CupScene.com

(By Cathy Elliott NASCAR Media)

Posted: Saturday,May 29th, 2010

The Memorial Day weekend is a pivotal point in racing for far more than one reason.

The first and most obvious reason is the same one that explains why buffet restaurants continue to do a booming business, even in a tough economic climate: quantity. There’s so much good stuff to consume, and so little time in which to do it, that we run the risk of surfeiting ourselves, worried that we’ll miss something really tasty.

It is a risk race fans are willing to take, and have been taking since 1974, the first year the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway competed head to head on the same day – Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

(Getty Images)

The day really is an embarrassment of racing riches. The Indianapolis 500 is celebrating its 94th birthday in 2010, and for probably as long as any of us can remember has been considered the gold standard of motorsports.

Personally, my family was focused on baseball and college basketball, and as a kid in the 1970s, my racing vocabulary consisted of exactly eight words – Richard Petty, Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Mario Andretti.

(On a side note, Andretti provided one of the best bridges between series, becoming one of only two drivers — A.J. Foyt is the other one — ever to have won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. Plus, to a kid growing up on the sand dunes of North Carolina, “Mario Andretti” is just fun to say.)

The point is that we didn’t really follow racing, but we were certainly aware of the significance of the Indianapolis 500.

Beginning in 1994, staggered start times made it possible for NASCAR drivers to compete in both races on the same day, the motorsports version of an Iron Man competition. Dog, meet pork chop.

While John Andretti was the first to attempt the Indy-Charlotte double in 1994, Tony Stewart became the first driver to complete the full 1,100 miles, in 2001. He did pretty well that year, finishing sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte. Robby Gordon has also competed in both races on the same day.

Any chef worth his salt will tell you a pot can always be sweetened. That happened just recently, when Bruton Smith, owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway, publicly announced his company is working on a plan to offer a nice little bonus for winning both races. Some tweaking would need to be done in order to make the accomplishment feasible, but the paycheck is a nice incentive — $20 million to the guy who wins both the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500.

Yes, I said $20 million. Dog, meet entire pig.

Don’t roll your eyes. Given the proper circumstances, there are a couple of guys – on the NASCAR side at least — with a legitimate shot at it, namely Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya.

And getting away from the word “guy” for a second, Indy racing superstar Danica Patrick’s inroads into NASCAR have not only been respectable from a competitive standpoint, but surprisingly well received. Can you imagine if she became the first driver to win both races in a single day? Talk about historic.

All this rhetoric does my work for me, clearly illustrating the second reason why Memorial Day weekend is such a banner date for racing: quality. The Indianapolis 500 is simply the benchmark in its class, and the Coca-Cola 600 is considered one of the top five annual NASCAR races. The weekend is like having your cake and eating it, too; who knew that was even possible?

I like open wheel racing, but NASCAR is my thing, so my primary focus on Memorial Day weekend is always the 600. With the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup now being so top of mind – even before the green flag drops on the Daytona 500 each season – what I have actually found most compelling this year is the fact that the Coca- Cola 600 is race number 13 on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. That’s halfway next time by to the Chase.

It’s on now. If you think of it like a road trip, where you measure your progress according to what Interstate exit you’re passing, we’ve traveled a fair distance, almost without even realizing it. And as great as the competition has been so far, I have the distinct feeling that the best is yet to come.

But perhaps the most noteworthy thing about racing on Memorial Day weekend is how it reminds us of the things that make America, and all of its all-American sports, so great, things like God, and country, and family. And hot dogs.

Kim Wilson is a race fan – and the wife of a soldier serving in Baghdad – who told her story of watching last year’s Coca-Cola 600 with her young son Dakota in the book “Chicken Soup for the Soul: NASCAR.”

Marathon race days, midway points and millions of dollars are cool incentives. But after this story, there’s really nothing left to say.

That race, as you may recall, was run on Monday – Memorial Day – due to weather issues on Sunday. Mid-afternoon, and mid-race, the event was halted. The race was red (white and blue) flagged in order to observe Memorial Day’s National Moment of Silence.

Kim looked over to see Dakota, who was 8 years old at the time, standing quietly with his small hand resting on his heart. When the race resumed, he said, “Mommy, NASCAR loves the troops.”

“Yes they do, honey,” Kim replied.

“And that’s why I love NASCAR.”