The Gentleman racer.

When I first started racing.  almost a whole ten years ago.  I was lucky to become track friends with an accomplished racer.  Sadly we lost him a few years ago, and  like many things you don't realize how someone has affected your life, or how much influence they had until they are no longer around.  This friend had great cars and great skill, and always took the time after a race to stop by my trailer and spend 15 minutes of his time discussing how my race went.  He almost always was in the top two cars and would usually put a lap on me during the race.  Initially when he would come to talk I would be horrified that he might be coming by to tell me how I had screwed up.  Which may have been the case, but he never made it seem like that.  It was always about passing, or using the accelerator pedal or when and how much to brake.  Always a positive 15 minutes or so about race craft.  I hope some how he knows just how much those talks meant to me and how much I think back on them now. 

We are all just Amateur racing enthusiasts at our level.  Driving many types of cars that we are passionate about.  Various income levels and racing budgets and skill levels.  Competitive to a fault sometimes.  Passionate and Emotional sometimes, always wanting to be the best.  I actually had some skills when I started.  I was fast, and usually made the right moves at the right time.  Over the last few years, time, budget, and life has taken its toll and I have lost my edge.  I still loved to race, but had lost the direction that I needed to be good at it. A year ago at the ProAutoSports Thanksgiving weekend.  We were building a new car, going through some teething pains and not getting along so well.   A fellow racer and good friend came up to me after the qualifying race and said he needed me to bring the car by for him to look at because he knew I was not that bad a racer and I was making moves that weren't good.  A not so subtle, much needed reminder to get my shit together.  It was a reminder of how this sport should be and was meant to be.  Road racing at the amateur level is not NASCAR.  There are no sponsors or T.V. contracts. Just a bunch of local car nuts paying the bill to race whatever make and model car they are passionate about.  It was a reminder to me, to keep your car in good working order.  You're not the only one that is out there competing and if your car breaks at the wrong time there are consequences.  It was a reminder that this is a small community and you dont want to be that guy that the rest of the racer mother fuck because your on track behavior is one sided and reckless.  It was a reminder that we are all responsible for racing with integrity and honesty, we class our cars, we have an opportunity during every race to act responsibly and be an example of how good amateur racing should be.  Don't get me wrong, he is the fiercest competitor there is as we all should be, but it was a reminder to me of what acceptable track behavior is. 

I would like to think that I have spent the last year re-learning most of those traits and becoming the gentleman racer I should be and that the sport deserves.  Maintain your car because your safety and the safety of people you call your friends depends on it.  Nobody wants to be that guy what causes a wreck and ruins it for everybody else.  If you do, be humble and accept the responsibility.  If you re on the front row at the start remember that everybody behind you is relying on you to be smart and play fair.  Jumping the start is cheating.  You may get away with it, but there are subtle ways and not so subtle ways you can be brought to see the error of your ways.  Most of all be a smart racer.  We are racing for a club trophy.  Your tires cost more.  We are out there to win, but we are also out there to hone our craft and become the best we can be. 

I LOVE THIS SPORT,  more than I ever thought I would.  I love the cars I love the people, I love the camaraderie and the competition but most of all I love learning how to race and be a better racer. 

Oh and that gentleman who called me out a year ago, has most definitely evolved in the Gentleman racer that we all look up to and will lead us into the future for a time as an example of where the bar is. 

My Obsession with this election

     Much to Brian's consternation I have become obsessed with this years mid term election.
Basically because of all the elections that I have been privileged to have voted in, I think this one is the most important.  We have a divided country here.  Divided by individuals who have vastly points of view.  This did not happen overnight.  It has been a long slow process of indoctrination for some members of society.   For the first time during this election I feel like our way of life is being threatened.  The very fabric of what makes America great is going away.  Down an un sustainable path.

    On the one side, there are factions of the population who basically live irresponsibly and prefer to make the government pay for their mistakes.  The believe in open borders, but not open doors. They want free health care to pay for their poor life choices.  They want free meds to combat their various conditions.  They have no clue how to raise a child and they want free day care, and free higher education.  They have no dreams or sense of real commitment.  They feel they are entitled to live the benefits of other peoples struggles.  Their lives revolve around mid level employment, that have few hobbies beyond parties and travelling overseas, and frankly for all the complaining about charity and humanity basically they have none. They believe that you can erase history from the country and the history books and hide the discretions of the past and all will be right.  God forbid you disagree with their beliefs because if you are different than their status quo then you are labelled a racist, bigot, facist, to list just a few of the nicer things.  Some of the farther ones to the left even make death threats on your Facebook page.  I just chalked that up to a drunken  rage reaction to failing mental health do to a body destroyed by years of alcoholism and meds.  Those same people who scream we need open borders and like to travel to Europe where immigration laws are far stricter than ours citing how progressive Europe is, are completely blind to the cost of living there and the compete lack of civil freedoms. Sure our families immigrated here, but they came to build an country and not work and send money home.

    On the other side is me.  I believe in the chance for a good education, a good job and a good life.  I dont want the government or big insurance companies making medical decisions for me.  I believe in manufacturing products here at home.  I believe the higher education system is a colossal failure.  Not everyone who graduates can be in a white collar job.  We used to be a nation of builders and not just a nation of consumers.  I believe that our history should be preserved and studied and used as an example of how not to make the same mistakes again.  I refuse to let my income and my taxes go to pay for other people irresponsible lifestyle.  I fear that higher taxes fueled by more and more social programs will decrease my income so I will no longer be able to enjoy the life that I have worked so hard to attain in the first place.  You see my summer doesnt revolve around going to one pool party after another.  I rarely socialize at bars and while I may not have enough friends to fill a basketball court, the ones I do have I have had for a long time and they are strong solid friendships.  I dont socialize with individuals who believe their opinion is the only one who counts and I should follow their beliefs.  I believe in honoring our country, our constitution, and our flag.  I believe fiercely in the 1st amendment and the right to free speech.  I fear and dislike hate speech as much as anybody else but I believe in ones right to say what he believes.  I think it is your parents responsibility to raise you as a confident enough member of society to recognize not to believe hate speech.

    The arguments by the left in this country and unilateral.  If you dont conform then you do not deserve to be here.  True ignorance and bigotry at its best.  I am voting early and encouraging all those conservatives to get out there and vote this time.  Vote as if your way of life depends on it because this time it does.  If we follow along the with the vision that the left has created we will become a third world country in no time.