Suit up, kids… this could be a long and painful ride.
Passenger – păs′ən-jər
- a traveller in a public or private conveyance
- a person who is travelling in a
car, bus, train, plane or ship, orracecar and who is not driving it or working on it - a warmly welcome guest on this journey
- someone who may want to get off this ride at each stop, possibly before it starts
I am a prospective racing driver.
Even simply typing that opening line and hearing it in my head in my own voice sounds a bit strange at this stage. At the time of writing I am about one year into my efforts to become a racing driver; any meaningful efforts, anyway. I decided it was high time I started documenting my journey – I have had some wonderful days on that journey, but plenty of them were not if I’m being honest. I have met some larger than life characters on this ride so far – most of them lifted me up, some screwed me over.
Maybe someone with a few legs up on me – more experience, or…less age, a few less spare pounds to lose – can read this and find a bit of hope on his or her lowest days. If for nothing else, then for myself; to look back on in a few years, and think back upon the time I was (hopefully) a racing driver, and read over how my journey began.
Why should you care? What are you doing, stumbling upon this tiny corner of the vast internet? Well, I think I am quite atypical in the world of racing drivers and race driver wannabes. Let’s sift through the laundry list of my challenges…
At the time of writing, I am soon to be 33 years of age. In other words I have already reached the age most racing drivers are when they start considering their retirement plans, not clawing in the lower level of racing, scraping away with dreams of a factory contract in their future.
I had ZERO experience: no karting, no junior formula. I literally started from absolute scratch.
So as many might refer to it as, I am already old and busted in racing terms; with the caveat you would surely say I am not a “has been” but more like a “never was.”
I started out a bit of a fat-f*ck as well. I was way, way too heavy for the task.
You’re probably thinking, “so what?? If you knew anything about racing, lad, you’d well know that all you need is money?! Isn’t modern racing full of f&^$*ng PAY DRIVERS anyway?” Well, we can discuss all of these finer points later but I don’t have nearly enough of that either!
Boohoo, right? Why exactly should you care?
You probably shouldn’t.
Though, if it is of interest, I made the first half-steps, if you will, all the way up to….well, to the bottom rung of the ladder on the way to my goals (please, hold your applause a m i r i t e). So before the ripe old age of 33 finds me, I figured I should start writing down all these little details up and down the valleys and peaks of the journey so far. Maybe someone stumbling about this lowly corner of the internet will find some humor in my pain and challenges, though I sincerely hope you can try doing the same as I am doing….and do so with more success than I have enjoyed so far!
Good news: If you’re younger, are better looking, have more money, or more experience… you really already have me beaten. Maybe this site will be useless to you…
So what can you expect from this blog and the many posts to come ? The truth at least, a fair description of the very unglamorous side of pure motorsports; when there’s not much money to be made, far less money to be spent on the pursuit of a dream, and loads being asked of you so you can get a mere few minutes in the drivers seat. To show what you can do…to get a sniff at one’s dream? That’s IT right there.
Thank you for being here, esteemed passenger. Please do stick around by subscribing to this blog – I may very well not impress you, but at least I may make you laugh.
Falling forward? Failing forward? What is the saying, again?