Heart, Determination, blah blah.. put all that aside.

All hardcore racers have that and its something you can't take away. Whether you have sold everything off and just watching in the sidelines, there are still racers that have that urge to go racing, but other things just become more of a priority.

{this is a message to all and a certain person that I've been talking to lately]

All the heart in the world to go racing isnt going to put food on the table for your family. There comes a time when you just have to regroup and find what is more important in your life at that time. It doesnt mean you are half-hearted if you step away. It just means that the timing isnt right for all the things you want to do in your life now. It doesnt mean you'll never come back to racing. I wouldnt want to push someone to extreme debt and financial ruin just so that person can keep going to the track.

Everyone is at a different place in life also. Some are just kids, barely getting out of their teens. The position they are in, most are not looking into starting families or buying houses, so cars is their main drive. Some of us have mortgages, having kids, etc. so our incomes are more focused on those and cars are last priority. I know its hard, to step away. I wouldnt want fellow racers to leave SC drag racing at all. But thats just life. Like Ryan's dad said, "change is a part of life."

It was personally hard for me to give up racing years ago. I wanted to race so bad, but at the time, I knew that helping out Mike, Jeremy B, and Irran was the best thing for me. I couldnt help them out if I spent all that I could on just one car. Even until now, I'm trying to figure out how I can get back in the seat. With a monthly fixed expense of over $8K for my family(thats not even incl shop expenses), there isnt much extra play money I really have for a race car. We'll see how the next few months come along... I'm still trying to get in that drivers seat... always.



Modified by ExospeedAMcrx at 12:06 AM 1/10/2008

 

Very well said Wil....

 

Dude, i havent posted in a long time, but reading this makes me kinda sad, especially livign in california. I used to love racing and going to the track when Pomona was open to legal drags. But now, theres crappy 1/8th miles or there is a california speedway day where you only get three runs in if you stay the whole time.... i wouldnt have sold my car if it didnt have to sit at home for so long.

 

stay off h-t and you won't get discouraged, lol. it's frustrating sometimes building a car to compete, and see how fast the fastest are going. you start asking yourself "can i really compete?". bottom line is, this sport is evolving daily. build the car to what you can, have fun with it, and improve on it. you've got to constantly improve, if you want to continue to compete. just because you're not running with the lead of the crowd when you finish your car doesn't mean you can't run. dialing in the suspension is just as important as making the power. you can only do that at the track.

 

i wish we had a track around here..... i think with a 1/4 mile track here i would be a lot more motivated. its just there are no tracks...


No tracks in So-Cal????? Are you nuts, Fontana has a ton of racing going on. Brackets, PSCA, and a few SC events. And why be snobbish to the 1/8 mile tracks? Saw a post on here and Barona has a sport compact series coming up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpeedSceneScott &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i wish we had a track around here..... i think with a 1/4 mile track here i would be a lot more motivated. its just there are no tracks...


No tracks in So-Cal????? Are you nuts, Fontana has a ton of racing going on. Brackets, PSCA, and a few SC events. And why be snobbish to the 1/8 mile tracks? Saw a post on here and Barona has a sport compact series coming up.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Fontana is once every couple of months and you have to wait an eternity to run maybe twice.. and you have to have current registration and insurance to run the street legal events which means most of the fast cars are SOL. i will be going to the psca events, and the sc events are in November (reminder its January now! so yeah 11 months is a damn long wait!)...

the 1/8th mile track Irwindale is cool for some testing but still not a 1/4 mile and its packed there too since its the only track besides Barona which is at least 2 hours away from L.A. i can manage to get home about 6 o clock then load the car and get a few runs maybe 2-3 since its on a thursday and i have to work.. not sure if you race at all but the 1/4 mile is a hell of lot different than the 1/8th mile. its fun but just not the same. and you don't really know what the car will run in the 1/4. you can estimate and be pretty close but its not the same as a 1/4 mile track.

