If I Can’t Win…
I haven’t always been a NASCAR race fan. In fact, when I was younger, my father took me to the local dirt track for a race. It didn’t take long, watching cars going around and around and around in circle, before I realized that I didn’t really like racing. I never went back.
When I became the manager of our Fredericksburg plumbing store, I quickly realized that most of our customers were NASCAR fans. I decided to start watching the races on television. The next step, like any sport, was picking a driver to root for. Most of the customers were old time NASCAR fans and they rooted for Dale Earnhardt. Being new to the sport, and being younger, I decided to pick a driver who wasn’t old school. I decided to start rooting for Jeff Gordon. The problem was that Jeff Gordon was winning a lot of races at the time and the old school people didn’t like him at all.
Jeff Gordon wasn’t like the other racers. Unlike most of the good old boys, Gordon wasn’t born nor was he raised in North Carolina or even in the south for that matter. Jeffrey Michael Gordon was born in Vallejo, California. He was born in August 4, 1971 and quickly acquired the nickname the “Wonder Boy,” because he was so much younger than most of the other drivers and he was showing a lot of them up with all his victories.
Gordon’s stepfather started Jeff’s interest in racing. Jeff started racing BMX bikes at the age of four. The next year he was racing quarter-midgets. He won the national quarter-midgets championship when he was eight and ten years old. When he was thirteen years old his family moved to Indiana so he could race sprint cars. Indiana didn’t have a minimum age requirement for racing. He would win the United States Auto Club National Midget championship at 19 years old and that group’s Silver Crown the following year.
Gordon would join NASCAR’s Busch Grand National Series in 1990. He was named Rookie of the Year. Jeff caught Rick Hendrick’s, owner of the Hendrick racing team, attention and he would sign him in May 1992 to run in the regular NASCAR series. He would make his debut in November on what happened to be NASCAR legend Richard Petty’s last race. The next year, his first full time in the Winston Cup Series, he would be Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. He would win his first two races, the Coca-Coca 600 and Brickyard 400, that year. Gordon would become the youngest driver, at the time, to win the Daytona 500. He did that in 1997. In 1998, he would have a modern day record of 13 victories in one season. He would win four NASCAR championships and earn 93 career victories (currently third on the all-time list). Gordon retired from racing last year, although he is substituting for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for a couple of races this year.
One of the reasons I chose Jeff Gordon as my driver was to give me something to kid with the customers about. One thing quickly became obvious, when Gordon would win a race some of the customers would try to avoid me on Monday. If he lost, they would go out of the way to seek me out. I also noticed when Jeff Gordon would lose, my sales would pick up on Monday. So in an odd case of mixed feelings, I would sometimes catch myself rooting against my driver so I would have a better sales day.
One of the things about the Presidents you don’t hear a whole lot about is what their parents thought about their child becoming President. A lot of the Presidents’ mothers wanted their children to head into the ministry and not politics. A lot of the Presidents’ fathers were not that involved in their children’s lives. Many of the little Presidents–to-be would look up to fathers as what they wanted to be, not so much because of their personal involvement, but as a distant hero.
He was a little bit of a different type of Presidential father. He wanted to be involved and would be a very loving father. His sons would get very upset when someone said something mean about their father. The father would get very upset when someone would say something mean about one of his sons. Later in life, the father would sometimes get quite emotional with his sons’ accomplishments.
Just imagine the father’s beaming pride when his son was elected President. He would stay with his son that election night. It was one of our closest elections. They would go to bed not knowing the results. When it became obvious that the announced election winner was going to be a long drawn out affair, the father decided to head home. The November election results wouldn’t be completed until the Supreme Court stepped on December 12th.
This Biblical character worked real hard and God really blessed all his efforts. He was none too proud to admit that it was God’s blessings and not his own efforts that deserved the most credit for his success. His whole family was able to live very comfortably.
One day all his children decided to throw a party. It must have been one of those young people parties because he wasn’t there. Who knows if he just wasn’t invited or if he just took a pass because he thought he was too old for that sort of thing. As the party was going on the roof collapsed and all of his children were killed. His wife was devastated.
