10) The three-wide
finish at the Indy race at Kansas Speedway in July. The entire race was exciting,
starting with Danica Patrick getting the pole. At the finish, third place
Victor Meira ducked to the inside to make it three wide with second place
Dan Wheldon and eventual winner Tony Kaanan. And there we were, right at the
finish line. What a rush! 9) Meeting Tony
Stewart at Home Depot, with NASCarla and Robby, Amy, Zach and Morgan Young.
There were tons of people there, they rushed us through, but Tony was nice
and very handsome!
8) The IndyFest at Westport. The Friday before the July races at Kansas
Speedway most of the Indy Car drivers signed autographs. NASCAR should take
a page from the Indy book and bring all the drivers together for the public
to meet and enjoy. The logistics of that might be a nightmare, I don't know
where they would put all those people.
7) Tailgating,
for the entire weekend, at the Woodlands, on my birthday, with all my best
friends. A racing girl couldn't ask for more.
6) The rain delayed Pepsi 400 on July 2. It was sandwiched in between
the Craftsman Truck race and the Indy race at Kansas. I went to NASCarla's
house to spend the night, and we stayed up until 2am to finish watching the
race. It was worth it, Tony won the race and climbed the fence for the first
time. Hey, we can sleep when we're dead.
5) Kathy Beth's parties.
We watched Jimmie
win twice at Charlotte and saw Matt
win at Bristol. I was very happy for Kathy Beth AND Thad. Her parties are
now legendary in our NASCAR circle, even with some of the football fanatics.
Joe was very hospitable also, considering we pretty much took over their awesome
game room.
4) Lakeside Speedway.
Watching Duane Walker,
Sr. run his modified, knowing all the work that goes into every weekend, seeing
him running on 2 wheels coming out of turn four, now that's racing. Also my
neighbor, Robert Brown, a stock car racer that doesn't know the meaning of
the word cautious. He's a tenacious driver that I was able to cheer on and
say: "Hey, he's my neighbor!"
3) Carl Edwards.
The local boy became a superstar right before our eyes. From his backflips
to his boyish smile, he was a breath of fresh air this season.
2) Meeting Matt Kenseth at Kansas Speedway. I've always admired his
cool demeanor, and believe it or not, his sense of humor. He was great on
the Awards show.
And #1... Who would of thunk it...of course...our trip to Talladega.
Being with my best friends, NASCarla,
Kathy Beth, Thad and Randy was special enough, but to see our drivers
running in the top five, Jeff,
Tony, Jimmie, Matt and Jr
at that huge 2.66 mile track, was absolutely breath-taking, and something
I'll remember the rest of my life. To have Jeff win in such dominating fashion
was the icing on the cake. From our early morning departure to our aborted
landing in KC, it was a wild and crazy ride.
It's the end of the year, and top ten lists are everywhere. Here at 3sistersracing.com, our racing experiences this year are so numerous, it's hard to pin down just ten. So take down the safety net, pull off your helmet, and we'll cruise around memory lane for about 30 laps!
10) The Fireworks display at the Gateway Busch
race, St. Louis, MO. It went on for at least an hour, Reed Sorenson won that
race, they also had a cool tribute to the Wallace Brothers.
9) Running into Clint
Bowyer at Lakeside, it was the October Talladega race, and I just assumed
there was a Busch race that weekend, had no idea even to look for him in Kansas
on a Friday night. He graciously gave me another autograph, and I gave him
one of our Autograph cards, he looked at, read it, and said, 'Cool, I'll check
it out'.
8) Driving down to Warrensburg with Duane Walker Sr.'s Pit
Crew; Duane Jr., Jason and Heith... I haven't had that much fun in a long
time, or learned so much about drivers, or car setups... Lakeside had been
rained out and those drivers have to race, it was great visiting another dirt
track.
7) Our trip to Pikes
Peak. It was a combination Race Watch and Family reunion, with my son
Brad Starling and his family. Cousin Anne even stopped by - We also met David
Stremme and Boston Reed, such handsome young drivers! The race was incredible,
scenery awesome - road trips rule!
6) Kansas
Busch & Cup weekend, our Tailgating, one of the best parts for me
was that my beautiful daughter Shannon stopped by for some tailgating and
dirt track racing at Lakeside, got to introduce her to my racing friends,
and spend a little time with her on my favorite weekend of the year.
5) The Double Donuts that Dan Weldon and Tony Kaanan did after finishing
1-2 in the Indy race in Kansas this summer. It was unexpected and thrilled
the crowd - something cool always happens here!
4) This Website! It was Judy's idea, we had been trying to find some
way to be involved in racing in a bigger way - had too much to say, too much
we wanted to do. Judy put it all together when she said "Let's make a
website, we can call it 3 Sisters Racing." The rest is history... We
made Autograph cards to hand out the the drivers when we get their autographs,
got a few passed out this year, 2006 we'll have the whole season to hopefully
contact a lot more drivers. Boogity Boogity Boogity!
3) Dave Damron's
drag race at KCIR. He was the fastest qualifier there at 186 mph - how awesome
is that? I love the door-slammers too - such power! Different kind of track-talk,
tailgating, vehicles, but hey, it's very much racing!
