The Unknown Gift of a Lifetime

 

 

Three years ago today I lost one of my heroes, John Andretti. Over the years, I’ve written to his family and shared my feelings through my social media, but with each passing year comes a new thing I remember and appreciate about John and what he gave to me. 

 

We all have a favorite driver. Maybe that driver is  a family favorite or maybe the rival of your family's favorite. Maybe you like the car colors or number. Maybe you know the driver or they’re from your home town or state. Maybe it’s random, or maybe you’re like me where it’s a mix of sponsor and driver. I, unknowingly, became a John Andretti fan because I was a three-year-old who loved Cheerios. John, however, quickly became more than the driver of the Cheerios car to me. 

 

I grew up in a family that couldn’t be further from NASCAR… never watching it or hearing of it.  I truly found it on my own, in a uniquely Zach way. What’s unfolded over the last 22 years is one incredible meeting with John, memories of a lifetime with my family, especially my parents, a group of amazing friends in an online racing league, and the community we’ve built here at Runnin’ On Scuffs through our team and of course listeners and readers. 

 

I hope each of you find someone to bring you the continuous joy John brought me and still does even today. Every article I write, and every episode I do it all comes from the joy that a kid, a cereal, and a racer all collided at the perfect time, and I hope to give that to each of you who encounter me personally and as a listener or reader here. 

 

In conclusion I raise a toast… a toast of cheerios of course… to the legendary John Andretti whose life and legacy will forever be carried on by many myself included.