Is racing really worth it? Read after the GNF!

Papa:

Like most sane adults I too have considered the burden that would be placed on the ones that love me if I was to get seriously injured or killed doing this hobby we call racing.

Sometimes I ask why do I want to do this and I have no clear answer...I as well as every person in this world have a lot to live for and one of those things is racing! It is a fact that we are all gonna die someday.... some of us will die in accidents and some of us through illness or even old age....but the fact remains we are gonna die. So the way I see it for those precious few years we spend on this earth we must live life to it's fullest or we have wasted our time here.

For my family I know for a fact that my death would almost kill them but they must know in their hearts that my time had come and I would be waiting on them. Death is a cruel punishment placed on us (as I've been taught and believe) for our sins.

As none of us know our time nor place we must live life now and never argue with time....we will always lose.

If racing makes you happy then I hope you chose to race.

Sincerely,

Kendall Davis
WERA #326 Novice

 

Ease off the herbal tea guys. You obviously lost a friend. If it were you and not him, I am sure you would have wanted him to keep to his beloved hobby. Don't you think he is thinking that you shouldn't quit the fun over his mishap.
I had to have "the discussion" with my familied brother tonight too. He has two beautiful kids, a great wife, big house and just got out of college into a higher tax bracket. This guy should ride for fun, but if his mind is on the negative side of riding / racing or even track days, he should hang up the leathers. I am not saying that if you have a lot to lose you are at greater risk, I am saying that if you have a larger pile of chips on your table don't roll the dice unless you love the sport enough to say it was worth doing what you loved.
I didn't know Scott, but that doesn't nullify my point. He loved racing. Honor his spirit by carrying that on.

 

I don't think my folks were attempting to raise a robot programmed to stay alive as long as they were. After all, my dad cut me loose in a Cessna when I turned 16 was bragging all over town when I got my license at age 17. I suppose he just sees the risk in racing as just too great.

Mongo, you make a good point about living our lives for ourselves. But for those of you who have children, you know that you them to minimize the chances of leaving prematurely. I guess in a way, that's the way I feel about my folks.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the responses. I don't think I'm ready to quit just yet. Maybe after I buy a shifter kart... in a few years.

 

Papa, passionate people have to do what sets their soul on fire or they just aren't happy, which means that the people around them aren't very heppy either. It's all related.

I've been involved in motorsports for 30 years, in some form or another; I've also always been the risk taker in the family. I also have amazingly supportive parents.

When I bought my first streetbike, in the 70's, my dad thought it was so cool; he started me out riding with him when I was barely out of the toddler stage, by putting me between him and the gas tank. We'd go riding all of the time, no gear, no helmets; how easy it would have been to be killed back then. I rode the streetbike all over the place in the summer; mom worried but she knew I wasn't stupid. Dad just grinned. An 18 year old girl on a 750; nah, no chance for disaster there.

When I enlisted in the military, to be a weapons instructor no less, mom thought it was great and dad was scared to death. I simply explained that it was something I had to do for me; as soon as they received the pictures from my basic training graduation dad took one, stuffed it in his wallet, and I still think it's still there. I can't tell you the amount of times I've been on the firing line, with fourteen idiots who haven't seen a weapon since basic training, and one of them will ALWAYS turn around to ask you a question.....and all of a sudden you're staring at the business end of a fully automatic weapon with a 20 round magazine attached, locked and loaded. I did that for eight years; any one of those times could have been it for me.

When I raced cars, my dad raced them with me and we had a blast. It scared him that I loved going as fast as I did, but boy, when it came time for me to go to Indy car school at Laguna Seca, he was almost jumping out of his skin to go with me.

After that, I worked corners for cars, lots of pro stuff, Trans Am, IMSA, and I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've played on a hot track and ran off just as the cars approached. One slip, one stumble, and I'd have been toast. And then there are the times when I've literally had to run away from the guardrail because some big heavy-ass thing was spinning merrily away in my direction.

I bought another streetbike, 600 Katana, and I thought that since I hadn't had a bike in 20 years, I'd give my parents a break from my antics and put a few thousand crashless miles on it before I told them about it. Mom didn't like this one any better than she did the last one; Dad still wonders why I took so long to tell them. He knows I'm not stupid too. A 5 year old sportbike with almost 40k on it, mostly in Atlanta traffic; lots of chances to go splat had it been my time to go.

