Adventures in Raceland: Rodkingz

Copyright © 2012 by AJ Loft.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2012914359

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4771-5669-8

              Softcover    978-1-4771-5668-1

              Ebook         978-1-4771-5670-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 06/12/2013

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CONTENTS

Forward

Chapter One Photo Finish

Chapter Two Black Magic

Chapter Three Raceland

Chapter Four Chill Chamber

Chapter Five Bad News

Chapter Six Really Bad News

Chapter Seven Friends

Chapter Eight The Fight

Chapter Nine Revenge

Chapter Ten Football

Chapter Eleven Big Mistake

Chapter Twelve The Mckay Bros

Chapter Thirteen The Palace

Chapter Fourteen Voice, Over

Book Two Sneak Preview

FORWARD

Sunnyvale, USA

For many, our town will feel like a melancholy memory of a different place and time. Maybe not better, or even as good, but surely different than where they live now.

For others, it’s a fantasy that never could have been. They won’t understand because it didn’t happen to them.

The truth is, it wasn’t that long ago that Sunnyvale could have been Anysmalltown, USA.

This is where we grew up, and it’s still very real, at least it is to us.

Here is an anonymous local’s view of our fine town, that I found just the other day hanging on a sparkling clean wall in the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce;

Sunnyvale’s the place

where we choose to live

love, learn and race.

Forget or forgive-

whatever it takes.

The streets are all new,

well lit and wide,

and the people are few

with something to hide.

Windows don’t need bars.

You won’t need a gun.

There’s nothing to fear,

and no reason to run.

See, every day is easy,

sunny and bright.

Racing’s our thing,

we never need fight.

People know ’bout wrong

but choose to do right.

Our kids are respectful

innocent and good

and do all the things

mom says they should.

Everyone’s important

and kids can be kings

And you can still talk to your dad

about any ole thing.

Those were good days my friend, that for many, too quickly they came to an end. For our children the following story I penned…

Cody Caducous is new at this job and he didn’t have any time to dress up for it, so he’s still wearing his racing gear and a beat up old black leather racing jacket. He’s sitting in a big leather executive chair behind a huge oak desk watching some races from high above a track, when his memory finally starts coming back. Although he knows he’s alone in the room, he speaks out loud.

"Nice office… The chairs alone had to cost a fortune. They’re made from the softest leather I think I’ve ever touched.

And wow! This place is huge and really cool. I’m pretty sure I’d get comfortable here in a hurry, but what the heck am I doing in here?"

He stands and walks around the big oak desk and reads the name placard on the front of the desk—Kevin James McKay.

Oh yeah, that’s it! I’ve heard about the McKays. Yeah, now it’s coming back to me.

He rubs his temples and closes his eyes. It hurts, but he keeps talking.

There were two brothers named McKay that would both be attending Hot Rod High this year and they had everyone talking. The girls were excited because they thought both the brothers were handsome and nice. The guys at HRH were excited also because these guys were supposed to be great football players too.

That’s right. Their dad was supposed to be a college football legend named KJ McKay and now he is the big boss at RodKingz Entertainment. It’s gotta be the same guy, so I must be standing in KJ McKay’s new office at the Sunnyvale Speedway.

He picks up today’s racing program off the desk.

So it’s Labor Day and I’m watching the RodKingz World Championships at the Sunnyvale Speedway right now? Wait! This can’t be right. Just a minute ago, I was charging toward the finish line in Hot Rod High’s annual ‘Graduation Championship’ race. That was in May on Memorial Day. How could I miss a whole summer? This is getting freaky and I’m starting to get scared. I don’t even know why I’m talking out loud, but I can’t stop so I hope someone’s listening. If you can hear me or you’re reading our story, don’t be afraid. I mean, I think you’ll be fine. It’s just me that seems out of place. I’m not sure why I’m here, but hey, I’m still in Sunnyvale and I’m at the Speedway-my very favorite place to be. It’s just that there’s this very strange power that seems to have control over me, and I’m lost and getting tired; too tired to fight it anymore.

Slowly, his expression and style seem to change. He is acting like he’s some kind of MC or announcer now. He looks out at the crowd and sees the McKay boys. He seems confused for a moment, but then in a totally new upbeat voice, he begins telling us this story…

Wow, what a summer! The McKay boys are having the time of their lives! After all, they live in Sunnyvale, USA the coolest town on the planet. The weather is always perfect; there are lots of cool things to do, and plenty of cool kids to do cool things with. Everyone’s really nice too, even some of their teachers!

