by Chris Fabry
“Best line is at the bottom of the track, Jamie,” her dad said. “That’ll be the easiest.”
“Looks like everybody else thinks you’re right,” Jamie said. “There’re three ahead of me low.”
On the 10th lap, Jamie saw smoke ahead of her.
“Go high. Go high. Go high,” her dad said.
Jamie swerved high and barely missed a tangle of cars.
“Good job avoiding that mess. Yellow flag.”
“What happened?”
“Number 6 got a little wobbly in turn three and got into the #7. Then #7 went down to the barrier and did a Darlington below the grass. Looks like he’s out.”
Ever since Jamie was a kid, she and her father had used code words from his former races. One year at Darlington he had been bumped by one of the most popular drivers when he was riding the inside line. In turn four, the two of them collided, pushing her dad to the infield, slamming into the barrier and sending him to the hospital. The other driver recovered and went on to finish fifth. Anytime somebody got bumped and was sent down, they called it a Darlington.
Jamie pulled in behind the #5 car and followed the pace car as the debris was cleaned off the track. As she passed the #7 car, Roger, one of Chad’s friends, climbed out. He looked okay, but she could tell he was frustrated.
She tried not to glance into the stands during a race, but when they were driving under caution, she’d sneak a peek at the grandstands and look for signs. She picked out a crude one that said, “#14 is #1! Go Jamie!”
The next time she came around, she caught sight of Trace Flattery, a guy in her youth group and a school friend. She could see him because he was one of the largest people in the stands, and judging from his red face, he was yelling the loudest.
I swear, if I had a horn on this thing, I’d honk at you, Trace, she thought.
“Going to green the next lap,” her dad said.
Jamie had a good restart, passing another car for fifth place. At the halfway point she was solid there when she went in for new tires and a full tank of gas.
“You’ve gone from #10 to #5 in the first half,” Kellen said, giving her some Gatorade in a squeeze bottle. “Next half you’ll get to first.”
“That’s what I’m gunning for,” Jamie said.
“How does it feel?” Rosa said when she had finished fueling the car.
“It’s handling like a dream,” Jamie said. “Just a little wobble in a couple of the turns, but it feels even better than the car yesterday.”
Rosa nodded. “You’re half a race from a license. Show them we can do it.”
Rosa slapped Jamie’s hand, and Jamie knew she meant that she needed to show the guys that the girls could actually race. “I’ll do my best.”
Chad Devalon led the first half with a two-car lead over the #4 car, driven by Dante Irving, the only African-American still racing. Thor was in third place in the #1 car. Jamie started the second half in fifth place and rolled out of pit road gritting her teeth.
“You ready for this?” her dad said.
“I can’t wait,” Jamie said.
Chapter 28
Clean Air
THE NEW TIRES felt great, and Jamie picked up speed as they headed for the green flag.
Her dad clicked the microphone. “Lotta guys talking about you up here.”
“They like my hair?”
“They like your line and the fact that you moved a reject car up to fifth. Guys calling the race are watching you real close.”
“They’re probably the ones who like my hair.” She laughed. “Tell them I’ll have my nails done in the network’s colors if I win.”
“We got a green flag. Go. Go. Go.”
Jamie shot forward and pulled even with the fourth-place car. By the time they reached the start/finish line again, she was in fourth and closing on third place. She checked her gauges as she went low, in sight of Chad and the other two in front of her.
In her head, Jamie could hear one of her favorite songs playing over and over. She liked to listen to a group whose lead singer was a Christian and wrote all the music. Even regular radio shows, not just Christian stations, played their music. Bobbing her head, tapping on the steering wheel, she was in her zone. The cockpit was her favorite place in the world because here she felt in control, at home, and it was a place where she could use the skills she’d learned through years of driving. The dirt tracks came back to her—the go-karts, the Bandoleros, and even the dirt bikes she had raced a few times (before she realized she preferred a steering wheel to handlebars). The soundtrack of her life played in her mind as she again sped around turn four.
Before she knew it, she had pulled even with Dante, who had fallen back to third, on the outside, but the guy wasn’t giving up his position without a fight. They drove two wide with Jamie leading into turn one and Dante zooming ahead out of turn two. Chad was just ahead, with Thor a car length in front of him.
For some reason, Chad slowed on the inside, blocking Dante, who drove up behind him and nearly bumped him.
Jamie sped into turn three, and when she hit the throttle out of turn four, she was right beside Devalon.
“Careful here, Jamie,” her dad said. When he used her first name, she knew he was concerned. “You never know what this guy is gonna do.”
She glanced over at Chad for a second and caught a flash of sunlight on his visor. She roared into the first turn going high.
“Number 4 is right on your tail,” her dad said. “Use his draft and take this puppy in the straightaway.”
Chad shot out of turn two, but Dante’s draft helped her gain speed, actually pulling her ahead as she hit the third turn.
“Clear left,” her dad said. “Take him.”
She kept the throttle wide open and moved left, all the time thinking that her mom would kill her if she made that kind of move on the interstate without giving a signal.
“Second place now. Let’s finish this field off and bring it home.”
