming this weekend, but I wasn’t expecting you until
tomorrow.”

“I know, but I got anxious, changed my flight, and came a day
early.”

“Well, nice to meet
you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Dawn
replied.

He quickly introduced her to the crew members who were there as he escorted her to a semi-private corner. He found a folding chair and unfolded it for her. She sat, and he leaned against one of those big toolboxes. This one had his colors and number on
it.

Dawn was thirty-one, and she knew that Bryan was thirty. He looked about 6’3” with black hair and blue eyes. “So what do you think about everything so far?” he
asked.