NASCAR fans are known for their passion for their favorite drivers, as well as debating the controversial topics that swirl during every season. Even during the months of December and January, you can find a lively discussion about who’s going to go where, or what sponsor is going in or out, or many other racing-related newsbytes on busy message boards all over the internet. It’s a terrific way for the world’s most dedicated fans to support each other during the off-season.

When something is occurring that’s particularly contentious, such as when the Chase for the Cup was instituted, NASCAR fans can be counted upon to react in varying degrees from mild consternation to Chicken-Little-itis. I like to follow the intelligent debates about such issues (and many of them are, as opposed to the few that are nothing more than child-like recess spats), because most of the time I learn something or think of something that I would not have otherwise.

Life always has a way of interrupting the racing enthusiast’s heat-of-the-moment wranglings, though. Does anyone remember Dale Jarrett’s quiet but sage comments following 9/11? Indicating that despite what goes on in NASCAR, and how passionately we may feel about it, in the end it’s really of little significance?

I am experiencing a bit of that now. On Wednesday, my 74-year old Father, Walt, went through knee replacement surgery. Now I realize this does not rank very high as far as dangerous procedures go, but in Dad’s case, it was risky. His diabetes is never controlled well, and a few years back he had a six-bypass heart procedure done. Under anesthesia, we have nearly lost him before, and the day of his surgery gave the doctors another moment of drama as his heart rate dipped into the 20s.

Following surgery, the pain medication and the stress of the day sent his diabetes readings high and his blood pressure readings low. Mom and I rode the emotional roller-coaster that all family members do when a loved one is having procedures done that pose lots of risks to them.

It was a long day, and we know that there a several more of them coming as Dad deals with post-operative pain and tiring rehabilitation. We keep our prayers in that his nearly three-quarters-of-a-century body will be able to rally through the trauma of it all, and be better and more comfortable for it in the end.

Yes, the controversies in NASCAR will probably never end, and neither will the discussions and debates about them.

But the things that really matter, such as convalescing loved ones, remind us all that as much as we might not want to believe it, there is life beyond NASCAR.

For those of you readers with family members or friends enduring surgeries and the recovery that follows, I offer my sincere thoughts and prayers. God Bless.