Racing and having kids

If you subscribers haven't yet received the latest issue of GRM, you will soon. In it, Tim discusses the future of the magazine and its possible eventual handoff to his son, Tommy.

Tommy is now 18, so we thought it'd be worthwhile to have a look back to Tim's thoughts right after he found out he'd be a father. We unearthed this column from 1993.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/so-now-what-am-i-going-do/

Clearly, having a kid or two didn't put an end to his love of racing, sports cars, and combining those with a magazine. What about you guys? How did you manage the differing pulls of hot baby spittle and hot laps?

Oh ... So not at the same time?

I'll save the issue for a few years down the road, but looks like an interesting read.

N Sperlo wrote: Oh ... So not at the same time?

Ever see Talledega Nights?

We took our boys autocrossing from before they could walk. They were 8 and 11 when I started racing and came with me to the track every weekend ,except during the school year.

When my daughter was born, I decided to spring for a HANS device and decided that I was no longer interested in events where I would have to stay overnight. I need to kiss her goodnight.

I still race after 2 kids, but I went from racing a $30000+ dirt late model stock car to rallycrossing a $500 300zx.

She's 5 and goes to the track with me when she can. She loves going fast and jumping the 4wheeler. I see a kart in her future if she wants one.

Aeromoto wrote: I still race after 2 kids, but I went from racing a $30000+ dirt late model stock car to rallycrossing a $500 300zx.

I here that! Concessions are made but we still need to have a hand in motorsports to keep our identity. After a almost a decade away from autocrossing, wife says "You need a race car to help relieve your stress". My car is cheap but it's fun! I love my wife!

I didn't start until after I had kids. Actually I stopped racing bikes, got married, had 3 kids and then started with cars. Mostly because I didn't want to go over the bars at 59 mph anymore. I don't bounce so well at 45. But my family are totally onside and my wife has given me the green light to go have fun. Kids love it. They bring their friends and attend nearly every race I am in.

My now 1-month older did 6 autocrosses in the womb. We're planning on bringing her to the track in about a month for the first race. The club even designated a work assignment as "watch baby".

I've been dragging mine all over the place to events forever. It works even better when they are old enough to help.

my boys, 4 and 8 years old, introduce me to their friends as "our dad, the racecar driver".

i autocross roughly 5 times a year.

"The warden" (SWMBO) will not allow me to participate in any type of competition that involves any wheels. She came to this conclusion the first time she saw a T1 Corvette thunder past at WOT at Road Atlanta, doing about 160mph. She looked at me and yelled "NO!!!"

It has only gotten worse since my daughter has joined this earth...

Fortunately, the club I typically autocross with allows kids to ride along as long as they have a helmet and are big enough that they don't need a car seat. I take my oldest with me just about every time I race. I find us a work station with an immovable object (oak tree, cement light base, etc.), put him on the far side of it and let him call in the cones. Most days, we have a blast, although rain dampens his enthusiasm faster than mine. I can say, however, that it has tempered my driving a little bit, and I got a roll bar straight away for the Miata once I realized club rules allowed kids to ride along. I got into autocross after having kids, so its always been a "fact of life." (Not complaining BTW) I've always been limited to local events, and one day events at that. A really good summer is maybe 6 events.

trucke wrote:

Aeromoto wrote: I still race after 2 kids, but I went from racing a $30000+ dirt late model stock car to rallycrossing a $500 300zx.

I here that! Concessions are made but we still need to have a hand in motorsports to keep our identity. After a almost a decade away from autocrossing, wife says "You need a race car to help relieve your stress". My car is cheap but it's fun! I love my wife!

I'm starting out with cheap cars and plan to continue with cheap cars. Maybe 3-4 years down the road we will have kids. I have lived with an empty wallet and I plan to continue doing so.

all it did for me was make me buy the stig family stickers so all the suburbanite whack jobs with the parents and 17 kid stickers and 5 dogs/18 cats on the back of their escalades can scratch their heads and wonder why the whole family is in racing suits and helmets including the dog.

patgizz wrote: all it did for me was make me buy the stig family stickers so all the suburbanite whack jobs with the parents and 17 kid stickers and 5 dogs/18 cats on the back of their escalades can scratch their heads and wonder why the whole family is in racing suits and helmets including the dog.

Now I have to go find these...

I started autocrossing when we had one at age 1 and one in the womb. The Wife looked funny levering her very pregnant self out of my Miata when she used it to go out a few times and left me home with the baby and her safe Volvo wagon. I typically ran around 4 events a year when the kids were small. Now that the kids are 14 and nearly 12 I took up HPDE last year and I can feel the slope sliding out from under me towards building a race car. I did invest a bundle in safety stuff this year after seeing 135 or so entering the bus stop at the Glen made the Wife nervous. The short of it is that having kids hasn't stopped my motorsports passion, but I've found that I'm the only one in the family who has that passion. It would be more fun if the kids cared, but we'll see what happens when they turn 16 - they've been told for years that they will run a full season of auto-x events with me when they get licensed to learn car control in a safe environment, maybe the bug will bite then...

At present SWMBO and I have no children but they are in the future she has informed me. I suspect as we are the Co-Chiefs of Pit&Grid with NASA-SE the term "Track Baby" is in our future. I also suspect there will be a new worker position of "watch baby" for us as well.

pigeon wrote:

patgizz wrote: all it did for me was make me buy the stig family stickers so all the suburbanite whack jobs with the parents and 17 kid stickers and 5 dogs/18 cats on the back of their escalades can scratch their heads and wonder why the whole family is in racing suits and helmets including the dog.

Now I have to go find these...

http://gearheadshirts.com/products/213518-stig-family-stickers

93EXCivic wrote:

pigeon wrote:

patgizz wrote: all it did for me was make me buy the stig family stickers so all the suburbanite whack jobs with the parents and 17 kid stickers and 5 dogs/18 cats on the back of their escalades can scratch their heads and wonder why the whole family is in racing suits and helmets including the dog.

Now I have to go find these...

http://gearheadshirts.com/products/213518-stig-family-stickers

yup those are so going on my LS swapped impala SS.

I stopped tracking sport bikes after my son was born last year. Sold the bikes and used that money to build my track car. Which I convinced my wife was a SAFER form of motorsport.