Bakersfield is open on certain fridays but its hard to take that 2 1/2 + hour drive on a friday when the Los angeles traffice is so bad. its over an hour for what would usually be a 20 min drive for me just going. So i take a day off and drive up to Bakersfield to run.. i can't take a day off every week.......

a local 1/4 mile track, hell even within an hour or even 2 (i miss carlsbad!) would be great. open on weekends maybe to accomodate more people. it would be great. i see the other people testing on 1/4 mile tracks in the rest of the country all the time! here its pretty much if theres an event then hey you have a chance to test your car!!

New to the PSCA and never ran there before so that will hopefully be some testing time... i always thought they were strictly domestic events!...

 

i sold my car last year b/c i was going to tie the knot

bad decision keep the car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fieldafm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i sold my car last year b/c i was going to tie the knot

bad decision keep the car </TD></TR></TABLE>

lol

 

Over here (UK) we only have a couple of ¼ mile tracks, you can imagine how busy they get, when someone dumps oil, on the public days you’re lucky to get 3 or 4 runs, of course being the UK we also have that special treat, rain.

I love to race, and I like many others have adapted the car to run ¼ and circuit (track days), far more circuits than ¼ mile tracks, different disciplines but equally as enjoyable, cross the line and break the beam at 120mph, now try taking a sweeping bend at the same speed, the rush is about the same.

Just takes a little lateral thinking some times, if you petrol courses your veins then you’ll get your fix what ever the venue.

Eddie

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fieldafm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i sold my car last year b/c i was going to tie the knot

bad decision keep the car </TD></TR></TABLE>

lol

"was going to tie knot"?

 

Yeah living in SoCal sucks to be a drag racer. If your an old salt V8 guy from the 60's you would be crying in your pizza about how many tracks have closed and how people seem to tease us about new tracks opening up.

I never thought about shutting it down, I just got here. But I even went when my other cars were stock and ran 15's. It happens just enough to allow you to enjoy it and not focus too hard on it.

The larger problem with the Sport Compact side of it, is people are too interested in going as fast as they can, no matter what it takes. Then they forget there is always somebody else out there with better connections, more money, gold cards, etc that can beat you no matter what you have done.

Then enough of us are not ambassadors for the our side of the sport!

It becomes a drag and you just wanna move on to other things. It takes heart! I could never understand how guys could give up DJ'ing. Their heart just isn't in it. I think you can say the same thing about drag racers that put everything up for sale a few years later.

Any other "hobby" is going to cost you a ton more... or be just about as meaningless

I am honest with myself, this is a street car, daily driver FIRST. Any more than I am currently doing and I am asking for trouble.

When it doesn't become fun anymore, yes GET OUT...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbochic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

lol

"was going to tie knot"?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

and now im not... and someone else is going fast now
so, it was a bad decision on many levels, LOL

 

ive been thinking about this for quite some time. with many many mishaps over the course of the last 3 seasons it just puts a bad taste in my mouth so to speak. everyone has their downfalls but season after season sucks. something comes up to ruin most, part or the entire season.
my first build was a great build. built a cookie cutter motor ran great times i was at the track constantly. i wish i could remember how many times i went down the track that year. i have the stack of slips still so i suppose i could count.
now with a new toy ive been looking at getting into and a 50k+ bill to front this new toy i must say that drag racing might get put on hold or thrown away after 08.
right now the most saving grace of the whole drag car is the fact i have a new intake manifold i bought from a friend and some new cams that i had last year that i never got to try out. plus almost everything is fresh in the motor so hopefully no major motor, driveline or anything else goes crappy on me this year. so far it looks promising.
besides the crappy seasons its usually quite long between me working on my car im starting to forget simple things that used to come as second nature to me when i was constantly tinkering on the car. not only that but working on my car isnt fun anymore. its more become like a chore to do than having fun and being motivated. its just like i sit there and work on the car and im like, "ok its fixed now, what else is going to go wrong."
however, last year i had a whoppin 8 passes in the car. first pass back in the car after the dyno session i went down the track, knowing it wasnt a good pass but when i got my time slip from penny my hands were shaking from the adrenalin rush i had during that pass. it felt great and at that minute point in time it seemed all worth it once again.

