Shifting gears. Call it a cliché if you like, but I felt it was an appropriate open for my first column at SpeedwayDigest.com. After writing about high school football for nearly a decade, I’ve ventured off the gridiron and onto the tracks of NASCAR.
I will be providing insight, commentary, and opinions throughout the year as I break into a sport already filled with some of the best writers and journalists in the business. The learning curve will be steep, but I’m banking on a lifetime of being close to the sport, and vast knowledge and history of NASCAR to give me a head start.
Before I begin, let me first take you down the road that led me to SpeedwayDigest.com and why I have chosen to write about the sport.
I grew up in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Most of our readers will immediately pick up on that location and understand the significance the small town has played in NASCAR history. Being in the heart of NASCAR Country, I had no choice but become a fan at a very early age. Some of the first toys I ever remember having as a child were race cars, which I would line up on the floor and simulate my own races.
I knew the names of Baker, Earnhardt, Pearson, Petty, and Waltrip before I ever began school and by the time I was in the first grade, I knew every driver on the circuit and never missed a race on television.
However, it appears that I wasn’t the only kid from Kannapolis, or even my school who had the same interest and love for the sport. There have been several crewmen, mechanics, and even a spotter who I graduated high school with.
When NASCAR runs through your blood like it does mine, and you have so many friendships, and relationships with people already in the garage, it just felt like the natural choice to shift gears to a different sport.
I look forward to bringing you my take on the sport with some interesting stories and opinions as we begin the 2013 season.
For more insight, follow me on Twitter @ChrisHughes151
I'm retired from the United States Army and disabled veteran.
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