It's a Pleasantville kind of thing.

Everybody has a personality - some likeable, some not as.

Some are missing something, others have way too much of something.

Some are the innocent victims of the exaggerated perceptions of others, some victimize the perception of others.

I personally, for reasons I don't understand, cultivate the perception that I'm a bit wacked. In cases where I haven't done so, I'm still perceived as a bit wacked. Therefore it's possible - possible - that I'm a bit wacked.

The next level is when a label is affixed and sticks.

Around here there have been several thru the local eras of which I'm aware.

There was "Nick the Bolshevik".

There was "The Kaiser".

There was famous HP Racer "Toad" Wheeler, or H. Toad Wheelstand.

There was (and still is) a guy who was known as "Pigpen". I saw him last weekend - he is still dirty.

A guy who raced motorcycles years ago was known by many as "Clown Face".

Less permanent is the awarding of an annual honor by a club.

Team Continental has "The Boner Jacket".

TCO has the "Courteous Driver Award" - a bizarre Racooon racing a Watermellon looking thing rendered in porcelin. I'm just barely losing this one this year (for my "after you" racing style) to a world class genius in the club.

All of these things make the regular old human side of racing alot more interesting, engaging, and fun than they'd otherwise be.

At the WC races at Laguna Pete from RTR swapped on a KMS Mugen shirt and went back to RTR to see how long it'd be till it was noticed. Not long. Good clean goof off stuff.

When you get down to it racing is an enterprise built around a very serious activity. It's doesn't have to be fun, and it's really easy to let things go too far and find that you've squeezed most of the fun out of it.

And it's not like you can force fun back into it. I see enough of that in the operation of business that it sickens me. I remember some Punk song in the early 80's that had an intro that intoned the commandment solemly amidst a mechanical tone: "You Must Be Happy". I be Illin.

What you need to make any activity fun, perhaps foremost, is Extra Time. If you really have your **** together you're likely to have extra time. I find this as true in all my worlds. Excess capacity, as it were, is the forming ground for fun - and creativity. Sure it's possible to squeeze creativity out of yourself and others thru brute force, but what kind of life is that?

I'm pretty sure that racing isn't fun in and of itself. I think of the job behind the wheel as a challenge, a test. I derive satisfaction from it. I find it fullfilling. I feel that I'm called, pulled, drawn to it. I can't resist it...unless forced or helped. "Gee - thanks."

Maybe I don't know what "fun" is. I've always thought of fun as a bit of a superficial experience. A thrill ride is fun. A good laugh is fun. Watching a good race and riding the waves of excitement is fun. But there's no good place for that kind of thing in your conscious mind during the race.

So the fun of racing must lie in some measure in the synergy with what happens the rest of the weekend? It's fun to play the game? The whole game? Taken as a whole along with the parts that aren't fun?

So many people. So many kinds of people. Take charge kind of people. Laid back kind of people. Cavemen. Philosophers. Caveman/Philosophers. Dopes. Crashers. People with names. People with nicknames. People that defy description.

Scott, who's putting the pieces together...a few more each week...2004 is gonna be so great...after being stalled, moving ahead again is....fun.

 

Wacked people

 

RR98ITR, you should be getting compensated for your writing skill. Seriously. I read just about all of the automotive publications, and you could find a niche. I am confident of that.

As to your statement about not understanding why people think you're a bit "whacked" -- I think it may be due to the fact that some people cannot fathom spilling any sort of emotion on such a forum, whereas you seem to enjoy it. And human nature is to describe anything which we do not understand as "strange."

I, for one, appreciate it.

 

I also appreciate your writing, and enjoy it immensely. Something I had considered at once was writing semi-professionally, as at the time people said I could write (I don't know what they were thinking, and I understand even less now...). One of the things I was forced to consider was that it would no longer necessarily be "fun" (yes, that was intentional). While I'm sure Peter Egan has a grand ol' time rambling on like the typical grandfather figure, the average automotive columnist would, I'm certain, tire of writing what had been selected for him/her to write. Writing about something you're enthusiastic or passionate about is one thing, forcing yourself to write about something you couldn't care less about (ex: flower pot engineering [apologies to floral enthusiasts, no criticism was intended) is another thing entirely.
Sorry for getting hugely OT there, Scott, keep it up, glad to see you're enjoying yourself again. I remember a few months ago your threads had a much more dismal feel to them. What fun is any recreational activity without the... fun?

 

That was very well written. Glad to read something from someone as philosophical as you.

 

Hmm...someone hasn't been laid in awhile, not to detract from the incredible greatness of this original thread... (sarcasm, just to make sure you understand that). I'm not even sure what you have against the West Coast racers (Gary Sheehan? What, he drives well in a Subaru? Yes, he should be bludgeoned to death with a big friggin' rock for that... ) Chill out dude, it's all just fun writing. If you don't want to read it, don't click on the thread, simple as that.

 

I respect that you had the good taste to delete that, even though you definitely have strong feelings on the matter. I don't know Gary Sheehan, and haven't heard anything bad about him, so I assumed you were criticizing his driving or something. My apologies. Do you not enjoy completely useless threads about nothing in particular? I mean, there was some serious anger built up there, regardless of if you were drunk or not, heh heh.