A/N: A retelling of the 1990 movie "Days of Thunder" for a younger, naive listener.

Bedtime Stories: Times of Loudness

Loftus Sparrow paused in the reading of his newspaper during the quiet of the evening. He could sense that something was wrong, and that it would engulf him in seconds. Slowly and deliberately he folded and lowered his reading material, to see his young daughter Survey standing in front of his chair; with a scowl on her face she took one last look at the item in her hand and thrust it out toward her father.

He put the folded paper carefully in his lap and gently took the offered item. It was a version of what was commonly called a Pinewood Derby car - his daughter's prospective entry in her Sunday School race scheduled for next week. Painted in gaudy colors, the source of his daughter's concern was immediately obvious; a nail that served as a rear axle had broken through the bottom of the body and dangled loosely with its wheel at an obtuse angle.

"I was playing with it and it broke" she said solemnly. "I ruined it, didn't I? Now I'll never be able beat that Jimmy Magana's bumper when we race."

Loftus raised an eyebrow. "That's a little aggressive, isn't it Survey?"

"Yeah - I'm sorry Daddy. He was just bragging last week and I just wanted to show him up to put a stop to it."

"Winning is fun, but it isn't everything" her father explained. "You have to be a good sport too."

"Is there a story coming?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"Why? Don't you like my stories?"

"I DO; they teach me a lot and they're fun, too. I just want to get a chair if there is one coming" she said as she grinned and ran to the kitchen to bring back a chair. She placed it front of her father and sat patiently.

"Well, since you seem to be expecting one I suppose I'll have to tell you about Cole Trickle and what he learned while racing" Loftus said as he sat the car on the newspaper and cleared his throat.

"Cole Trickle? That's a funny name; it sounds like another word for tar or something."

"There was another racer that was named Dick Trickle, so maybe Cole isn't really the worst name a driver can have. But let me tell the story before it gets too late; even the best racers need their sleep, you know."

...

There was a man named Harry Hogge who built really fast race cars, but one day a man driving one of his cars died in an accident so he quit and became a farmer instead so that the only thing he killed was plants. But people remembered what a good builder he was, and a man named Tim Deland (who didn't live anywhere near Desea) came to walk in his muddy field and get sprayed with fertilizer and to ask him to build a car for a driver that nobody liked named Cole Trickle.

"They didn't like him?"

"Well, the people in NASCAR didn't because he raced cars without fenders and didn't come from the South. They used to be like that; people were always suspicious of others that didn't come from where they were or did something different."

"I'm glad nobody's like that NOW."

"Oh, some folk still are, I'm afraid."

"You mean..."

"That's right - some people still race cars without fenders."

So Cole got a chance to show that even though he was from California he could drive fast even with a borrowed car that had fenders. So Deland hired him to drive the new car Harry built and Cole found out how hard it was to drive in the races because of lots of things. He would blame the other drivers, and the other cars, and his car, and the tires, and the engine and the track and everything and everybody except himself. He even got mad when his mechanic and pit crew had ice cream; he probably wanted some and was jealous that they waited and had it while he was busy racing. So everybody yelled at each other on the team; since races are so loud you kind of have to do that anyway but his team was REALLY good at it. But cooler heads prevailed and then Cole and Harry learned to not yell so much and work together; after that Cole won his first race.

"I bet he was happy, Daddy."

"The whole team was happy; remember, racing is fun but winning is even better. And it's really nice when the driver doesn't blow up the engine or melt the tires or crash and make the mechanic wish he was still a farmer working with stinky fertilizer. Winning is just funner."

"MORE fun, Daddy."

"That's what I said. And it was even MORE more fun when his team gave him a special surprise present for winning."

"That was nice."

"He thought so, too."

