Racing/Riding and the Consequences

[the_weggie_man]

Sorry to hear about your Dad.  I knew there had to be a story behind your post but didn't think it would be that tragic.

My son and I had plans after he quit racing to do some long distance touring. I still ride partly because I know he would have wanted me to. The other reason is the pure enjoyment of it. People that have no passion don't understand those that do.  

[Al_Soran]

Just wanted to chime in again on this subject after giving it more thought. Really, it seems we can't put into precise words why we race after the loss of friends and loved ones. With that said, I wanted to share with you an editorial written by Ken Harvey in July 1988, who at the time was the editor of "The Inside Line", the monthly newsletter put out by the CRRC, which is now the CRMA in Texas, after the loss of racers John Tauzin at Gateway and Terry Exum at Texas World Speedway. I really took this to heart as I was a co-rider on Johns endurance team and would have never found the words to express the feelings. What follows are Ken's words;

     The loss of a racer hits hard.  The fact that one minute a friend is there and the next minute they are gone leaves one confused as well a saddened.  How can sorrow follow so quickly on the heels of joy? I can remember the trophy presentations- the big smiles, the eyes that project confidence and the pride that comes from a job well done. I remember the joy for life that comes from a person that has found something in this world that is worth the effort and sacrifice.  Then there are the eyes of the loved ones.  The looks in their eyes seem to ask the question, "What could possibly be worth the risk"?
     Any racer that tries to explain racing and its risks to someone else soon finds out that the words are not there.  The only way I know to explain it requires putting the other person in a set of leathers and letting them go at it on the track.  I know it's impractical, and most of the time impossible, but there is no other way to explain motorcycle racing.  It would be like explaining the color blue to a blind person.
     A racer understands the need to race even if he can't put it into words. It's talking easily with any racer you meet, but having difficulty talking to your best friend from high school that you haven't seen for a couple of years.  It is realizing that the guy you thought you disliked because he beats you all the time is actually your friend, when he is beating all those riders from outside the region.
     It is thinking of how good it would feel to run a certain lap time someday, and then thinking of how good it would feel to knock off another second when you do.
     Even with all of the good that comes from racing, it is still not possible to get on a race track without thinking of the potential consequences.  Our parents, friends and spouses have ways of reminding us.  We put that thought, the negative side of racing, as far out of our minds as possible, but still it is there- readily available when circumstances force us to confront it again.
     I know that the deaths of two friends will not stop me from racing, at least not yet. It's because I don't know what else I could do and enjoy half as much as racing, and because I don't know where else I could go to be around people of the caliber of John and Terry.
                          .....Ken Harvey, 1988


Shared in Memory of John Tauzin, August 1950- July 1988 and Terry Exum, June 1960- July 1988.

  

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Wow.  He totally nailed it.

[mmills416]

NO, I started racing cars....

When Bryan died after battleing with me for 6 months and crashing behind me at the ROC. I thought nothing of it, Then he got killed the next morning in Practice, I was there to win the ROC and I got through it but he has been on my mind almost everyday.  
He got killed by some unknown freak thing.  

When I got hurt by a wierd thing I got through with a permanent limp, but my Dad didn't and help me get into cars.  
I had some regrets about quiting bike, but when Steve got hurt by a Warm Up lap high side at 40mph, I was very happy I had quit bikes.  He was on my bike, and is recovering for serious spinal cord injures.  Thanks god he is show great sign of recovery, but he still has a very long way to go before he can walk or use his hands.
We all play the odds and most of use will get through this with only minor scratches and great stories but the loses and pain has been way to close to me.
Its not the big mistakes or risk that bothers me it the weird freak thing that can change your life and I would just rather have a cage around me at that point.

Sorry to be some negative, but you posed the question and I'm just being honest

[EX#996]

NO, I started racing cars....

Its not the big mistakes or risk that bothers me it the weird freak thing that can change your life and I would just rather have a cage around me at that point.

Don't worry about being too negative...  We are all entitled to our own feelings and opinions.  

Your thoughts about racing cars is very interesting to me.  At this point, I know more drivers that were killed in stock cars than on a bike.  But then again, that's my own experience.

Dawn   :-/

[hdpromos]

I started racing in 1964 with one of my best friends, Tommy Hann of Sarasota. This guy was a natural and by 1966 he won the Florida State Championship on a Haps Cycles Harley Davidson. Two weeks later while test riding a customers bike a truck pulled out in front of him and he died. I always felt he would have been one of the greatest. He never got the chance.
After watching a talented young rider named Donald Jacks, I had to try and help this kid get a good ride. Well he got his chance thanks to John Ulrich. After that he was signed by Yoshimura Suzuki for the next 3 years. He even tested Kevin Schwantz's Lucky Strike Suzuki GP bike and was set to ride until Kevin miraculously came back 8 days later after breaking his arm and rode! In June of 1995 while still with Yosh he was tragically killed on a street bike. If only I had tried to keep him from getting that bike! I knew he shouldn't be on the street. But at the time I thought who am I to tell him no? If only I had done what my "gut" was telling me.
And then there is Jamie Bowman. Another Florida rider that was a standout as soon as he started racing. and was at the "top of his game", when He was killed at Laguna Seca. If only that concrete barrier had not been moved out the way it was, Jamie would have walked away. And we lost him on a race track that he was planning on winning.
Those are 3 cases I know too well. So what do you do, nothing? Everybody has to follow their dreams, just like they did. You can die or get injured in so many ways as they did. Who knows what fate lies ahead for any of us?

HD

[mmills416]

I'm roadracing a Factory BMW M3 chassis.  I know it just a dangerous but what got to me was the possiblities of serious injury in minor or low speed crashes.  Not the driver or rider had a big off or made a big mistake, just the little things that in a car you just spin out or bang up a finder.  Just like anybody else Me, My wife, and Family all accept the risk of me racing, But won't it be ironic if I get killed in a car fire because thats what scares the shit out of me.  You can't just jump out of the car Like Colin Edwards did on the Apilira.   :-/ :-/

Hay Henry...  not the greatest topic.
GOOD NEWS - Steve moved his right foot and both his hamstrings yesterday.  He got control of his RT hand but know strentgh yet, not much with his left hand yet.
Have a good time at Jennings and Steve is planning on coming