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mine. I drive in memory of them all. God willing, they're with me when I race."
Atkinson has been racing for 23 years. "I started racing in the "Dukes" class at River Glade. In 1985, I joined the military and had enough money to buy my first "Dukes" car from Squirrell (Gary MacLean). I raced there until they built this track and have been here ever since."
Atkinson went on to say " Number 40 was my Dad's number when he raced many years ago. My Dad's nickname was "Little Richie" when he raced at Hammond Plains way back when they welded two wheels together for the front right and had a tiny little tire on the left. He ran with Randy's(Moore) dad."
Curious about his ability to get weekends off in the military, I asked him. "I'm at school right now. We try to organize our schedule so that we have weekends off. Most of the instructors manage to do this. Right now, it's a GO-GO-GO through the week with late nights. Our primary focus is the students. We come in some nights late for those students having problems."
This year has been fairly successful so far, compared with some others. "The car is working good right now. All I have to do is tell my crew chief Chris Miller what it's doing and he says "GO Away". When I come back he has made the changes. He says "Go out there and run hard" "
Every racer has had accidents and all are bad. Atkinson's reply was somewhat different. "I was racing Billy Sommerville for the win one time and for some reason, a car stopped on the backstretch and I went right into the back of him. Everything was driven right back. It even knocked the steering wheel out of my hands. I didn't realize that when you're slightly knocked out a little bit, you shouldn't try to drive away but I did. I broke my sternum once when I went full tilt into the wall. I've rolled on my roof, been on fire - those kind of things don't hurt that bad but the sudden stops, that's what hurts."
One of the funniest things that Atkinson recalls actually wasn't so funny at the time. "One time about three years ago, they forgot to put my gas cap on. I was driving along with gas going everywhere behind me and I got the black flag. I didn't know why so I turned to see. I could smell smoke and then could see the flames following me. We can laugh about it now but at the time it was dangerous and scary."
In closing, Atkinson wanted to thank his wife Heather, his kids, Chris Miller and his family, and all the sponsors that keep him here. "A few weeks ago, I called one of my sponsors. He was in Lowden. I didn't know he was there. I told him that my carburator had given up the ghost and I needed a new one. Right then and there he said "You'll have it". He cut and sent me a cheque immediately and I had my carburator in time"
Atkinson added "I have to thank the fans. They are the backbone of this sport."
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