Page 10 of Dirt Driven

“Yep. She’s a stress ball 90 percent of the time. And Caden is the exact opposite. He never worries, about anything. Even if he didn’t know where he’d sleep tomorrow, I don’t think it would faze him.”

I laughed. “I kinda gathered that when he zip-tied the air ride in your motor home with a spoon.”

“Right? He does that all the time. Not a care in the world.” And then she snorted. “But racing.”

My attention diverted to the track when the flag dropped and Easton was all over Rager.

“Just imagine how our opening ceremonies are going to go with the fire line,” Kinsley pointed out.

A lump lodged its way in my throat, the rumbling of the cars shaking the grandstands we were in as they hit the throttle halfway through turn four.

Since the start of the season in Volusia, we’d been doing the opening ceremonies with the top ten drivers standing in a row of fire. So far it proved to be interesting to the fans and annoying for the drivers. Last week the fans found out methanol near fire—bad idea—burns clear so you didn’t know that you were on fire, but you were. Casten decided to pour it on Axel’s leg prior to introductions.

Don’t worry. Axel survived with minor hair loss on his leg and a new driver’s suit. Now we have a rule where they have to stand back from the fire at least five feet and Casten wasn’t allowed to stand next to Axel. Or Rager. Or Dad. He stood alone for the most part.

All that aside, I was glad Easton wasn’t in the points battle with the Outlaws because I could imagine what Rager would do to him with fire present. Probably shove him headfirst into it.

Despite my anticipation for driver introductions going badly, it went smoothly. Obviously it was only the top ten drivers in the points battle, but seeing how Easton was a big deal with NASCAR, they introduced him too. I kept my eyes on Rager the entire time, surrounded in fire and “Ladies and Gentlemen” blaring through the stands.

Kinsley snorted beside me, her elbow meeting mine. “Think he’s tempted to push Easton into the fire?”

I watched the smoke rising and my husband standing there stone-faced with his hands hanging on his hips. “Oh yeah.”

They introduced each driver but I paid special attention to my husband’s name and the way it sent a thrill through me as usual. “Starting second tonight from Bartlett Tennessee, the Solar Seals number ninety-nine, RagerThe Sweet SpotSweet!”

Kinsley and I cheered for him, as did the rest of the crowd but for some reason, I kept my attention on Easton’s reaction to my Rager getting a standing ovation from the fans in attendance. He walked away, much like he did from my life five years ago.

WHILE THE HEATSand the dash went smoothly, the main event did not.

Because of the pill draw, Rager and Easton were on the front row together, side by side.

Kinsley sighed beside me. “I’m nervous.”

I scrolled through the JAR Racing Twitter feed and clicked on the icon to post the starting order for the main. “For Caden?”

She laughed. “No. For Rager.”

I looked up to see the shiny wings reflecting off the track lights as they shuffled around to the four-wide formation they did at the start of the A-Main. “You and me both.”

Jerry’s voice came through the loud speakers. “They make their way into turn three and as they reach corner number four they get the signal to show you the most awesome sight in all of motorsports.”

The crowd stood, cheering as “Sirius” began to play.

“The greatest sprint car drivers in the worldfour-wide, this is their salute. The drivers are thanking you for your attendance this evening and ladies and gentleman in return we’d like you tostandand when they come out of turn number four we want them to be able to hear you over the rumble of those nine hundred horse power engines,” Jerry said. My heart pumped in my chest a little louder as I watched the cars, four-wide, the engines rumbling the stands. “Las Vegas Motor Speedway, you wanted the best, you got em four abreast, often imitated,never duplicated, the greatest show on dirt, the world of outlaws!”

Another part of the night I will never tire of hearing, nor will I ever see the image before me enough. My husband, dad, brothers, all on the track together living out their dreams racing on the edge.

The opening laps were caution filled from drivers in the back but once they got green, Rager got a jump on him early on, but Easton certainly didn’t back down to the defending World of Outlaw champion. He never would. I had a feeling it had something to do with proving himself. We saw it a lot with the guys who moved up to NASCAR, and then came back to run on a dirt track every once in a while. I think it went back to them wanting to show that they still had it.

Whatever the reason, Easton had something he wanted to prove, and he was about to right from lap one. They battled for six laps, Rager pulling an impressive slide job on him.

I didn’t know what Easton was thinking, but he basically drove right into the left rear of Rager’s car. Turned into him and then sent Rager’s car flying through the air. His car did a series of snap flips, basically really aggressive quick flips, and then came to rest near the wall in turns one and two.

I was fucking pissed and I knew Rager probably felt the same.

Kinsley and I both jumped to our feet in the stands. My view of Rager’s car was obscured by the track safety crew pulling up to his car. I couldn’t breathe waiting to see if they could get him out. Anger shot through me immediately. I also couldn’t fucking believe Easton did that.

Once out of the car, Rager refused the ride in the ambulance and stood in the middle of the track. My heart was in my throat, beating about a million miles an hour with him standing so close to moving cars.

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