Well, 2014 is almost done and I can’t say it was a great
year but it wasn’t a terrible year either.
I’m looking forward to 2015 and here is an announcement that is probably
going to surprise some folks.
The time
has come for me to hang up my helmet and sell the race car – hopefully I will
be able to list it in January.
Truthfully I was planning on stopping after next year but it just feels
right to make this decision now and to not put it off any longer – partly
because both the car and I are currently in one piece. J When I purchased the RF97 VD I had the goals
of 1) converting it from a FC to a FF with a Honda engine, 2) learning about
the dynamics of this kind of formula car, 3) learning more about car set-up and
data analysis, and 4) driving the car at its limit and really experiencing
it. I can honestly say that I have
accomplished those goals. Would I have
liked to have been more competitive and winning races with it? Absolutely!
But I also learned that this kind of car requires a lot of $ and work to
be at the front of a Pro Race or even a SCCA Majors race and there are other
things that I need to focus on at this point of my life – like having enough
money for retirement! Racing is in my
blood and that will never go away. To
get my racing fix I plan on racing online more and to experience the physical
aspect I plan on buying a track car at some point and doing some track days
with it. Instructing more certainly
isn’t out of the question either. Who
knows, maybe I’ll enter a race every once in a while as an “arrive and drive”
driver.
Racing has benefited me in so many ways but one of the best
ways was being able to meet and become friends with lots of great people. In general, racers are very generous and
thanks to all of those who have helped me along the way. Of course the BIGGEST thanks goes out to my beautiful
wife, Terry Phillips. I was already
racing my Caracal B FV when we started dating roughly 12 years ago and not long
after we were together we drove up to David Green’s shop near Watkin’s Glen, NY
in the dead of winter (and bitter cold) and picked up my Protoform P3 FV as a
slider which I built over the remaining part of the winter and campaigned for 7
years. Terry learned to be an
outstanding crew chief and we really had some great times together – especially
when we won. J The work for Terry was even greater with the
RF97 VD FF due to the amount of set-up notes that needed to be taken every time
we ran the car but Terry again did a fantastic job. Even though some of the race weekends weren’t
that great, we still persevered and always understood that racing has the
highest highs and the lowest lows. With
more time and money available we just might be able to do a little more
traveling and see the sights a little more – but I expect that some of that
travelling is still going to revolve around cars and/or racing. J
One last thing, I’m also very thankful to a certain private individual
(he knows who he is) that has provided some financial support towards my racing
hobby for the past 8 years in exchange for me raising money and awareness for a
couple of different charities – with the current one being The Fisher House
Foundation. It has been fun taking the
race cars to different car shows and just getting the word out about these
charities and I especially think that the Fisher House Foundation is a
fantastic charity and it has been a pleasure to work with them. I plan on continuing to personally donate to
them and I hope others I know will do the same.
Happy New Year!!
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