He pauses and looks really puzzled.

That was weird. I just tried to say ‘our teachers’ but I said ‘their teachers’ didn’t I?

He pauses and looks around like he’s expecting an answer, but there’s no one else there.

"Someone, or some ‘thing’ corrected me before I got the words out. This is so strange, but they’re right. The teachers at HRH aren’t my teachers anymore, because I graduated on May 30th. At least I’m pretty sure I did. Yeah, I remember the whole thing. Then the next night, I had just pulled into the lead and was about to win the final HRH racing event of the year, the Graduation Night Championship. I was so stoked!"

He rubs his temples again and closes his eyes, and then quietly he says, "It still hurts every time I try to remember more, but it’s slowly starting to come back to me. I can see my smokin’ hot black corvette, called ‘Bad Boy’, racing into the last turn and then BAM! There’s a really loud noise and an explosion. Then everything’s on fire."

Then Bam again! The memory leaves as fast as it came and I’m right back here at the track doing the voice over job for this story.

There’s a long pause this time, as Cody clears his throat and changes back to that sportscaster voice.

As I think I was saying, what both Keegan and Kyle McKay like best about their town is that it’s home to the world famous Sunnyvale International Speedway-where the world’s best race car drivers come to race the coolest cars ever made!

Cody’s getting into it now and with excitement in his tone, he says, "In fact right now, two blazing fast race cars are coming around the last turn and heading straight toward the McKay boys at over 200 mph! Billy Bigtime’s ‘Radical Rebel’ and dangerous Dale Yardsale’s ‘Royal Renegade’ are locked in an epic, seesaw battle for the worldwide championship. They’re both runnin’ flat out, screamin’ toward the finish line, and though it’s still neck and neck, Billy is now holding onto the lead by the narrowest of margins. He’ll go down in history as the first ever RodKingz champion born and raised right here in Sunnyvale, if he can hold off the hard charging Dale Yardsale. It’s going right to the wire!"

"Whoever wins today will drive away with the prestigious RodKingz Worldwide Championship trophy and the $5 million dollar cash prize! Don’t forget, the winner takes home the trophy, the money and the loser’s race car because every RodKingz race is for car titles (or pink slips) which, by the way includes these magnificent machines worth more than $2 million each! Nobody wants to lose one of these cars, believe me. Not today. Not ever."

Cody continues but he’s speaking a little slower now.

The McKays have been waiting for this race all summer long. They spent the day hanging out with their best buddies, collecting autographs, and watching the best drivers in the world flying around their track chasing fortune and fame. The other ten division champions had already been crowned today, and the boys hadn’t missed a minute of the action.

He’s pinned to the glass now, watching the McKay boys stretch forward in their seats.

"And now, at this very moment, Kyle and Keegan are on the edge of their seats, watching very, very closely as their hero, Billy Bigtime is leading by the narrowest of margins in the biggest race of the year. Wow! What a day of racing! The McKay boys are pretty sure that life just doesn’t get any better than this anywhere in the world!

Suddenly, Cody just magically appears next door in the announcer’s booth and now he’s dressed in a sport coat and slacks like a real sportscaster. He’s standing right behind ESPN’s two famous race announcers.

Cody Caducous is not sure if these guys can hear him or not, so he whispers, I’m standing here with two of racing’s very best sportscasters. Let’s check in on these two pros and listen as they call the race.

He points at Mike Kiljoy and says This is Mike Kiljoy, the lap-by-lap guy and he’s always pulling for the underdog. Next to him is Darrel Hedtrip, the color analyst. Big D usually favors the more experienced drivers.

Cody sits down in a chair next to Mike, makes himself comfortable and keeps whispering, By the way, I don’t understand why, but it’s obvious that these two guys can’t see me or hear me, so I’m just going to get comfortable here and let you listen in with me as these pros give their breakdown of this finish.

Ladies and gentlemen hold onto your hats! Wow, have we got a hot one today and believe me, this race isn’t over yet yells Mike Kiljoy trying to be heard over this very loud crowd. "The red car, ‘Radical Rebel’ and the blue car, ‘Royal Renegade’ have easily distanced themselves from the rest of the field, but they’re locked in a head to head battle right now baby and they’re both runnin’ all out!"

That’s right Mike, says Darrel Hedtrip. These two are really pushing it, hitting speeds of over 220 MPH on the backside straightaway."

