One of my favorite 2009 cards isn't a Red Sox.

The reason I collect cards is because the feelings and memories that are attached to the happenings of the cards subject.  I collect Red Sox because I have a passion for the Red Sox baseball team, boxing cards because I love the sport, and Virdon because of the former home town affiliation.  One of my favorite cards of 09 though isn't one of the things I collect.  It is this card.

It brings back memories of it's own.  No I'm not a motorcycle rider.  In fact I have never rode a motorcycle.   It brings back memories because I, like Chad Reed, raced motorcross, just not on a motorcycle.  I raced it on ATVs.   I only raced for about 4 years but some of my fondest memories are related to my racing travels.  It started from watching a friend race his motorcycle at the local fair and hanging out with him in the pits.  Someone that was an acquaintance was racing his quad the same night and we got to talking.  Soon I had bought my own quad and went to a race with him.  I had never rode an atv before except for to test ride the thing at the Honda shop before we took it to the race track.  Of course I got dead last and was lapped by everyone except the guy who crashed out but I was hooked.  I started practicing and going to more races.  After a few months I got fast enough that as long as I didn't crash I won.  The catch there is as long as I didn't crash.  At that point I went all in buying a top of the line quad with all the extras.  I raced and traveled with the same 4-5 guys all the time.  We raced together worked on our bikes together and partied together.  Our schedule was:

Saturday:  Race night somewhere.  Usually a fairgrounds race, I sucked at these, small tight tracks were a guarantee I was going to crash.
Sunday:  Races all day.  Problem was that they were always hours away and the Saturday night race usually lasted till after midnight.  So usually only ran on 2-3 hours of sleep.
Monday:  All of us would meet at one of our garages, bbq and wash the bikes.  This was the time we figured out what we had to do to get ready for the next week.  Not a week went by that one of us didn't have to replace something major.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday:  Practice or watch others practice while waiting on parts for my own bike.
Friday:  BBQ and clean up again to get ready for Racing Saturday night.

This was normal schedule from about late February to November until we stepped up to racing nationally.
Has anyone seen that commercial on tv where the guy gets a hamburger that is like a foot tall?  When we went to the Redbud ATV National we accidentally found that truck stop and I ordered one of those burgers.  I split it with someone though.  Accidentally found the first Burger King ever while on the same trip.  Good Times...


All the races were great but it was all the garage and practice days that I liked best.


Oh yeah about the card.  Every February Supercross would come to St Louis.  Every year all us racers from my area would get together and go the the race.  So every time I see this card I remember the times I spent with my racing friends.  I have the normal and mini versions of it.  Somewhere along the way I would like to pick up the Gypsy Queen version. 

I can't wait till one day they print a quad racer card.