iNSIDE SCOOP: Remembering the Reason

Yep, I'll be at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend for the Coca-Cola 600, as will many of you. If you aren't, you'll be watching it on TV, once the grill has cooled off and the adult beverages have warmed a bit.

Yes, we'll watch our NASCAR heroes do battle for 400 laps, cheering on our favorites and cussing the drivers we don't like...sometimes on the same lap. We'll revel when our guy takes the lead, rubs a rival for position and pulls off a slick pit stop that puts him ahead of whomever we don't support.

But let's remember why we have a Memorial Day while we're at it.

Memorial Day was established after the Civil War, when it was known as Decoration Day. It was established to honor the fallen in that most grievous of conflicts, where brother killed brother and families were torn apart by war and the circumstances which led us to it. Later, it was opened to recognize all of those Americans who paid the ultimate price to defend the United States against enemies, foreign and domestic.

Since, it has turned into an excuse to celebrate the official start of summer, a time for stores to offer big sales and the rest of us to cook out, enjoy our freedom and generally kick back.

Memorial Day to me has always meant racing. The biggest Memorial Day tradition, of course, was to attend the Indianapolis 500. Now it's the Coca-Cola 600. But I never forgot the purpose of the holiday. Growing up with a father who served in Vietnam, an uncle who retired as one of the higest-ranking enlisted men in the Navy and a great-uncle who was at Pearl Harbor on a particular December Sunday, it was kind of hard to.

Veterans don't ask for a whole lot. They serve in our military for a variety of reasons, but they aren't different from any of the rest of us. They are husbands, wives, daughters and sons, they have normal family dramas and normal lives. All they ask is recognition of their sacrifice. It is up to us to give them that, and I would even go so far as to say it is our duty to do so.

Whatever you might think of the role of the military these days, one fact remains: a military presence is vital to the survival of our way of life and the place we live. 

When you see a soldier, sailor, Marine or aviator, you're looking at a person who has subjugated his or her personal lives for one of service. The same can be said of police forces and firefighters and other public servants who protect us from evil and come to the rescue when it happens.

I know it's easy to forget in the hoopla surrounding the weekend. Please don't. Your survival--and Dale Jr.'s, Six-Time's, Smoke's and every other driver you hold dear--depends on it.