 

Just stumbled upon this thread, so figured I would post.

I have learned a lot over the last year from moving to Tempest and working with Joe. One of them is that building a car and maintaining a SFWD "style" car is expensive. Not just a little expensive, VERY expensive. Usually more expensive than most people can afford, but the truly dedicated racer can make ends meet.

I recently parted out my SFWD "style" setup because I was tired of staring at my car in the driveway with pretty much every unclaimed penny I make in it. I want to live comfortably, and I know that in order to justify having a car of this caliber, you need a 100% reliable and constant means of travel. I, for one, do not have a truck or trailor, and really cant afford them right now. I have a bunch of friends that offer me a truck and trailor, but when it comes down to it, they are not to be found. This made me realize either to sell everything, or make it a streetable car.

I am turning my car back into a street car, so I can have fun with it, and actually enjoy the money I spend on it, and not be angry about the money that is getting wasted by it sitting. Not to mention not having to feel like if you aren't well in the 9s, it's not worth it, which was how I felt. Yeah this is probably the wrong way to feel, but everyone has their overall end of the tunnel goal, and thats kinda where it leads.

The end result is what most people overlook when starting a SFWD project, which is making sure you have the funds maintain the car, and a reliable means of travel. Think really hard before you jump into building a car... I see entirely too many winter builds that never make it out and end up for sale with the title "Can't afford to finish my car."

Sorry for the ramble

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpeedSceneScott &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
No tracks in So-Cal????? Are you nuts, And why be snobbish to the 1/8 mile tracks? Saw a post on here and Barona has a sport compact series coming up.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep. Starting in a few months. We're trying to iron out the classes right now , but it should be fun. It's a very well prepped , nice track. for more info..

BARONA IMPORT SERIES RACE SHEDULE
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2184172

But remember....it's all about the fun of racing. That is ...why we started in the first place right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BoostedJeff &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Just stumbled upon this thread, so figured I would post.

I have learned a lot over the last year from moving to Tempest and working with Joe. One of them is that building a car and maintaining a SFWD "style" car is expensive. Not just a little expensive, VERY expensive. Usually more expensive than most people can afford, but the truly dedicated racer can make ends meet.

I recently parted out my SFWD "style" setup because I was tired of staring at my car in the driveway with pretty much every unclaimed penny I make in it. I want to live comfortably, and I know that in order to justify having a car of this caliber, you need a 100% reliable and constant means of travel. I, for one, do not have a truck or trailor, and really cant afford them right now. I have a bunch of friends that offer me a truck and trailor, but when it comes down to it, they are not to be found. This made me realize either to sell everything, or make it a streetable car.

I am turning my car back into a street car, so I can have fun with it, and actually enjoy the money I spend on it, and not be angry about the money that is getting wasted by it sitting. Not to mention not having to feel like if you aren't well in the 9s, it's not worth it, which was how I felt. Yeah this is probably the wrong way to feel, but everyone has their overall end of the tunnel goal, and thats kinda where it leads.

The end result is what most people overlook when starting a SFWD project, which is making sure you have the funds maintain the car, and a reliable means of travel. Think really hard before you jump into building a car... I see entirely too many winter builds that never make it out and end up for sale with the title "Can't afford to finish my car."

