A Dream Shattered part 1

This is the story I wrote in high school....

A DREAM SHATTERED part 1

          Ever since I was six I wanted to be a race car driver. I would sit in front of the television every Sunday and and watch the Nascar race. Every night when the race was over, I would go to bed and imagine how much fun it would be racing in the Daytona 500.

            "And the winner is James Parker!" the announcer would shout into the microphone.

            When I turned fifteen, I began the first phase of my racing dream. One Monday morning, which happened to be my birthday, my dad took me out to the shed and told me to close my eyes. I heard the doors open. Then he said, "Open your eyes!"

            I opened my eyes, and there sat my very own go-kart.

            "You're going to race with me this summer," Dad said smiling. He knew how much I liked going to watch him race. Now I would get to race too.

            The months of November, December, and January, dragged by. Every day I went out to look at my go-kart. Sometimes I'd get behind the wheel and imagine.

            "There they come around turn one," the announcer would say, "James Parker is slowly making his way through the field. Here they come down the front stretch, and there's the white flag. Parker has made a great run; he is currently in third place, but he's still moving up as they come out of turn two and start down the back straightaway. Here they come out of turn four! Will Parker have enough to pass the leader? Yes! Yes, he does! James Parker has just won the Daytona 500 in one of the closest races in Nascar history!"

            April finally came! Dad and I loaded the go-karts on the flat-bed trailer, and we drove to the track. That trip seemed like the longest thirty minutes ever.

            I had to wait until May to drive in my first race. The early part of my season was rather rough, but I got the hang of the track and improved. Then came the championship race, and I was ready. The time for my race came. I climbed into my go-kart, and my Dad got ready to start me. We took our pace lap, came around turn five, and started down the straightaway. The green flag waved; and we took off toward turn one. Because of a bad qualifying event, I had started the race in twelfth place out of sixteen racers; and I had only twenty laps to try to win.  (to be continued)