I met a 'Racer' yesterday.....

This. I have purchased a few ex race bikes for track play and the first thing I did was peel off the white plates. But there was a time in the distant past that I actually raced and know that plate and number color means something to actual racers.

 

Firstly, I am and (ex) racer. Thats not just my opinion - some credible people in the CMRA confirmed it when they gave me an expert license.

Secondly, people have different and equally valid motivations for racing. Of course, winning is always better than losing. But what I really cared about was improving myself - riding a little better every time I went out on the track.

Sprint races are not so good for that. The fast guys disappear in front of you, the slow guys disappear behind. You have fun dicing with similar level riders - and that pushes you - but a sprint race isn't the place to work on developing your riding.

Endurance races are best. Its still a race but the intensity is a bit less and there is time to try a different line if you want. Plus faster guys pass you, then you can try to hang on to them for a lap and see what they are doing differently to you. Also when you hand over the bike to someone else who immediately goes 2 or 3 seconds faster on it - well that definitely gives you something to think about. And there is a special camaraderie in endurance teams.

One more comment, when I first started racing the first event our club organized every season was a practise day. It was a chance for the racers to try out whatever changes they had made over the Winter, and get themselves up to speed again also. A practise day is a chance for racers to prepare. A track day is (mostly) for good street riders to ride around quickly in a relatively safe environment. Most people probably won't appreciate the difference, but definitely there is one...

 

Endurance racing was the best, and really the only racing I actually miss. Back when I raced, I never really ran too many sprint practice sessions over the course of a weekend. Too crowded, and I never really gained too much IMO. But we did run a 3hr endurance on Saturday. Riding a stock (clapped out of course) sv650 we were getting just over 1.5hrs on a stock tank, so you got a 1.5 hour practice session all to yourself. I used to break down and work on 1-2 specific corners at a time, then string some more together, then blast in a bunch of fast laps, and then back it down a bit to catch a breath if needed. Rinse repeat over the course of my stint. It was something to engage the brain and help tick off the laps. It's was absolutely the best bang for the buck you could get for practice.

 

I would challenge that. I have 6th-place finishes that I remember much more fondly than races I won by five seconds.

 

I was talking about Keith Buras.

 

Honestly I dont care if those guys call it racing or not, most racers started as trackdays riders, so I will tell to actually try racing. But if you shut them down or belittle them it may turn hem away.

BTW some trackday organizations do have mock races at lunch (ZARS that runs at Road America and Brainerd does it). Maybe your guys is a racers because he did one of those.

 

We need to start a gofund me for a kick stand for Speedy... I've known him for like 20 years and he's never had a bike with a kickstand that I can remember....

 

That was a 600 race I will always remember at Roebling.You could have thrown a blanket over all of us.I made several passes every lap,and was
passed back in the same lap.My honest worse finish as an ex back then,but I went faster that weekend than I ever had,and was grinning like a
shit eating possum!

 

I get that. I will say my first win was pretty memorable, but right up there with it was going from dead last to second place in the pouring rain after crashing the day before and breaking a rib or two.

 

Yes ! Understand and agree 100 %. That first sentence sums up my own feelings so well.

 

I actually love Sprint races. The apeshittedness in T1-T5 off the launch is my favorite part of the race.

If it was up to me, we would launch, do 2 laps, then grid up and do it again.

 

I looved starts! It was one of those things I did very well! Now what I did with those starts sometimes sucked!
I have held up an entire field in the past

 

I’m the opposite, always sucked at launching. Which is odd, because I’d do 14 Sprint races in a DH weekend. You’d think I’d eventually get good at it. But nope.

But the shitty launches just made the apeshittedness in the first lap more fantastic, because no matter where my grid spot was, I’d be 20th entering T1.

If you look at some of the results, “Started 5th, finished 4th” (for example) might not look impressive. But in reality, I probably started 5th, was 27th into T1, then fought my way back to 4th.

 

I can't say I know what its like to win but starting in the 2nd wave and chasing down the leaders at TWS on a stock bike gave me some confidence. Too bad I had to exceed track limits on the last lap and crash

 

I haven’t read this whole thread but must chime in.
I raced with WERA at Summit Point last weekend on September 12 my 70th birthday. The track day on Friday was not fun and I did about ten laps. The racing on Sunday was a lot of fun and my goal to survive was easily met and I had a great time.
So I guess I can still tell people I race motorcycles and mean it.

 

Hey @SpeedyE , you and I have never met in person before but I feel like we have. David Vaughn is like family to me. I talk to him almost on a daily basis. He was actually my next door neighbor for a couple years. We have been traveling and pitting together at race tracks for more years than I can count. He told me he had stopped by your house during a work trip and it made him as happy as it sounds it did you to have a visit. Keep fighting brother. And fuck the racer wannabees. Either you grid up or you don't. If you don't it's just riding around NOT racing. A lot of folks are actually honest about being a trackday only person if they know you are for real. I respect that but bullshitting people that you are an actual racer is just stupid. If you ever make it up to the Chicagoland / Northwest Indiana area we will be sure to welcome you with some good hospitality. David knows how to throw a party at his house like you wouldn't believe. The dude can cook and music is always blasting and he has a huge garage to bench race in.

 

<3

I hope to come up there someday

Love you! , Thank you!!!! !!!!!

 

thats so frickin cool, I tip my hat to you, sir!

I went down to chuckwalla last weekend and did the new racer school on Friday and ran a couple races on Saturday. Man, was that a humbling experience! Those guys and gals are FAST on that stretch of asphalt. I got a lot of catching up to do.

 

I met a guy who swore he was a motorcycle racer once...

He wanted to be referred to as metalhead for some reason....

maybe it’s because he had a head full of forks his wife put in him?

 

Was that a K5 by chance?