Mike replies, "That’s crazy fast. They could never have hit those record speeds on the old track here in Sunnyvale."

That’s true, said Darrel but today, Sunnyvale’s track is world renown for all its state of the art technology. They’ve got a sticky new surface here that really holds these guys from flying right out of the place.

Mike adds, The new shape is called a quad oval, because just like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it now has four distinct steeply banked left turns.

Those banks let ’em fly through the turns, and the extra length in the straight-aways are what allow these racers to get going so fast, adds Darrel.

Mike says, "That’s true. In fact, because this track is now over a mile long, NASCAR classifies it as a ‘SuperSpeedway’ instead of a raceway or regular speedway."

Darrel takes his eyes off the track, looks directly at the TV camera, and says, "For our TV audience; Sunnyvale’s track has been in the Haulinbut family for years, and is currently owned and operated by Ben Haulinbut, one of racing’s legends.

That’s right, says Mike, as he looks at the camera now too. "Just last year, the old Speedway was completely destroyed when Victoria Spencer-Haulinbut’s racecar was clipped in a championship race. It flipped and flew into the grandstand, killing the driver, and narrowly missing several hundred fans."

Darrel looks sad and then quietly continues, "Unfortunately, her kids saw the crash that claimed her life."

Mike is clearly not comfortable with this conversation, but slowly he adds, "That driver, Victoria Spencer-Haulinbut, was this Speedway owner, Ben Haulinbut’s wife."

The resulting fire burned the whole place to the ground. It was a horrible tragedy. He pauses before Darrel changes his tone and says, Ben was well insured but he wanted more than to just replace what he had, so he brought in his old college roommate, KJ McKay as a partner. These two men, with all of Sunnyvale behind them, somehow built this beautiful, state of the art new facility in just 9 short months.

Mike is visibly relieved now that the conversation has turned back to tracks and racing. He adds much more cheerfully, "Now, the Sunnyvale SuperSpeedway is world renown for having the latest and greatest technology with subterranean pits, bump back rubber walls, a ‘Sticky Top’ carbon threaded track surface, and the best hi-def A/V system in the business."

Darrel, now smiling says, Plus, on the backstretch they built a video expansion system that delivers tight close ups, enlarged by as much as 20 times actual life size, to every seat in the house! This place is awesome

That’s right and racing has just taken off here, Mike told the TV audience. It’s more popular than ever and it looks like Sunnyvale will set attendance records for the country this year.

Darrel looked around the track and remembered how cool the front of the building was when he came in today and said, You know Mike, this whole facility just looks and feels ‘fast’ now!

That was the perfect lead-in for Mike to bring the conversation back to the track, so he jumped on it.

Speaking of fast, our two leaders are both on pace to break the world record for this distance out there. They are both pushing that long skinny pedal hard to the metal!

Darrel responded, Yeah, those two are really flying out there and with this track’s new banked turns, they won’t have to slow down much even as they make that big turn for home!

The last speed gun shows both racers nearing 230 miles per hour! That’s crazy fast and it’s still too close to call, added Mike excitedly.

Darrel said, "The Rebel is clinging to a very slim lead, but there’s no way some 19 year old rookie’s going to beat the world’s best driver, Dale Yardsale out here today."

Mike knows that Darrel has a soft spot for the more experienced drivers, so he agreed. "It would be the biggest upset in this Speedway’s history."

Its just not gonna’ happen buddy, said Darrel.

Mike’s watching this finish through his high powered binoculars, even though the guys have an excellent view from up here. "I don’t know about that. We’ve got a heckuva race going on down there. Lookout, here they come, thundering down the home stretch and they’re still neck and neck. It’s unbelievable!"

Darrel almost yells out, "Wait, Dale just used a power burst and has taken the lead. It’s over!"

I don’t think so D. Here comes Billy B. He just used his last nitro pop to jump back in front, said Mike.

Darrel, No, now it’s Dale again.

Mike, Nope. It looks like Billy B. to me

Darrel, Dale

Mike, "Billy B.

Darrel, Are you blind? It’s Dale.

These guys are probably two of the very best race announcers in the country, but even they couldn’t keep up because the lead was going back and forth so quickly.

Mike finally caught his breath and almost whispered, We’ll see. Here comes the checkered flag… It’s Bill…

Way too close to call Darrel interrupted and finished Mike’s sentence.

