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Cover Letter

Dear Rebecca,
I feel like my paper went really smoothly. It seemed easier to start the paper since I have
knowledge of my topic. It was not like a research paper where you have no idea what
The topic is before trying to write a paper about it. It was very easy to keep coming up with
stories and information. The challenging part was the organization of the paper. I felt like my
paper was all over the place because it was hard to judge where stories should be placed and how
to flow from one paragraph to another. I really want to keep the paragraph about getting my first
car. I feel like it is crucial to my story. I would not mind revising the paragraph about the
different divisions and types of cars because it is a more boring paragraph but it gives the reader
information about racing that they might need. My question for you is is my paper organized
and does it flow well? I want to know this since it is what I had the most trouble on.

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Kayla Marshall
Rebecca Agosta
UWRT 1101-003
February 15, 2015

My Life at the Oval

I was born in Plymouth Massachusetts where my life of racing started. When I was two
years old my grandparents too me to the race track for the first time. They brought me to
Seekonk Speedway for my first racetrack experience. I loved it. They started taking me to the
track every weekend. We went to the race track so often that we were known there, we had our
own seats that we sat in every time, and everyone around us knew us. This is how my life of
racing began.
After a while of going to Seekonk my grandparents started taking me to see NASCAR
races. The first professional track I went to was New Hampshire Motor Speedway. At this point
in my life, at less than five years old, I asked my grandparents for a racecar. The answer? My
grandmother promised me that if I still loved racing when I am ten years old that she would buy
me one.
When I was ten years old my family and my grandparents moved to Charlotte North
Carolina where I was introduced to Bandolero and Legend racing. I was really fascinated by how
different it was from the cars I was used to watching. I learned that Bandolero cars are a few
steps up from go karts. The lowest division is the Beginner Bandits which is for first year racers.
Then comes the Bandits which is from ages 8 to 12. After comes the Young Guns which is from
12 to 16. The Outlaws, the last group in Bandolero racing, was ages 16 and up, but they have

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now changed it to where the Young Guns and Outlaws are one division. Therefore the Outlaws
are now from ages 12 and up. Legend racing is a step up from bandoleros. The Legends groups,
from youngest to oldest, are the Young Lions, Semi-Pro, Pro, and Masters. I learned all of this
when my grandparents took me to the Summer Shootout at Lowes Motor Speedway, which is
now known as Charlotte Motor Speedway. We went every Tuesday night over the summer. It
wasnt Seekonk but I sure loved it.
Just a few months later my Grandparents put me in a go-kart so I could get some
experience behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. I had no idea why they wanted to see if I was
capable of driving a car because I did not remember the promise they had made to me. Turns out
they did.
They bought me my first Bandolero racecar a few months before the next Summer
Shootout. They took me to 600 Racing, which is now called US Legend Cars. There I was fitted
for the car. It was a lot more complicated than one may expect. I had to be measured for the seat
so I could be the only one to fit in the car. My legs had to be measure so I could reach the
peddles. I needed to be weighed so my car wouldnt be over or under the mandatory car weight. I
had to be fitted for a helmet along with a fire suit and boots. I needed to buy the Hans Device
which latches onto the helmet to protect my neck . The Hans Device was optional before Dale
Earnhardts death in 2001. It then became required because Earnhardt was not wearing one on
the day he died at Daytona International Speedway. They say if he had been wearing one he may
have still been alive today.
My custom racecar was delivered a few weeks later. The car was delivered white. My
grandfather hired someone to put my name and number on the car. I decided to keep the car

