A Driver's Journal
by Lyndon Amick-BGN Driver and Staff Writer
11/20/2002

Hello Racing Fans!

Well, the 2002 Busch Series season is over. It has been an interesting year for me. There have been a lot of ups and downs and I would have to say it has been quite a learning experience. I had a good opportunity to run with ppc Racing late in the year and hope I can take that experience and turn it into something that will help me in the future.

Since we just finished a season, I thought I would take you back and tell you a little bit about how I became invoIved in racing. I first became interested in racing when a friend of mine, who now works on the No. 5 Cup team, started driving go-karts. I went to a lot of races with him and decided it was something that I wanted to try. For my 15th birthday, I bought a go-kart. I'm pretty sure this thing was older than I was. We wrecked, we blew up, we did it all. Looking back, I think it must have been pretty comical to watch.

In 1992, dad noticed that I was pretty serious about this racing thing and started helping me a bit. We bought a new go-kart and started winning some races. In 1993, things definitely started looking up. We won three state go-kart championships that year and made the decision to move over to the Goody's Dash Series the following season. Dash cars only have four cylinders and I guess we decided that they couldn't go fast enough for me to hurt myself. That was a great plan, until they started running on the bigger tracks like Daytona! Anyway, I raced in the Dash Series for three years and in 1996, our last season, I won the championship.

I knew heading into my last year of Dash racing that I wanted to race full time. I was 17 at the time and realized that I wanted to make a career out of it. I stopped playing football and basketball and concentrated even more on racing. After winning the championship, we made the move to the Busch Series.

I've always been a competitive person, whether it be a foot race, a car race or even who can cut the grass the fastest. Racing is the perfect fit. You can be competitive and it's always a good thing. I'm not exactly sure what inspired me to race, but I know it's what I am supposed to do.

Speaking of inspiring, even though I haven't been on the racetrack in the past couple of weeks, things have been busy for me. Melanie and I had our first child a couple of weeks ago. Nothing is more inspiring that having a child. Everything we do has more meaning now. Of course, I wanted to be successful before, but now that Billy is here I want to try even harder to be all that I can be. I want to be somebody that he looks up to for the rest of his life. Overall, having a baby has been an overwhelming experience. I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to keep you up to date on how things are going in the parenthood department while at the same time letting you know how things are looking for next year and beyond the next time I write.

Until next time,
LA

You can reach Lyndon Amick at lyndonamick@catchfence.com

Lyndon's official Website: www.lyndonamick.com