2011 Season is Gone...

Many fans are saying goodbye to another eventful NASCAR season, but I am saying goodbye to my first…It feels like I have loved NASCAR my whole life. I have been surrounded by it, don’t get me wrong, but have never loved it like I have in 2011. Only a few short months ago I was watching Jimmie Johnson hold up the Sprint Cup at the end of 2010 and telling my dad, “I want to watch NASCAR next year!” How could one person learn the technology of a stock car (engine parts and all!), learn the points system, memorize every driver, team and track, plus meet their favorite driver in just 3 months? Well, I accomplished just that. February 2011: I couldn’t wait until the Daytona 500! Not knowing anything about the sport, but still excited! Brad Paisley was playing a concert and we had a big party planned! From the time the green flag waved I was hooked and would never turn back…how could I have hated everything and anything that had to do with racing? I will never know! I guess that’s what NASCAR does to someone! Now I can’t picture my life without racing! I remember the rush of excitement as Trevor Bayne crossed that finish line first! The first race I had watched from green flag to checkered flag. It was bittersweet, Trevor had won but the race was over…Is the 2011 season really over? So fast? Now all I am thinking about is the 2012 season! Can it ever come soon enough? 2011 is only one of the many NASCAR seasons to come. Who knows? Maybe in 10 years I’ll be at Daytona myself, interviewing Tony Stewart or Denny Hamlin! We’ll just have to wait and see.