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A NASCAR BLOG BY Art Weinstein

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Yes, Junior, there is a Santa Claus

Dec 26

A few days before Christmas, as our family sat around the dinner table, my 7-year-old daughter dropped a bombshell.

“Somebody at school told me that there isn’t REALLY a Santa Claus,” my daughter said. “He said that when kids write a letter to Santa, their parents take it, and they just buy the stuff that’s in the letter.”

My wife and I looked at each other, then just started laughing hysterically.

“Oh my gosh, that’s ridiculous,” we said in unison.

Obviously, there comes a time when children question the logistics of how an overweight, extremely middle-aged man can circumnavigate the planet in one night, delivering gifts to billions of people, presents he’s packed into a sleigh that looks to be roughly the size of NASCAR’s car of tomorrow, yet with none of the COT’s highly touted safety features.

That night after dinner, I wanted to tell my daughter a Christmas story with a NASCAR twist. I wanted to tell her how Rick Hendrick has chosen Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a high-horsepower sleigh that could give him the greatest gift of all in our sport, a NASCAR Cup trophy. I wanted to explain what might happen when a driver with rock-star popularity, and good skills, joins a team that absolutely dominates the current competition.

I didn’t do it. It would have sounded too ridiculous, even for a girl who still believes “Cinderella” and all the other far-out fairy tales.

Next year, with my daughter a year older and much, much wiser, I’m sure we’ll have to explain how Santa Claus isn’t everything she’s been led to believe. We’ll try to tell her how the spirit of Christmas lives on even in adults, and how it’s a magical time of year. Family and friends gather, exchange gifts, tell bad jokes, take lots of photos and eat extravagant meals.

“You mean kind of like when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was crowned champion at the recent NASCAR Awards Banquet,” she’ll say.

“Yes, just like that,” I’ll say.