For the curious: Next season this page will become S_XIV. This stands for Smoke 14 and what Tony will need if his parents fears are realized!
Southern Cindi and Smoke at Dega
I Only Eat The Orange One's
by kcjsmoket20
Rituals and superstition are not new to racing. I guess the biggest superstition I remember from childhood would be the number 13. Qualifying 13th was bad luck, no one drove a #13 car, Friday the 13th was even considered a bad night to race. Some tracks went so far as to exclude the number 13 from pit road and garage areas. The color green was avoided, for reasons I never understood. I was from an Irish family, so to me green was good luck. As a child I was obsessed with the rituals these grown men had. I always asked what they found lucky or why they were so lucky. Richard Petty informed me that, yes, he was a very lucky man, but when it came to a race, luck had nothing to do with it. Some drivers did believe in luck, though, for some it was a simple as a lucky charm, for some it meant doing everything in the exact same order before each race, each was different.
For us pit brats, the lucky penny was the ultimate. A good luck penny had to be found heads up. You would call the penny, state who the luck was for, or you would claim the luck for yourself. I had a lucky penny for every race, I don’t remember everyone I gave them to, but a few stick out in my mind. I was around Dick Trickle a lot and I gave him one and he won! I also remember giving Neil Bonnett a penny before he won a race. I don’t know if they even kept my penny, but it was cool to me. Another penny that brought a win was given to the love of my life, Davey Allison. (When you’re 5 or 6 love is a serious matter.) The one I remember most is Mark Martin. The first time I saw Mark I knew that it was real, true, love. (At 7 or 8 love was really a serious matter.) I gave him pennies and he went on to win the Short Track Championship. Through the next few years I was true to Mark. I remember crying the last time I saw him in Rockford, realizing we would never be. Mark was moving on, I would never get that close to him again.
Then it was pennies, now it’s a penny and 3 quarters per race. Each week I put a penny from the current season, a 1971 quarter, an Indiana quarter, and a quarter from the state where the race is held in my pocket. I have to wear either orange or Dale Sr. I have my dog tags, my Dale Sr. credential clip, my Tony Stewart key chain and cap, and my orange M&Ms. Everyone saves the orange one’s for me, which I eat 3 at a time. Before qualifying and the race I light a cigar (yes, I partake occasionally) with an orange lighter decorated with Tony Stewart graffiti, the lighter is only used for this purpose. I am crazy, but I love it. I never cared one way or the other for orange and now it dominates my life. (Well, at least my office. Dale Sr. still dominates the main rooms, with Kevin Harvick being represented in the snake area.)
Darrell Waltrip comes to mind as I think of the color green; he seemed to pull it off very well. Can “Front Row Joe” get lucky in the #13? I always asked drivers about luck, and a long time ago a driver in Wisconsin told me,” Before every race I walk around the car 13 times, I ain’t won, but I’m always there at the end. Good luck? Bad luck? Depends on how ya look at it.” So, if Nemechek can do better than 27th in driver points, is it good luck? I think it may be Joe that will bring luck to the #13.
A new ritual has emerged, at least for Americans. Blessing a car before a race with holy water is one of the oldest rituals in racing. Although most rituals are a private thing, religious rituals tend to be more out in the open. Prayer before races is a very sacred thing, as is the blessing of a car. It is a way to ask for protection and safety, and shows the depth of faith in a higher power. No matter what you believe, belief can be a very powerful motivator.
So, is your ritual lucky or unlucky? “Depends on how ya look at it.”