MARTINSVILLE'S TOP 3!

Hubby and I are getting the RV ready to head to Martinsville at the end of the week and I am SOOOO excited.  Probably too excited because I am neglecting things that ought to get done around here -- you know, like paperwork and cleaning and important stuff like that!

So I've been thinking - what is it about Martinsville that makes us so excited to go there?  Here are my Top Three Reasons:

1.  THE RACING!!  At some tracks I find that I look forward to other things like the camping or the town, but at Martinsville it is all about the racing for me.  Such a great little track with just enough 'old school' touches (like the train that runs right thru the property!) to appeal to the history lover in me.  We've seen tons of rubbin' and racin' here as well as Denny's legendary burnout ...

a wreck or two ...

and of course I will NEVER FORGET the race in the Fall of 2015 when Matt Kenseth took out Joey Logano which resulted in Jeff Gordon's final trip to Victory Lane.  The place went W-I-L-D!! (which is my way of saying I don't have a picture of that one - lol!!)

I can't wait to see what excitement this weekend's race will hold!!

2.  THE "PAPERCLIP" - Short track racing at its finest!  Such a cool place to watch a race!  Short straight aways with little banking in the corners make this track so unique, especially when compared to the super speedways.  

And you may have guessed what my #3 reason is ....

3.  THE FOOD - I have to admit that I am not a big fan of the famous Martinsville hot dog, but there are lots of other goodies that you don't find at any other track I've been to ...

Happy Hubby loves the Martinsville hot dogs!

Fried Bologna Sandwich

And my personal favorite -- the Virginia ham sliders!!

So, how about you?  What would be your Top Three reasons for going (or wanting to go!) to Martinsville?

A REAL CLASS ACT

By now you have probably heard about Jimmie Johnson's hard hit into the wall at Phoenix during the third round of qualifying ... at 200 mph ... with no steering wheel!  Once he was released from the infield care center, the media was there to get his comments about what happened.  And much to Jimmie's credit, he decided to withhold his comments until he was able to talk to his team.

What he knew at that point was that he was coming out of turn one looking into the steering column of his car and he was holding the steering wheel in his hands, but it was not attached to that steering column.

What must have been running through his mind when he was asked what had happened?  What would I have said if I was the one in the same circumstances?  What about you?

It would have been so easy, and so understandable, for him to blame his crew!  "How hard is it to make sure the steering wheel is attached to the steering column?!"  "People on this team need to learn to do their damn job!"  Those are the kinds of comments I expected to hear.  But Jimmie, being the seasoned professional that he is, chose to wait until his crew had the chance to examine the car and determine exactly what had gone wrong before he made any comment.

Good thing, too!  Because what had happened was that Jimmie himself had screwed up!  He was the one who just didn't get the steering wheel on correctly.  What?!?!  This was a mindless, routine little thing that he has done probably tens of thousands of times over the year!  It couldn't be that!  But it was.  And Jimmie said so.  He didn't try to deflect the blame or minimize the seriousness of his screw-up.  He told us all exactly what HE did.  No one else.

And that is the kind of athlete our kids need to look up to - a man who is slow to blame others for things that happen to him, a man who is willing to accept the blame when things go wrong.  A real class act!