My Where-abouts

I have come to a point in my life where I'm starting to realize that I have not persued the things I really want as far as career and hobbies.  I took 5 or 6 days off of work this past weekend and just stayed at home thinking about all of this.  My wife and I watch Driving Force.  That being said, she has become a Ashley Force fan, to the point where she actually wants to learn how to race.  I realized that the one dream I've had in my life was to race at some level, and I never even tried at any level.  So, I'm joining the SCCA soon, and hopefully later this fall/winter will be buying a car and getting it prepped for the solo amateur racing (gotta start somewhere).  I have to re-learn everything I knew about the SCCA so I've been researching it lately.  Now that I actually have a wife that is supportive of me persuing my racing, I'm going to do it.  I have raced a few different tracks here and there in those mini 4-cylinder indy cars and have consistantly beat track records after just a few times around the track, so I know I have the guts and the talent to do it.  I have absolutely no fear of pushing these cars to their limits and have yet to have a really bad wipe out.  Although it's been a few years since I've done it, my reflex's are still as sharp as needles, and I'm not getting any younger, so that's what my goal is.  Now that I have a garage to work in, I'm going to start persuing this full force (ha get it, force, Force  ).  That and my Cisco networking classes starting in August are going to take alot of my time.
 
So, if I just vanish for days or a week at a time, it's probably because I'm doing research with my spare time.  I'm also having some family health issues I have to deal with.  I'm tired of sitting on my ass thinking "what if I" and never try.  Obviously if I can take little indy cars around a track and whoop everybody's ass I have something they don't.   I think it's time I try to exploit that before it's too late. 
 
Don't worry if I just vanish (yes littlehummerboy, this means you!) because I'm still here, but I'm going to be giving up alot of my time to this and If I don't try, I'll never know if I was good enought go further.
 
This all being said, if anybody has any experience racing in the SCCA, either solo, pro, rally, track racing, etc., any advice would be welcome.  I have driving every kind of go cart and mini track car I can get my hands on and it's time for me to go further with it.  I'm starting to learn that you have to give up alot of what you lvoe to do to follow your dreams, and unfortunately, this place is one of those things I'll have to put aside here and there.  If I'm going to be ready by next spring, I need to start looking and studying car performance, suspensions, engines, etc. now so I go in full force with the knowledge I need to be competitive.  I can't be an effective racer without understanding the technology behind it as far as I'm concerned.
 
So if anybody cares, this is what I'm up to.  I'm not dissappearing or anything, but I probably won't be posting as much for now as I was before.  You never know,  in a few years you'll be asking ME for tickets to see me  

My experience extends about as far as driving a NASCAR vehicle at the Kentucky Speedway a while back ... If anyone gets the chance to do it, I highly recommend the experience :-) 

Good luck Mikey...

That sounds awesome!  I would love to race cars!  Good luck to you, and let us know how you make out.

And post a pic of your car

I'm sure you can get a sponsor from a magnet company

Thanks.  I'm going to go talk to some of the SCCA members this Sunday.  They are racing at the Chicagoland speedway (Route 66 Raceway).  I'll probably end up buying an older Impreza 2.5RS or Neon or Beetle, something that can be converted to a track car later on.  I have alot of connections here in my firm to businesses.  I have a shot.  Hopefully I just don't suck
 
And I'm going after every magnet company I can find

well I just received my new windows PDA and it has almlost full IE capabilities which means hummerforums anytime anywhere woohoo I'm posting this message with it right now. damn now dennis may have even more of me to deal with. thanks for the wishes.

GOOD LUCK TO YOUR HUMMERGUY..AND YES SEND SOME PICTURES.

First you give me a hard time about disappearing and now you want a free pass...I don't think so mister.
J/K....Good Luck....keep us posted.

quote:

one dream I've had in my life was to race at some level

I'll race you chugging a beer.....

Hey Mike.....More Power To You!!!
 
I hope you still will have time to post as I don't want to be the ONLY one posting stupid SH!T!!!!
 
Wishing you luck in WHATEVER you WANT TO DO!!!

Sound to me like you are in a big old mid-life crises. Becareful about wants, the grass is not as green as you may see it and don't burn your bridges with what you have already...you may need a fallback...just in case...
 
Good luck and hope everything works to you expectations.

A mid life crisis in my opinion would be when he gets rid of the H3, house, and wife ... get's a bachelors party pad down town, a ferrari, and starts dating college chicks LOL!

Good luck with everything Mike and the offer still stands if you need any help ...
 
LM is right though, make sure you have something to fall back on as well ... if not I guess I'll have to teach you how to play poker .. as long as you don't fish my ponds LOL!!!!!

don't think I'm going to go quittinh my job over this now. I'm just testing the waters. I wnt to the scca solo races yesterday to let my wife get a feel for what I'd be doing once she saw she could be a passenger with me while we race she was alll for it, although it looks like you need a good bank of money for it. some guys had extra sets of tires and wheels, all kinds of things. I got a good idea of what kinds of cars I'm looking for though. thanks for the best wishes. believe me, unlless someone offers me the golden key to racing its going to be a weekend warrior thing for now.

Hey Mike, me and my wife will be at Route 66 for the NHRA nationals on 6/10. I hope you plan on taking your wife to see Ashley and her almost as popular dad race that weekend.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Obie1

Hey Mike, me and my wife will be at Route 66 for the NHRA nationals on 6/10. I hope you plan on taking your wife to see Ashley and her almost as popular dad race that weekend.

 
Already have my tickets! I bought them on Friday.  We have section GG 17th row right on the start line.  I can't wait.  It's going to be both of our first NHRA race.  She keeps talking about meething Ashley so hopefully if we get there early enough we might see her, but I'm not sure if they let you in the pits over there.  I saw nothing about pit passes at this venue.  I only live about 15 minutes away. 

I think I'm going to forget about all of this SCCA stuff for now.  The amount of time and money involved isn't really worth it, and I have too many goals in the next few years to have another thing to suck my money, like having kids and taking more road trips.  Reality is starting to set in a bit over here. 

Hope everything works out for you Mike.  If it is something you really want, I might recommend that you go for it, and try it while you are young.  Once you get older and have more responsibilty, especially kids, it will be much more difficult to do these kinds of things.  If things don't work out now, you still have your whole life ahead of you to get on track!