With deep sadness I must announce that I am “out for the season” due to a seriously broken wrist. I would appreciate your prayers for healing. I broke the scaphoid bone, one of the small ones in the wrist and chipped off a piece of the big arm bone that it connects to. (Riding lawn mower tractors can be dangerous when you hit a tree stump at full speed!)
The injury was more severe than I expected and the healing time longer due to my being a 63 year old man. I'm pretty sure that 30 years ago, the incident would have been just a sprain. But we get more brittle as we age. Therefore, it has caused me to evaluate the wisdom of my exposing myself to potential injuries from unavoidable future track incidents. So, I have decided that my racing “career” is permanently over and I am selling my car and equipment. I will continue to make myself available as a Chaplain to anyone who needs to talk with someone about how competitive racing can fit into a rewarding and successful life as a believer in Jesus Christ.
I started racing in Detroit in 1970, converting my '67 Mustang to a drag race configuration. Decided it was not something I could afford while supporting a family, so the next phase came in 1985, driving a Camaro in SCCA GT-1 and Trans-Am Series. I won the SCCA's Southwest Region Championship. Moved on to Formula Ford and Formula Vee in SCCA in 1986, with one pro race in FF2000 at Sanair in Canada. Then into NASCAR Winston Cup in 1987 where I crashed hard at Rockingham with resulting broken bones. Returning in 1988, I decided that I would never be competitive as a professional driver at the highest levels and lost interest in racing until 2011 when I bought a Formula Vee. In 2012, the Vortech Formula Vee and I won two out of six races at Summit Point. In 2013, I purchased a Legends Car and raced at local dirt tracks in Central Pennsylvania. Legends Cars are a lot of fun and very challenging, but there is a lot of car contact that can be rough on a old man's body. Like football, it is probably better suited to younger men.
So all good things come to an end. Perhaps 8 years of on track competitive racing over a 44 year period is enough risk. Praise God that he has protected me all of those years--despite lots of "incidents" and crashes, I was seriously injured only once, and recovered without too much residual effects.
But, modern technology allows the old racer a wonderful opportunity--on line racing using sophisticated virtual reality equipment. IRACING using computers and racing simulators that even provide road feel and g-forces! So, we can keep seeking mastery without the risk of breaking bones.
BTW, top prize money for oval track IRACING is $10,000. And, top prize money for open wheel road IRACING is $10,000. And, there are almost 50,000 drivers participating from all over the world.
