RX-Ben

Anyone have any tips on convincing the wife that this is a good idea?

Sidney004

It's better than drinking, smoking, gambling and chasing other women, but then again only ex-wives come to that realization. Good luck, Ben.

brkntrxn

Selective mating. I married a woman who has raced her entire life. Makes for an easier discussion on where to blow disposable income.

waddisme

I tell my wife the only thing I could think of that would be as much fun and exciting and CHEAPER would be a mistress. So for now, wife just asks if life insurance is paid up.

braknl8

June at RA was my first time meeting you two and it amazed me how much she does to support....and knowledge of racing. You really did hit the jackpot, Kevin!!

BuckeyeZ06

Serious response...because I deal with this almost daily...

It keeps me "alive."

My wife thought this hobby was a mid-life crisis. I told her quite the opposite. This keeps me from having one.

Men are designed to hunt. I today's civilized society we don't have to chase down deer for our food; we go to the Piggly-Wiggly. So our "hunting" desires need to be quenched in some other fashion. Racing fills that void.

I can see guys chasing skirts because they are bored. Not me, as every other weekend I get to start looking forward to getting my butt kicked on a race track.

Paul Newman said racing keeps him breathing. I know exactly what he meant. At my stage of life, my everyday life can get pretty boring. But not with the challenge of racing.

Economically it doesn't make sense, don't even go down that road, unless you have something that's more expensive (like horses!).

It does make us better people. This may be a hard sell, but think of the people we are surronded by in the racing world. We all have our different opinions on things, sometimes we argue, but when "one of our own" needs help, we rally like no other group.

I can count on one hand the number of *ssholes I know through racing; there's not many. Golf may be a Gentleman's sport, but racers treat each other better.

I can go on and on...(and likely will).

z06801

here is a picture of my wife when I started #174, she got it

PushinTheLimit

Alot of what David said is what fuels my fire to go out and race. While I may not have the budget that I see many have on race weekends, I go out there and compete as hard and tough as I possibly can. I make use of the best resources I have and give myself the best chance I can to finish well.


I have to say, going wheel to wheel was well worth it for me even though it's been very expensive. But I wouldn't trade those times for any other hobby as they just don't give me the thrill like racing does. I always knew I wanted to be in some type of racing and road racing has been a blast.

My fiance has been on a couple of racing trips with me so far... while it really isn't her cup of tea, she enjoys watching me race. She has told me as long as the bills are paid, no accumulating debt to race... she doesn't have a problem with it. The danger of wheel to wheel racing does concern her, but being in a safely prepped racecar and doing it on the track where you're supposed to does give her some peace of mind.

BuckeyeZ06

Show her the video of my wreck from this May. That should provide comfort that the safety equipment we use works.

AU N EGL

Much safer then most belt-line highways around any city.

95jersey

compromise? give her something she wants? If you race, she can have X.

zigspeed10

Ben,

In your case wheel to wheel will be much safer. It will require you to have a cage. Also for more ammo, lap times in a race are slower than a tt session.

Looking forward to running fender to fender with you next year if I can keep up.

PushinTheLimit

Already have... and she also got to see my wreck at Road Atlanta this past December and see how well the car held up through the wreck. Of course my wreck was nothing like yours was.

brkntrxn

Thanks!

She laughed and said thanks as well.

C5inWV

No matter how much you have already done, it has just been preparation for w2w.

darguy

I'm very lucky to have a fiancée that is very supportive in general, and actually encouraged me to buy the car in the first place (although it was a daily driver at first...). Her philosophy is, "You don't want to be on your death bed wishing you'd done <insert activity here>, this is not a dress-rehearsal."

That being said, the possible points for friction are - as I see it: time, money, and safety. As long as I have the cash and time to race without it impacting on the things we do together (social/family stuff, entertainment, vacations, etc) it's all good. She realizes there is some risk, but also gets that there is a great deal of safety equipment as well.

She'd rather I didn't want to race (or fly, I just got my pilot's license), but she wants me to pursue my dreams - and take the appropriate precautions to stay safe.

Anyway, that's one somewhat rational argument that might work. Good luck!

SouthernSon

Okay guys, who wants to be the first to tell him what changes to expect after the wedding ceremony?

Sidney004

Exactly what I was thinking!

SouthernSon

Not really good on convincing another about my ideas. Personally, I got a divorce.

Jason

That makes racing look cheap.