He's got the need, the need for Speed.

NASCAR is all around us here in the south. And recently it has crept onto our TV more than twice. The end of the race is always really exciting, but what is interesting to me is how my dad is becoming entrenched in the NASCAR nation.

My dad’s relationship with NASCAR started after I had left home for college. They had moved to Charleston Air Force Base and he says it was in the air. This was back in 1995.

Jeff Gordon was on fire that year. In his third season Jeff became the youngest Winston Cup Series Champion in modern NASCAR. Dad became a committed #24 fan and still is.

This was a puzzle, my Dad is a Ford man from a Ford family. He will tell you about the first new family car he remembers, a 1956 Robin's Egg Blue Ford, a 312 with a 2-barrel carburetor. He drives a blue Ford Ranger today.

NASCAR is the only sport where you can root for a driver and for a different team. Jeff Gordon drives the #24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo from Rick Hendrick’s team. Dad will cheer on any Ford, especially one’s from Roush Racing. He loves Jack’s hat!

In the NASCAR nation you can root for a man and a machine and not be disloyal to either.

He has never been to a NASCAR race. As an Air Force Chaplain his Sundays are full. He watched NASCAR last summer from Iraq on big screen TVs in the Chow hall. The #21 car is sponsored by the Air Force -- a Wood Brothers Ford Fusion. He does catch parts of most races, tracking the car #s from his printed cheat sheet.

Ask him what he hopes for and he will says, a safe race for everyone -- even as they trade paint -- for Jeff to win and a Ford to come in second, and if Jeff does not win, then any Ford in the NASCAR winner’s circle. Maybe next year Dad will do what Damon does for football -- get the cable deal for the fall football -- and Dad will move up to NASCAR on Speed on cable.