Yesterday I posted a pic of our sailboat and talked about how I can’t wait to get back out on the water well today I’m going to share something else I can’t wait to get back to….Racing! Before I met David I had a vague idea of what the whole NASCAR thing was about but other then watching races with a guy I was dating I didn’t really pay attention. Fast forward 6 years and I know more about racing than I ever thought I would all because I married a race car driver. I can now carry on a fairly intelligent conversation about racing and and the first time I explained the Green White Checkered rule to some friends of David he told me it was his proudest moment. Here is what I love about racing and what I look forward to…it is a huge family event!! We travel 5 hours down to Dillon, South Carolina while my in-laws travel about 3 up to meet us from Charleston, South Carolina. My niece is almost always with them because she loves to watch her Uncle David race and I love it when my sister in law is able to come up too. We stay at a great little campground called Bass Lake that is right next to the track and hang out as a family. My Dad and brother have even driven down to watch the races with us and hang out, I really love that our two families have become one! For the first couple years of going to the track I was never sure what to do with myself, it was really boys time so I’d bring my camera and annoy them by taking photos and read a book. About two years ago that changed and I got a job as official tire changer helper, temperature note girl and occasionally spotter. Let me tell you right now spotter is the scariest job for me, I’m still figuring this all out so when my husband puts his life and his car in my hands and trusts me to keep him safe on the track I break out in a cold sweat. It is a lot of pressure for a girl! I joke around that he better not make me mad before a race or he might find himself with a wrecked car! (Sidenote- I would never intentionally wreck my husbands car or hurt him on the track, I fear my father in law way too much to mess around the with the car he built and I fear my mother in law way too much to mess around with the little boy she created!) When it comes to watching races I tend to look for the accidents, the spin-outs and the fights except when David is racing and then I pray for the cleanest most boring race possible where he wins at the end! haha! After the races we come back over to the camper and get a fire going and after a couple beers the stories about that nights race start sounding a lot like fishing stories, you know the ones where the fish was 5ft long and weighed 50+lbs! (Side note: I actually did catch a fish like that! Check out the pic here! lol!!) Anyway those stories crack me up and I love how animated my husband gets when he is telling them. I know this year will be even better because they’ve added a video camera to the car thanks to an awesome Christmas present from yours truly! I can’t even count how many times David has watched the race that we videoed last year. Between my weddings this year plus the sailboat and racing I’m not sure we will have a weekend free but who can complain when you spend your weekends doing things you love!! I’ll leave you with a photo from a couple years ago that is one of my favorites, David and his crew pushing their 2nd place car back to the pits. Since this pic he has gone on to win plenty of races but I still love that they had to push it back in on this particular night. If you like racing and want to know more about my husbands team you can check out his blog, Jeffcoat23!
Melissa Arlena is an award winning lifestyle newborn photographer in Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia who has earned her Master Photographer Certification from NAPCP in maternity, newborn and family photography. Her natural and simple work has been featured in magazines and online blogs worldwide. She has been named Best Maternity and Newborn Photographer in Richmond and Charlottesville, VA in 2023.
