Looking back, one year ago

Facebook memories are always reminding you where you were in previous years. Most of my summer memories are from baseball fields and race courses around New Hampshire.

But, the one-year-ago memories this week have started coming from the other side of the world, as at this time last year I was in Tokyo, preparing for my first summer Olympics experience, a year later than planned and a few days later than planned thanks to a three-day required quarantine.

As I write this on Saturday, July 23, it was exactly one year since the Opening Ceremonies, which I watched from my hotel room, as my quarantine had yet to be completed. I had originally hoped to make the Tokyo Opening Ceremonies my first-ever Olympic ceremony, but that had to wait a few weeks until the Tokyo Closing Ceremony.

Over the past six or seven years, I have really enjoyed when Facebook provides me with memories from my Olympic experiences. Most of those have come in the middle of February when the Sochi and PyeongChang Olympics took place. However, Tokyo is the first time those memories are popping up in the summer and it's fun to see it in another time of the year.

Tokyo was a unique experience, particularly at the time. It was the first Olympics ever postponed and the first held during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead-up to Tokyo was a lot of paperwork and a lot of meetings determining just what the process would be for us as we prepared to make a trip around the world in the middle of a pandemic. It was frustrating at times and not the easiest of situations, but what it did was prepare me better for what we had to go through to go to Beijing earlier this year for the Winter Olympics.

When I look back, Tokyo was quite the unique experience in so many ways, mainly because of the pandemic. The venues around the city were completely empty, save for media, staff and volunteers. It was an eerie situation in so many ways. It was incredibly hot (perfect timing as the heat wave hits the northeast this week) and there was a lot of sweating going on. But it was my first time seeing the Summer Olympics and I came away with a new appreciation for the Summer Games. The Winter Olympics have always been my favorite, but I really enjoyed the athletic accomplishments I saw in Tokyo and am seriously considering another trip to the Summer Games. I got to see the great Katie Ledecky compete in person and I got to see the final Olympic performances for Allyson Felix, one of the greatest track athletes of all time. I saw a UNH alum and a former competitor on the courses at Kennett, Kingswood and Plymouth run for Team USA. I missed out on Simone Biles, but got to see a gold medal performance from Jade Carey. I saw the US win gold medals in women's and men's basketball, women's beach volleyball and women's water polo in the final days of my time in Tokyo.

And of course, I got to be part of my first Olympic ceremony when I attended the Closing Ceremonies and got to see the pomp and circumstance for the first time. Since then, I have seen the Opening Ceremonies and Closing Ceremonies in Beijing, but that ceremony in Tokyo will always be the first one for me.

I know that I can look back at any time (thanks to the iPhone photo gallery), but it is still cool to see just what I was doing one year ago on the other side of the world.

The Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo was a great setting for what ended up being my first event at the Summer Olympics last year.

Full throttle … or maybe not quite full throttle

This piece previously appeared in Salmon Press Newspapers.

I’m putting my foot to the floor, riding inches from the ground as I get up to speed and enter the race track, my heart pounding and a voice in my ear telling me to move up and get between the lines. The number eight Budweiser Monte Carlo, long a fixture of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., is now carrying a guy who barely fit through the window and is super happy he took his blood pressure medication earlier in the day.

That being said, as the car circled the track, with my foot hammering down coming out of turns two and four looking to pick up speed on the straightaways, the thrill was real. It felt like I was flying. In reality, I was probably going about the speed I do on Interstate 93 when I’m heading to Littleton to cover a basketball game.

A little backstory.

A few years ago, I was in the media center at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when someone came in and asked if anyone wanted to take a ride in the pace car. It seemed like a great opportunity and I took advantage. I did it again the next year as well and it was a blast, riding inches from the wall at speeds over 100 miles per hour. As a fan of NASCAR, it was great to see just how the cars hit the track and how hard it is to drive at those speeds, never mind with three-dozen-plus others banging alongside you trying to get ahead. It was one of the coolest moments of my journalism career.

This year, I decided to take it to another level and spend my time behind the wheel of a NASCAR car as the NHMS Media Challenge made its annual stop at the speedway ahead of next month’s NASCAR weekend. The Rusty Wallace Racing Challenge brings stock cars to the track and lets people get behind the wheel and see how they fare. The media relations department at NHMS invites the media to come out and give it a try and this was my first attempt at getting behind the wheel (and hopefully not my last).

My goal going in was to not wreck the car and not be the slowest person out there. Much to my surprise, I succeeded in both goals, though when the official results were announced, I was a bit disappointed in my overall effort.

The group of media members gathered in them media center as we were given lessons in what to do (stay between the lines on the track) and what not to do (don’t downshift). The guy giving the presentation made it sound pretty simple, but deep inside, I was thinking to myself that was not going to be the case. He went over all the necessary safety information, told us what to do if we felt the car getting away from us (don’t try to correct it, just turn left) and when and where to hit the gas and let off the throttle.

They then led us to the garage area, where we had to don our firesuits. As a short guy with a larger stomach, the XXL worked in the stomach area but was a bit long in the legs, but it would have to do the trick. We got to choose helmets and they led us to Victory Lane, where we had our pictures taken and got driver introductions.

Then we got to do a ride-along, with the professional drivers showing us what we needed to do. My driver punched the gas right out of pit road and we were off. It was like the pace car ride a few years earlier, but even faster. We did a few quick laps and then it was time to get in my own car.

I brought along photographer RC Greenwood, who does a great job helping us cover sports in the Lakes Region. The photos accompanying this story are his, as he followed me around and got some great shots. As we walked toward the row of cars lined up, I said to him I was kind of hoping for one of the Dale Jr. cars (there was an 88 and the old Budweiser 8 car). 

As luck would have it, I got the 8 car. Once the staffer helped me squeeze through the window and got me all buckled in, they did a test of the ear piece (we had a spotter watching us the entire way). He then fired up the engine and told me to move down pit road and wait for the go-ahead from the spotter.

Now, going in, I thought we would be on the track by ourselves, but this was not the case. As I got on the speedway, there were a couple of other media members driving and also the professionals still giving the ride-alongs. As I pulled out onto the track coming out of turn two, my spotter said “ride-along car coming on your right, stay in your lane,” and sure enough, the car went flying by seconds later.

I put in my laps, getting a little more comfortable each time around the track before the spotter told me the checkered flag was out and it was time to bring it in. While I was well aware I was not the fastest person out there, I felt like I was moving right along and had done pretty well.

I was definitely mistaken. While I had achieved my goals of not crashing and not being the slowest, I was way down the list. My best lap time was 57.671 seconds, which translates to an average speed of just over 66 mph. I was certainly going faster on the straightaways, but need to punch the gas a little more next time. Kudos to the great Justin McIsaac for his top-10 finish and Jon Decker from the Laconia Daily Sun for beating my times.

While I was a little disappointed, this was an amazing experience and I’m hopeful to do it again in the coming years.

If you want to see the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series in action in person (they will be driving faster than I did), visit NHMS.com for ticket information for the NASCAR weekend, coming July 15-17. And check out some of the cool exclusive food offerings (the cheeseburger poutine and frozen hot chocolate shake were delicious) NHMS is offering for the NASCAR weekend.

And remember, race weekend is bound to be more exciting than me putting around the track for a few laps.

A few photos from my driving experience at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, thanks to photographer RC Greenwood.