The Champion (Racing on the Edge) (40 page)

Sway frowned at our sweet little girl throwing herself
onto the floor of my race shop when I took her sucker away from her. I only did
this when I found that she had been letting our yellow lab, Rev; lick it.

“We really should stop having kids.” Sway said. “They’re
out of control.”

Even though we now had three, we still had no fucking
clue how to parent them. That was evident just looking at them.

“You’re telling me.” I ran my hand through my hair
searching around the shop for Casten; he was a quick little bugger. “Last week
I left Casten in the car when I came inside. I keep forgetting how many we
have.”

Looking closer, I spotted him inside of a used sprint car
tire, sleeping.

Trying to get both the cars ready and loaded was not
working with everyone here. Tommy was absolutely no help when he showed up with
Corbin, our mechanic for Tyler’s sprint car. Everyone with JAR Racing was
always willing to help me out with Axel’s cars, I guess maybe because I paid
them too. Either way, it was nice to have them helping.

When four o’clock rolled around and the cars still
weren’t loaded, I began to lose my temper.

About the time Noah and Charlie felt the need to try and
spray paint the walls of the shop, I lost it completely.

“Sway?” I snapped pulling her inside the office, the door
slammed shut behind me.

“I’ll get them to leave.” She said when she took in my
jittery demeanor. “Are you okay?”

“Okay?” I snorted. “Those little shits are worse than
Logan and Lucas are. Get them out of here! I
need
to get Axel’s car
ready and if I have to explain to him that he can’t race because his cousins
destroyed his car, I won’t be happy and neither will your son.”

“I know
...
I know.
We’re leaving.”

Instantly I felt bad about everyone leaving but this was
important to Axel. He’d been talking about the Battle at the Brickyard for
months now until last month in Milwaukee when he flipped his car. He thought
for sure he was done for his season until I got him two more cars. I knew this
was not the way to teach him about responsibility but I also understood the
frustration he felt having wrecked. Axel never once acted spoiled toward racing
and never expected to be able to race. If anything, he felt guilty for doing
so.

I’m not sure why but I knew my little guy enough to know
he felt that way, sensing it when he would say things like, “It’s okay, I don’t
need to race,” if we had a scheduling conflict between all the schedules.

That right there showed me he understood.

Before I could get started, I still had to get the twins
out of the shop.

“I don’t see what the big deal is
...
so they spray painted the wall. Paint over it.” Emma snapped
back at me gathering up her hellions.

“Spray painted the wall?” I choked. “Those little shits
set my car on
fire
last week!”

Aiden was snipped when the boys turned two and he
realized that reproducing with Emma was essentially a bad idea. The decision
also could have had something to do with the fact that at two-years old, they
cut the break line to his truck. They were dangerously mechanically inclined
assholes and you could never, ever turn your back on them.

Axel and Noah never got along. You could barely have
those two in a room together without one of them trying to start a fight. They
were complete opposites in every way.

I’d never met kids like Noah and Charlie and I’d been
around some horrendous kids growing up around dirt tracks. I wasn’t lying when
I said the Lucifer twins didn’t even compare to them. These kids put them to
shame, although the Lucifer twins were hardly considered animals any longer.

At 11-years old and engrossed heavily in baseball, they’d
straightened up and behaved like civilized humans. More than likely, this had
something to do with Van being an ex-Navy seal and not putting up with their
bullshit.

“Dad?” Axel called out coming around the side of his car.
It was just him and I in the shop now. “Where does this go?” he asked holding
up the shock Tommy brought by this morning after having them re-valved.

I proceeded to show him how to put his shocks on, impressed
at how much attention he paid to detail when it came to racing. I also had a
feeling he’d follow in my dad’s footsteps and stay on the dirt side of the
sport. He hated when the USAC series went to asphalt tracks but I encouraged
him to work on both. And he did. Well into first season now he’d won 4 of the 5
events he raced in.

Regardless of how well he did on the asphalt tracks, he
loved dirt.

