Open Letter to the Ranting and Raving Community

I wanted nothing to do with racing following last Sunday’s IndyCar World Championships at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The death of Dan Wheldon had a more traumatic impact on all of our lives than any of us could have expected. He had come into our homes for over a decade and had served the motorsports community with flair and honor. The winner of two Borg-Warner trophies, Dan Wheldon was a racing superhero and superheroes are not supposed to die.

Despite all of my reservations, here I am in yet another motorsports media center.

It’s Talladega Superspeedway, the home of several of NASCAR’s most dangerous events and a race where speeds are expected to surge over 200 mph for today’s Sprint Cup Good Sam 500.

Despite all that has happened and what could happen at any moment moving forward, I’ve rediscovered my zeal for motorsports. It happened when I first turned the corner of Speedway Blvd. and saw the grandstands of this massive facility.

Despite putting several years into being a motorsports blogger, I’ve never lost my glee upon entering a speedway. And one week after losing one of our sports most prolific champions, I still felt glee driving down the turn three tunnel to make my way towards the infield.

We all heal in different ways. While I still hurt for Dan and his family, I know that many others hurt even more. There’s not a lot of crossover between NASCAR and IndyCar in regards to their distinct brands of entertainment but at the end of the day we’re all racing fans and we’re one giant family.

So with just under two hours to go until today’s race, I implore each of you to stick around our community and share stories about Dan Wheldon and your favorite race car drivers.

It’s a little self-serving to request but I guarantee you that you’ll find a little of what you were missing after last weekend’s tragedy. At NASCAR Ranting and Raving, we’re a family and many of us made phone calls or exchanged emails in the days following Sunday’s turn of events. We’re friends and I need my friends to help me heal.

I hope that you’ll join us.