CK’s story: A wild cat who became a house cat

In the spring of 2011, I spotted an unfamiliar cat in my backyard late one evening. The sun was setting, and I could not tell in the fading light just what color the cat was. I saw the cat a few evenings and nights after that. It always ran away as soon as I would step outside. I would call to it, and tried to approach it when I would see it in the yard at night while coming home from class, but it always ran away. A week had passed and I still had no idea if the cat was male or female. The cat was hanging around because my parents and I had been taking our table scraps from dinner outside and putting them where it could find them.

Then one morning, I spotted the cat in the driveway. One look at it in the morning sunlight told me it was female. The tortoiseshell coloring proved it. She watched me as I walked toward my car. Still, she ran away before I could get remotely close to her. I noticed she had an odd gait as she ran. When she stopped momentarily to look back, I realized why. Her right-front forepaw was obviously broken and had not properly healed, causing the leg to be bent at an odd angle. Instantly, I felt even more sympathy for the frightened cat.

I became determined to find a way to make the cat understand she could trust me.

Cherish Every Moment: I'll Miss You, Jason Leffler

Jason Leffler and I. May 25, 2011

Hanging on my bedroom wall are numerous pictures of me with various NASCAR drivers that I have met over the last few years. The pictures signify moments in my life when I got to meet some of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Sure, some of those meetings lasted less than a minute, but those precious seconds will always mean a lot to me. I have my favorite drivers, but I enjoy meeting any driver I can. Why? Because you just never know what could happen to them on down the road. Then you’ll be left wishing you had taken the time to meet that driver you thought you would get a chance to meet next time.

I look at one particular photo hanging on my wall, and I can’t help but fight back the tears. Amongst the multiple photos of me with the same drivers is one that I will forever cherish.

Hanging on my wall is one single photo of me with Jason Leffler.

Cheers for the Underdog: David Gilliland

David Gilliland during driver introductions at Bristol in August 2011

He is a driver that, up until a few years ago, I never paid much attention to. In fact, I never paid any real attention to him until he started racing for Front Row Motorsports. I could go into detail about his NASCAR career, but only if I did some research. I may not know a whole lot about David Gilliland, but what I can tell you is that as long as he is racing, I’m more than happy to cheer him on.

The only reason I even started noticing Gilliland was because of my cousin Kayla. She became a fan of him in 2008, and I eventually started watching him because she always pointed him out and cheered for him on race weekends. It didn’t matter what position he was in, if he even gained one single position more, she cheered.

Bristol Motor Speedway: I Call It Home

Ten years ago, I got up early one Saturday morning, hopped into a car with a friend, her family, and two of their family friends. We drove off toward Bristol Motor Speedway. I was only twelve-years-old at the time, and I barely knew anything about NASCAR. In fact, I had never even been to Bristol for a race until that day. When we arrived, my first thought was "It looks so much bigger on television". I looked at the thousands of people walking the speedway grounds, almost all of them decked out in some sort of driver's gear to proudly display who they cheered for on race day. I had no favorite driver at the time, and I could barely name any driver whose last name wasn't Johnson, Gordon, or Earnhardt.