What makes a racer, a racer

 

Racing is something that not everyone truly understands, and really, I’m okay with that. But what those folks fail to understand is, it isn’t “just” racing. It’s the people, it’s the machines, the competition, the smell, the sound, and even the feel, as you watch a driver search for the fast line around the track. It’s all part of a puzzle, a symphony, that all comes together, it’s the sensory overload that real race fans love and understand.

 

The people,

I have been so blessed to have met so many cool people through racing, from multi millionaires, to guys with barely enough gas money to get to the track. Some who have even begged borrowed and stole their way to building a race car. But the one common denominator in both of them is, each one of them loves racing, every single aspect of it.

 

The machines,

On any given night at any racetrack you will see the haves and the have nots. The haves with their big rigs and beautiful race cars, pitted right next the guys running used parts with mismatched paint and duct tape numbers. If you stop and think about it long enough, I know you too will remember a night when you saw David, kick Goliath’s ass!

 

The competition,

We have all seen races that ran to the checkered flag and were so close, you looked at the person sitting next to you, that you probably didn’t even known before you sat down next to them, and high fived them and ask, WHO WON! That is true competition!

 

The smell,

Once the snow finally stops flying and the flowers start to bloom, tell me which one smells better, spring flowers, or racing fumes? I know that answer, and it ain’t even close for me! Give me the beautiful racing fumes of springtime in Indiana!

 

The sound,

There is no music on Earth that sounds as sweet as a big ol’ fat cam sprint car engine sittin’ there lopping at idle, and then with the slightest crack of the throttle, the sound of HUNDREDS of horsepower coming to life. Whether you like Rock, Country, the Blues, or heaven forbid Rap music, a race car motor is the sweetest sound on this planet!

 

The feel,

As you sit there in the stands, or stand as close to the track as you can get, you feel the cars go by and you can’t help but lean, or press down harder with your right foot as you try so hard to help your favorite driver get around that car in front of him or her. Be honest, you have done that! I know I do, every night I am at a track.

 

It’s what makes racing, racing, and it’s what we all love, it’s what we understand, and it’s what we will all be jones’ing for come Snowtember! It’s what makes us all “racers” or “race fans” and for me, I don’t care if you are rich with a big rig, or haulin’ your Hornet or an open trailer, if I see you in a racing shirt in the Mall shopping for Christmas presents, or at the grocery store stockin’ up milk and bread for the blizzard they say is comin’ our way, get ready for a hand shack or a high five, because we got something in common, the strong bond of racing that we understand, and love!  We are racers, both waiting impatiently on the next race!

 

Chris Judah

 

Picture by me.