Do your better halves like you racing?

My wife is all about it! Her favorite thing to do at the race track is take my lap times, and give me shit when I'm not going fast enough! Shes the best :up:

 

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. When we were still dating in high school, my wife helped me buy my first motorcycle. Many motorcycles later, she was there with me on my first track day, she was there cheering me on at my first race, among many others. She only complains that I haven't made her a shirt to wear in the pits and at the wall on the front straights yet When I crash, she tells me "you're supposed to win, not crash on the first lap, dumbass!". I guess that's a big part of the reason I made her my wife She doesn't have any interest in riding a bike herself, but she supports me and roots me on at whatever I do.

 

My husband is very supportive; we race together in fact.

I have a huge amount of respect for the support people who ‘give’ all the time. By ‘give’ I mean spend weekends supporting someone without getting the personal thrill or excitement of competition on stupid fast machines. I like being at the track even when I can’t ride, but know it’s all just a matter of time before I’ll be on a bike again. For the support people who don’t ride, that’s a pretty big sacrifice in my book. :up:

With that said I don’t like watching my husband race from the sidelines, and the feeling from him is mutual. We have so far worked around that dilemma by racing the same classes.

I do have to applaud the southeast officials at a Tally race last year. Fresh in from a race, I got tapped on the shoulder by one of the officials, very happy to tell me my husband had in fact jumped the start and got the meatball. It’s pretty cool to get to share experiences like that with your s/o.

 

She loves me on the track. Keeps me off the street lot and she agrees the track is a safer place. Her ONLY concern is safety. Money and time is of no concern.

She is worried that racing will be much much more aggressive and that i will get hurt. Not that i can't handle the bike, but that somebody else will bring me down really.

After about an hour talk tonight I have now had her agree to not only come out to watch a wera race but let me take the saturday riders school and get my license!

So now we are making progress!!!

I let her read the entire thread and it helped her feel a bit more comfortable so thanks guys!! We just bought a toy hauler this year (because I got tired of tenting it at the track) so I'm all set there!

 

My GF is great, she has never asked me to stop racing in fact she has taken up motorcycling as her hobby too. That's where my problem is, now I have to worry about her and our kid. They have both fallen in love with motocross. The GF is learning to be a good MX rider, aggressive yet cautious. She is starting to hit some jumps and it is scary to watch her.

The kid is at a whole different level. He is 11 and on his forth motorcycle. The MX track is right next to the road race track so all the kids go over and ride while we practice or race. Last summer I went over during the day to see how he was doing and the little kid who was just fooling around had been replaced by a motocross racer. I freaked as he cleared all of the table tops, gasped as he nailed the doubles and started running towards him as he jumped into the rhythm section thinking surely to god he would auger himself into the ground. It was like all of the things we had talked about for years had suddenly sank in and he was hauling ass. Since then he has only gotten faster and I am terrified. Somehow in the perfect dream of my kid being a great rider I forgot just how fast, far and high a kid could go.

I now totally understand why people worry about me racing my GSX-R 1000, its because basically from the outside it seems nuts! That being said I am racing again this year. My kid did get a new KX85 and the GF did get a YZ250F.

 

My GF loves it. She has been riding bikes for along time. Her current '04 R6 is her 4th street bike.

She also knows alot about them. She is the manager at my local Kawasaki/Suzuki/Triumph dealership and she is ALOT of help. She does all the maintenance and aftermarket installations on her own bike (and some of mine :crackup).

She is VERY supportive of my riding/racing and even rides the track herself. When i had my BAD wreck at Talladega in Aug of '07, she took care of me in every way (i couldnt do shit for myself) and even helped me rebuild my bike. She was the one that said "when you recover and we get your bike rebuilt, you need to go back to Talladega first and put those ghosts behind you"

I almost thing she knows too much about it. I am sure when alot of guys come back into the pits they get the normal "you did real good" comments. I get those comments and comments like "you need to scoot back in the seat a little bit and stop being lazy with your foot positioning"

But she really is very supportive, in everything i do and MOST importantly, she is great with my kids.

Not to mention she is pretty hot.

 

My wife puts up with my addiction. She also loved the worth more dead than alive comments.

I broke her in early with the joys of racing. I busted my collar bone and tore up my knee 2 days after our first date. This was in 2000.

She still married me after all that.

She quit going to the track with since they are hot, noisy, etc. etc. Well, she finally came to the track with me back in '07 and was standing between turns 4 & 5 at Blackhawk and I lowsided right in front of her. She was happy that I popped right up.

I busted my pinkie in that one. She no longer allows me to wear my wedding ring to the track.

She also no longer goes to the track.

 

My worst get-off was at a trackday and I wasn't even flying. Mechanical, mostly, but I got hurt. My other half is always asking me when we are going to track next.

 

After wrecking this summer on the street my much better half said I can only do track days or race...silly girls

 

Remind me to hide the hammers!!!

 

My wife doesn't care for it, but I was riding when we met, and told her from the start it was part of the deal.

2 kids and 8 years later still married. Of course, I only do trackdays, but for me that is enough.

 

My .02 cents.

Racing is a very expensive sport. Be open and honest about the finances and have a budget as to what $$ will be spent on racing and what $$ will be set aside for living expenses. Have your disability insurance, life insurance, mortgage insurance (if needed), and health insurance in place before you even hit the track. Get the best protection you can in your leathers, boots, back protector, helmet, etc. You may miss a race or two because of the money you spent on those items, but it is well worth the cost if you can avoid some pain and agony later.

