Various people ask me about racing that know me. When someone overhears me talking they usually ask this Q
o you race? A:Yes, I own a car. Q: You don't drive it? A: No. Q: Why spend all that money and not drive? A: Because I love it. It makes me happy and gives me somthing to do. Q: What do you race? A: Sprint cars. Q: What's that? A: Open wheel cars, 1300#'s, 800HP. Q: Where do you race? A: Everywhere that there's a race I want to go to, like Gas City, Kokomo, Lawrenceburg, Putnamville, Eldora, Terre Haute. Q: You drive all the way to Terre Haute and come back in the same day? A: Yes, and sometimes go to work the next day. Then the conversation usually takes this type of direction::: My uncle used to have a '71 Chevelle that he would drag race on the street and it had like 1000HP. It had a 3/4 full race cam in it and a Holly Carb. Is that kind of like what you do? A: Have a nice day!
So, no I don't take people to the racetrack anymore. I learned my lesson long ago. I am definately not an ambassador to the sport I dearly love. No reason to spoil a perfectly good sub-culture with people who don't have respect for something that takes so much commitment. However, when I do take someone new to a racetrack, I can usually tell after hotlaps if they will ever return. The ratio so far is about 5:1.
Also, people automatically assume that you are a dirty street stock racer and are suprised you have all of your teeth. HAHA!