HANDS

Recently I was covering a Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway and got to thinking about something. At a race of this level or any other level (high or low) you can have all the brains in the world, all the bodies in the world, all the car owners in the world, all the crew chiefs in the world telling what needs to be done to get a race car going as fast as possible but if you don't have the hands to do the work then nothing will happen at all.

Without hands you have nothing. You can't put the lugnuts on the wheels. You can't put the air wrench on the lugnuts. You can't put the spark plugs in the engine or the spark plug wires on the spark plugs. It takes hands to put the steering wheel on and take it off after the race is over. And it even takes hands to turn the steering wheel during the race. What do spectators do at a race when they see a crash. They point to it with their hands. What else do spectators do with their hands during the race, most likely holding a can of beer or eating a sandwiche.

The next time you go to a race just watch the hands. You'll see them holding a stopwatch as a scorekeeper is keeping times. You'll see a little kid's hands racing his toy race car around an imaginary track. You'll see a young couple holding hands on the edge of their seats as they're watching their favorite driver coming to the start/finish line. You'll see the starter on the flag stand holding the green, yellow, and checkered flags with his hands. You'll see a hand in the shape of a fist fly in the air as a certain car goes flying by. You'll see a hand stuffing a face with food. In the press room you'll see hands typing stories on laptop computers and hands pushing the little buttons on a camera. On the race track you'll see hands picking up pieces of race after a big wreck.

Sometimes you'll see a big foam rubber hand held up in the air with a driver's number on it. You'll see hands during a pit stop pulling off tires then slamming new ones on the hubs. A hand will also tell the driver that he can leave the pits and sometimes that hand is waving wildly. Even in Victory Lane the hand has significance as the driver and crew holds up a number one to show what place they finished. Hands are used to put on all the caps during the post-race photo session. They're used to push the car back to the garage and onto the truck. They're used at the concession stands to serve up hamburgers, hotdogs, drinks, and what good is popcorn if you don't have hands to eat it with. What's the best way of eating a big piece of fried chicken during a race? With your hands of course.

When it comes down to it we wouldn't be much without our hands and those ten little fingers. We don't think about it much until we mess one of little digits up somehow. Even something as small as a hangnail can makes doing things a little more difficult. So the next you're doing something, whether it be working on the car, playing with the kids, driving around town, or just sitting at home watching television, look down at your hands and just say, 'What would I do without you?' They'll appreciate you more for it.