#20 – Jello: Popular with the racers that sit around and complain about how great racing used to be, it does provide desert for the person that is most likely to offend you or your significant other on Thanksgiving. Gets a bad starting position because it’s the easiest possible thing to “make” in your kitchen, but ranks just ahead of chips and dip.
#19 –Salad: It’s the local driver that runs well, stays out of the way, but ends up being lapped about 1/3 of the way in the feature. Just like UMP/IMCA modifieds you can see this just about anywhere. It’s not special, but is a solid item people will partake in.
#18 – Frozen Pie: This is the either the impulse purchase Chip and Dip person who wants to move up the ranks or one of those weak moments when you think, “This can’t be that much different than making a pie”. Just stop, don’t do it. If you are buying this pie make something easier. Cookies, cake, anything.
#17 – Squash: Versatile and can do a lot of things, just not my favorite in general. Squash is the driver that has some promising showings at the weekly programs, but when the big show come around turns out to be very average against the competetion. Maybe more experience in big shows can elevate this item in future meals.
#16 – Cornbread: To me this is the most over rated Thanksgiving item of all time. Most of the time made from a box and turning out gritty and dry, Corn Bread is the racing equivalent of the promoter that tells you there will be a great field of cars on hand only to end up with 15 cars, eight of which are of the chip and dip variety.
#15 – Cranberries: At our family Thanksgiving only one person enjoys the Cranberries. It’s the equivalent to the driver that gets booed by everyone, but has the one person that is their biggest fan. It’s to the point where Cranberries often doesn’t make it into staging for Thanksgiving.
#14 – Sweet Potatoes: This is staple at a lot of Thanksgiving dinners, but in contention for “rookie of the year” honors due to my son randomly wanting to try it. Sweet potatoes might be a solid recipe away from the meal equivalent of a Keith Kunz ride ups this list to the front of the pack.
#13 – Green Bean Casserole: One of the first “legends” of Thanksgiving Dinner. This dish might not have the great showing some of the others, but has cut down the quantity enough where it’s one of the first things that gets finished off at our Thanksgiving dinner.
#12 – Flask of Alcohol: This item will get you through the dumb racing questions from certain family members like “Why do the cars only turn left?” and “When are you getting a real job?”. Highly recommended item at the “In Laws Motor Speedway”.
#11 – Scalloped Corn: There are many variations of this, but my Mother’s version is solid corn and Bisquick-y goodness. Scalloped corn appears on our meal table with less frequency than a pavement silver crown car, but looks good and often tastes better than I remember.
Next up is the top 10…