After that Cole did a lot better and won more races and made the top driver named Rowdy Burns mad because he didn't like the way they rubbed each other, sort of like playing king of the hill because no one seemed to get a time-out when they bumped another driver out of the way. And although it seemed like they were running into each other all the time, nobody really said anything about it so maybe it happens a lot to other drivers too. Then when they got to Daytona they both got into a bad accident and both had to go to the hospital. Then while they were there in the big hospital they just happened to be pushed in wheelchairs into the same hallway at the same spot at the same time; then they just happened to be able to race each other faster than their orderlies could run and then they just both happened to crash to a stop right by the pretty doctor that just happened to be the one that was testing their brains. The doctor, Claire Lewicki, found that technically they both had brains even if they chose not to use them.

Then the big boss of racing told the two drivers that they had to play nice or he was going to take their race cars away; so they had a nice drive along the beach, hurried to dinner and had a good time and started to be friends. But it was going to take some time to heal before he could race again, so Cole decided to chase after his doctor instead because he was starting to like her while in the meantime Harry's boss hired a new driver named Russ Wheeler to substitute for Cole until he got better.

"Didn't you tell me that was called 'Florence Night and Gale Syndrome' when patients fall in love with nurses?" Survey asked.

"It's only called the Florence Nightingale Effect when it happens in real life. When it happens in stories they call either fate or a plot device."

"Oh."

Well, Claire gave Cole a very thorough examination from head to toe and said he was okay to race again, as well as do some other things. Then they both went to go see Rowdy who just happened to have problems while they were both visiting him on his farm. Rowdy said he wouldn't go to the hospital so he stayed home while Cole went to go race with his new teammate Russ. But Russ drove like Rowdy did and rubbed Cole the wrong way, so Cole expressed his opinion with his fender and a few other parts and Harry's boss fired everyone that worked with Cole. The two teams got mad and a hockey game broke out at the track.

"I hope they didn't lose any teeth."

"Not this time, anyway."

So Cole went back and talked Rowdy into going into the hospital to fix his brain. But since NASCAR was worried that Rowdy might make a right turn on the track they wouldn't let him race after the doctors put a hole in his head. It's like when you get a cut on the end of your finger but somehow you keep hitting it on things and hurting it; except when it's your brain and you hurt it again you forget important things like your name or how to breathe. So Rowdy asked Cole to drive his car in the big race because they were friends. But Cole needed help so he went and drank enough with Harry so they could both admit they were scared, and that was enough so that they wouldn't yell at each other when they worked together again.

"So Cole wasn't driving his car anymore because Russ was; and Rowdy wasn't driving his car anymore because Cole was. It's all very confusing" Survey said with a scowl.

"That's why they put big numbers on the cars so people can tell who is in what now" her father explained. "It CAN get confusing with all those cars making left turns at the same time."

"Don't forget the rubbing" Survey added. "That might make the numbers come off."

So the next year started out with the big race, and Cole and Harry entered their car. Harry didn't want the car to explode so he put in a different engine that leaked less oil than the old one before they started. After the race started Cole was running in last because that way he had everyone right where he wanted them; after somewhere between three and a thousand cars got in a big wreck he made it through and decided it was time to race and pass cars. But like always, the bad guy ran into the good guy and Cole's car almost wrecked so that it was in the back again with only a few laps left. Then at the end Cole proved he's the main character by winning the race. The End.

"So Cole was a good driver, but he became a better driver when he learned to be a good sport?"

"That's right, because he became a better person too and that's more important than winning a race. Now," Loftus said as he carefully set the pinewood car aside and stood up "I think it's time that you got ready for bed. I'll work on your car tonight; I've got a few speed secrets I can use to fix it and make it faster."

"But I thought being a good sport was more important" Survey said.

"It is; but more people will pay attention to you being a good sport if you're the winner. So next week we'll show your Sunday School class just what Team Sparrow can do when we try. Now run along to bed and I'll tuck you in after a few minutes."

"Thanks Daddy. I can't wait to be a REALLY good sport."

The End

A/N: I got started building pinewood derby cars for my son's Cub Scouts. I did build the fastest adult entry when I tried one year, but most of the years I preferred to build creative ones just for show. To surprise the entrants I designed and built a gas can trophy for the slowest entry one year, awarded as "The Greatest Gas Saver".