perfidy

Just a random thought. A couple Sundays ago I was languishing on the couch recovering from my latest bout of catarrh and watching the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. My wife, a wonderful woman whose interest in stock car racing is as intense as my interest in podiatry (that is, not at all), consented to watch the race with me. After many years away from the sport, it was surprising how much I remembered. I was able to speak relatively learnedly to my wife's questions about pit strategy, driving, restrictor plates, cautions, etc. etc. Go me!

The ending of this year's Daytona was the most exciting I have ever seen-- a thrilling full contact three lap sprint after caution, eventually won by the technically perfect but squeaky-clean driving of Jeff Gordon. In the course of this, I was reminded inevitably of the most tragic event ever to occur during the Daytona 500. I speak of course of Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash in the last lap of the 2001 race.

Think about that for a second. Arguably the greatest driver in NASCAR's modern history (not to take anything away from Cale Yarborough or Richard Petty) died on the last lap of a race that he'd won only once, that he dominated but always lost thanks to cruel twists of fate. You can't write that ending.

My transformation into a Massachusetts Liberal wine snob continues day by day, yet this Ohio boy still gets a little choked up when he sees a "3" sticker on a pickup.