The Champion (Racing on the Edge) (57 page)

Knowing this was his distraction; I didn’t bother him and
pulled his annoyingly entertaining twelve-year old brother away from him.

“Why don’t we give Axel a break?”

Casten smiled. “I don’t think so, it’s fun to get him
mad.”

“Fun for you
...
or
fun for him?” My eyebrow raised in question.

“Me of course,” He bounced up snatching Axel’s phone from
him as he was sending Lily instant messages.

Axel snapped yanking his headphones from his ears.

“Give that back!” he yelled causing everyone in the van
to look over at him.

“All right boys.” Keeping my voice calm, I put my arms
between Axel and Casten. “Casten, give him his phone.”

“He should be concentrating on racing
...
not Lily in a bikini.” Casten snickered
holding the cell phone above his head giving Lane and Cole behind him a clear
view of Lily’s modeling pose.

My first thought was, why is she sending him that kind of
thing? My second was you weren’t any better at sixteen. If a sixteen-year old Sway
had sent me a picture of herself in a bikini, you wouldn’t have seen me for
hours while I took proper care of bleeding my pressure valve.

Now that his little brother as well as his cousins had
seen his half naked girlfriend’s body, I was sure Axel was irritated with
Casten.

“You fucking jerk.” he stood up reaching for him once
again. “Give that to me!”

If you thought I was protective of Sway, my son had
inherited that side with Lily.

In one quick motion, Axel had grabbed him by the
sweatshirt, dropped his shoulder and punched Casten in the stomach with I’m
sure as much force as he had. Casten fell over clutching his stomach, coughing
and then choking as he started crying.

I wasn’t sure what to do because really, if Spencer had
done that to me, I would have punched him too. “Uhh
...
” I stammered as I glanced between Axel, who had sat down now,
having pulled his hooded sweatshirt over his head and Casten, who was hunched
over in pain.

There wasn’t much of a size difference between the boys
and their four years and I figured that had to have hurt. I know when Spencer
punched me at that age; I felt it. Axel wasn’t big by any means, he was the
smaller of our kids at barely five foot eight, Casten was catching him in size
but still, Axel put all he had into that punch.

This was one of those moments where I needed Sway; she’d
know exactly what to do. Looking to Spencer and Aiden for advice did nothing.
They couldn’t believe he did that either and stared back at me with wide eyes.
Axel had hit Casten before but never like this. He literally punched him with
something similar to a professional boxing match.

Aside from Casten’s coughing, an eerie silence spread
over the van. Thankfully, he stopped the crying. My dad, who’d remained quiet
this morning, nudged me when Axel took the sleeve of his black sweatshirt and
swept it across his cheek wiping tears aside. I knew right then that he didn’t
mean to hurt his brother but he was also already freaked out about racing in
the midget nationals. He didn’t need his little brother adding to his already
jumbled mindset.

Oh goddamn it.
Where is Sway? Now I had two kids
crying.

“Talk to him.” He whispered slouching in his seat tilting
his head toward Axel in front of me. “And for god’s sake, comfort the little
one.”

Both my parents were suckers for Casten as most people
were. I had to admit that Casten was adorable. He looked similar to Axel but
had Sway’s big eyes, thick black lashes, chubby cheeks and nose with my good
looks. We had made some cute kids.

When he fluttered those said big eyes,
everyone
gave into him.

Casten had pulled his hood of his sweatshirt up over his
head as well. His tears were still streaming down his cheeks as he tried to
shield them from view. I can count the number of times I’d seen either one of
my boys crying and it was usually earned.

Not that being punched in the stomach didn’t warrant a
few tears but he had to understand if you provoke someone enough, they react.
Maybe not in the best ways but they react in some form. And you’re usually not
on the favorable side.

“Are you all right?” I whispered in Casten’s ear lifting
his gray sweatshirt to see a swollen pinkish mark just below his ribcage on his
left side. Axel had really nailed him. Already there were faint purplish bumps
forming around the pink raised skin indicating a bruise was forming.

