i imes-uemocrai oian rnuio/n.D. umooic

imes-uemocrai oian rnuio/n.D. umooic IDLING: Kirtley rests a moment before a recent race at Old Dominion.

the big wreck.*

Charles Kirtley said that they didn’t get any sleep the following week.

“The car went airborne and did about $800 worth of damage.” he said. “It took 300 man hours to get it back on the. track the following Saturday night. The frame was bent eight inches in the rear. The fuel cell was completely out of the car. The left-front spindle, hub, shock, springs, upper and lower control arms, were completely sheered off the car."

Maryanne Kirtley suffered a broken finger and a badly bruised right tricep in the crash. And knowing the risk doesn’t make watching her race an easy thing for Charles Kirtley to do. . “I’m nervous, I get the willies,” he said. “I prefer not to watch, to be honest with you, but I have to. I worry.”

George Exline, a grand stock competitor at the track, made a video of Kirtley watching his wife compete.

“It’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen,” she said. “He’s a mess!”

When she’s not racing Maryanne Kirtley works as a sign maker. In fact, she’s lettered many of the race cars at the track. Charles Kirtley works in the telecommunications field.

The Kirtleys are now “terribly” hooked on racing, she said. That may not sit well with her 13-year-old daughter, Christine.

“She thinks we’ve lost our minds,” she said. But 6-year-old Lauren “doesn’t mind — she’s used to it.”

Almost any day of the week during racing season, except Saturday, Kirtley can be found working on the car, parts strewn over the lawn.

Kirtley’s best finish was seventh, twice. She laughed and said that her first win will come “as soon as these top five guys get out of my way!”

Those “top five guys” seem to have accepted the fact that Kirtley is a fellow competitor.

“They rib me just as much as they rib each other,” she said. “I think I’m one of the guys. I’ve met a lot of wonderful friends out here.”