This is an opinion column

Life gains a new perspective at 180 or so MPH on a 33-degree banked superspeedway.

As the g-forces tug on your face, you start questioning your choices.

This is insane. It’s incredible.

And it’s a step in a journey this sportswriter never thought possible.

It’s proof a middle-aged dog can learn a new trick … or sport. I might be a racing guy, now.

The ride from hater to circling the Talladega Superspeedway (home to Sunday’s YellaWood 500) strapped into a stock car going way faster than the speed limit was a long one. But allow me to be self-indulgent for a moment. There’s a point to this.

This goes back to the spring of 2007 when, as an intern at The Birmingham News, I was assigned to experiment with something new. The editors wanted to try a live blog from that weekend’s race, and they sent the guy who didn’t know — or frankly care to know — what was happening.

Step out of your comfort zone and try something new, was the idea. Thankfully, AL.com’s dipped toe in the water of live blogging is lost to the vastness of the internet because it was likely bad.

I was core-four sportswriter — football, basketball, baseball and … football.

Racing wasn’t for me.

Watching Jeff Gordon win the Aaron’s 499 to pass Dale Earnhardt for the all-time wins lead was notable, though. It’s hard to forget watching the cascade of half-empty beer cars from the hardcores. The fact multiple fans went to the hospital because those chucked cans didn’t have the arm strength was enough to check out.

My cup was full with the core four. No time for this. Covered an Indianapolis 500 a year while working in Indiana, and while interesting for a weekend, the meter never moved.

But then Netflix entered our lives.

The Casagrande house, it’s fair to say, joined the American tidal wave of Formula One fans thanks to the game-changing Drive to Survive docuseries.

Then came the pandemic and NASCAR was pretty much the only live sporting event on TV. So we watched and appreciated this sport that was always a channel skip.

Who were we?

From binging an F1 documentary to NASCAR Sundays, then waking up at 6 a.m. to watch a race in Abu Dhabi became a thrill.

It just took fast cars in exotic places to rediscover that fire.

So that’s my challenge to you, sports fan and reader who made it this far in what feels like an incredibly self-serving column. Branch out. Try something new and look for a sport that previously didn’t move the needle.

We can become so entrenched in the annual rituals of our sporting calendar that it can get repetitive and lose some juice.

Ask me five years ago if I’d be strapped into a stock car riding shotgun with a guy named Buddy who held my life in that steering wheel going 160-plus, no way. Full disclosure, this Wednesday afternoon ride along ahead of the 1 p.m. CT YellaWood 500 was offered to media members. In the past, that text from a co-worker would have been a respectful “no thanks.”

Instead, this evolution turned me into a “hell yes.”

“I guess what I’m trying to say,” Rocky Balboa famously said, “is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!”

While still a few steps from camping out for a weekend at ‘Dega, it’s another big step from hater to racer … or passenger.

If I can grow into a race fan, you can try soccer.

Maybe tennis or golf or something else you once ignored. One day you’ll find yourself in a YouTube rabbit hole learning the basics because there’s something refreshing about starting on the ground floor of a sport long after you thought you’d hit your limit.

It’s like the way we wish we could go back and watch our favorite movie for the first time or listen to that favorite album with virgin ears.

That’s impossible but you can find a new favorite(ish) sport and rediscover that youthful exuberance you figured was extinguished at this age.

And if you get the chance, ride in a NASCAR stock car wearing the most obnoxiously awesome Ferrari shirt going really fast around a famous racetrack if you get the chance.

Believe me, there’s nothing like feeling your face realign with the gravitational forces at the moment your life gains new perspective.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.