My Son's Drag Racing Debut.

Something happened last night that my son and I had looked forward to, together, for more than ten years.  His first trip down the drag strip.  He is only 16, but already he is (in my mind) a phenomenal drag racer.  And why not?  He's been rehearsing his entire life.  He told me that in one online virtual racing community alone, he has made over 3400 simulated quarter mile passes!

So, to celebrate his successful drag racing debut last night, I threw together a quick poem in his honour.  Here it is.

Helmetted in purple cover
In the staging lanes you hover.

Full of racing glory dreams we
Dreamt this future history, and
Waited all our lives together
For this night, this track, this weather.

In my dreams, you drove with finesse;
In your dreams, I worried less.
Down the virtual track you've jetted.
You've rehearsed, while I have fretted,
Burdened with every fear and doubt.
What if anti-freeze leaks out?

A forerunner, like John the B,
I drove this track when you were three,
But always pointed back to you
With checkered flag in hand, and knew
That one day I would stand aside,
That you'd no longer need a guide.

You wind the tachometer's stem
To eighteen hundred RPM.
And now the starting lights descend;
Heaven and drag strip touch and blend.

Your left foot you lift, your right foot press.
You become greater, I become less.

And, here is the really exciting part of the post: Two videos from the track last night. In the first, he nearly beats a yellow GTO. In the second, he is in the near lane, and handily beats another Marauder.