It's just a little kid's wagon, right?

Some might just think it’s a wagon, and in many ways they would be correct. But the ‘Radio Flyer’ has been through a lot of changes over the years. While it is ‘just a wagon’, it is also the source of fun, and even practicality. Here is the “War Wagon’s” story.

The idea for a ‘war wagon’ originated way back in the 2000 season, when I got tired of ‘hauling’ my race day gear (and other’s) to and from the track, and what was seemingly a marathon walk from the parking lots and camping areas at many tracks. But of course, we couldn’t just have any ole ‘Wal-Mart Radio Flyer’ for about 40 bucks. We had to get this Radio Flyer, ‘race day’ ready.

First, that meant a trip to the local flea market to replace those ‘standard’ thin, hard rubber tires; instead the first option was a set of pneumatic tires. After all, there were times when it would be needed to have a ‘smooth’ ride over many gravel parking lots and sidewalks. But after the first race day, this proved to be not enough rubber for the road, and an upgrade to larger pneumatic tires was needed.

Also during this time was the need for a ‘race day’ paint job. There was little question of what it needed to look like, after all, this was a ‘war wagon. But Nascar is an ever-changing sport, and the need to upgrade the paint scheme was an ongoing project, but a fun one at that. The irony over this last paint scheme is that I never completely finished what I started 3 years ago, from the move to RYR. How fitting, considering ‘my’ driver didn’t seem to want to finish it out either.

Then there were the ever-present‘comments’ from the Nascar faithful, who of course, were also hauling their scanners, coolers, and other race day stuff. I just wish I had a dollar for every time I heard, ‘hey, we need to do that’, or ‘Can I put my stuff on top?” Lets face it, when presented with the task of hauling 4+ people’s stuff over sometimes two or more miles to get to one’s seat, the War Wagon is a great choice.

The War Wagon was not only practical, but it was a great 'race day statement', as seen not only by the paint scheme, but by ‘Ricky’ in the latter years. It just might be time for ‘Ricky’ to be joined by a buddy. Anyone got a certain Nascar Beanie Bear to offer?

Now the question that really remains, is that the War Wagon is in need of another makeover. Just what will it be? I’m thinking a trip to Lowes is in order. If that’s not foreshadowing, I don’t know what is!

Yep, it truly is a "kid's wagon" in reality, but on race day, aren't we all just that? kids!!!