24 March 2009

The Wonder Years

We were given a DVD of the early years of our racing career...1996-2000 to be specific. It seems like forever ago now.
Watching it left me with feelings of pride but also of sadness. I feel old when I say those were the best days. I miss our friends and I miss being in the middle of it all.

In 2005 when I/we stepped out of the organization, I was relieved and so ready to be done. Now enough time has passed that I remember mostly just the fun & the good versus all the stress and hard work.

How it all began was we raced the last half of the 1999 season & realized we could do well. We made a little splash in a big pond and it was a little intoxicating. "We could do this" Kevin said.

I remember talking with Kevin at the end of the 1999 season. We had to make an unanimous decision as a couple for one of the first times in our relationship. Because we don't have children, we missed out on a lot of the couple-building milestones that most couples experience. The decision to do this was a big milestone for us. It was a huge commitment, physically, time-wise and financially. Whew! financially! (we put off a new house in order to race...not the most responsible choice)

So, in 2000 we set a goal and achieved it. We won the championship that year. Then we runner-upped the following years and won again in 2005, right before Kevin was diagnosed. He raced while sick and we didn't know any better. So, we could have killed him but luckily we didn't!

We took off 2006 to allow Kevin to recover. Then in 2007 we ran in a different series, in a different organization, in a different town(s). It's never been the same as those first years.

When we started, Kevin actually drove the car to the racetrack. Now we have an enclosed trailer with all the gear. We once were in awe of the Big Kids and now we're one of them. We even traveled to Vegas to race with the really big boys. It's dumbfounding.

And we're coming up on another decision soon: how far to go and when to stop.Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, finances will probably exclude us from going much further. Sponsors are difficult to come by and located in BFE isn't much of a help.

Anyway, it's kind of surreal to watch ourselves on the DVD. Those were indeed the wonder years. We are near the end of this video clip...the next DVD we're in A. LOT. It's almost embarrassing and trust me, we were teased.


Wicked Street of the West Vol 1 Intro





Kevin at the end of the track...slowing down from nearly 150 mph.
Yeah, he's that cool. (:-D

1 comment:

Not Your Aunt B said...

That's cool! I love the photo. And the monologue on the video cracked me up.