Times wires
Friday, June 3, 2011
JOPLIN, Mo. — Jamie McMurray stepped carefully around the perimeter of what was left of a familiar house — not much more than a pile of lumber and brick. But if McMurray, a NASCAR driver and Joplin native, looked at it just right, he could still see it: the home he was raised in, where he once buried his dog, where he lived as he learned to race.
"My goodness," he told the Kansas City Star after climbing out of an SUV, taking in another example of the damage an EF-5 tornado caused when it ripped through the city May 22. "It's just so hard to understand what you're looking at.
"You can't believe it's Joplin."
Before Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway, McMurray, who turned 35 on Friday, spent much of Thursday taking in a closeup view of the devastation in his hometown. He spoke with displaced residents, die-hard fans and people who just wanted to think about something besides the monumental cleanup ahead. His family moved years ago, but McMurray is still introduced at races as a Joplin native.
He walked to the house's rear, not far from the tree that used to remind him where he once buried his 15-year-old dog. The tree was uprooted, and leaning against a wall was a wood door. This was the entrance to his bedroom. So many years later, there remained a schoolboy scrawling about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, the rebellious words of a 1994 graduate of Joplin High. Some things, including memories and black ink, span the decades and stand up to a storm.
"I was young," McMurray said with a smile.
Then he noticed one of the home's current residents. That door has meaning to Donna Tinker, too. When the tornado touched down near 4471 E 25th St., she and her husband, Tom, crouched in the hallway and used that door as a shield as much of their home was destroyed.
"I was down on my knees," Tinker told McMurray. "I really thought we were going to die."
George Steckstor was walking along 25th Street, heading back toward his destroyed home, when he noticed McMurray there. Steckstor spends most of his days clearing rubble and trying to make sense of what happened 12 days ago.
"You don't understand what I've lost," he said, adding that his family was uninjured by the tornado.
McMurray talked to the man and gave him an autograph. What seemed effortless to the driver was invigorating for those who met McMurray. During a stop at Convoy of Hope, a massive supply station stocked with everything from flashlights to gloves, McMurray smiled as he met Linda Harbaugh-Mahurin, 51, whose home and office were destroyed. She said it helped to meet McMurray, who offered her a hug.
Wow," she said. "I'm shaking. I'll be shaking for a week."
McMurray also visited the destroyed St. John's Hospital, reconnecting briefly with an old high school classmate who was working security, and rode past Joplin High, which took a direct hit.
He says a goal is for NASCAR to raise money and sponsor charity events to help Joplin residents.
"Even beyond what we're doing today," he said, "it'll be about rebuilding Joplin over the next few years. The town is one thing, but the connection with the people is something else. … I still have a major connection to Joplin. It will always be my hometown."