Paulo Lava: Girls Garage columnist
Paulo lives in Brazil and follows any series of racing he can gets his hands on! His contributions make Girls Garage "international". We are proud to have him on board!
MY LIFE AS NASCAR FAN
By Paulo Lava
November 15, 2007
Sitting down in a chair of the VIP area of Porto Alegre’ Bus Station, I began to trash out the basics of this article over a few cans of Coke – and as we all know that Coke is the official drink of the most awesome racing series of the Universe, gradually, things came together! Of course, the GG readers know that I like to write long articles. And I am supposed to do the same with this, but the bus driver just climbed the stairs and my Toshiba 445 CDX battery has no charge left... so, forgive me, but I must go now on to the main point of this report. In case you are interested, below you will learn what it is like being a NASCAR Nextel Cup fan in
... I spent 90% of my teenage allowance by purchasing North-American Magazines like Stock Car Racing; Car & Driver; Motor Trend; D.B.’s
... I wear official NASCAR gear to all the social events – including my sister’s wedding day!
... I rediscovered a childhood prayer because my favorite driver was two places behind in the final lap.
... I also made a prayer to the Lord above, asking him to help Christian Fittipaldi to make a glorious comeback.
... I read Jayski and Nascar.com every single day.
... I fell in love with a famous PR lady from NASCAR’s office.
... I write letters to famous
... I make US$100 a week and think that Dale Jarrett got a “raw deal” because his #44 Camry do not allow him to visit the Gatorade Victory Lane just like “the old days”.
... I refuse to get married because the feeling that in the near future a wife can ask for a divorce and she’ll get custody of the ever growing NASCAR die-cast collection – and the NASCAR library, too!
... I stay up nights memorizing the NASCAR milestones published in the official Media Guide.
... I decided to visit a buddy I used to hate in High School just because he has money enough to pay for a cable TV that broadcasts NASCAR Nextel races in Brazil (BTW, it is called “Bandsports”)...
... I asked the crowd that visited the buddy above to be quiet, so I could hear the sportscaster on the television describe the driver’s move we just saw.
... I missed the Sunday night funeral of a close relative – or a friend – because I was too busy watching the “lap by lap” on Nascar.com
... I wait patiently for the postman to come over and bring signed postcards from NASCAR drivers.
... I have a 20-plus year collection of racing memorabilia that is taking up considerable storage space.
... I base my entire existence on using nothing but NASCAR products!
... I wrote 17 sentences about the simple life of a simple NASCAR fan from South America just because I still believe that Matt Kenseth can capture the 2007 crown (What a naive boy, aren’t I?)
Paulo “McCoy” Lava is from São José do Hortêncio (
paulomccoybr@yahoo.com.br
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