Sorry for the ramble </TD></TR></TABLE>your not rambaling just think how many more racers would be at the track racing if it was some what affordable sfwd will see the same demise as hot rod in a few years if it keeps up the same pace. you have to look at the people building these cars versus there average yearly income it doesn't add up. the cost of sport compact racing must come down and or sponsors need to step up sponsorships in this sport are pretty much bullshit. i will never stop racing but im pretty much done with the nopi/battle/rules/drama/crap its sad to say but i don't think you will see any more of the normal cars from the va beach area most of the local guys that have raced every Maryland/vmp race in the past six years are over the constant drama and thats not one or two cars more like ten or twelve. we will all be raceing just at home any weekend we want for half the cost and still having fun because thats what you build the car for in the first place its sad but all of use are just waiting on the rules if there pretty much the same then where all done.

 

i sold my car in the 06' season and have since got myself out of debt, improved my small buisiness, got married, had kids, saved some $$, got myself a new toy to play with, and am looking at buying a new home very soon. i sure miss going down the track, but i dont miss all the long days under the hot sun at every event. and i never realized just how much $$ i was spending until i got out of it, its crazy looking back. selling my car was definately the right thing to do for me and im 100% glad i did it. plus i will still be going down the track in my new toy which i also have the pleasure of driving around everyday

 

I haven't posted in a while.

I got out of the game last year. I had to really think about things and prioritize the things that would bring me to the level I want to be at. Dumping money into a depreciating asset, if you want to call cars assets, when I barely have any assets to begin with, just didn't make sense to me anymore. It was just a hindrance to where I wanted to be at.

Right now I'm focusing on getting to the next level. I've already found an industry that has HUGE growth potential that will be able to put me in the position I always wanted to be in.

I want to be able to afford the toter homes, crew chiefs, mechanics, maintenances, spare parts, plane tickets, foods, and STILL be able afford to go on vacation with my wife and kids, live in a nice house, and drive nice cars.

Right now I can't have both. So I will sit out for a while and watch!

Good things happen for people that wait. Sometimes you have to sacrifice what you love most in order to get what you want.

I appreciate all the racers out there doing what they doing. You are my inspiration.

 

I am not going out of my way for any events anymore. Shoot, 2 months until the Atlanta Drag event and still no rules! WTF, why bother?

That is one of the few events I might have actually made this year but at this point I could care less!

 

BARONA DOES TEST AND TUNE ON SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS AS WELL. ITS A 8TH BUT **** ALL THATS LEFT IS 4TH GEAR AND WAIT TO TRIP THE BEAM. RACES ARE WON IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TRACK MY FRIENDS. STOP ALL THIS CRYING AND GET TO THE TRACK AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW SUIT. EXCUSES ARE LIKE A HOLES WE ALL GOT THEM.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BoostedJeff &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I was tired of staring at my car in the driveway with pretty much every unclaimed penny I make in it.

I am turning my car back into a street car, so I can have fun with it, and actually enjoy the money I spend on it,

Not to mention not having to feel like if you aren't well in the 9s, it's not worth it, which was how I felt. Everyone has their overall end of the tunnel goal, and thats kinda where it leads.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly how I feel. I'm going for a reliable 350whp. And I'm going to be HAPPY to drive my car.

To the OP... go to the races and watch the cars... go talk to the racers... hear the sounds...smell the smells...see the lights. It will all come back to you giving you a clear sense of purpose.

 

Wow, I'm shocked I didn't see this thread until now.

I was building a pretty clean, stoud setup for the last two years and bailed out as of a couple weeks ago. I am going to be 30 years old soon, and couldn't &lt;personally&gt; deal with the idea of owning a $35K+ Civic. I got married this past year, bought a new house, and other things... and I just don't have it in me to finish the car. I learned a TON through the building process... biggest thing is to not ever try to make a "race" car a perfect looking specimen. I would have been out on the track a long time ago had I just put all of my money into the drivetrain, and not auto body products!

I'll never stop racing. I have fun with my wife's STi, and we're picking her up an EVO in the next couple of weeks. I myself decided to pick up an '08 S2K in the spring and have some fun modding that. Eventually FULL-RACE it if I can figure out how to get around the stupid drive-by-wire notion

Good thread

- Louis