True Story Tuesday - Driving/Racing/Nephew

My nephew started his driving career

really early in life. Chase was just a

little tike when he decided to jump in

his Dad’s vehicle and back it out of

my Mom’s driveway. He could not

have been more then 3 years old or so.

We were all outside at Mom’s for some

reason when we looked up just in time

to see Ray’s vehicle rolling out of the

drive, you could barely see Chase’s head

bouncing up and down as it rolled down

and right across the street in to the ditch.

At the point that he hit the ditch, the

head disappeared as his body slid down

and out of the seat into the floor.

All was well, Chase was fine. It has been

a source of fun and laughter ever

since. Chase is now 26 years old.

But it really did not stop there with his

driving experience. When he was about

8 to maybe 10 years old when he took

his favorite Aunt Pam (that would be

me!!!) out for a go cart ride. My

mistake! We were having a fun time

in the lot next to my brother’s house

just riding around and laughing. Chase

wanted to take Aunt Pam for a ride,

so I hopped on. Now at this time I

was thinking this could not be a bad

thing, everything will be fine, NOT…..

Chase picked up speed, turned taking

a curve to head back the way we had

just come and I went flying. He

actually through me off the cart

right onto my butt (excuse me, my rear).

All was okay, I did not suffer from

my flying off the go cart experience

but it did make me think twice about

riding with him again.

If you are thinking this is the end of

this story, its not! When Chase was

14 years old my brother called me

and asked did I still have a stick shift

car. At that point I did not but my

daughter had one and she was just 17.

The reason for this out of the blue

strange question was that Chase needed

to learn how to drive one. Okay, like me

you are probably thinking why at 14 he

needed to learn to drive a stick….right?

Well get this, you can’t get your drivers

license until you are 16 but at 14 you

can drive a race car.

Yes, I said race car. Chase was going

to start driving race cars. Now before

I go on with that part of the story let

me first go over the part of me teaching

him to drive a stick. He pretty much

had the basic part down, he knew how

to shift since he had rode four wheelers

and motorcycles. So my part of

teaching was not that hard. But true

to Chase form, he had to scare the

crap out of me!

We are driving around the neighborhood

and he is practicing his shifting and

learning to use the clutch, brake, gas

pedal and stay on the road. With all

that done and things going well, he

heads down the main street that is a

straight through from one entrance

of the neighborhood to the other. It

has a couple of small hills and curves

and one stop sign. As we head down

this street Chase ask me when he will

be able to shift to 5th gear in which

my reply was that since we were in a

neighborhood that was not going to

happen. Now, he is a Montgomery

and we kind of have a mind set of our

own and don’t really like to be told

that we CAN’T do something.

The speed picked up, we topped a hill

and he say’s, want a bet? Okay, so I

was wrong, he was able to shift to 5th

gear, but not before I got my scare. As

he was shifting and operating the

clutch at a higher speed then he was

use to for a learning practice, he almost

looses control and I see the mailbox

headed for my side of the car! YIKES.

Chase was able to control it and all was

well, we did not even hit the mailbox.

But my heart was pounding and I

decided at the point, training was over

and he was ready for the track.

Chase went from racing go carts (he

knew how to take those curves with

or without me), to racing ARCA, BUSCH

and then Craftsman trucks. If any of

you ever followed racing my nephew is

Chase Montgomery. He took fourth

in overall points as a rookie in ARCA

in 2002. He also became the youngest

to ever win the pole in Daytona and he

also won first place in ARCA series in

Daytona. Later after leaving ARCA for

BUSCH he finished his rookie year in

10th position.

Through racing Chase was able to meet

many interesting people including Alice

Cooper when one year he raced with

Cooper’s name and picture on his car.

Cooper attended some of the races

and him and Chase have even gone

golfing together.

As his racing career moved on Chase

was signed by the late Bobby Hamilton.

I will never forget a comment he made

once when being taking to the hospital

in Texas after hitting the wall at the

track there. Apparently when the ER

doctor came in to see about him, the

doctor was not aware of the fact that

Chase raced cars, when asked what

happen Chase proceeded to tell the

doc that his boss ran him into the

wall. I am thinking at this time the

doctor was a bit confused until it all

came to light and he learned that

Chase was a race car driver. It seems

that while trying to pass at some

point, Bobby accidently pushed Chase

into the wall. Hey, it’s racing and it

happens.

Chase is no longer racing these days

but the desire to be on the track is

still there for him.
I was able to enjoy (actually walk a

whole in the ground) watching him

race at the old and new track here in

Nashville, in Memphis, at Bristol,

Lowes Motor Speedway and several

times in Daytona. I have viewed his

races from home, the stands and the

pits all the time remembering the

“driving experiences” that lead up to

his being out on those tracks. And

knowing all along, that I would never

have taken anything for being thrown

off the go cart or almost eating a

mailbox by him. Love you Chase.

Check out his website and read all

about this young man at

http://www.chasemontgomery.com/

Thanks for stopping in to read about

my nephew.

Pam