I walked into the pits, like I usually do on Saturday nights, and I scanned the area to see who had already arrived and to get an idea of what kind of racing we'd have tonight. I always look for new faces and new cars. I always hope that tonight we will have more racers than last week and tonight we can show the new drivers and their families that we are a good bunch of people who welcome them and hope they will come back.

I saw my very dear friends John, Della and Bill Smith. I went over to make sure they had gotten the homemade peanut butter cookies I had sent to them by Brody. John is a fan of my writing - I once told him he was my biggest fan - we got a big laugh out of that, and if you knew John, you'd know why. Anyway I made the unintentional insult up to him by making him his favorite - peanut butter cookies. I was dismayed to see that his car was already on the trailer and Della was pouring sand over a puddle of oil there on the pavement in their pit. "It blew up", She told me. I sure hated that. After 3 weeks of waiting and four 150-mile trips for them, he wasn't going to get to race in the big 50-lap race. About three months ago, we were asking for some tires for another track on the Florida Short Track Racing message board. John knew that we raced in Bronson and posted that he had 8 tires at a GREAT price. After exchanging several emails, we went down to Coleman to pick up the tires. We figured about an hour's ride down and an hour's ride back. Once we got there, we talked and talked for the longest time. John and Bill kept me laughing talking about building a late model and Brody, being the jokester that he is, kept trying to get Bill to let him have John's super stock to drive. Three hours later, we had made some very dear friends. John has been coming to Bronson to race every week since, though proving futile week after week, either due to inclimate weather or something happening with his car. We are always so happy to see them. John has helped us in many ways, offering his car if Brody needed it, he gave Brody a fire suit all of them are very quick with a smile and kind words. Brody always tells John to bring the bodyguard - Della. She recently was invited to test for a black belt and passed the test. This was quite an honor. Bill, their son, loves racing. His favorite NASCAR driver is Dale Earnhardt. I enjoy talking to him and making him smile. Bill is Johns greatest fan. He loves to watch his dad race.

As I approached Brody's (my fiance') pit, I realized that he and Benny also had our car on the trailer. That's unusual for 6:00 pm. Usually by this time he has taken hot laps a few times and he has the car waiting for the next warm ups. After just talking with John and Della about their mishap, my heart dropped, knowing something must be wrong. I always tell Brody not to tear the car up before I can get there as a joke.

We had some very bad luck a year or so back and it seemed like when I got to the track every week something else was broken. I listened to Brody and Benny talking and I found out that something was wrong with the right rear wheel seal. The #18 car has been a good ride. Without the help of the owner, Benny Hodge, offering it to us 10 weeks ago, Brody wouldn't have had any chance of ever being in contention for the point's lead. The #34 Chevy Camaro of Wesley Keller needed a tire so Brody loaned him one since at this point he had no intention of racing. Then Arthur Conquest of the #70 Chevy needed a tire, so he loaned him another of his spares. There has never been a time that when Brody needed something, from a lug nut to an entire block, that these guys haven't come to his rescue.

Its not always about being the best, but its about having fun, being a good sport and the bond of brotherhood and friendship. The points race is something they all want equally, but they are willing to help each other race to get it. Its an amazing mixture of wanting to beat each other, yet helping each other win - it could only be true of stock car racing. Most other sports are structured for a "team" effort. In racing, you would think its each man for himself, but is not true of these Bronson racers.

