Walsh wrote and sang lyrics remembering his touring times such as "I have a mansion, forget the price. Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice."
Professional drag racers stop by their homes more than rock stars, but the schedule of races, particularly during the Countdown to the Championship crunch of four in a row, squeezes family time like an empty tube of toothpaste.
Tony Schumacher, campaigning his Army Top Fuel dragster, lamented a version of this when apologizing to his young daughter.
First, ESPN commentator Mike Dunn exclaimed "Schumacher makes a first round statement with low ET of the meet" casting affable David Grubnic's Optima Batteries entry on the good-bye trailer.
"My daughter's birthday was yesterday," Shumacher said. "If I'm gonna miss that, I better stick around a while." And he did by racing the finals.
Paul Page interpreted the heightened pit anxiety as confirmation of a real sense of urgency here since "the championship is six races away."
The year 1978 marked Walsh's ode to the antics of the musician's life: "I live in hotels, tear out the walls. I have accountants pay for it all."
In that era, traveling through motels seems more accurate for drag racers. Now luxury buses and exotic recreational vehicles are the popular alternative; just tour the parking areas at any national event.
Many Sportsman teams match the pros' luxury and shine.
Ever wonder why there is so much chrome at a drag race? Dunn gave this adage – the best line of the telecast – as images of custom rods flashed by: "If it don't go, chrome it!"
In drag racing, why mess with something so incidental as tearing out walls? There are 10,000-horsepower nitro cars busting chunks of heavy metal to a vending machine bag of chips. Or as the telecast recalled, blowing a 250-pound Funny Car shell sky-high and off the track.
Dunn joked that during a race occupying a Porta Potty down track might have disadvantages.
Reporter Dave Rieff hosted a feature explaining Antron Brown's surprising parts failure. The perplexed Brown uttered, "It actually broke an input shaft." The resultant damage banged his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster's supercharger, smothering the day of the No. 1 seed.
Later in the Lincoln-Tech Fix-It report, Rieff demonstrated how a $15 part hijacked Jack Beckman's Valvoline Charger Funny Car run back at Indy. "No air, no run, no opportunity to win at the biggest race" of the year he commented as Beckman threw the small line to the floor.
Dunn explained that lap: "As (Todd) Lesenko blew up (in the opposite lane), there was nothing Jack could do." A "massive explosion," he explained as film revived the dramatic memories of the two times that happened to the Tap it Brewing Impala.
The second detonation "lifts 2,600 pounds completely off the ground; very expensive weekend for (Jim) Dunn racing." The culprit? "A broken rocker-arm."
New sponsorship from Eco-Absorb brought the team here where they faced No. 1 qualifier Tim Wilkerson, whose Levi Ray & Shoup Mustang pulled away for the opening-round win.
Walsh sings on, "My Maserati does 185; I lost my license, now I don't drive." A true story, though he would not qualify for these pro events with that speed.
Shane Gray doesn't drive his Tire Kingdom/Service Central Camaro any longer either, or, more accurately, that particular car. One of the more spectacular race scenes occurred in his slick left lane with Warren Johnson's Racing GXP in the right.
"Huge accident," exclaimed Page as the Camaro slid like a clown in an ice-skating show. The slo-mo film from multiple angles showed a rare bumper-pirouette.
Page added, "Look at that thing flying" upside-down, crossing the finish line, then catching on fire and sliding to a horrifying crash on the opposite wall.
Page continued, "He's out of the car ... listen to the crowd" as those who stuck through the rains cheered his safety like a rock-star.
Dunn quickly picked up Gray's emotion as he stomped around the broken parts: "He's mad."
Gray explained, "It was 100 percent my fault; I was just trying to win."
Amber Gray, Shane's wife, explained her view of the wreck from the line. "All you see is everything going everywhere."
Funny Car driver Johnny Gray offered fatherly advice, tough love, and a hug. "Kid's got a little more experience."
Walsh's line "Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through," a combo of satire and humor, did not seem that way at all to Erica Enders after prematurely ending her first-round lap.
Reporter Gary Gerould coaxed her to explain what happened as he observed that she seemed "very angry."
Enders laid it on. "That's as close to upside-down I've ever been. To say I'm pissed is an understatement. This is crap."
Dunn immediately endorsed her action. "The car was getting loose, and she got the chutes out to straighten it." In the other lane, Johnson immediately earned the Aaron's Lucky Dog award for that round-win.
Watching others, including teammate Dave Connolly, slipping and sliding, Enders, arms thrown in disgust, appearing to signal no one in particular, "Did you see that?"
She is the newly anointed queen of racing, better at it and sportier with her fiery spirit than the just-dethroned Danica Patrick.
The Marquee Matchup had to be the opening pair of John Force's Castrol GTX Mustang with the Traxxas Mustang of Courtney Force.
Young Force stayed away from the 15-time champion, even as dad tried to mess with his daughter's psyche. Statman Lewis Bloom totaled her race starts at 18, with John racing 589 times.
"It's nerve wracking facing someone like dad," she admitted.
Their race was a dud as she went up in smoke (the broadcast noted "something went bad early"), but the payoff for viewers occurred in the aftermath.
"I can't complain but sometimes I still do," Walsh pined as Force explained his motivation to get inside his daughter's thoughts: "I'm 63, I've got about five years left."
"I love that girl, and I gotta win a championship," he continued. "That's the motivation ... She's on her own."
Or, as the song continues, "I keep on going, guess I'll never know why."
The song concludes with a happy note also expressed by final's winners such as Ron Capps pouring a can of Full Throttle on his 37th Wally – "Today was a gut-check" – as the NAPA Charger sat in the background.
Or Jason Line winning this first Countdown to the Championship race in his Summit Camaro even as Dunn explained, "Both drivers (with Allen Johnson's Avenger in the other lane) have problems off the line."
"I gave it my best effort," Line said. "I need to learn how to pedal. This Camaro's going to be hot the rest of the year."
Andrew Hines took the 30th win of his career on the Screamin' Eagle Harley in a momentous moment: "That ties my brother's" collection of the statues.
Then the big breakthrough came as Shawn Langdon captured his first professional win. He was "the 98th different winner in the class," noted Page. Legend Alan Johnson explained, "He's a professional." Langdon gave the effort to the team: "Top quality."
These four could ride off in the darkness of this late race-night, concluding under the lights, while singing, "Life's been good to me so far ..."
Come to think of it ... so could young, lucky Gray.
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