The guys can finally relax a little but after Mike catches his breath, he says, "Wow! That was awesome! This one’s going to the booth for a photo finish. So, what do you think D-man?"

Darrel looks out at the track and sees Dale taking a victory lap. He says, "Yardsale looks awfully confident out there."

The TV camera shows Dale running his ‘cool down’ lap waving wildly to the fans as he slowly weaves back and forth around the track—hotdoggin’ it! Billy B just turned back and pulled into the pits.

Mike says, He’ll sure be embarrassed if he lost.

There’s no doubt my buddy Dale won this baby, going away, Darrel says. He’s a seasoned pro. This kid can’t beat him. I mean, what are the chances?

Mike starts to respond to Darrel’s question, but takes the high road instead with, "Well, they sure gave this sold out crowd of over 200,000 fans something to cheer about didn’t they?"

Mike, I didn’t realize they had expanded this track THAT much! Heck, Sunnyvale must be the biggest track in the country now, next to Indy.

That’s right D, and this huge crowd is not going anywhere soon. They are staying in their seats because they want to hear it firsthand if their home grown boy pulled off this upset.

Darrel says, "I’m afraid there’s going to be 200,000 plus disappointed race fans tonight."

Mike takes a more politically correct position and says, "Either way, Billy gave Dale one heckuva race, especially for a 19 year old rookie! Heck, it seems like only yesterday that Billy B got his racing scholarship to Hot Rod High."

Darrel replies, "Well, it wasn’t just yesterday. The Bigtimes moved to Sunnyvale seven years ago, when Billy was 12 years old. He won the HRH ‘Grinderz’ level Championship that year. I remember because Billy just barely nosed out my son, Darrel Jr. to win it."

Mike can’t help but notice that Darrel said that last part almost painfully, so he’s chuckling a little bit when he says teasingly, Oh, I see D-man. You are holding a personal grudge against Billy B, is that it?

Darrel looks a little embarrassed and says, No, of course not. I just call ’em like I see ’em. Listen to me, Dale Yardsale won this race hands down. In fact, he was probably just toying with Billy.

Mike quickly replies, "Oh come on. I don’t think either of them was ‘toying’ with the other. There’s way too much at stake."

Darrel says, "We’ll see, but Dale’s a pro, he could probably keep it close and then win on instinct alone."

Well, if Billy did win, Mike says, he set a record as the youngest racer ever to win racing’s biggest event: the famous RodKingz Worldwide Pro Championship. Let’s head down there for the trophy presentation.

As Mike starts to get up to leave the booth, Darrel grabs his arm and says, "No, no. Let’s wait a second. They’ll have a copy of the photo in here in just a minute, and I want to grab it for Dale. Hey, here it is now."

The guys got down to the stage and took their seats under the warm sunshine of another beautiful day in Sunnyvale. Next to them on their right are both racers, Billy Bigtime and Dale Yardsale. To their left are both of The Speedway’s owners. KJ McKay is seated and Ben Haulinbut is standing at the podium addressing the huge, anxious crowd in the grandstand. Darrel slips over behind KJ McKay and hands him the photo of the finish. KJ glances at it briefly, and then slides it back into the envelope.

We catch up with Ben’s speech and hear, "As I was saying, thank you everyone for your heartfelt support this last year. You know, it was just last July that my wife crashed and died on this very track. That wreck caught fire and this whole place burned right to the ground. In those few minutes my whole world went up in smoke. I felt I had lost it all and honestly, I was devastated. I thought long and hard about selling what little was left of the Speedway and moving on.

Ben’s two children, Shelby and Ben Jr. walk onto the stage to stand next to their father, one on each side. He puts an arm each child’s shoulder and keeps talking, I felt like I needed to run, and keep on running. I just didn’t ever want to feel again, and I knew this track would stir up those painful feelings every time I came here. But my daughter, Shelby here wouldn’t allow me to run. She told me that she needed me to be strong for her now, more than ever before. And my son, Ben Jr said he didn’t think he’d make it without his HRH buddies. They both knew they were going to need every one of their Sunnyvale friends to heal and that I’d need all of you too. So we stayed and this community helped us rebuild this whole facility in just a few short months.

The crowded stadium erupts with applause. When it subsides, Ben continues, "Today, my family stands before you humbled by your kindness. You all helped my family heal and you got us through the toughest time of our lives. We’ll never forget the pain of our loss, but now we’ll also remember forever how all of you made us feel, and helped us