It seems that just about every year of my short four-year racing “career”, a fellow racer has asked me if I was going to “The Nationals”.   The question was always asked with a special feeling of exuberance and excitement which led me to believe that the Nationals must be something special.  I knew little about the Nationals other than it was a week-long gathering of the fastest boats and best drivers in the country, all competing to be recognized as best-in-class.  My boats are far from being the fastest in class and my driving is still way down on the learning curve.  So in short, I never seriously considered taking a week of vacation and making the trip to the Nationals.

That is until the summer of 2011.  At the Southeast Regional Championships, it turns out that I sort of backed into winning the 20SSH regional race.  I say backed in, because once again I was chasing the faster boats around the course in both heats.  But the faster guys, Matt D’Agostino and Paul Price who were battling each other out front, had each jumped the gun in one heat or the other.  When the second heat was finished and the scorers finished doing their ciphering, it was announced that I was the winner of the race.  Since the race was run with the minimum eight boats, that meant that I was pre-qualified for a slot in the Nationals final without having to compete in qualifying heats.

The rest of that weekend, all my racer friends were once again asking me “Are you going the Nationals?   You just have to go to the Nationals!”  Having never been in such a position before, and knowing that I was still far from having a competitive edge, I was still not sure I wanted to make a long trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  But thanks to Gary Pond and Jerry Davids who offered to help get me faster, Nicki and I decided to make a vacation trip to the UP and go for it.

To make a long story shorter, my debut at the Nationals was less than outstanding.  Due to the vent of my fuel tank being closed, my engine surged and sputtered through both heats of the 20SSH final.  But Nicki and I had a great time as we always do.  For me, it’s not about winning the race, but finishing the race and helping others start and finish their races as well.

But there is a much more important race than the Nationals that I want to finish and finish strong.  It’s the race that the apostle Paul spoke about when he said “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only me, but also to all who have longed  for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:19).  If you don’t know the Lord, or don’t know this race I’m talking about, I invite you to start seeking God.  He’s there, just waiting to hear from you.  He wants you to finish this race and win the prize!