[tcoley]

Speedweeks
Daytona International Speedway

Reporter-Chris Economaki

There are 60 teams in Daytona vying for a Daytona 500 victory, but it's been a week's of practice dominated by the super cars of Chrysler! Richard Petty's Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird has looked very impressive, topping the charts in 3 of the 6 days of practice leading up to today's qualifying for next Sunday's Daytona 500! Other drivers to take the fast lap of a practice day this week included; Bobby Allison in his #22 Dodge Charger Daytona, Dave Marcis in his #30 Dodge, and Buddy Baker's #6 Dodge. In just a couple short hours, we'll find out who will lead the field to the green flag in the Daytona 500!

...Meanwhile on the other side of the country...

Riverside, CA

"Well boys, clearly, we ain't making Daytona." He said exhausted. Gene, Boyd, 11 years old, and Bryan, 15 years old, had been in the garage preparing parts for a new Plymouth that hadn't been delivered yet. All 3 knew that they still had a ton of work ahead once the new car showed up, but at this point, Plymouth was holding them back. All three of them had just pulled another all-nighter, and all three were covered in dirt, grease and oil, and needed sleep. The boys would have school tomorrow, and they would need to be fresh for the week.

"Dad," Bryan started, "didn't you say that Winston was running a new rookie of the year deal? I know you wanted to run for the championship, but can we still win the rookie title?"

Gene looked back at his son, who could find the positive in just about anything. Here they were, missing the Daytona 500, the biggest race of the season, they'd also miss at least the next few weeks-two races in their own backyard, the Riverside 500, and Ontario 500, but Bryan still found a bright spot. NASCAR was going to be so close, and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it, but watch. Boyd looked to his father for his answer, hoping all the work they put in would pay off. Gene took out a cigarette, lit it and began to smoke.

"They did," he answered, exhaling smoke out the side door of the garage, "and we will win it," he said matter-of-factly. "I don't know who the rookies are this year, and maybe NASCAR doesn't either, but I didn't see any in the season preview a few weeks ago. I'm only concerned with going fast, if we're not fast, we're not going to win s**t. That's why I've had you guys out here with me everyday for the past month. We've got spare parts for our spare parts! If we want to make this work, it needs to be a full family deal. Look at the Petty's. His daddy raced, and Richard worked on the cars, now Richard has Kyle working on his. The Allison's, those boys are hard workers and know their cars too. I'm plannin' for the future of our family boys, not to be a flash in the pan." Bryan and Boyd looked at each other in amazement and couldn't believe what they heard. Their dad didn't speak too much about his long-term plans, they had no idea what they were in for. "Let's get inside, get cleaned up, maybe we can find qualifying somewhere on the radio."