The Rest of the Dirt-Ron Meyer, freelance writer and dirt racing blog

I hate the word obese. It is a hurtful word, and makes me seek solace in a Twinkie. I also hate the words diabetes and arthritis, though apparently not enough. I am not overly fond of the phrase prescription drugs, at least when it applies to the obscene amount Americans have to pay for the medicines they need. Pharmaceutical companies are oil companies without offshore drilling and pipelines.

I love baseball. I have since I was old enough to swing a bat. I miss playing the game, fielding a sharply hit grounder, throwing out the batter at first. I can’t say I miss hitting curve balls. If I hit one when I played ball in the 50’s and 60’s, it was surely by mistake.

I recently discovered that people my age actually play baseball. There are leagues such as the MSBL, or Men’s Senior Baseball League, and there are Over-50, even Over-60 tournaments in places such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, St. Petersburg, and Palm Springs. Even senior baseball cruises. I think attending a fantasy baseball camp might be a good start for me. A week in Yankee pin stripes in January sounds exciting.

I am obese-grossly grosses me out, so I won’t use it. I suffer from Diabetes 2, arthritis, and sleep apnea. If it is related to being overweight, I have it. I quit playing golf because bending over to tee up left me short of breath, so now I am talking about playing baseball? Well, yeah.

And I haven’t been able to lose weight. Finding out I had diabetes should have been a clue I need to lose weight. Wrong. Listening to my doctor tell me my quality of life will suffer if I don’t lose weight, and knowing he is telling the truth because it already suffers, has not been the motivation I need to lose weight. Weight Watchers has worked wonders. I once lost over 30 pounds on the program. Then let one slip move me away from the program, as I methodically gained all those pounds back.

Maybe I’m being too hard on myself though. I figured out that I had only gained an average of 3.5 pounds for every year I have been married. Of course Jane and I will celebrate our 38^th anniversary this August.

The image of me in a baseball uniform one more time is powerful. I am not sure it is powerful enough to keep me on the path I MUST follow, but I hope you will help me. I hope you will encourage me as I start my journey to good health. I will certainly encourage you.

Be a part of the team as I step up to the plate. If you are into baseball, well, I learned to love baseball reading the Sporting News when it read like a baseball paper, looked like a baseball paper, and smelled like a baseball paper. I am a frustrated baseball writer, so believe me there is going to be a lot of baseball in Stepping Up To The Plate.

If you are losing weight, I hope my journey can inspire you, and your journey can inspire me. Part of this blog will be a daily weight loss/exercise journal. And I am not going to avoid talking of my struggles.

Welcome to Stepping Up To The Plate. I hope you will visit often.

NASCAR, IMCA, Stock Cars, Late Models, Modifieds, Street Stock, Hobby Stock, Racing Sites, Race Tracks, Race Results, Racing Vendors, Racing Equipment, UMP, WDRL, MLRA, Lucas Oil, WISSOTA, Sprint Cars, Legends, auto racing, motorsport, motor, sport, auto, dirt, track, blog, blogger, forum, community, freelance, writer, author, Ron Meyer, articles, news, race track videos

I am a hard-core race fan. I love all kinds of racing, but dirt track racing is my passion. NASCAR's Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, and Craftsman Trucks receive ample coverage from newsstand magazines like NASCAR Illustrated, Speedway Illustrated, and Stock Car Racing. There is no shortage of magazines featuring IRL drivers. But what about the rest of racing, the local, grassroots, Saturday night racing?

A magazine I write for, Dirt Late Model, does a wonderful job of covering national tours like the World of Outlaws, the Lucas Oil Dirt Series, and the UMP Summer Series. Regional tours like the WDRL, MLRA, MARS, NALMS, SAS, are well represented. Flat Out magazine does a great job of covering sprint car and midget racing, and open wheel mega-events like the Knoxville Nationals, and the Chili Bowl. And, Three Wide Media's newest magazine Dirt Modified is on the scene for all the important modified races such as the Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek Speedway, and the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, IA.

I am proud to say that both Dirt Late Model and Dirt Modified, magazines I write for, go out of their way to find good stories on racers. Every story is not about Scott Bloomquist or Billy Moyer or Kelly Shryock, or other name drivers. But one magazine covers late models, and the other one modifieds. Other than results, and once a year specials, no magazine or racing paper covers hobby stocks, stock cars, street stocks, pure stocks, pro stocks, or sport compacts.

There are 1,000 dirt ovals in the United States. Tracks like Rattlesnake Raceway and Devils Bowl Speedway are great stories, just for their names. Every dirt oval has at least one class, usually two or three supporting its feature class. There are thousands of great racing stories that have never been told. The rest of the dirt wants to tell these stories.

If you are a driver of a hobby stock, the rest of the dirt is a site you will want to visit often. If you are a crew member of an IMCA stock car, the rest of the dirt is a site you will want to bookmark. Any family member or fan of a low buck race team will love the rest of the dirt. Drivers who buy and race on used tires have names. The unsung heroes of auto racing deserve a site to call their own. And now they have one.

Welcome to the rest of the dirt.

Ron Speaks Out

One thing I have no shortage of is opinions. George Bush, Barack Obama, John McClain-yup, I have opinions about each man. Afghanistan and Iraq, the Middle East, China, Pakistan, and the European Economic Union, ditto. Mowing lawns, the internet, American Airlines-not just the airline that stranded me in New York in April, all airlines.

College sports, prescription drugs, tomatoes, vegans, San Francisco, and global warming. You face and my tube, or do I have that wrong? Cell phones, the 2008 British Open without Tiger Woods. Pat Sajak and Vanna White. Want to know what I think?

The price of oil-don't get me started. The absurd salaries of corporate CEO's. Children starving in Africa (yeah, I did mean to place this items side by side). 60's music. Jazz. Standards. Popcorn. McDonald's French fries. Health insurance. Newspapers. The rain forest. Exercising and eating right. Bottled water vs. tap. Hybrid cars. Geronimo.

My wife says my brain is full of facts that aren't worth much.

The Black Hills of South Dakota, and riding in a taxi in New York City. Nebraska is not an intellectual wasteland. Do ghost whisperers, dog whisperers, and horse whisperers have a convention? Racism is big in small towns too. Airport security. Silky terriers-especially ones named Kahlua and Sophie. The Christian right-or maybe not. The cost of a breakfast buffet in a New York hotel. I probably forgot something.

I may be serious. I may be funny. I may be ironic. I will speak out. Blogging is cheaper than a therapist.

Ron Meyer