6/2/2012- Have you ever had a dream or a vision of how your life would end up? I think we all do.  Of course, everyone dreams of that fairy tale life where you live happily ever after.  Where you have a perfect marriage with perfect children in a perfect neighborhood with perfect careers.  As we all know, that pretty much only happens in the movies. In order to see if you can achieve all that perfectness, you have to have dreams and goals. Otherwise, we all would  be stuck in our miserable little lives forever.

Scott and I spent endless hours together dreaming. Whether it was while sitting around the campfire in the middle of the Upper Peninsula, or floating on the pontoon watching the sunset, or just hanging out on the deck watching the kids play basketball.  We both had dreams, some of them way out of reach like winning the lottery but some of them, with a little hard work, could actually come true.

He always, for years, talked about getting on a sprint car team and traveling the states. That was his lifelong dream. His eyes would light up talking about it and then he would ask if I would be okay with him leaving. I would have never discouraged him from chasing his dream, but deep down did not want him to leave and I secretly hoped the opportunity would never come for him. As all racing wives know, being on a race team meant being alone for nine or more months out of the year. With two children, a house and my own career, I knew I could never have handled him leaving. 

The one thing that my husband is exceptional at is sprint car racing. He is intelligent, patient, analytical while not overestimating, has common sense, doesn't over think things and can relate to any driver that sits in the seat of his race car. He knew what made that particular driver comfortable in the cars he wrenched on. He listened. He researched every article, every magazine and every website to gain what he needed to make a better team. He knew the track conditions and he had the knowledge to set up a race car that would win. And we have suited up some of the best.

We struggled financially like most of the families in Michigan. Scott was an electrician by trade with his father and two brothers. When the building boom hit rock bottom, so did we.  The bill stack got taller and the cash flow became shorter. The home phone never stopped ringing from people wanting to be paid.  I couldn't take it anymore. I was tired of working my tail off and having nothing to show for it. It was nice having him home to take care of the house, run kids around, cook dinner and do laundry but that wasn't what either of us had wanted. We were not living our dream.

He spent a lot of time on the internet searching racing websites for car parts, race results, etc. His favorites, then and now, were sites like tjslideways.com and hoseheads.com. In February of 2011, he jokingly told me of an ad he had seen on hoseheads.com for a crew chief/mechanic for 305/360 sprint car team. I never took anything he looked up on the internet serious, especially when it came to racing. So I told him to respond to it just for shits and giggles, be prepared for it to be a hoax and do not give any of your personal information because it probably was a scam. He didn't do it. That sparked me to create his resume. He hadn't needed a resume in years, so it was tough to write. I had no intention of responding to that ad, but at least I had him looking for employment.

Days went by and not so much as one word was mentioned about that ad, from him or me. The more I thought about it, the more it intrigued me and I thought, what the hell, I'm gong to respond to it and send this person his resume. Scott came home that day and busted me working on his resume. There was quite a bit of tension in the air. One because I was finishing his resume kind of behind his back and two because I was going to submit it without telling him. We talked about it and we both agreed that he would respond to it. I must add that his resume was stellar (because I wrote it). We listed all the big names he had worked with in the past from Brian Tyler (2-time USAC Champion and one of Scott's long-standing friends) to Jac Haudenschild (multiple King's Royal wins, Mopar Million winner and Front Row challenge winner) to Dean Jacobs (Brad Doty classic winner) to Kenny Jacobs (4-time All-Star Champion), just to name a few.

The very next day, Scott was working on his truck at the race shop and his phone rang. Naturally, being at a race shop and working on a truck you don't hear your phone. Not to mention the horrible service Verizon has in Hanover, MI. The caller left a voicemail. Once Scott realized he had a voicemail, he listened to it. The call was from the person looking for the 305/360 crew chief. In total shock, Scott called this person's assistant back and told her he had terrible service and he would be home soon and asked if she would give her boss our home number and have him call in a few minutes.

He made it home and was bringing wood in to put in the stove and told Morgan, our daughter, if the phone rang to answer no matter what the number was.  It rang and it was him. Scott spoke to him length about his abilities and what the position would entail. He asked Scott if he could do a face to face meeting with him in Mooresville, NC. Scott agreed to meet with him in two weeks and discuss the possibilities. I got home from work that day and he said, "You're not gonna believe who me called today."  I was in no mood for riddles or jokes. I had just traveled an hour home from work in crap weather and was just glad to be home in one piece. I asked who. He said, "Ray Evernham, that's who is hiring. You know, Ray Evernham, Jeff Gordon's former crew chief, 3-time Nascar champion. His wife is Eric Crocker." I thought, yeah I know who that is and you are lying through your teeth and I am not in the mood for any jokes. 

Then he got real serious and told me to make arrangements to go to North Carolina for his interview. We had less than two weeks to prepare.