2) Meeting Tony Stewart for the second time in my life, this time at
the Home Depot in Overland Park, Kansas. I gave him one of our Autograph cards,
he read it, and put in his own souvenir box. I hope he checks out his page
& sees what a faithful fan I am!
And #1 - I've got to list our Talladega trip, just like Judy said -
what a wild and crazy ride! The first time all three sisters have been on
a race road-trip together, to my favorite place in the whole world, the best
racing ever! "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming...
WOW - WHAT A RIDE!"
10) Being shown
again that, as in life, the world is really a very small place (and most of
the coolest people are NASCAR fans!) Twice this year, quite by accident, I
have met people who, without our NASCAR connection, would have probably been
a 20 sec. hi, how are ya, have a nice day encounter. Now we're not only neighbors,
but friends! The first couple, Debbie and Mike - we met sitting on the plane
coming back from Talladega, and no kidding, live 2 houses away from me! The
other is the local manager at Lowe's, who came to our fireworks stand this
summer - one thing led to another, & we ended up talking about JIMMIE
forever! For me, an added bonus of being a "3 sister" is all the great friends
that came along with the other 2! I love being adopted!)
9) Back in January, Joe & I went to Virginia Beach, VA for a vacation.
We ate breakfast at a Waffle House, across the street from the Richmond track
- drove right by Gateway in St. Louis, and visited an awesome NASCAR store
in downtown VB. Of course I drive by Kansas Speedway all the time, don't ever
think that bores me, but it was cool when it was so unexpected. I was just
bummed I didn't run into JIMMIE lounging by the ocean, of course he'd had
to have been in a parka, but I coulda dealt with that!
8) The Craftsman Truck race in July, watching the Indy qualifying,
see Kelly Sutton's wild ride,
and enjoy the hot Kansas sunshine! Weird, I went to nascar.com to check who
won that race - Todd Bodine - and who is the top story? JIMMIE!
Seriously!
7) Our trip to Pike's Peak, for the same reasons NasCarla listed, (except
my road trip was with a non-race fan, so I didn't have anyone to talk to about
JIMMIE!)
6) Hosting the NASCAR parties - I appreciate everyone driving so far
to watch racin! I try to make the trip memorable! Of course, no one has said
anything directly to me, but I'm beginning to get the feeling they get a little
tired of hearing all about JIMMIE!! They just don't understand...
5) The Atlanta Race - what a finish!! Altho I would have loved to see
JIMMIE win - Carl would be my second choice!
4) Kansas Speedway, October, 2005 - what an incredible weekend of racing
- and meeting racing fans and drivers - car and horse...! It was a bit chilly,
but the food was hot, we've got to remember the
foil dinners, they were great after cooking all day, mmm!! The drivers,
especially JIMMIE, were hot!! And a Mark Martin win - that was great to see
too! We had a very special invite to the VIP tents from cousin Greg, that
was very cool, and we hope to be invited back, hint - hint!! I believe 3sistersracing.com
could be very instrumental in getting a second race in Kansas, we need to
get started on that!! The Race Fan Resort ROCKS!!!
3) Lowe's Motor Speedway Races - both of them!! What a thrill to see
JIMMIE make NASCAR history with his 4 wins in a row! I was so excited the
first race, because I was resigned to his finishing in the top 4 or 5, and
then - THERE HE WAS!! The only bad part of that was he beat Bobby Labonte.
The second race, "the alternator failed, the battery had to be switched mid-race,
and the entire electrical system was on the fritz. Add all that to a constant
fear of having a tire explode at any second...Johnson overcame every problem
that came his way." Cool!!
2) This website - we have a family newsletter that used to be a printed
newspaper in the days before internet - and our Grandma
Layton called it "the glue that holds me together" - I don't think she'd
mind if I us that to describe how I feel about 3sistersracing.com. Especially
being married to an adamant non-racing fan, I spend as much time as I possibly
can here. NasCarla and Judy Kay - there isn't anyone I'd rather go racing
with! (Well...okay, maybe JIMMIE!! but I know neither of you would stand in
my way on that either!!) I look forward to where this can take our passion
for NASCAR!!
1) 3rd Time's a charm - #1 has to be TALLADEGA! For all the
reasons listed, and more - Randy and his flag retrieval, the TP incident and
Thad on his re-enactment, our rental van statement, leaving Kansas to go to
Alabama to be stuck in a tornado - what's up with that??? Bummer to watch
JIMMIE get booed and cause a big pile-up. This is my 5th in-person track,
and I gotta tell you, it you haven't been to Talladega, you have to go!! It
was just fun, fun, fun! I'm ready to start packing for Texas right now!! They
say everything is bigger in Texas, but they have some big shoes to fill to
rank up there with Talladega. But I am more than willing to check out the
competition! LET'S GO RACIN' BOYS (AND GIRLS!!)
3
SISTERS FAVORITE
TOP 10 RYAN SMITHSON QUOTES FOR 2005
This was a tough Top 10 list - Ryan writes the Power Rankings for NASCAR.com, is in on Track Smack, and did the Top Ten Races article. He's so clever, and very informed - we've learned a lot about the drivers just by reading his column. Ryan even has us laughing when our favorite drivers are his target, not many men can do that!