If you missed it, he announced recently that he has been unable to secure his wifes consent to go wheel to wheel racing. Without that consent he cannot race AND keep his family running smoothly.

Some of the H-T crew registered their understanding, and noted that Family is after all more important than this hobby of ours. On one level I understand that response and agree with it. But on another level I disagree strongly and think that there is something important to be said.

Here's the work of a very good writer on the subject:






The longer I live the more people I lose. I've not lost any of my people to racing accidents. I've lost them to what we call natural causes and accidents. The ones I admired the most lived their lives like they cared more about the quality of their lives than the mere continuity of their lives.

Note: This story is taken without permission from the great English magazine MotorSport. I urge you to subscribe or regularly purchase this magazine. The writing and photography are Stellar. While I regret the impropriety of this kind of sharing, I think that it's justified on several levels.

Scott, who has been fortunate in these matters....




[Modified by RR98ITR, 9:08 PM 2/10/2003]

 

Or you can start when you're younger, like me, and find yourself terminally single. Super...

Warren

 

Warren, you need to fix the single thing this year at Carlise

 

wErd.....that security guard was ALL OVER You warren.....do you still have her number? she was even CUTE TOO!!!!! you should have been all over that still probably could be too warren....don't puss out WARREN!!

hopefully warren knows i'm just proding him!1

 

Thanks Scott. Just let the record show she isn't unsupportive or bitchy at all. We're best friends and she's concerned for my safety. It's a tough deal trying to sell something that's full of risk and making it sound like it's not, but I'll try again later this season. There's a glimmer of hope, albeit dim.

 

I know exactly how you feel John.

 

Hey, we-todds. This is all I have to say to you:



Warren

 

 

I know it wont help much, but I believe driving on the Freeways are more dangerous.

At least on the track.. I "kinda" know that there are no nutballs out there... and if they are, they are at least going the same way...I hope.

 

Hrmm, thats actually a good point. I think daily driving is just as or even more risky simply because anything can happen out there in an uncontrolled environment. One the track, the number of cars are limited and the people who drive the cars have their minds on one major thing, driving. However, on the streets that we drive every day, there are nut heads out there who have more important things to do while they are driving.
I hope things work out for u Johng.

 

wait, are you talking about you on the left hander by the dealership?

 

Good luck, man. I just recently won that battle, so hope is not lost for you. My wife was very concerned about safety, and an IT-spec car of some sort or another was a compromise between her wishes for me to not do wheel-to-wheel and my initial wish of buying an open-wheel car, probably Formula Vee. She said "no way" and I don't blame her. Not a year before, the IRL incident at Lowes Motor Speedway had left her parents' neighbors' little girl, Haley, in critical condition after she survived being hit by the tire. She's recovered physically now but will never be the same due to her head injuries. Needless to say, open wheel was out.

She wasn't convinced a closed cockpit car was any safer, for driver or anyone else. I dragged her out to the local SCCA regionals to show her the cars, so she could see how "controlled" things are, at least compared to 220 mph IRL cars on an oval. Didn't think I was ever gonna make a dent in her until she got to witness, first hand, a very bad accident involving 2 IT7 RX-7's just past "the kink" at CMP. One car at a dead stop sideways in the track, stalled after a spin, and the next car losing control trying to avoid him. They hit door-to-door, speed unknown, but hard enough that I doubt that the drivers would have escaped serious injury, or worse, had the cars been in street trim. Both cars were completely destroyed. The drivers got out, a little stunned at first and a bunch sore, but walked away without any more than a small bruise here and there.

We were looking at the remains of the two cars in the paddock after it had all been cleaned up when she looked at me, then looked at the drivers involved who were talking to each other and recounting the whole experience, and looked back at me and said "Well, I guess this is safe enough for you to do."

That was certainly not the way I expected her to consent, but she came to the same realization that I had already come to: the extent of the safety enhancements required by the rules, unless you blatantly disregard or subvert them, will do a pretty darned good job of protecting you from most injury. At least a heck of a lot more than you could expect to be protected by your 3-point factory belts and highly "crushable" street car if you encountered a SUV at speed during your daily commute. At least with the laughable restrictions on who can and who can't get a drivers license in SC, I feel a hell'ova lot safer on a racetrack than I do on the public roads.

I hope you can win her over. Good luck. And if she needs to talk to my wife, IM me. If she'll let ME race with a 2 year old at home and another one on the way, I'll bet she's got a reason (other than my life insurance policy ) !

 

[pic]Warren's extra long finger[/pic]

That's a mighty long digit for an Asian (we tend to have short fingers) .

Yeah, I don't have anyone to answer to either, good luck.

 

the best way to convince the ladies... get her to do an DE. and experience it for her self. i've had couple of 40+ years old lady students and they are having so much fun and can't believe it. all the stuff they learn transfer directly to the street too. they tell me they finally realize some of their bad driving habits dates back to their high school driver's ed. and they recognize how bad the street drivers are.

 

I got my GF to do a DE, and she still doesn't want me to w2w. Its worth a try anyway. At least she'll be a better driver.

joel

 

did she have a good time? they have to have a good time for it to work.

 

The hard part it convincing them to put on a sweaty helmet!

 

Strangely enough, my wife was much more comfortable with me taking up racing after we dropped my CRX off at Piper to get the cage built, and she listened to Mitch explain exactly how every bit of it was designed to protect me. That, and the fact that I didn't skimp on safety equipment, budgeting for it before anything else.

 

My wife and I used to be racing partners as we both had SCCA National racing licenses. She'd crew for me then I'd crew for her. Our first CRX racecar was actually one I built for her and she let me use it one weekend when my car wasn't ready to run. We've both been Honda racers since (except a few RX7 pickup races here and there).

Our best weekend was a double regional at Mid-Ohio in the ITA CRX. She qualified second (of 20+) and won Saturday then we changed racing seats and steering wheels. Sunday I got the pole and the win. The perfect weekend. Only problem was with two drivers, one budget and one car the best you could each hope for was to race a half season, so much for a points championship although we did get to do some enduros together. Our in-car videos actually helped up both out as she'd be faster in some places and I in others.

Now she is into dressage performance horses and I am more worried about her getting hurt than when she was racing.

 

It so difficult to here that. God damn I love the smell of cam2 in the morning!! It gives me a hard on and that smell...that gasoline smell...it smell's like VICTORY! Give me the divorce papers I'll sign'em right now.