Whenever we got Axel around the track and the other kids his
age the confidence he possessed in racing excelled. He was determined,
confident, agile, and everything I’d raised him to be around racing. He knew
what he wanted and that was to win the Battle at the Brickyard. I’d won this
event back when I raced USAC when I was twelve. Axel just turned five, I wanted
him to understand how competitive this sport was and as a parent, I worried
about him. When I saw him wreck for the first time I nearly had a heart attack
and instantly felt bad for Sway and my parents if they had anywhere near that
feeling when I wrecked.

“He’s just like you were at that age.” My dad said
standing beside me while we watched Axel make his qualifying run. Dad was set
to leave this afternoon with Justin and Tyler to Terre Haute but we all came
out to watch the qualifiers and heat races.

“I know.” I laughed kicking some dirt around beneath my
feet when the announcer came on.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the announcer yelled
enthusiastically. I smiled instantly knowing exactly what had occurred by the
roar of fans in the bleachers looking up at the leader board. “Axel Riley in
his first time here in Indy just broke the quarter midget record with that last
lap. The record, held by his father Jameson Riley who won this event six times,
had remained untouched for the last seventeen years. Who would have ever
thought his son would be the one to break it!”

My dad and I started laughing.
Irony
. I’m not sure
what was more entertaining to me, the fact that my quarter midget record had
remained untouched for the last seventeen years or that my son broke it.

When Axel made his way back into the pits, he was all
smiles having heard he broke the record.

“You did it little buddy!” I said smiling down at him.

He was in my arms the second he got untangled from his
belts. “Did I do good?” He asked sincerely pulling back to look at me.

“You did amazing!” holding him at arm-length I smiled.
“You did everything I showed you to do in qualifying, great job.”

I only had today to be here and then I had to leave for
Chicago for the NASCAR race so this meant I wouldn’t see Axel race in the main
events on Saturday night if he made it to them.

Axel knew how I felt about that.

“It’s okay dad,” he told me eating his hotdog after his
heat race. “I don’t mind that you need to leave. Us racers understand.” He
added a wink on the end. He sat there munching on his hotdog with his arm slung
around Lily.

“Is that right?” I asked signing an autograph for a fan
who stopped by Axel’s pit.

Sway, who was holding Casten on her hip beside me,
laughed.

“Yeah,” he shifted his weight, leaning against Lily more.
“We do what we need to do to race.”

It’s true. It’s in our blood. We don’t race because we
need
to. We race because we
want
to. Anyone who tells you differently is
lying. Like Sway always said, the people who ask you why you do what you
do—leaving your family behind to race, don’t understand why you’re doing it in
the first place.

Our family understood.

Axel and I said our goodbyes. “You keep him in check.” I
told Lily as she smiled at my son. “Don’t let his confidence get too high.”

“I won’t.” She replied grinning. Her bright lively blue
eyes light up looking over at Axel signing autographs for some nearby girls.

My mind wandered back to the days when Sway sat in my
pit, watching me and looking down at Lily I realized how Sway felt all those
times. I made a mental note to have a talk with Axel before he took her
friendship for granted as I did to Sway.

I chuckled pulling Lily into a hug. “Don’t
worry
sweetie,” I told her reassuringly as she took in the other ten little girls
surrounding Axel. For one, I’d never allow Axel to be with anyone other than
Lily, given he was still very young and didn’t need to have a girlfriend, but I
was too attached to Lily to have it any other way. I also knew my son and could
sense he was just like his father, eyes for only one woman.

“I know.” Lily said with a smile. She seemed to
understand already, even at five.

Sway walked me to the car with Casten on her hip, Arie
stayed behind with Ami and Lily in Axel’s pit.

“You don’t look so good.” Sway deduced taking in my
appearance as we got closer to the SUV waiting to take me to the airport.

“I’m not
...
I
shouldn’t be missing this.” My eyes stayed on the concrete avoiding hers.
Casten squirmed reaching for me so I took him in my arms holding him tightly.

“Truck,” He said pointing to the car with a laugh.