On April 29th, during the super stock heat races, the throttle stuck on the #46 Chevy of Brody Giddens as he was coming into turn four. The speed caused him to not be able to turn and he was headed straight into the pits at approximately 60 miles per hour. With quick thinking, he steered the car into a barrier of tires and concrete put up at the pit entrance for just that purpose. He knew if he went into the pits at that speed, he'd probably kill someone and/or damage more than just himself or just his car. He said, "I thought to myself, this is going to hurt" just before he hit the barrier. I was in the tower and saw the car bounce into the air. I could see the car over the grandstands from inside the tower. He hit hard. When I got to him, he was out of the car and they had the hood off, but the car was totaled. Fred Tusky of the #57 Chevy, another super stock driver, gave Brody his car to drive that night to help him maintain his points standing. Later that night, Benny Hodge offered Brody his #18 Chevy for the rest of the season or until he could get his new car built. Benny's son had an injury and was no longer able to drive the car - unfortunate for him, but lucky for Brody because he held the points lead for several weeks. Brody has been putting together his new car, a 1978 Z28 Camaro. "Arthur is one of the best there is at putting "the skin" on a car" Brody said, and when I called on him to help, Arthur was right over and did a great job". "The car should be ready next year". Another example of how much respect the drivers have for each other in Bronson. Not only are they friends, but they trust each other and can depend on each other.

On August 26th, Bob Gregg came to Bronson to race. He hadn't been to Bronson in a while, but he had raced there before. He and Brody got tangled up on the track in the heat race and the axle on the #18 Chevy broke. Bob stopped and waved for Brody to come into the pits. It looked like a challenge, and Brody was upset, of course, but he was actually waving Brody over to offer him his car. In the pits the two men talked and Brody finally accepted the offer. He got 6th, maintaining his points lead with Arthur Conquest in a very close second. Arthur held the points lead up until August when he had some bad luck with blown engines and had a few DNRs (did not race). Brody took the points lead during that time. Mr. Gregg told us that he was trying his best to stay out of the "home boys" way, especially since there was such a close points race. This is just one of many examples of good sportsmanship and brotherhood at Bronson Motor Speedway.


Getting back to this past Saturday night, when I realized that the car was on the trailer and Brody told me what was wrong, I told him that if he ran a few laps then he would at least place. He said he would go out and run a few laps in the heat and the feature so that he wouldn't be a DNR and he could get a few points. In the heat, he raced 2 laps and took it into the pits, which gave him 6th place. At Bronson, only the first five cars receive points in the heat races, so he received no points at that time. However, later in the evening, Donnie Roberts, in his #24 Chevrolet was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct after he and the #74 Al Bouchard had a little battle on the track resulting in Donnie getting out of his vehicle during the feature. This disqualified him for the entire night and he lost his points for the night. This brought Brody up to 5th in the heat giving him 2 points. Brody went out for the 50-lap feature with the intention of hanging back and staying out of the way. After the first few laps, he found himself in 5th place in the line up after a caution. He maintained 5th and 6th throughout the race, but got tangled up and ended up cutting a tire. We all thought he'd just put it back on the trailer. The wrecker took him to the pits and as he approached the #70 Arthur Conquest's pit, Arthur's crew member, John Meeks and Benny Hodge were waiting on him and motioning the wrecker to bring the #18 car there, they changed his tire and had him back on the track before the cars could make a lap. Brody came back out, starting on the rear, and finished the race in 6th place. This brought him to second in the point's race with 1567 points, trailing by only two points behind Arthur who has 1569. Without Arthur's help, there would have been a much greater margin. Again, a prime example of the bond of brotherhood and friendship against the points race when the top two in the class are working to help each other win.

I'm not saying that there are never have any disagreements or any problems at our track, but I would like to say that these drivers are more than supportive of each other. They all enjoy racing so much that by helping each other they have better competition. They know that for the most part, they don't have to worry about a bad temper causing one of these drivers to demolish something that each one of them knows is not an inexpensive hobby. The display of respect and brotherhood between the drivers at Bronson Motor Speedway is amazing. I'm not so sure that we couldn't say that the point's race is as important as the brotherhood and friendship of these drivers. I do know that the bond will be a difficult one to break. I'm proud to be a part of the Bronson Motor Speedway's entire winning family.

By Connie Winningham

(This is an independently written article and is not in any way representing the opinion or views of the Bronson Motor Speedway, the owners or employees)