Be perfectly honest with her. While its true you can get hurt racing on the track, you can just as easily get hurt at a track day or on the street. The one advantage is that there is medical personel at the track that can assist you almost immediately. (Try and get that on the street!) Also, discuss your plan if you would get hurt and unable to work. It's an uncomfortable subject, but if you have a plan, it is a lot easier to deal with. I have had to comfort a few girlfriends and wives when their SO got injured because "I don't know what we're going to do..."

Take her to a race and show her around. When you do go racing, be sure to include her in your activities. Don't just let her sit in your pits as you're off BS'ing with the guys. Bring her into the conversations. Have her help with the tire warmers, tools, etc. Introduce her to the other wives, girlfriends, and guys.

Most importantly... Don't dismiss her fears! Instead discuss and address them. When Paul told me he wanted to start racing again, thinking it was drag racing I said OK. When he told me he wanted to race on a track I said "No _____ way!" This is because I thought he was talking about dirt track racing. I knew too many that had suffered severe injuries (OK, three at that time) hitting the concrete wall or being hit by another bike. Then Paul stated that he wanted to go road racing. He went through the differences between the different types of racing, the safety features and issues, and what he would do - to the best of his ability - to keep himself safe.

Good luck,

Dawn

 

I am absolutely blessed. My better half is not only supportive, but also an active contributor to the racing effort.

Catt wears a shirt that says 'Crew Chief' and it's not just a decoration. I don't go racing without her, period.

She changes wheels, changes tires, does the warmers, gasses up the bikes and generator, drives the tow vehicle, and is always there in the middle of it when we work on the bikes. She makes fiberglass parts for the bikes out of molds and forms she makes herself. Generally she cooks dinner for the folks we pit with at least once a weekend, and cheerfully takes on the role of designated driver if the after race celebrations get a bit too festive.

In short, she's perfect. And if I catch any of you guys giving her the eye, you'd best fear for your life.

 

I'm really lucky, mine races too!

She rode on the street when we met ..... she was looking for some parts (luckily I kept all those street parts from my GSXR's ) After her first trip to VIR with me she decided to try it for herself. She took the Cornerspeed school, did a couple trackdays and then started racing.
I think we both worry about the other when we are on the track but be both know how much the other loves what we are doing so we understand.

We now have a six month old and who know's when we'll get to go back to the track, but we do miss it. Maybe one day our little boy will take up riding .... we can't wait

 

My wife (then girlfriend) came out to the track back in `97 with me and knew that was what I did, hobby racing or not, I had been doing it for 6 years already! I actually think she is a good luck charm, as that first time she came, I broke my personal best track record, and the next time she came to a race, I won. Not bad! The next time I crashed, and put a hole in my hand, but she's been there ever since. I won a class championship when she was pregnant with our first! Raced an entire 12 round season at Willow on a 250(Tz, not Ninja!) with a baby in the pits!

All these years later, with two daughters, 7 and 2, she is very supportive, don't get to do it much, cause the money is not there, but when I can, we all go to the track together. My 7 yr old was upset last year when I did a Friday track day and she could not go, because she had school!
Last year, had to sell the 750 so we could buy a mini van, as my Bronco expired, but just got another bike, so the story continues.
She is still cool with it, because she knows it makes me happy. I consider myself very lucky too. Actually on this latest bike purchase, we made a deal, we paid her school tutition first, and if it could be swung, I could get the SV! Lucky for me, I got some money for my birthday from dear old Mom and Dad too.

 

My wife supports me in whatever I want to do, and she enjoys going to the track. However, the first time she got a call from my phone on a race day that started like this...

"Hi honey!"
"Umm, this isn't Dave, it's Jason...I'm at the hopsital..."

...she became significantly less enthusiastic. Now that I have an 18 month old at home, she's, well...more less enthusiastic But if I really wanted to race a full schedule still she'd support me (by 'support' I mean 'not forbid it'). She's still fine re: track days/instructing.

I don't know how old you are, but here's my advice. Do it. Period. We're only on this planet for a very short time, then we're worm food. What could possibly be the point of avoiding racing because you might get hurt? You're gonna be dead and in the ground in about a week and a half anyway (metaphorically speaking) so wtf?

 

Thats cause when yer covered from head to toe in gear she can imagine you're someone else

 

I'm with Fem Fatale - I can't stand to be the support crew now that I've been out there and experienced the rush of racing myself. The hubby races the ninja 250s with me, which alleviates some of my worry about him racing. And frankly, it's a boatload of fun when we're both "on" and really dicing it up for position. Stuff happens and you have to be willing to accept that. I'm not so sure I'd be as comfortable with him going out in the meatgrinder classes, more because of the stereotypical riders in that class. I have to give him props - he hid whatever worries he had about me going to my first race without him and I regularly go to trackdays without him. Takes a confident man to do that

Hey OldSlowGuy, can I "borrow" Catt sometime?

 

I was always very good to my wives, but if there was ever an issue that inhibited my ability to have fun, I just moved up to a faster model.

I had to give up racing in 2002 because of complications from a plethora of injuries, so racing hasn't been an issue with wife number four :up:

Remember, there's always a better ride and a better lap time in your future, same goes for women. My wives seem to get consistently younger, hotter, and more expensive as I get older and more experienced. However I can't say the same for my ability to ride a race bike: it went the other direction.

 

My wife was never a fan. last June a Road A put the nail in the coffin for the next couple of years. Her claim is the kids are too small for her to deal with by herself. Once they're both in elementary school I doubt she'd care too much that I get back into it. At least that's my plan.