“Yes, monkey. That’s a truck.” My eyes finally focused on
Sway. “I just don’t want him to think I’m never going to be there for him.”

“He doesn’t think that Jameson. He’s very perceptive and
knows what your schedule is like.”

I knew he knew that but it never stopped the anxiety I
felt when I missed something one our kids did.

We said our goodbyes and she promised to keep me informed
of his heat races throughout the day.

Once Spencer, Aiden, Alley and me arrived in Chicago, I
hardly had time to check on updates but Alley and her altruistic side emerged.
She kept me up to date. So far Axel had qualified fastest and won his heat for
his class and moved into the events for Thursday.

When Thursday rolled around, I was swamped with
appearances, press interviews and then practice. My car wasn’t exactly where I
wanted it so once again we found ourselves searching for the best set-up. Even
though I’d won eight races with twenty races into the season, we struggled at
tracks like Michigan, Sonoma, and Pocono.

Before I got in the car for qualifying on Friday, I
caught a glimpse of Alley’s blond hair in the sunlight.

My heart started pounding hoping she had good news from
Indy.

“He’s in the A-Main tomorrow night!” Alley announced, as
she entered the garage.

I smiled widely as did Spencer. “Really?”

“Yeah, he won the B-Main and transferred up. Sway is so
excited I could barely understand her.” She laughed. “You want to go?”

“What, I thought I had an appearance in Joliet?”

“We moved it to tonight.”

Against my better judgment, I pulled Alley into a hug. “I
fucking love you!”

“Hey,” Spencer slapped my shoulder pulling us apart.
“That’s my wife.”

“I don’t care, she just made my day.”

Spencer winked at Alley who was now wrapped around him.
“How about we go make use of some
alone time
in Jameson’s motor coach?”

“I swear to god Spencer, if I find ass prints on my
mirror again
...
I will kick your ass.”
Hoisting myself into the car I could hear them laughing. I had no problem with
them hanging out in there when they needed to be alone but sex, no, that was
strictly off limits.

With the news that I’d get to see my little guys’ first
Battle at the Brickyard, qualifying went well. Aside from my car running like
shit, I had a
great
attitude and ended up getting a third place starting
position for Sunday’s race. 

Yellow Line – Sway

“Mama, do you think daddy is mad he not here?”

Lane nudged Axel as he ate his French fries. “
He’s
not here.” Lane corrected him.

“That’s what I said.” Axel said throwing a fry at him.
Lane being nine now, didn’t forget words anymore, now Axel did. And Lane being
exactly like Spencer in many ways—enjoyed making fun of his younger cousin.

Lane laughed and ate the fry he threw. “No you didn’t.”

“Shut up.” Axel groaned and looked up at me. “
He’s
not mad, is he?” he tossed another fry toward Lane.

“No buddy, he’s not mad.” I told him feeding Casten a
couple fries from my plate in front of me. “Daddy just wants to be here with
us.”

After applying another coat of sunblock to my little
rusty haired babies, Axel expressed his concern for Jameson again.

“Do you think daddy might see me race tomorrow if I make
the main?”

“Honey, he has an appearance to do so I don’t know that
he can make it here on Saturday.”

He nodded and walked back to his pit with his head hung.
I never worried about how demanding Jameson’s schedule was until Axel began
racing. Jameson said he’d try knowing it was only a 30 minute flight to
Indianapolis from Joliet
...
but his
appearance was at the same time as the main events. The chance of him sneaking
away was slim.

I sent him a text Friday afternoon before Axel started
the B-Main.

I
miss you
...
but I think your
little buddy misses you more.

I then clicked a picture of Axel sitting in his car and
sent it to him.

It took Jameson two hours before he replied with:
What about the other
two? They don’t miss me? And what about mama, she don’t miss her dirty heathen.
He misses her!

I laughed and responded while watching Emma try to find
Charlie inside Axel’s trailer we used to haul his midget.

I
think they miss you but Arie is entertained with your mom and making signs for the
fan club they created for him. I don’t think Casten even knows your gone.
Sorry. He’s more entertained by all the dirt and the people.