Racing again naturally to the track!

Each season comes and goes as quickly as the night and succeeding day but for now it is not about closing ceremonies and racing widows, it is racing time! Time to knock off cobwebs, to freshen engines and apply new sheet metal.

New wraps are meticulously applied and statements are being made. These new schemes are as much as fashion statement as they are functional. Swooshes and stencils and neon numbers add a bit of color to these earthen rocketships on wheels.

But the biggest moment comes with the last minute preparations. All the way down to the ritual loading of the car into the hauler and securing of all the parts. The race haulers roar to life, with the pinging and gurgling of diesel power plants and the rush of civilians looking at your finished product as you lumber down side streets and the main thoroughfare.

As you pull off the highway and onto the access road to the track, you see the familiar haunts of the stands and the stirring of businesses inside. Cotton Candy, Programs, popcorn and soda, all the elements necessary for the season are prepared. Cries for 50/50 tickets and the old PA system crackles into place, telling patrons to stay away from the fence and where to get what they need to enjoy the racing program.

At sign-in and for the opening of the gates you wait. Cars and their haulers line up and slowly make their way into the pits. The fans watch and point. With new colors, new cars and new drivers, with ooohs and ahhhs and a sense of pride, their drivers, their sleds and the new spring air, what could be more exciting?

As the pits begin to fill, car and trailer in their customary places, the last drivers pass through registration. A quick meeting of the contestants where new rules and old are passed on to the reverberating thunder of ignitions exploding at the same time, racing season is here.