The Art of Caring.

So what do race cars have to do with cats?     The car featured above belongs to a friend.   A winner of 230 plus feature events and more notably,  from a great family.   His mother is a great friend who I have known for around twenty five years.

One thing that is always true about auto-racing people,  they are pretty cool people and will do anything they can for you and the community.   Like all people,  they have their faults as we all do.   But what stands ouis that unlike many professional athletes,   they really do give back.

Most drivers are hobbyists.   They are like you and I.   They have jobs,  they parents,  sons and daughters and they love racing.   It is not just a sport,  it is a way of life.

As you can see you are looking at a Camaro,   probably from the 70s or 80s and pretty much was the prototypical car of it’s time.    And the true history as some tell it,  is they started as moonshine runners and eventually ended up with what we see today.

I went to Martinsville last year.   When the cars were to come out,   we stood and watched as the cars emerged from the pits.  I got choked up.   There was something surreal going on.   It was like a Macy’s day parade on steroids as car after car roared slowly by.    I can only say,  go see that and tell me what you think.

Most of these drivers started drivers cars like that old camaro or they drove the sprint cars you see at the top of a Late Model.   Some race on asphalt while others on clay or dirt and if you ever wondered where drifting started,  it wasn’t in Japan.

There are several main sanctioning bodies,   among them the World of Outlaw Tours,  big block dirt modifieds,  Whelan Asphalt Modifieds and ASA Late Models.    Wherever you live you are sure to find a track somewhere around you and it is the busiest sport around.

But the aspect I am talking about here,  is the charitable nature of the community and this community is more diverse than you know.   That said,  I ran a bowl-a-thon a few years and we had twenty two race cars in the parking lot along with twenty two football players from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it was East Bay Raceway Park that helped me get it all going.   Our event was for research for Crohn’s and Colitis and we raised a record amount for Tampa at $22,000 for the day’s work.

And that is just one example where the racing community has helped and now, we are partnering with the Human Society,  a local university and a couple race tracks.    We know that vets have pets like everyone else and we want to make it easy to feed their pets.

Some times the difference between living and dying is a pet and many places understand that and even accept emotional support pets.    So,  we plan to fill the coffers to overflowing and encourage people to help as much as they can.

We can do this.   And if you live near to where this is going on,  please phone your local Pet Shelter and ask what you can do.    Many of my racing friends are gearing up even now and contributing to make this a better world to live in,  even as politicians do what they do and that is not much.