Another man sits on a folding chair, on the roof of his own RV, not five feet away. Both sit in the infield of the Daytona Motor Speedway.
"What is that?" he asks.
"It's my palm tree. I sit here and it's Waikiki Beach, wherever I park, whether in North Dakota, or in Barstow, I'm on the beach."
"But there are no Trade Winds here," says the other. "More like gas fumes, exhaust, and the noise. The engine noise here is impossible. I was down in the garage area." He stops, and blinks..
A lady in tight jeans climbs the ladder to the roof. She holds two brandy snifters.
He nods. "That your wife?"
"No, that's Olympia. Met her on the phone."
"You mean, on the internet, don't you?"
"No, " he says. "On the phone. I called her twice a week, Wednesday and Friday nights at 7. You hear her voice you'll know why I flew her down her. She's from Washington. She had some cosmetic work done recently. I think she came just to show off."
"Hey Glen, honey" says Olympia. "Not easy climbing this ladder with these..."
"Snifters?" says Glen.
"It's not about the snifters, Smarty," she says. "Doctor said I'd have to practice. But the way you guys look at me...it's going to be fun." She shakes her head.
"Olympia meet...?"
"Rockford. Rockford Decatur. I'm from Illinois. Call me Rocky." He sits up straight as Olympia turns toward him, and waves.
"Hello Rocky," she says. Her voice is low, It's like a song. "I'm Olympia, and this is Glen.".
"Glen Cove, I'm from New York." says Glen.
"Hello guys," He stands, and stares at those recent Acquisitions. He blinks and breathes deeply.
"My wife is down stairs," he says, and pops another beer. "She's not much of a car buff. She says the only exciting part is near the end. Just check the internet and you'll get the results. Like a Bulls game. Last three minutes all that's important."
He laughs. "You come down here much." he asks.
"Only $50 bucks to get in here, so I came. After this it's the March Madness, the Final Four in a month in New Orleans, No ball game is complete without the chance to tailgate."
"I just got back from the stage on the far turn," says Olympia. "Had to check out Miss Sprint Cup. I should have tried out for that. I had her by at least three cup sizes. Nice girl, but honey, she's kinda young, and in that racing suit, tough to see any female figure."
"I'm sure you'd stand out." says Glen. They tip snifter glasses, and giggle.
"Lot of guys were taking my picture over there."
Both men nod and breath deeply. Rocky reaches for another beer.
"Girl says she's an adrenaline junkie. Me too. And her home town's same as Jimmie Johnson's, one of the drivers, right? Maybe that's why she Miss Sprint?"
She sits down next to Glen Cove from New York, and sips from her snifter
"Race should be starting. Cars are on the track," says Rocky. He pops the beer.
There are voices. A crowd forms on the pavement in front of their RVs.
"Who do you think will win?" asks Rocky, still standing on his RV.
"Whom?" she says.
"What?" says Rocky.
"I think that's right? Whom is an interrogative pronoun, but here it is used as the object of the question. I do a lot of work over the phone, so language is important to me."
"Okay, whom." he says. "I like Earnhardt."
"I think he's one of the favorites," says Glen. "Kenseth, Stewart, maybe Jimmie Johnson. He's been hot last few years. But I'm thinking Biffle, Greg Biffle."
Olympia rises and stands by the front of the RV, and turns to face the two men. "Gotta go with Danica," she says.
Glen pulls a piece of paper out of his wallet. "Biffle...Biffle...here it is, 25 to 1. Earnhardt is 10 to one."
"We gals gotta stick together," says Olympia. "She said she's okay after that crash on Thursday."
"75 to one on Danica."
"I like her." says Olympia. "5'2" a 100 pounds. She's small but talk about guttsy She's been driving since she was 10 years old. Victoria's Secret had her on their sexiest athlete list." She waves her Brandy snifter in the air.. "She says she has to be patient, stay out of trouble, and with a little luck..."
"I was a fan of Jeremy Maysfield," says Rocky. He pops another beer, and gulps "But he's not here. Once he failed their drug test, he's been black balled. He said he could explain it all but nobody wanted to listen to him. He mixed allergy pills and some kind of prescription stuff. A positive on their drug test, you're done."
Holding his beer, he moves closer to his roof's edge, closer to Olympia.
"A conspiracy you ask me? Like with beer." He holds up his can. "Supposed to be a worldwide drought, so Hops are scarce. Reason it costs so much now for a six-pack. But there's no drought."
"Conspiracy?" says Glen.
"When prices come down, they never come back to the same price they were before. There's plenty of hops."
"Conspiracy," says Glen. "Like the Illuminati? The committee of 300? Tri-lateralists?
"They're everywhere," says Rocky. "You don't think there is a connection between fast food and the medical establishment. Poorly fed people will always need doctors. Doctors will never run out of patients.
"You should talk to Mitt Romney?" says Olympia. "He was over at the other RV center, by the large stage."
She looks down at the crowd on the pavement in front of the RV. She waves.
"Romney was here last year too, " says Glen. "This is his bread and butter, the South, Republican stronghold. Wasn't George W. the Grand Marshal down her in 2004?"
A man calls up to her, and holds out his camera.
Rocky looks down. "Nobody cares about the start of this race, I guess. Wifey was right."
Olympia sets down her snifter, kneels down and leans over the roof's small rail. A topless figurehead on the bow of a ship. Well, almost topless.
"This is spectacular." says Rocky. He pops yet another beer. "This is some good stuff."
The crowd flashes their cameras, iPhones, Blackberries. The sound of the U.S. Air Force flies overhead. The loud speakers vibrate. The people in the stands roar. And the growing crowd on the pavement, pushes for position, waves, and continues to snap pictures of Olympia.
She smiles, leans over further and asks, her low voice like a song, "Is this better?"
"One more lap, ladies and gentlemen, and the green flag." says the announcer.
Olympia goes viral.
The man controlling the main TV camera that over looks the start-finish sees her pose. He loses his focus, and comes in tight on the two RVs, Glen, Rocky, and Olympia. Mostly on Olympia.
"Closer...closer," says the director in the truck, the main network feed. "Real, real close."
And as they concentrate on a full screen view of Olympia's new Acquisitions, their worldwide TV audience misses the green flag and the start of the Daytona 500. 2012, Americas Great Race.
-------------------------
Help comes from:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/racing/news
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/othersports/autoracing
http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/Tickets-Event
Google, Wikipedia
ESPN.GO.com
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar...Mayfield...
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