What I'd Like To Be Thankful For

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

How fortunate am I to get to write a NASCAR Thanksgiving Day column? I haven’t quite decided how to address the topic really. It’s actually quite difficult to figure out what NASCARwise to be thankful for.

I’d considered starting out the column by expressing my frustration at the fact that we don’t even get to celebrate the holiday anymore because the stores and retailers are too busy shoving Christmas down our throats. I then considered waxing on and on about how it’s frustrating that my kids aren’t taught the origins of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Yes, they are taught about the pilgrims to an extent, though it seems much of their pursuit of religious freedom is now overlooked. However, they are not taught that it was Abraham Lincoln who dedicated the day to thanking God for all the blessings they had, despite the hardships of the civil war. I guess it is just another bit of history and culture being erased as God and the Founding Fathers are slowly but surely scrubbed from our schools. Nevertheless, what does that have to do with NASCAR? Well, I guess that can be one thing right there…Prayer before races. Commercial value or actual religious sentiment? We’ll never know, but it’s prayer and it’s there, so Thanks!

What else am I thankful for? To be quite honest, I’m thankful that the season is over. It’s an exciting time, but it’s a long drawn out exciting time. While it might be a bit more challenging to write a weekly column in the off-season when not so much is going on, it is a welcome change. I can only imagine the relief the teams feel.

Another item on my list of thanks would be for the good folks at Insider Racing News who allow me to spout off each week. I have enjoyed my tenure amongst the talented folks on these pages, as well as getting to know Ron and Connie, the proprietors of this fine institution of racing education. They have been very helpful and very kind in dealing with late submissions, frequent misspellings, dangling participles and blatantly erroneous information.

Directly following the folks at IRN would of course be you.. yes you.

The readers of this column have made the hours spent behind the keyboard an enjoyable experience. Even when you disagree and creatively tell me what an ignorant jerk I am, it makes it worthwhile. I especially appreciate the regular readers who often write and share their thoughts. Folks like Gary in Lubbock, Dick in New Hampshire, Kevin in Ohio, Frank in Fontana and Scott in Phoenix. Your opinions are valued and your suggestions have given me something interesting to write about on more than one occasion.

I could keep listing all my “thankfuls”, but instead I will spend the rest of the column writing what I would like to be able to be thankful for this time next year.

I’d like to be thankful for…

• The demise of the chase
• The demise of the top 35
• A strong domestic auto industry that maintains it’s presence in racing
• A strong domestic auto industry that keeps paying good people a good wage
• The demise of the chase
• A new NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion (sorry Jimmie, three is enough)
• A Kentucky race on the schedule
• 5 or more wins for Junior
• 14 or more wins for Kyle
• The demise of the chase

In about a month you’ll get to see my Christmas wish list, which looks suspiciously like the list above, as does my “New Years Resolutions for NASCAR” list.

Enjoy the turkey folks, and if you could, say a little prayer for the Detroit Lions. I was born in the Detroit burbs, and spent the growing up part of my life in Southern Michigan. I have never, and most likely will never be a Lions fan, but if any town needs one less negative thing to be known for, it’s Motown.

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The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.