Not too long after that he became very, very sick. Sores covered his body from his head to his toe and it itched so much. His wife saw all his extreme pain and in a bizarre case of compassion, she suggested that he pray to God and to plead with God to just take him away. He also had three very good friends come to him, while he was in pain, and they said he must have done something wrong to warrant such a painful life. Another man, named Elihu, would also explain his painful condition as a case of his hardheadedness and an unwillingness to change as obstructing his visions of reality.
Job would stick to his guns and time and again he would claim his innocence. Sometimes, he explained, bad things happen, not because of our actions, but because God has a way of doing things and a purpose for those things happening. In the beginning of the ordeal, Job makes a very wise statement: “When I took my first breathe I had nothing and guess what? When I breathe my last breathe there will be an equal amount I carry into eternity. So should I get upset when my portfolio rises and falls during my lifetime?” Job would never waiver from his belief that God was in charge.
Ward Burton is another NASCAR driver. He would win the 2002 Daytona 500. Ward was one of those real good old boys. In 2002, at the Bristol Sharpie 500, he got so mad at Dale Earnhardt, Jr. when Junior wrecked him. Burton jumped out of his car and threw his leg heat shield pads at Junior who was still racing around the track which was under caution. Ward’s last race would be in 2013. He currently operates the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation. As a side note to that race, Jeff Gordon won that race.
In my current job of selling water heaters I have been very fortunate to be involved in many promotional activities. One of these events happened at Ward Burton’s place. There was a pistol shooting contest, an archery contest and some time for fishing. At the end we were served lunch and there was a question and answer time with Ward. At the time Ward’s brother, Jeff Burton, was in an intense battle for the NASCAR championship. Someone asked Ward a question, probably assuming he already knew the answer. He asked, “Are you rooting for your brother to win the championship?” Without missing a beat, Ward replied, “I remember what AJ Foyt once said to me when I asked him the same question about two drivers that were locked in a championship. Foyt told me, ‘If I can’t win, I don’t want anyone to win.’”
It was just another day. Everyone woke up and headed to work like usual. But it was also one of those days that would forever change our nation. To this day we still feel its affects. It all revolved around nineteen men and four airplanes. These nineteen men took their religion very seriously. So extreme was their faith that they were willing, not only to die, but to kill whoever crossed their path. So they boarded these four planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia. It is believed that the passengers in the fourth plane interfered with their plans and that plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania killing only those on board. In total, close to 3000 Americans, mostly innocent of any religious zeal, died that day. An Islamic extremist named Osama bin Laden spearheaded that effort.
George W. Bush’s whole Presidency changed on September 11, 2001. Could anyone possibly understand what he was going through?
The night before, September 10, 2001, Bush’s Mom and Dad, former President George HW and Barbara Bush, had accepted the open invitation to stay at the White House. “W” was in Florida. President George HW Bush and his wife left the morning of the eleventh and boarded a private flight to St. Paul, Minnesota. While they were in air, the planes struck the World Trade Center in New York and their plane was quickly grounded. They finally settled into a motel in Brookfield, Wisconsin. When they were finally able to get through to the President, their son, they told him where they were. “What in the world are you doing there?” was his response. Barbara replied, “Son, you grounded our plane.”
George HW Bush, Daddy Bush, was accustomed to yielding to the wishes of other Presidents. He had served under Nixon, Ford, and Reagan in various roles. Now he was to serve in a different capacity. He would be more of a sounding board and protector to his son. Although his son valued his advice, the father would only give it when he was asked. In a surprising admission after 911, though, Daddy Bush confided to a friend, “It is not easy, dear friend, to sit on the sidelines now, not easy to not make decisions or take actions.”
Life can be real hard at times. We seem to have this natural competitive instinct to be in the center of the decision making. We want to win. We want to make things better. We want to be the one out there making the difference. It is sometimes frustrating to not be in the position that our input or participation really makes an impact. But sometimes that is exactly what God calls us to do or where God calls us to be. Whether it is God or other people, it is sometimes very wise to let Him move us through His calling or other’s direction. We don’t always have to be the big winner to serve a purpose in God’s plan.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Help me find the strength in the good and bad things that happen in my life. Let me resist the temptation to be the one in charge and instead help me to listen and wait for You. Amen!