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white and added red numbers with white stars in them so the car looked like it had fireworks on
it.
My grandparents sent me to a driving school the week before my first race. This was my
first time on the track. I realized how hard it was. Most people think racing is easy and or stupid
because all you do is sit in a car and turn left but let me tell you how wrong that is. It was hard!
My first summer season was brutal because I was still learning, the car would only start half the
time, and my arms were so sore after every race. Theres no power steering in a racecar.
I eventually got the hang of it after a while. I started going to more tracks such as
Concord Speedway which has a half mile and a fourth mile race track. The race track was always
my favorite place to be and now I got to be around all of the other drivers. I loved being at the
track every weekend all year long. Not only was the racing part a blast but I had the opportunity
to meet people from all around the world.
A couple months into my racing career I totaled my car for the first time. It was the first
lap of the race. I was in first place with the second and third place driver inches away from me. I
was in turns three and four when Brian Kolb, the third place driver, hit me into Heather Lynn
who was in second place. My car was sent into the air and I was thrown into the catch fence. The
car then fell to the ground but hit the wall on the way down. I was knocked out at some point of
the process. When I came to I was taken out of what was left of the car and brought to the
hospital. I had a bruised hand bone and was really sore but I was okay. The next day I was back
to karting to see if I would be able to race in a cast. Turns out it was manageable. My car was
rebuilt by my grandfather and uncle. They spent 6 straight days garage fixing the car so they
could get me back to the track the next weekend.

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My family had me continue to go to NASCAR races and to Late Model races to learn
from drivers of higher divisions and more experience. I had to learn when to do what and I also
had to learn how to tell if there is something wrong with the car. I had to learn how to know what
was broken when the car was not right.
I had to take a season off of racing when my grandmother died because my grandfather
moved to Florida for a while. When my grandfather came back for the spring season I had my
car renumbered and repainted in remembrance of her. I changed my number to 42 because it was
the year she was born, 1942. My Uncle Matt spray painted my car dark silver, not gray, dark
silver. He then hand painted the numbers onto the car. He painted them red and outlined them in
white.
My grandfather, uncle and I were a team together for a while but then my uncle couldnt
come to the races anymore so I had to join a team to help my grandfather with the car. The first
team I joined was Sellers Racing. This one only last for a few weeks because they were jerks and
their drivers were too. I then moved to Stillwell Racing where I stayed for a while. When Stilwell
Racing moved to bigger and better things I went on to race for other teams for a small time such
as Lynn Motorsports and Bedford Racing.
The last team I raced for, which I raced for the last couple years of my career was John
Holleman Motorsports. John Holleman III was the owner of JHM. His son, John IV, started
racing when I did. He was the Dale Earnhardt of Bandolero racing. He was the guy who won
every race he was in and won multiple national championships. He was the guy everyone hated
because they could not beat him. It was an honor to race for his family. His father repainted my
car to black with neon yellow numbers, neon blue decals,and neon orange trim with a giant John
Holleman Motorsports sticker on the hood.

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JHM was the best team I raced for. I got many top 5 finishes with JHM. Although my
career was getting better it was also getting worse because racing for someone everyone hates
makes everyone hate you too. It was hard to go from being friends with everyone to only having
the same few friends as the other hated person at the racetrack. However, after some time I ended
up disliking John like everyone else. He was full of himself because of all of his success. He is
actually one of the reasons I stopped racing.
During my last race John ended up wrecking me and our other teammate on the first lap
of the qualifying race for no reason. At first we thought the car was only a little banged up, but
after an examination and tremendous effort to try and fix it, we discovered the car was done. The
car was too much money to fix so I ended my racing career and left my car with John Holleman
Motorsports.
So now my car has been fixed and is being driven by a little boy. Most of my friends have
moved up to bigger and faster cars, some even on their way to NASCAR. John Holleman
Motorsports is now traveling around the country for Late Model races. John was actually named
the youngest to race at the legendary Bowman Gray Stadium and was also granted Rookie of the
Year. As for me, I miss racing a lot sometimes, but I am glad I stopped when I did. The cost was
too much and I barley have time for work and school now. If I added racing to the mix I would
never have anytime to get things done.
Learning how to drive a racecar was difficult. You have to suffer in result of a lot of
stupid mistakes before you can become an experienced driver. You have to allow yourself to spin
out or hit a wall or two before you can learn how to not do those things. However, rubbings
racing so those things will always happen. If it was not for my family I would have never learned
about or experienced racing. I may have never learned about never giving up and always being

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positive. My families love and support helped me to become a racecar driver. Even though I
dont race anymore I still go to the track to see and watch my friends. Some of my friends are
ever on their way to NASCAR. If it wasnt for racing I wouldnt have met my best friend Tyler
or any of my other friends. I would not be who I am now which is why racing is my life. It
always will be.