Conference oass::racers

293.0. "What Auto Racing is Really About..." by SOLVIT::MCOX () Fri Apr 24 1992 13:41

    It's about money, of course; for most it's about finding it, finding
    enough of it, and then finding more.  It's about guzzling money like
    water, about living with the guilt of burning up so much hard earned
    cash.  But it's much more.

    It's about supremacy, being "Top Dog", "King of the Hill", "Head
    Honcho", "The Big Kahuna"; standing out above the crowd, being "Number
    One", the best.

    It's about speed. It's about riding the fastest, scariest, hold-onto- 
    your-hats-Geez-I'm-gonna-wet-my-pants best damn rollercoaster ever
    invented.  

    And it's about power.  It's about leading the charge of a thousand
    screaming Banshees, having your body wrenched and twisted and tossed
    about by the hands of great unseen forces; and it's about taming a 
    blind raging Herculean monster, and bending it to your own will.

    It's about brilliant colors, flashes of light, ear-splitting shrieks,
    and bone-rattling rumbles.  It's about the unforgettable smell of
    burning rubber, smouldering brake pads, and gear oil.  It's about
    reaching through the steering wheel all the way down to the tires and
    feeling the road slipping past your fingertips.  It's about sensing
    the weight of the car shifting from tire to tire, like water in a pan.
    It's about the tug of the shoulder harness across the collar bones,
    and the cramp in the leg from pressing the gas pedal through the
    floor.

    Racing is about all of these things, and much more.

    It's about passion; burning desire, insatiable hunger.  It's a
    perverse yet overwhelming love affair with steel, and glass, and
    rubber.  It's about a relentless courtship of speed.

    It's about conceiving and nurturing a child--the benefactor of our
    skill and wisdom, and a victim of our ignorance.  It's about saving a
    rusting pile of discarded scrap from the crusher and making it
    stronger, faster, more real and alive than it ever was, or ever
    deserved to be.  It's about caring for our creation, loving it; 
    pushing it to its limits, exalting in its greatness, and forgiving 
    its weaknesses, because they are our weaknesses.

    It's about dreams and hopes and fears.  Dreams of glory; dreams of
    carving out a small niche in history, like Mario, and Sterling, and
    "King Richard".  Hopes.  Hopes that the many long winter hours of
    lonely toil in the cold, dusty garage will bring smiles come May, 
    and a nod of approval from the brutally indifferent stopwatch.  Hopes
    that the brakes will be there on call, as you hurtle without recourse
    into the unforgiving concrete canyon.  Hopes that, in the end, you'll
    be able to look back on the whole experience and find it worth the
    price, while living with the fear that it won't be.


    It's about determination, perseverance, and strength of resolve.  It's
    about patience and discipline.  It's about putting in the time, double
    checking, attending to the critical details.  It's about
    concentration, and focus.  It's about controlling the overpowering
    urges, sticking to the game plan, and keeping your head when the
    unthinkable happens.  Its about testing, and measuring, and worrying,
    and sweating the small stuff.

    It's about faith; faith in yourself, in your crew, in your fellow
    competitors, in the workers, and in the men and women who designed this
    car, these tires, and this track.  It's about believing in your roll
    cage, and your safety harness, your nomex suit, and the fire system 
    that has never been put to the test.  It's about knowing that no 
    matter what happens, you chose. 

    It's about deep and lasting respect, caring, and friendships; about
    sharing joys and disappointments, pitching in, and easing the load.  

    It's about living life on the cutting edge of the razor, hanging it
    all out there, going for broke.  It's about knowing, without doubt,
    by-damn, that you're alive.  It's about putting your heart and soul
    into something and letting the whole world see what you can do.  It's
    about knowing that in the midst of the confusion and emotion and
    heart-stopping action, you were the one that mattered.

      I myself have only done a little auto cross racing but, this note is
    a very good representation of how you feel out on the track. 

    
    BRAVO!!! BRAVO!!!
    
    Don  :)

    Re: .0 
    
      WOW!!!!!  You just hit the nail on the head. You said it
    far better than I could. Thanks for putting my feelings in words.
    
    Scott