So That's Why I Never Became a Professional Race Car Drive

When discussing what did you want to be when you grow up; 5 year old me said "I want to be a professional race car driver when I grow up"

Being a contracts guy it finally occurred to me that I said "when I grow up". As I have not grown up this would explain why I'm not a professional race car driver.  All this time I thought it was because I lacked three simple things; money, dedication and talent.

( yes, it's been one of those days someone's legal department  felt the need to redline a contract to add quotation marks around the word owner)

I have yet to grow up but I wanted to be an astronaut.

I'd leave tomorrow.

Still a kid.

In reply to Tom1200 :

I too wanted that. Then I hung around a few for a while.  The cost they paid would shake you.  The personal sacrifices. The humility,  the work effort and trade offs they gave. 

When I grow up I wanna be a grown up. 
 

No wait!!  Not that!!

Tom1200 said:

( yes, it's been one of those days someone's legal department  felt the need to redline a contract to add quotation marks around the word owner)

Always called those "justified changes." As in their lawyer had to justify why he was receiving a paycheck every month. 

Also, with apologies to Tom Waites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUA6VFKV0jk 

Against my wishes I had to grow up, but at least I got to be a race car driver.  Not a pro, or even a good one, but a race car driver nonetheless.  12 year old me would think that's pretty cool.

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

I take one of the race cars to a school event every year and the kids do think it's cool and I am a race car driver as far as they are concerned.

While I make many adult decisions I've not grown up.......I have not, I have not, no I won't go to my room.

When I was 5, I wanted to be a race car driver and win the Indy 500.

25 years later I’m not a pro driver, but I’m a dad. Wouldn’t trade that for anything.

I think race cars are probably more fun as a hobby.

BlueInGreen - Jon (Forum Supporter) said:

When I was 5, I wanted to be a race car driver and win the Indy 500.

25 years later I’m not a pro driver, but I’m a dad. Wouldn’t trade that for anything.

I think race cars are probably more fun as a hobby.

I've had the privilege to work with a few professional drivers and it's not an easy business. 

In reply to preach (fs) :

Same here

I,m still a race car driver  and hope to be very old when I FINALLY GROW UP!

Some where between 47 and 57, I found out I still had not grown up, but had sudenly grown old. How the heck did that happen?

This thread reminds me of how misguided teachers and parents tell kids, "You can grow up to be anything you want." Really, like if I like basketball, I can become an NBA star. Or President, or fireman, or racecar driver, etc.

Life's a bitch, kids. Not everyone's going to grow up to be 7-ft+, and if you do the math regarding how many kids are born in a year (~1M), versus how many NBA players are acquired, will, there you go.

My favorite is about becoming president. It's pretty easy math: one president every four years, and in that time, 4.2 million kids are born. So there are the odds, but I guess you could spin it as "well someone's going to win."

Okay, I get it, it's to be upbeat and positive about what kids can do, to not dash their dreams, but it's also so close to dishonesty, it's amazing how it's encouraged to continue. But I guess as long as there's Santa, kid's dreams pass for reality.

Oddly, I'm not encouraged to talk to the grandkids very often.

In reply to kb58 :

When I go to the schools I explain to the kids how much money it takes to become a racing driver and that the actually driving portion is only a small percentage of the work but I focus more on jobs like, engineering, fabricators and mechanics.

As for the "you can be anything you want" I recall telling one of my parents "what if I want to become a serial killer", pretty sure it was my mother because my father would have answered with "you can't make any money doing that".

In reply to Tom1200 :

At 72 I still refuse to grow up and I still want to be a race car driver. 

I tell my kids all of the time that being lucky is a large part of being successful. Yes, it takes hard work, but hard work doesn't guarantee success. I worked a lot of hours at some E36 M3ty companies on the hope that they would go public and we'd all retire rich. I gave that dream up after my last company folded up. I wound up getting an interview for my current job because of one word on my resume. It turns out that word had very little to to with my last job ( I was almost embarrassed to put it on ) but it is the entire focus of my job now. 

As far as sports go look at how many guys are supposed to be the next big thing and either get picked by the wrong team or get injured early in their career.

I have a cousin who has had something like 14 surgeries due to a HS sports injury. It totally changed her life and not for the better. 

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

Against my wishes I had to grow up, but at least I got to be a race car driver.  Not a pro, or even a good one, but a race car driver nonetheless.  12 year old me would think that's pretty cool.

This.  Exactly this.  So is my wife.  Pretty cool life! (Both engineers too)

kb58 said:

This thread reminds me of how misguided teachers and parents tell kids, "You can grow up to be anything you want." Really, like if I like basketball, I can become an NBA star. Or President, or fireman, or racecar driver, etc.

Life's a bitch, kids. Not everyone's going to grow up to be 7-ft+, and if you do the math regarding how many kids are born in a year (~1M), versus how many NBA players are acquired, will, there you go.

My favorite is about becoming president. It's pretty easy math: one president every four years, and in that time, 4.2 million kids are born. So there are the odds, but I guess you could spin it as "well someone's going to win."

Okay, I get it, it's to be upbeat and positive about what kids can do, to not dash their dreams, but it's also so close to dishonesty, it's amazing how it's encouraged to continue. But I guess as long as there's Santa, kid's dreams pass for reality.

Oddly, I'm not encouraged to talk to the grandkids very often.

The new question is:  what problem do you want to solve in the world?  No mention of "when you grow up", or anything like that.

I like the new question and think it makes kids think and get out of any "silo" they might be in.

When I grow up, I want to be a dinosaur.

Let's be realistic, I'm not a professional race driver because I suck at it.

wvumtnbkr said: 

The new question is:  what problem do you want to solve in the world?  No mention of "when you grow up", or anything like that.

 

I like the new question and think it makes kids think and get out of any "silo" they might be in.

So 35 years ago I was taking a writing class. The Professor wanted to know what the moral of the story was; I told her there was no moral it was simply to make people laugh. She just looked over her glasses at me. Ironically that story was the first short story I sold. I quickly figured out that most fiction writers don't get paid very well. 

I wanted to go motorcycle racing and that inspired me to want to make a decent living, along the way I learned I had good negotiation skills, that combined with my writing ability has landed me where I am. Writing contracts isn't that far removed from writing stories, one has to think about all the ways the words could be perceived. I make use of my innate skills to earn a good living.

So my point is I'm not looking to solve a problem, nor are most kids, they just want to earn a decent  living and enjoy life while doing something they find interesting. The elementary school I take the F500 is mostly lower income kids; even at that age it resinates with them when I talk about earning a good living as an engineer or a high level mechanic.

So back on the original topic; since I've gotten paid to instruct, coach and drive a race car (got paid to drive once) does this make me a "race car driver".  If and when I become a Grandpa I say it does...............but not before that.

In reply to ShawnG :

do you have short little arms?

In reply to Tom1200 :

Actually, I have a positive ape index...

I absolutely don't want to get paid to race. I want to be fabulously wealthy and pay other people to get my E36 M3 ready so I can race. That's not happening. 

My daughter is interested in a career in motorsports. I do everything I can to keep her away from dreaming about the driving/riding side of it and encourage the engineering/data/personel side of it. 

When I was a young kid, say between 5 and 11, I only wanted to be a truck driver.  I'd seen most of the Convoy and Bandit movies.  I'm glad I listened to my parents instead.

Rally driver Shehkar Mehta's advice for racing success: "Choose your parents very carefully, make sure they're rich."

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

If they pay you to race, odds are you also aren't going to be the mechanic, but being fabulously wealthy also means you won't have to hunt for a seat.