Chevy, Ford, Toyota

Getting right to the topic: Dad drove Chevrolets. Hence, he was a Chevy guy. Kids grew up emulating their father and would drive whatever was given to them. So, I drive Chevrolets. Not sure what the young people of today are inclined to do, but that’s what we did in my generation. There were other dads who drove other makes of cars and I had friends who liked Fords or Mopar products, but MY dad was a Chevy guy. Chevrolets were indeed very practical as they were affordable, and made in America. Many were used for short track racing because of this practicality. Even today you will see Chevys at most race venues.
During the years I introduced my son Rich to short track racing at Slinger, we developed favorites to follow when we attended a Sunday night of racing. We enjoyed tacking the qualifying times, watching the heat races, and trying to pick who would win the feature events. But it didn’t seem to matter to us whether they were driving a Chevy or a Ford. We just enjoyed the colorful paint schemes, the tipping numbers with vapor trails streaming off of them, the driver’s nicknames, and the side by side racing at the finish line. Yet there were still the fans that followed the manufacturers… I guess. This was and still is especially true when it comes to NASCAR.
When I exchange views about a recent NASCAR race winner, some fans will say, “…as long as a Chevrolet wins.” This is perplexing to me and for some reason I don’t quite understand: why limit your favorites to drivers who only drive a certain make of car? These race machines only resemble the cars we drive on the streets these days. Although there are different technologies offered by each of the manufacturers and NASCAR still has the manufacturer standings, I’m still not going to stop following my favorite driver because he no longer drives a Chevy. You could even take this a step further and say, “I’m not going to follow this or that team anymore because they switched to Toyota.”
There seems to be a larger variety of car makes at the local tracks now compared to when I was mentoring my son. Even Fords used to be quite rare compared to Chevys but now along with Fords you will see Toyotas making their mark at Wisconsin short tracks. This change is most welcome if it helps keep auto racing alive and well here in our state. With this said, it doesn’t matter to me for I’m going to follow the underdogs, the track champions, the ladies and gentlemen of the sport.
So who are you going to choose when making your fantasy racing picks this year? Only Chevrolets? Fords or Toyotas? Or are you like me? I’ll be ignoring the car manufacturer and we’ll be picking either my favorite drivers or closing my eyes and letting the pen make the decision.