Last week my brother informed me that his boss was taking him to the NASCAR races this past weekend.  I, being overly jealous, told him he sucked and informed him that he had the coolest boss on the planet.  He’s not really into NASCAR but I have loved it for years.  My favorite driver is Sterling Marlin and I’ve followed his career since he was in the #4 Kodak car.  Of course now he drives the #40 Coors Light car and my brother brought me home a little souvenier.

That’s right.  He got me a collector’s edition 1:24 scale Sterling Marlin, #40 Coors Light Silver NASCAR racing car.  Signed.  Signed by Sterling Marlin himself.  Not painted on.  Not a sticker.  SIGNED!  I have been drooling over it and admiring it for the past 1/2 hour.

I really got a taste for racing back when I was in the Army in Germany.  The base we were on was 1km away from Finthen Army Airfield and one day while I was over there, they closed it down to flight traffic and opened it up to the public for racing.  Cars from several countries came out to race as well as civilians not only American but German and many other nationalities.  Being in the MP unit, it was the duty of 3rd and 4th platoon of my company to patrol the area, including foot patrol during the races.  Luckily I did not have to work the race and got to enjoy it from a spectator perspective.

That was probably one of my favorite memories from my time over there.  Since I, of course, knew all the MPs who were on duty, it was extremely easy for me to get my hands on the advertising poster and I have it to this day.  Right now it’s up in storage in Seattle so I can’t take a photo of it but when I do have it with me, it’s one of the first things that goes up on my wall.

Since that race, I’ve been a racing addict.  Granted, driving at high speeds down the autobahn just put it into my blood and I cannot get enough.  The only thing better than this collector’s edition car would be to actually get to take a ride with a driver....Sterling Marlin or Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, (in that order), preferably....around the track a few times.

Some people get to take those rides and a lot of them get anxious or scared.  Not me.  I would be laughing and totally enjoying the entire experience.  Some people have little goal sheets of things they want to do before they die.  This is one of mine.  I don’t know how I’m gonna get this but I’m definitely going to keep trying to find a way, even if it means entering every silly contest out there for a chance.

I’m off to go gaze at my car again.