A little over a year ago, I lost someone to cancer. He was my cousin, but he was really more like a big brother. Hi parents were divorced and we grew up together. He introduced me to rock and roll, took me to my first concert, told me in a way that I'd listen about the bad things drugs can do to you, and convinced me to move to Atlanta and gave me a place to live when I first got here. He'd been backpacking and skiing out west, he'd roadied for bands, he'd been a long haired motorcycle rider on a 650 Triumph chopper cross coutry my himself and back again, and he was a cop for several years in two different states. He never smoked, drove fast cars, he didn't drink, he ate very healthy, treated his parents well, dropped his life and came home whenever his dad needed him because of failing health, and at 47 he was dead.

We all have to die, and personally I hate the idea. I simply have too much fun to ever want to be going anywhere; I just wanna stay here and be an idiot for several more lifetimes. But I have no control over that. What I DO have control over is how I spend my time while I'm here, and believe me, my soul has been ablaze for years!!

My parents would like to see more of me than they do, but they're 800 miles away, and like my mom tells me :"You're doing what you love to do; we understand."

When faced with the choice of doing something you love or to not do it, and thereby makeing yourself incredibly miserable, I just don't see why a choice even needs to be made. Why would someone choose to be miserable???? Life's too short, Papa, and it may be shorter than you even know. Live it for everything it's worth.

------------------
www.mindspring.com/~pksracing/

 

I can't lie and say that the thought of losing Bob has never crossed my mind. My husband (and best friend) chooses to race motorcycles, go scuba diving in water I wouldn't think of being in, riding a waverunner "like he stole it" and driving like there are no cops on the road.

It makes you stop and think real hard about life when you lose someone, even someone you are not close to.

Life is a gift. I feel we should enjoy it not hide in it.

We will all lose relatives, friends over the years to illness, car accidents, and other unmentionable incidents. Do you stop driving a car? Do you never get on an airplane?

It is always sad when someone passes away. In my family funerals turn into more of a reunion of friends and relatives who get together to celebrate someone's life.

I think that your thoughts echo those of just about all who have read your message. You will do what you feel is right for you at this time.

Take care.

Martine

BTW
I pray like mad for all of you when you are on the track. Always will.

 

When people ask me what I do for a living I respond, "I race motorcycles for a living. I program computers to pay for it."

Racing is vital for me. I read about it, think about and dream about. Take it away and a part of me will die.

 

Amateur racing is a selfish endeavor, do we do it for anybody but ourselves?…everybody saves some thing, somebody or some process that they hold just for themselves. It’s human nature. Its importance is completely personal. Do you race just to prove your courage?…to perform for a crowd?…or to have the ability to just say you do it?…I doubt it. What ever you get from racing can only be answered by you…and if you are not getting whatever that is now…or think the price has gotten too high for what you obtain (the reason most decide to stop, I think) then you will stop… eventually, everybody stops.
The game is to do it voluntarily.

Byron Tucker
#80 expert

 

sounds to me like you are making this more difficult than it needs to be. first of all, if you are unhappy, than i am sure your parents won't be happy. and read what you wrote, you quit and they feel guilty, then everyone loses. live your life for today, you'll never know when it might be your last. just ask 2 of my patients from last night, the one that's still breathing and the one that isn't.

 

Papa Thiam,
Your concerns and worries are valid.
Obviously the events of this past weekend would prompt anyone especially a competitor to have second thoughts. Thats just part of being human.
Your concerns for the well being of your parents and girlfriend are noble.
However,
You mentioned that your parents have instilled in you the natural order of life is for the children to bury the parents etc.
Heres the deal, there is no natural order of life, except for you are born.
You racing does not mean that you hold anyone in low regard, it does not mean you have a death wish, to the contrary, it means you have a life wish. If it is racing that pumps you up, then you owe it to YOU and to your friends and family to race. They raised you with every hope and intention that you live life, that you enjoy life. They do not want you to worry about them.
As parents, (which I am, I have a seventeen yr old daughter and 8 yr old son), they do not want to see you get hurt however they are wise and realize that things can happen whether it be as a result of racing or whatever.
My eight year old son has raced go karts for three years now, he loves it, the speeds are 50 & 60 mph + and he is beginning to win races.I will support and encourage him in whatever he wants to do, especially racing.
We cannot live our lives tip toeing around for fear of getting hurt or dying. Thats not what God intended and that is not what your parents or girlfriend want.
I have been involved in auto racing for nearly thirty years and have known several extremely talented young race drivers who had bright futures that were cut short. Visit www.robbiestanleyracing.com his parents have a memorial section that helps shine a parents point of view on this subject.
Your parents gave you life to live not to fear, Live it! Race, guilt free.



[This message has been edited by Go Karter (edited 10-18-2001).]

 

Er...sorry to joke in Papa's serious thread, but...when is her birthday?

Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled herbal tea

 

I have read the all of the comments and have had my thoughts cross back and forth the entire time. This is a subject that I can relate to because I am one of the so called *outsiders*. When Dave heard the news about Saturday's accident, he called me at home to let me know, and my first response was "Oh my God, was his girlfriend there?" At that point he was unsure. My heart began aching for her. He then began to let me know what had happened, and it all started to sink in.

Fortunately, over the last couple of years, Dave's only crashed a couple of times, with no physical damage done. There is an unspoken promise that he has made to me and that is when he has finished racing for the day (when I am unable to attend a race) that he is to call me AS SOON as he has finished. There was one instance that he went out to dinner prior to calling me, and let me tell you, I called his cell phone a dozen times, wondering if I had missed a call from a fellow racer or a hospital, only to find that he was out with the guys having dinner.

I have supported Dave (and try to assist him in the pits as much as possible) since day one, and I will always do so, but every single time that he goes out onto that track, I get butterflies (for lack of a better term) and am panicked the entire time. I trust his abilities and those around him, but as we all know, and have unfortunatly been awakened to, it is an extremely dangerous sport with unknown consequences.

My second question was "They've stopped racing for the day, right?" He said that it was still too early to say, but that he thought that they would continue to race later in the day (which they did). My question at this point is this - what were your thoughts at the restart of that race? Dave has attempted to explain the reasoning behind restarting the races, but it just doesn't make sense to me. If his girlfriend had been there during the unfortunate accident, would you have changed your mind and not raced, due to her reaction of the same?

I thank God that I wasn't there on Saturday.

On Sunday, while standing in the exact same spot that the accident occured (that's where I stand during every race at Summit Point) - I became extremely emotional - my thoughts were not of a life being taken - but the family which he left behind. I also thought that if it had been the person that I loved and looked to spend the rest of my life with, that I would have the exact same mixed feelings that I now have. I am proud of Dave's accomplishments and am his biggest fan. I love to see his expressions when he's done excellent lap times and when he's on the podium ... but to lose all of that is something that I just can't comprehend (even though he is doing what he loves).

Do you see how difficult it is to find a happy medium? Damn it!

 

Papa,
If you have ever taken a look at my bike in the pits, you will notice that the tail section reads "Thanks Dad". Not for helping me purchase the bike or any other reason besides what I learned from him, or more importantly from his death. My father never saw me race a motorcycle while he was alive, but I know he has seen it all from where he is now. My father died in October of 1999 at the very young age of 51, the thought that I carry with me at every moment is that the next one could be mine and life is short. So I make sure that I do whatever I possibly can to live life to the fullest. I, needless to say, am very shaken by what happened on saturday and my initial reaction was telling myself to pack up and go home. Then I thought about how that would make me feel and made the decision to stay. The sport we enjoy is dangerous and maybe that is part of why we love it so much, some people like me, love motorcycles and feel safer on the track then I ever did on the street, but I keep in the back of my mind that element of danger.

I babble to much, if none of this makes sense, what I am trying to say is that life is short and dangerous no matter what you are doing, do what makes you happy

 

People deal with fear everyday, racing just seems to be a fear girlfriends, parents, etc.
think they can control by controlling emotions with a guilt trip or a mellow drama on how bad it would mess their life up if you choose to live your life the way you want and God forbid something happens.

Do you think they are going to be less angry or sad if you die of cancer or in a car accident? Are they going to miss you less?No.

The fact is, all of us who participate in this sport are in denial at some level.
We got slappped by a reality check and now we are questioning the choices that we have made for ourseleves because we are afraid of how they affect other people.

How Nobal of all of us to think about that when someone gets killed--if we really cared in the first place it wouldn't have taken such a tragedy for it to surface.

Papa, is it worth it? Probably not, but, there is not much more that I enjoy and know by reading your threads that you feels the same way.

 

Papa,
Hello. My name is Joe. I raced for only part of a year. I have since sold everything. My wife felt money was tight,and after my highside there were better ways to spend my time. I even tried to get into harleys(not on my life!). I can't! I watch the bikes fly by work, and think I have taken my 750 to levels they will never see. I have no bike now and I am lost. I use the guilt to not get another bike, but it is not working. I find myself lurking here and spending the wee hours of the morning watching speedvision. I felt good about my self when I raced. I search now for other things to give the same feeling and they are non exsisting. It is a damn selfish sport,but I would rather my parents, wife, and daughter to remeber what I have done. Then to wish they knew what I was truly capable of. I will race again. It may come at a cost, but I find no other way to go on. I find that being that I am not happy with me I affect my whole family. Just my ramblings.
Joe

 

Wow, I'm totally overwhelmed by the response this post generated. I want to thank everyone for the thoughts they have taken the time to share with me, including all those who emailed me. This is why I can't get away from racing. Most people think it's the "rush," the speed, the adrenaline, or whatever else they think the excitement comes from. To me, the riding is at most 50% of the equation. The friends I make out there is what I would miss the most.

