A Series of Unfortunate Events

A few years back there was a movie starring Jim Carrey called Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Didn't see the movie but every time I hear the title I think yep, that could be a lot of different days in my lifetime.

Today was one of them. Only I wasn't experiencing the misfortune.

This afternoon, Jim, Carter and I returned to Golden Sands Speedway for a makeup "rain date" race from July. It was a 180-degree turnaround from Friday night. This time I needed ice cream instead of hot chocolate!

Going into today's action, our nephew Colin (who has pretty much locked in the track championship at Marshfield with one race to go) had a slim points lead at Golden Sands for super stocks. And when I say slim, I mean only 6 points. So everything he does matters.

It started off great because he won fastest qualifying time, earning him a few points.

Fast qualifiers in each division get to hoist a flag during the National Anthem.

Here Colin and the other fast qualifiers are interviewed before the actual races begin. Between all of his fast qualifying times at Golden Sands and up a Marshfield, this is old hat for him by now.

Things started well. He finished third in the heat race in front of that red car, the No. 25, who is the guy right behind him in points. That helped the situation a little bit!

Unfortunately, this photo represents in the turning point in the feature race. Because Colin spun out, he was relegated to the back of the pack. There just weren't enough laps left for him to come from the back to the front -- as he's done in the past. So not only did he finish poorly, but No. 25 won the feature! Ouch.

We went down to the pits after the races. Colin -- who now sits 19 points behind the leader -- was in OK spirits. He still has two more Friday nights of racing at Golden Sands so, pending some fortunate events, he could still get his hands on that championship trophy.

So what's the worst thing that could happen? He gets only one track championship instead of two in only his second year in the super stocks division.

I'm willing to bet none of us felt that fortunate going into 10th grade!