04-04-2011, 03:47 PM
I have yet to run into a "child" once out of the rookie series. Everyone seems to take it moderately to very seriously. And even racing in the rookie series, I rarely had a problem. I'm a very casual player and still spend hours before any given race just practicing, qualifying, setting up the car, and I think most people do that or more. Now circle track may be a different story....
I might not have anything worthwhile to add to the real discussion, but obviously putting everything you have into the sport is likely to result in an extreme. Either burn-out, crash, run out money, get injured, or.... great success! To me, I realized years ago that racing doesn't require talent, it requires money. SOME have both, but very very few come through the ranks on talent alone. So you either have to be rich, or work your ass off and put it all into the sport. I decided I wasn't interested enough to make many sacrifices for it. And since I don't play, I probably won't win the lottery.
I wish go-kart racing was much more popular, I think I'd be more interested in that. Low barriers to entry, low risk, and as long as you just like to race and don't really have to win, then low commitment and money. Honestly, iRacing and the occasional kart enduro may be enough for me.
My perspective may be different than some because I seem to have an atypical response to speed and thrill. And I'm not very competitive. You may have noticed by the cars and bikes I'm happy to track, I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I'm happy to be THE slowest guy. Not that that does anyone else any good, (though I think I could name a few others in the club that probably identify with me) but maybe my only piece of "advice" is that if you keep the costs low, find something that leaves room for other things in life, appreciate the sport from a technical aspect, or enjoy just working on the car, or enjoy the camaraderie, and look for satisfaction in the honing of your skills, then burnout is less likely. But, so is success. :dunno:
I might not have anything worthwhile to add to the real discussion, but obviously putting everything you have into the sport is likely to result in an extreme. Either burn-out, crash, run out money, get injured, or.... great success! To me, I realized years ago that racing doesn't require talent, it requires money. SOME have both, but very very few come through the ranks on talent alone. So you either have to be rich, or work your ass off and put it all into the sport. I decided I wasn't interested enough to make many sacrifices for it. And since I don't play, I probably won't win the lottery.
I wish go-kart racing was much more popular, I think I'd be more interested in that. Low barriers to entry, low risk, and as long as you just like to race and don't really have to win, then low commitment and money. Honestly, iRacing and the occasional kart enduro may be enough for me.
My perspective may be different than some because I seem to have an atypical response to speed and thrill. And I'm not very competitive. You may have noticed by the cars and bikes I'm happy to track, I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I'm happy to be THE slowest guy. Not that that does anyone else any good, (though I think I could name a few others in the club that probably identify with me) but maybe my only piece of "advice" is that if you keep the costs low, find something that leaves room for other things in life, appreciate the sport from a technical aspect, or enjoy just working on the car, or enjoy the camaraderie, and look for satisfaction in the honing of your skills, then burnout is less likely. But, so is success. :dunno:
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a van is a good guy with a van