Jamie wanted to scream and pump her fist, but they were a long way from the end. Thor was two car lengths in front and holding low, coming close to lapping a few other drivers.
“Look ahead of you,” her dad said. “You’re about to lap #9 on the inside. If you can get to the outside of #1, you’ll have him trapped.”
“Hammer down,” Jamie said, shooting forward and going high into turn one. They caught up with the #9 car on the straightaway, but Thor swerved around him at the last second, cutting Jamie off and nearly sending her into the wall.
“Jerk,” Jamie said. “I’m going to enjoy beating this guy, Dad.”
“Calm down and keep your head. You don’t have to win this thing, you know.”
Jamie frowned. “You think I’m out here to come in second? That’s not how you race.”
Her dad laughed. “You got a point. I’m just saying a top-three finish will be okay.”
With 10 laps to go and Chad and Dante breathing down her exhaust pipe, Jamie saw her chance when Thor swung high into turn one.
“Clear low,” her dad said.
She cut to the bottom and sped out of turn two. With clean air in front of her and the rest of the field watching, she took the lead and stretched it.
“All right, you got the lead. Now let’s see what you can do with it,” her dad said.
Jamie felt like flying right out of the cockpit when she saw the others lagging behind. She rode the line of her dreams and took the car past the start/finish line, glancing at her pit crew and seeing Kellen standing on the wall, pumping his fists in the air. It made her go faster.
“Four laps to go,” her dad said. “You’re doing great.”
She choked back thoughts of what the ceremony would be like when they finished. She hadn’t planned a speech. Would the guys with the cameras be there to interview her?
With those questions in her mind, she noticed smoke behind her near the wall and cursed.
“Yellow flag,” her dad said.
“What
happened?” she yelled.
“Devalon. He nudged the #9 car into the wall as he lapped him.”
“You know he did that on purpose, Dad. That’s not right.”
“Just slow down—and hang on. Okay, they’re calling you into the pits. We’re into overdrive.”
Chapter 29
A Real Good Race
TIM FELT THE EXCITEMENT in the pit area as drivers pulled in and waited for the debris cleanup. Chad Devalon’s car had sustained some damage on the right side, and there were a couple of guys pounding on his front quarter panel.
Kellen moved close to Tim. “That’s Butch Devalon talking to Chad. Meanest racer there is.”
“I know about him,” Tim said.
Jamie took a drink of Gatorade and Tim leaned down. “We just gave you enough fuel for the last laps.”
“Did you see what Chad did?” Jamie said. “You know he turned that guy so they could catch up to me.”
Tim nodded. “I doubt they’ll call him on it, though. Guys like that can get away with a lot of stuff the rest never do.”
Jamie fumed inside the cockpit. Tim wanted to say something to encourage her, but he couldn’t think of much. Finally he repeated something he’d heard over the radio before. “You’ve run a real good race. Let’s bring it on home.”
They waited for the signal to reenter the track. It would be a green-white-checkered finish. Green flag to restart, white flag signaling one lap to go, then the checkered flag. If there was an accident on any of the laps after the green flag dropped, the field was frozen and would finish in that order.
Tim looked at Devalon again. His professional pit crew worked on the car making a small track-bar adjustment. Butch gave a signal, and they added a splash of fuel.
Dale came on the radio and tried to calm Jamie. “You’re out first. Head to the end of pit road and follow the pace car.”
Mrs. Maxwell and the others cheered her from behind the wall, but Tim could tell Jamie was in a zone. Just as she pulled onto pit road, Chad cut her off. She had to brake and her engine stalled. Butch Devalon laughed.
Jamie fired up the car again, and something in the engine’s restart bothered Tim. As she revved it a couple of times, he heard something weird. He knew what it was, but he hoped he was wrong.
Chapter 30
Overdrive
JAMIE FOLLOWED the pace car out of the pits in first place. Thor followed in second, Dante was third, and Chad fourth. Four others were still on the track, but everyone knew these four had the fastest cars. Would someone try to outmaneuver them?
She passed the area where Chad had crashed the #9 car and saw the skid marks. She shook her head and tried to stay focused, moving left to right to keep the tires warm and remove any debris. The last thing she wanted was a blown tire.
They went an entire lap around before the restart, and Jamie’s stomach knotted. She knew there was a split second where she could win or lose the race—and that was near the start/finish line. It was a single-file restart, and when the pace car veered off, she kept her speed and slowly moved toward the line.
“Nice and easy,” her dad said. “You know what to do.”
The green flag waved, and Jamie punched the throttle and surged ahead, the engine screaming as she zipped past the line. She could tell by glancing at her side mirror that she’d hit the restart just right. Out of turn two, she had a two-car-length lead.
“Devalon’s making his move,” her dad said. “Don’t worry about him, though. You got this thing. You hear me? And here comes the white flag. Bring it home.”
Her heart raced. She couldn’t stop smiling. She concentrated on staying low in the turns and riding the momentum out of it. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Chad’s face when she stood in the winner’s circle. He was closing in on her, but if she drove this last half of a lap smart, she had first locked.