Remaining slouched beside me; Casten didn’t say anything
and wouldn’t look at me.

Thankfully, we pulled into the Tulsa Expo Center. It
wasn’t even ten yet and already the day had turned to shit.

Justin and Tommy met us outside the expo center. Tommy,
not knowing what just happened, grabbed Casten when he jetted from the van and
threw him over his shoulder. Casten vomited down his back and then started
crying again but reached out with his foot to trip Axel as he walked by.

That started an all-out war between them ending in Axel
slamming Casten against a pillar outside, his hands fisted in his sweatshirt.
Casten’s head snapped back against the metal. “Leave me alone!” Axel pulled him
toward him and then pushed him back against the pillar once more. “I mean it,
leave me alone!”

Tommy, Justin and me intervened.

“Axel, Jesus, stop it!” I warned sternly pulling Axel
while Justin grabbed Casten, holding him against his side in a somewhat
protective stance.

Casten’s eyes were wide, filled with tears and fear.

Axel pulled his hood back over his head, grabbed his
backpack and headed inside the expo center with me following close behind him.

Reaching out, I grabbed the strap of his backpack jerking
him backward. “What the hell was that back there?”

“Nothing,” He snapped handing the registration desk his
release forms and then handing the minor waiver to me. “Sign that.”

I did and handed it to the lady behind the table, her
eyes focused on me and my son glaring at each other. “It wasn’t
nothing
.
Your brother could be seriously hurt from that.”

“Doubt it.”

His phone beeped in his hand. He glanced down but didn’t
answer it instead slipping it inside his jeans.

His chin came up and his head tilted to the side. I could
see so much of myself in him right then. “Keep him away from me today.”

This was not what I had planned for today.

Hayden, Andy Crockett’s, a fellow cup driver of mine, son
came walking up to Axel. “Axel, you get registered?” He smiled when he saw me
standing behind him. “Hey Jameson, my dad’s over there somewhere.”

Hayden was already dressed in his racing suit waiting for
practice sessions to begin and I could tell Axel was anxious to do the same.

From the time I had started coming to midget nationals
with my dad when I was probably eight, the excitement of being at the world’s
largest midget race had never faded.

Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is the only event that takes
the best midgets drivers from USAC, Badger (Midget Auto Racing Association),
the Rocky Mountain Midget Association, USAC sprint car drivers, USAC silver
crown drivers and the World of Outlaws. All the best open wheel drivers in the
world and puts them in one place for one weekend competing for twenty-four
starting spots in the A-Main. Talk about some of the best racing ever seen. I
honestly believe the racing seen at the Chili Bowl is some of the best in the
world.

Too bad I wasn’t racing this year. This year was about my
son who was already strapping into his car.

Hovering over him, I handed him his helmet as he pulled
his buckles over his shoulder one at a time.

“Stay relaxed out there buddy, just get a feel for the
track and the way the car feels to you.”

Axel nodded, his gaze fixed ahead of him. It was apparent
now was not the time I would be able to talk to him. He needed to get out there
and calm himself down.

When he reached for his helmet after pulling the arms
straps tight, his hands trembled.

As his dad in that moment, I wanted to comfort him but as
a fellow racer, I knew he didn’t need it. He needed the car.

The practice sessions were formatted differently for
national events like this. You received a number when you registered and that
designated which was your first practice session. Axel was in the seventh session.
This was good because it was later in the afternoon and a good amount of rubber
had been laid out on the clay.

Midgets have a starter in them with an in-line clutching
system which means they have one gear just like sprint cars. The only
difference is that the driver can take off at will as opposed to a sprint car
where you need a push to get going.

Justin found me after his practice session, his
expression both uneasy and frankly, a little annoyed. “What’s with him today?”

We took a seat in the pit bleachers.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Nerves I guess.”

Justin seemed to contemplate this for a minute. “Yeah, I
guess this is the biggest race he’s been in, huh?”