Hey Brian, congratulations again on the championship on Sunday. That had to make you Dad proud. And you've made great progress on that pig of yours. For the first couple of laps, I thought you were going to beat me! Turns out I should have been watching for Christian. Did you guys plot against me?

 

Papa remember the weekend at summit point when you came up to me telling me "hey man i dropped 2 seconds this weekend, i'm coming after ya" the excitement from you that day was extremely intense,can you give that up?are you passionate about this "crazy" stuff we do? or are you doing it to do it? in my opinion you have as much passion for this sport as all the rest of us if not more than most! papa just sell that honda and go get a good bike!! like maybe a suzuki??!! I'LL SEE YA AT THE GNF BIG DAWG



[This message has been edited by TLR709 (edited 10-18-2001).]

 

Doubts are normal in this sport -- we have to give a lot and don't always get what we want back in return. Then we ride great, have a good race, and maybe even win. The doubts will go away.

I am grappling now with guilt of a different sort. My wife and friends support my racing. I've never had a serious injury, and I'm not deep in debt. But today I buried a friend. It was a very nice ceremony and the Gowland family made Scott's racing friends feel like part of the family. I feel guilty because I raced over the weekend and Scott did not. I set some of my best times, and had some of the best races I've ever had, but Scott would have and should have been in those races with me. I know that I did the right thing by continuing to race, but it still feels empty. I haven't decided if I will actually keep racing next year -- not really out of fear for myself, but because I don't know if I can continue to enjoy it. The off-season will grant me some time to reflect and plan out what I will do.

I still think this is the greatest sport in the world, and filled with the best people. I will stay in the sport, but right now I just feel like the sport is just a little more shallow than it was last week.

 

I struggle with the same question at times. I'm husband and have two daughters, 9 & 7 (way too young for you Guo), they don't like my racing but they accept it since they know it makes me happy. I don't have a death wish like most of my non racing/riding buddies and co-workers think. I don't want to end up an old, I mean older man (I'm getting there, since I can race the CORC events) that never did any of the things that I wanted to because I was paralyzed by fear.

I know it's a cliché, life is short and you never know what lies next. I never told my parents that I raced (would even hide the bikes when they visited, and make excuses not to go golfing after breaking my collar bone and 5 ribs racing) since they didn't like me even having a street bike. Well about a year and half back they were killed in a car crash, 9 months ago my house burnt down and in 3 weeks I lose my job of 19 years, but nothing is going to stop me from going to the GNF and racing this year. My brother and sister's thought I would stop racing after our parents death, it just made me want to race more. Yes, racing is selfish. It's the only place/thing that clears my mind, since it's so all consuming when you're doing it. My wife would love for me to quit, but she wouldn't want me to if I was going to be miserable.

Vito

 

With all due respect to all of the above posts.
It is really cool to hear all of the different thoughts and feelings, however, and please don't think I'm capping anyone because this is simply not the case.
I love motorsports racing of all types, I keep reading where folks are saying racing is a selfish sport and maybe to continue racing after such an event as took place last weekend is a selfish act. No, no,no, not selfish, you race because you are passionate about it, so was the guy who lost his life doing it. To stop racing after such an incident would be the ultimate slap in the face to the guy who lost his life. It would be like saying to him that you have decided racing is not worth it, well, too late now, don't walk away from it after someone looses his life, Race, give him the compliment of racing, race with more passion than ever before.
People often wonder why others continue to race after someone looses their life doing it. The danger is the addictive drug of racing. A racer at one point in his life made a decision to face fear, to face danger, to risk it all, to improve himself, to test himself, to put himself on the edge and test himself. Racers are a different breed. Like firemen, or police, they know the risks but you can't hold'em back.
A true racer has to race, he has to face the danger, that is where the rush comes from. It is not a selfish act, to continue racing is to show your fellow racers that you understand and respect and feel the passion for what they do.
Race smart, Race hard.
Coming down from the mountain now. Sorry for going on about this.

 

i have told my loved ones that racing is what i love to do. if i'm not doing what i love to do then i am not complete. i don't want to die feeling incomplete. if my well being is truly what they're concerned with then they will find peace with me doing something i love to do. i remind them of this when they ask me to stop, and believe it or not, they almost never ask me any more. the moments that someone spends hounding you to quit are moments that could have been spent enjoying each other.

we can spend our days fearing death, or we can accept death and LIVE.