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Thanksgiving a Time to Reconnect for Racers

The end of the long NASCAR season coincides with one of the major holidays of the year – Thanksgiving.

It’s the start of the frenetic holiday season in the U.S., and a welcome break for those who have spent the past 40 weeks traveling up and down the country chasing glory one lap at a time.

Some just want to leave the track and disappear for a while, recharging batteries depleted in that grueling stretch. Others want to take some time to reconnect with family and friends after living the life of the road warrior.

Brian Vickers, fresh off his first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry is going to New York with family. It’s a personal and special thing, he says.

“For Thanksgiving, we’re taking my great-aunt and great-uncle, who are kind of like my grandparents on my father’s side, to New York for three or four days,” Vickers says. “They’ve never been and they’re extremely excited. I’m excited to show them around, and I haven’t been back up to the city in two or three months.

“That will be a lot of fun, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Vickers’ father, Clyde, owns CV Products, a major supplier of parts for racers, and his aunt and uncle served as young Brian’s grandparents upon the death of Clyde’s parents.

“Last year, I took my grandparents on my mom’s side up to New York,” Brian says. “They’d never been, so I took them up there and I’m glad I did. My grandfather passed away this year and that New York visit was one of the best times I ever had with him.”

Marcos Ambrose is taking a different direction…south and west by the compass and throttled way back from the hectic pace of the past nine months. Of course, as a native of Australia, he’s not so caught up in the Thanksgiving hoopla here in the States.

“My off-season started before I headed to Homestead – I left the house, locked it up and I’m not going back to it,” he says. “Basically, I was flying out from Miami on Monday straight back to Australia. Going to hang out with my friends and family and just get my mind and body back in shape.

“We’ve got a little bit of stuff to do, but primarily it’s just about getting back home, forgetting about turning left for a while and getting back to normal living,” he smiles. “I’ve got a little townhouse in my hometown and I like going down and getting the milk and paper in the mornings from the local store. Just being a normal, average Joe. It’s a crazy world we live in and sometimes you just need a moment to reflect on what you’re all about, and I use my off-season well. I really try to get back, get my feet on the ground and not move for a while.”

Scooter Crowell is very excited about Thanksgiving. He’s a transporter driver for the No. 20 Home Depot Camry team of Joey Logano, and the holiday, he says, is the one time in the year that the entire family gets together.

“We have family scattered all around the country, and Thanksgiving is when my family makes sure that all the kids and their kids come home to North Carolina,” Crowell says. “We’ll be at my mom and dad’s house, with my two sisters, their family and kids, and my brother and his family and kids.

“All of us will be together for four days, Thursday through Sunday.”

Jerold Shires, Crowell’s teammate and the tire specialist for the No. 20 Camry, has a different, more poignant reason for going home to West Virginia this Thanksgiving. His mother passed away in October, and this is the first holiday the family will have without her.

“We’re going to go home and be together,” he says. “We’ll visit and just kind of reconnect as a family.”

And isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about, giving thanks for all the blessings you have and have had?