Nodding, I examined Axel’s first few laps on the track.
In his practice session he had Hayden, Tyler, Cody, Ryder, Brett Lucan from the
Badger division, Travis Quinn from the Rocky Mountain Midget Association and
the worst of all, my dad, more importantly, Axel’s grandpa
...
the king of the open-wheel racing on dirt.

“This outta be interesting.” Spencer said, a hotdog in
one hand and a plate of nachos in the other, taking a seat on the other side of
Justin.

“Do you ever stop eating?” I asked stealing a cheesy
nacho. “No, do you?”

“No.”

The official waved the green flag for the start of the
hot laps. Jimi started mid-way through the field and hung out toward the rear
getting a feel for everything. Axel seemed to do the same for the first three
laps of the twenty-lap session. Coming out of turn three on the fourth lap, he
went up high on the berm passing by Tyler and Cody in turn four leaving him in
some clean air.

Axel spent countless hours, upon hours, watching racing
and learning from some of the best around the world. He knew how to race and I knew
damn well he could win this race if everything lined up. You can’t just have
talent, not at these events. Engines blow, drivers misjudge and race officials
make shitty calls at times. It’s not about talent all the time. Mental
awareness is the key and knowing what can happen can be half the battle.

But the most import aspect of winning was keeping a clear
head and that was something that Axel did not have right now.

Brett Lucan of the Badger division was an eighteen-year
old kid who Axel hated.

Probably as much as I hated Darrin back in the day.

Brett was always looking for a fight and constantly
sought out Axel on the track if he could. Keep in mind this is the same kid
Axel got suspended over last year. This was also a reason why Brett raced the
Badger series now. Even though Axel was suspended, the Riley family does hold a
certain bit of weight with USAC.

Usually the kid couldn’t finish a race without ending up
in the catch fence so it was rare that he actually got to Axel during a race.
It was generally after the race or at national events when their paths crossed
again.

As I said before, this was a practice session. It wasn’t
a time to be battling with anyone for position and Axel understood that to an
extent. Lucan did not.

When Axel came out of turn two on the eighteenth lap,
Lucan swept down under him pushing him up into the wall and then back down on
the cushion. Usually that’s a move by another racer saying, “Hey, I’m down here
and have position on you.” In open-wheel, it’s easier to see another driver as
opposed to stock cars but you still can’t see
everything
. That’s where
we usually rely on small taps from other drivers. That was not a small tap and
ended up cutting Axel’s tire down and breaking the front control arm.

Axel sat up near the wall on the back stretch when they
threw the caution and ended the practice session early to clean up the mess. He
stayed in the car, which was probably a good thing when we heard the engines of
the cars filing off the track beside us. My dad’s car pulled up right beside
Lucan’s car. Dad revved the engine twice, before waving pointing to the track
and then throwing his arms in the air. This was racer talk for “What the fuck
was that?”

Tommy was down on the track helping Axel when Justin,
Aiden and Spencer broke out into laughter at our sixty-three year old father
picking a fight with an eighteen-year old kid over his grandson.

But you want to know who was right there asking Lucan
“What the fuck?” as well?

Drivers that have watched Axel from the time he raced his
first USAC race at age four
...
Ryder
Christenson, Cody Bowman and Tyler Sprague just to name a few. Sure, these were
my boys and thought of Axel as their own but that’s how racers worked.

Let’s just say that Lucan never made it past the second
night of racing, he had no friends after pulling that move. No friends on a
track is bad news any way you look at it.

Keeping Casten and Axel separated the rest of the evening
was easy. Casten and Cole were quite the pair together and spent the majority
of the week in Ryder’s pit—Casten thought Ryder was the greatest. Probably
because Ryder and the boys had about the same maturity levels.

After the wreck with Lucan, Axel’s patience was
non-existent.

Tommy and Greg went to work changing out the right
control arm and gears for tomorrow’s heat races while Axel stood just outside
the hauler signing autographs.

Most of the people surrounding him were the same that
surrounded my dad and me as well but I noticed a girl standing awfully close to
him that I didn’t recognize. Van was here with us, keeping his distance but I
could tell he was aware of the situation.