Just in Case You Wondered Where I Was Memorial Day Weekend …
I was sitting with my incredible son, Marcus, just outside of Turn Two at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday taking in all of the intoxicating sights and sounds of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Indy 500.
That’s my wonderful son, Marcus, on the right.
This was not your typical Father-Son outing. I’ve been a racing fan since I was about five years old when I first recall listening with my father to Sid Collins and his radio team doing the turn-by-turn race reporting from the 500.
We listened to every Memorial Day race that way for years before ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” first began broadcasting Indy. (You probably don’t recognize that title, so check out the link for a peek at one of the great pioneers of sports news communications).
Marcus picked up my passion for all-things cars and racing when he was about the same age. And he spent a good amount of time at Summit Point Raceway with me in the late 1980s when I was racing a Formula Ford in the Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series (MARRS) of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
But his childhood was unnecessarily challenging because, for too many years, I was vastly more concerned about me than anybody else; until, that is, the morning of March 1, 1991. That’s when the Lord Jesus Christ opened my eyes about myself, changed my heart and totally turned my life around. It’s something you might have heard about, being “born again.”
After the Great Turn-Around
Believe me, things didn’t instantly become all hunky-dory. But in the years that followed, one of the most precious blessings God gave me was a renewed relationship with Marcus. It began in his high school years, continued growing through college and into his early career and marriage, and is today a source of unalloyed pride and joy.
Today, Marcus, who also knows Jesus as his Lord and Savior, is a loving husband, the proud father of Tyler and Brooks, the two best grandsons I could ever ask for, and, with wonderful wife Morgan, the adoptive parents of Beckett, an extraordinary little girl from China. I marvel at the man he has become, despite the challenges I put in his childhood, and the family they are.
Our Indy weekend was three days of sheer heaven for me because it was just the two of us, on the road driving to Indy on Saturday, going to the race on Sunday and driving back to Maryland and Virginia on Memorial Day. We rarely get such time these days, thanks to geography and schedules.
A Man for All Seasons
We talked and laughed and prayed, about things serious and hilarious. Trust me, the kid breaks me up about every five minutes or so, then lays a spiritually derived political insight on me that makes me dream of him being in Congress. For now, he’s a top-notch tech sector sales executive.
We would have done Indy last year after Marcus gave the weekend to me as a Christmas gift, but Covid cancelled the race in May 2020 and, when it was finally run that August, it was without spectators.
This year, the fans were back, the crystal-clear Indiana sky was Carolina Blue, we were there, and Helio Castroneves won the race for the fourth time. Age and experience always beats youth and horsepower, right? Well, yes, this time anyway.
Office Hours are Open
Why am I sharing this with you? Because God is so good, His mercies are new every morning. If He can turn me around as He did and bless me so richly with an amazing son, He can change your life and relationships, too. As the song says, once I was blind, but now I see.
So can you. And if you need to talk about something in absolute confidence with someone who’s been there, done that, personally and professionally on the Hill, you can PM me at mark.tapscott@hillfaith.org to set something up. And you can trust that I come to listen, confidentially, and share good news, not to condemn or critique.