On the back straightaway, with the checkered flag being pulled in the flag stand, Jamie felt the engine miss. Her stomach fell as the engine coughed and sputtered even though she held the accelerator to the floor. Chad gained on her as she lost speed.
“I’ve got a problem,” she said.
“You’ve got smoke out of the rear,” her dad said.
“Something’s not right.” Jamie kept her foot all the way to the floor as she hit turn three.
Chad ran high and pulled beside her, then shot ahead in an incredible burst of speed as they came out of turn four.
“It’s slowing up!”
“Push it to the finish, Jamie!”
Thor pulled beside her and passed. Then Dante was next to her. With the finish line in sight, white smoke filled the cockpit, but she didn’t let go of the steering wheel or ease up on the throttle.
“The field should be frozen right now,” her dad said, but no one was listening.
Dante pulled away as her engine finally gave up with a final pop and more smoke poured out. She put it in neutral and coasted across the finish line in fourth place.
“Get out of there,” her dad said. “Get out. Get out.”
She popped the steering wheel and loosened her belts. As she unsnapped the HANS device, someone ran to the car through the smoke. Tim took off the window netting and helped her out as she coughed and sputtered worse than the engine.
She tore off her helmet and stared at the car. Fans screamed, and Chad smoked his tires and tore through the infield like he’d just won the Daytona 500. Jamie looked away and saw her mom and Kellen still at the wall near pit road. The medical crew arrived and checked her out, but she pushed them away.
“I heard the thing giving way when you restarted the engine heading out of the pits,” Tim said. “I knew what was going to happen. It was only a matter of when.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Wouldn’t have made any difference. You had to push it to the end. Just let it happen.”
“You okay?” her dad said on the headset.
“Yeah. Why didn’t they freeze the race?”
Her dad didn’t answer.
The crowd cheered Chad. Thor stood on his window opening and raised both fists.
Dante was the only one who walked away from his car and asked how Jamie was. He gave her a pat on the back. “Tough luck. You were the best on the track. You know that, don’t you?”
The words brought the first tears to her eyes, and she looked away, wiping at them. “Yeah.”
When Butch Devalon walked over, Jamie couldn’t stand it. She headed toward the garage to avoid him.
But he cut her off. “Now just hold on. You ran a good race out there.”
She pointed a finger and narrowed her eyes. “Your son cheated. He doesn’t deserve that license, and you know it.”
“It’s just a racing thing. You’ve got to learn that, little girl.”
It was all Jamie could do not to run at the guy and give him a head butt.
Tim stepped between them and pushed her toward the garage. She could tell he was just as angry and that felt good. He didn’t say anything to Devalon, but she thought she heard him muttering something as they walked away.
“Don’t be upset,” Devalon called after them. “We can still work something out with our team.”
Jamie shook her head as she took the clip from her hair and let it fall.
“You walk away now, Jamie, and it’s over. You understand? You come back here.”
Jamie kept walking.
Chapter 31
Day After
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING Jamie walked to the lake, sat on the bank, and watched the fog lift from the water. The day after big races she’d come here to sit and think and try not to let a win or a loss affect her. The frogs croaking, the crickets chirping, and the water gently lapping against the shore gave her a feeling she couldn’t explain. Something about it could cool the elation of winning or take away the disappointment.
Except today. Nothing could take away the empty ache inside. She’d come as close to winning as a person could. She�
��d been one spot away from getting a real NASCAR license. Now she’d lost that and probably her chance to race for Devalon—though she couldn’t even think about being on that guy’s team after what had happened. This morning they were awarding the licenses, and she couldn’t bear to be there.
Jamie tossed a few rocks at the water, then pulled grass and threw it. She didn’t hear the footsteps behind her and was surprised when her father sat down, stretching his legs so that his big boots nearly reached the water. He had a mug of steaming coffee in his favorite cup, a black #3 on the outside.
“I heard you leave this morning,” he said. “Figured you’d be out here.”
She sighed. “You really need to get rid of those jeans. Even the holes have holes.”
“Hey, they’re just getting broken in. Besides, if I don’t have some little quirky thing like this, your mother won’t have anything to complain about. I’d be perfect, right?”
“That’s not what she says,” Jamie said, smiling, though there was a growing feeling of sadness deep inside.
They sat there a few minutes without talking.
Finally her dad broke the silence. “The paper had a little write-up about the race. Whoever wrote it knows you were something special out there.”
“I guess that’s what they call a consolation prize.” She sighed. “It’s not fair. And I know racing isn’t fair, that there are bad breaks and you have to take the good with the bad and all that, but I worked so hard. . . .” Jamie put her head in her hands and felt his strong hand on her shoulder.
“I know. And I’m sure proud of you for finishing school, going through all that training and pushing yourself to the limit. I can tell by the way you drove that you learned a lot.”
“But what good does it do?” she said. “Devalon’s not going to let me race for him. I sold my car and put everything on that school to get noticed.”
“Believe me, any team would be proud to have somebody like you driving for them. It won’t be long until you’re out there pushing those guys like nobody’s business.”
