Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Ragan provides a thrill ride for teen
Time with fan makes up for missed chance
He hosted Riley Desin, a 15-year-old boy from Central Florida who is a Shriners Hospitals for Children patient. Shriners has sponsored Ragan for three races, and its brand was all over his No. 38 Ford Saturday night. And then there’s the personal touch.
Riley spent considerable time with Ragan on race weekend, doing things like taking a ceremonial introductory lap around the track and getting to hang out on pit road before the race.
It was a wonderful respite from the circumstances of his life. Riley was born with a genetic condition called hereditary multiple exostoses (HME), which causes irregular bone growth. Physicians discovered growths from nearly head to toe through a full-body X-ray when he was just 14 months old. He has endured more than a dozen surgeries.
Other images shaped his weekend circumstances.
“Riley was a true race fan,” Ragan said. “He enjoyed the race and the dynamic of the pit crew in preparing the race car and strategy. He asked some really good questions. You could tell he was engaged. It was great to have such an in-tune, mature young man at the race track.”
Heading into Saturday’s Cup race in Kentucky, Ragan is 28th in points, competing for Front Row Motorsports alongside Landon Cassill.
Given the dynamics, there is always going to be a David-vs.-Goliath feel to the competitive grind.
“We’re aware of those odds, but I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating,” Ragan said. “We embrace our goal and we know what our realistic expectations are. It would be frustrating if you were on a larger team and underperformed.
“I embrace what Front Row Motorsports is. All of the successful premier teams of today, they all had to start somewhere at some point 15, 20, 25 years ago. … That’s a part of our sport. Everybody can’t be on top of the mountain.”
Spoiler Alert! OK, not really.
Danica Patrick is on shaky ground with Stewart-Haas Racing. Just do the math. Her contract is not locked in for next season. Meanwhile, Patrick is 29th in points and has yet to post a top-5 finish in 171 Cup starts.
Kurt Busch also isn’t locked in, but assuming there are no sponsorship hiccups, his performance will be an asset, not a deterrent, in keeping him around. Busch, the Daytona 500 champ, is 14th in points.
“Contracts are signed — and expire — at all different times,” team founder Gene Haas told motorsport.com. “It’s hard to say when one person’s contract is going to expire because there are options and things like that. I think that’s why they call it silly season. We kind of start looking at what we want to do. The drivers do the same thing. Sponsors do the same thing.
“In order for all the pieces to fall into place, you have to take all three parties — you’ve got to take the drivers, the owners and the sponsors and see if you can’t align all the stars up and get them to agree on something.”
Stay tuned as the regular season and playoffs segue into NASCAR’s “silly season.”