What's your outlook on racing? Why do you race?

[VCS Racing]

Been riding most of my life then went to an AMA race at Road Atlanta. Jennings had their Grand Opening booth setup. As we were watching the eyes of the AMA racer at the two turns at the back of Road A, my friend said, "you're going to do this one day". Ended up doing track days at Jennings, then started racing in 2005. Sold the street bike and have been racing ever since. No dreams of racing above club level but having the time of my life now......and the wife supports it!

[Jason748]

This is actually a harder question to answer than I though...

I came to this conclusion:  I race simply because I love to.
I love waking up in the morning at the track, you know at 6:00am, the sun is just starting to come up, there's a light fog, trailers/bikes/trucks everywhere, You just know your home.
I love the smell of hot asphalt, oil and race gas.
I love the meeting the "family" pitted next to you.
I love that all my work-week concerns disappear and are replaced my a certain focus and quietness the second I zip up my suit and buckle my helmet.
I love the little jitters waiting for the green flag to drop.
I love figuring out how to catch and pass the racer in front of me.
I love working on being smother, hitting my line more accurately, running faster more comfortable lap times.
I love the ear to ear smile I get after the race that just doesn't seem to go away.
etc...     

It's just something I love doing.

My goals are simple and realistic, have fun, do better each time I go out, have fun, make new friends, have fun, spend time with my family, and you guessed it have fun.

[steelcityracer]

I race because I enjoy the competition, and because I enjoy riding a bike that can easily bite me somewhere near the limit of its capabilities.  I also race because of the extreme concentration level that I am able to achieve while on the track.

[Speedballer347]

There is no wife, no kids, no job, no debt, no pain and no fear.

Same concept for me, just some of the nouns are different.
There is no ####, no ####, no ###, no ####, no pain and no ####.

Neighbor who raced recruited me and a buddy to corner work when we were 15.  At 16 we took school and raced a few times locally for the next few seasons.
Remembered all the fond memories of adrenilene from back then, and gave it another shot in 01.
Fatter & slower, didn't quite go as expected. 
Now I'm past the point of thinking I'll be a front runner in club (I'm not 'that' guy), but content being midpack.  Seemed most impotant was to be fastest, now smoother and safer seem to be my agenda.
Now I do the trackdays and race when I can afford it, and it's location is close.
The more times I do it the more fun I have hanging out in the pits, and the closer I get with my good friends.

I'm old, fat, and slow....but I am still having fun.  And it's great to see my racing buddies, on those weekends.  I have made  some life-long friends from the racetrack 

[ahastings]

I race because I enjoy being broke and having a large credit card debt!!

[Super_KC124]

The crumpet, I suppose.

[xseal]

The crumpet, I suppose.

Isn't that a famous Barry Sheene quote?

[aberg12012]

Honestly?  I have no idea... this is something I've been trying to figure out ever since last year about this time, when I started to put together my first track bike, and become totally obsessed. 

It's 7am, it's the day before Christmas, and I'm at work working a double shift as I've been doing for the past week, and will be doing again tomorrow.  I'll be missing Christmas with my family, and I don't even care.  All I can think about is the money I'm making to pay off my debt from last summer, so I can do it all over again next summer.  I don't think about my family as much as I should anymore, I don't care about my social life, dating, or girls all together.  As much of an old oil burner she is, I care much more about my bike than any woman I've yet to meet.  I've spent more time and spilled more blood working on my bike than I'd ever care to spend with anyone else.  I don't even care about my job much anymore... just enough to not get fired so I can keep making money, to keep going to the track.  

All this, and I haven't even tasted a top 10 finish yet.  And if I never do, it will make no difference.  For me it's the thrill of knowing I'm doing something that very few people on this planet have the guts to do...  Get off the couch and do something I've always wanted to do, and not worry about the many reasons why I shouldn't.  

As if I have trouble understanding, there are my family and non-racing friends.  They mostly think this is just some crazy phase I'm going through, because I'm 27, single, and looking for attention. lol  Obviously any attempts to explain otherwise are fruitless.

The only explanation I can come up with is to ponder life a bit.  Bare with me, this is about to become a "super sized" post.

Life needs purpose and goals.  Something to live and work for, to accomplish.  Accomplishing the goal is not the point, infact it's secondary at best.  It's the sense of purpose and desire along the way that matters.  It's what gives us all a reason to wake up in the morning.  Without some future goal, why would you bother waking up in the morning?  Might as well just stay in bed the rest of your life... heck, my bed is my favorite place to be!  (For more than one reason... for those with their minds in the gutter.)

When we were younger, and in school... we had purpose.  To get our asses through school, and get a good job that we (might) enjoy, to make money.  Right?  So I graduated college, and got a career that I will probably retire from.  I've been working this job now for about 5 years, and no longer had a reason to wake up besides to go to work to pay the bills.  What kinda life is that??  Then one day I was invited to the track (BHF) to hang out with a friend and take photos of him racing.  I had always been a 2 wheel fanatic, but never really paid much attention to racing until that day.  Funny, how one hobby leads to another.  

That day was like a gateway drug... spending the day taking photos of high performance machines buzzing all around me.  I had been pondering the idea for a few years, since being friends with Jason Farrell, but this was it.  This was the exact moment I decided I was going to race a motorcycle... standing at the fence by the false grid at BHF, during the first morning practice session.  As much as I love being a photographer, for once I had to be on the other end of the lens.  Words cant describe how excited I was.  I just kept mumbling over and over aloud to myself with every photo I took, "I'm going to do that... I have to do that."

Just when I needed one most, I found a new purpose in life.  Something to wake up for.  It doesn't matter if I ever win a race.  Of coarse winning is the goal, but like I said... the goal is only secondary.  I'm doing it, and enjoying it more than anything else I've ever done before.  That's what matters most to me.

[Speedballer347]

Seemed most impotant was to be fastest,

Glad I caught that before someone else did    You guys are getting slow 

[proechel539]

To piss away any chances of having a savings account! and the pure fun of it all!

[Rick Beggs]

i race because nothing in the world makes me feel better, my girlfriend and my family make my life complete, but racing is a big part of it

[jeremy271]

I race because Dano,  JimmyP,  and myself where going way to fast on backroads.  I quit because I got Jen pregnent