My friend Patrick McNamara owns a lot of race cars -- I'm not sure how many and suspect he may not be too sure about it, either, especially since he's unsuccessfully trying to keep the total number away from his wife, who knows better. I know the number is at least nine, and that doesn't count the two cars that he won't admit to his wife that he recently bought, even though she knows that he did.

Now, this isn't exactly Roush Racing or Hendrick Motor Sports. These cars are four cylinder "Pony Stocks" that are run at several local race tracks, and V-6 "FWD Pure Stocks" that are also run at the same tracks. This is to say that these are old grocery getter cars that have seen better days and a fenderbender or two before being picked up cheap to be run on the tracks.

Now, Patrick has these cars for a purpose, not just the sheer joy of collecting. He runs a deal he calls "Community Racing Challenge", which puts rookies into race cars for charity fund raisers, or just for the heck of it. Talk nicely to Pat, and you can get a car for a full season, twenty races or so, all the hauling involved, maintenance, gas and oil, helmet, firesuit, everything but entry fees for $1500. Let me tell you, compared to other ways you could do it, it's a deal and a half. Patrick does it because he thinks there's a need to draw new people into racing, and he tries to do it and at least break even.

So, I shouldn't have been surprised to get an e-mail from Patrick a couple weeks back, saying "Hey, Wes! I'm going to have some Pony Stocks down at Evergreen Auto Park. You like to drive one?"

Well, yeah, sure. Nothing like a few hot laps to blow out the carbon and get the feel of what it's like to run a car on a dirt track. I mean, it's not like I was going to be racing or anything . . .

So I got down to Evergreen Sunday to discover that I wasn't the only one that Patrick had invited. In fact, I never did get a good count, but there were considerably more drivers than there were cars.

Patrick led us on a hike around the track, talking about some of the things we'd need to know, and then in groups of four or five we went out to turn some laps at ever-increasing speed. I was in a gutted out Pontiac Grand Prix well over a decade old. I was trying to be conservative in finding out what the car would do, and never really got totally comfortable with the car.

I got back up to the pits, got out of the car -- and as big and stiff as I am, that is not easy -- figuring that I'd had the chance to drive the car, it was fun, but a little dissatisfied that I hadn't really had a chance to push it. When Patrick asked, "You like to go again?" I said, "Yeah, sure."

I'm not sure how they worked out the starting lineup -- a drawing, maybe -- but half an hour later I discovered that I was starting on the pole in the first heat race.

I got suited up in the heat, got into the car, and waited, and waited and waited some more. The temperature outside was about ninety by this time, and I had on a heavy racing suit and helmet, and yes, I was sweating.

Finally we got on the track. We took a couple laps at a low speed with my excitement increasing  before the green flag flew and I stomped the accelerator on the old Pontiac to the floor. The guy on the outside of the front row spent several laps trying to get around me before he finally managed it, but I held onto second, finally feeling like I was pushing the car toward its limits. I was glad to get out of the car, as I was really starting to feel the effects of the heat.

My taking second qualified me for the feature, but I took a pass considering the heat and the fact that Patrick was running out of running cars.

Basically, I'd accomplished what I set out to accomplish -- I'd driven in a race and didn't finish last.  Patrick was pretty honest about the whole deal. "I'm like your neighborhood crack dealer. The first hit is cheap. It gets more expensive once you're hooked."

Not unexpectedly, my wife hit the roof when she found out about it. "Your health insurance doesn't cover racing!"

There is, however, supplemental Motor Sports insurance that does cover racing. I'm thinking about it . . .  I have to do something to fight off the sixtieth birthday demon, after all.

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