Going to School in a Race Car: How to Get a Racing License

For as long as I could remember, automobiles have been a passion of mine. I have always loved cars and their magical powers. They are metal sculptures on display in our asphalt studios. The sounds they make, when called on, remind our subconscious of great beasts once feared. Finally, when guided properly, will impart forces on your middle ear and neck muscles that were not experienced by humans before its invention. As we grow up, so many things that were astonishing to us become everyday and normal. This would have happened with me and cars if not for racing.

Racing is simply the amplification of all those lost magical powers. Our old and dull senses are awakened. Many of us middle-aged, overweight car lovers daydream of walking up to a sleek, fat-tired beast of a machine, dressed in their custom tailored fire suit, strapping on their helmet and preparing for battle on the track. Ever since my dad took me to the Indianapolis 500 and I experienced the up-close visceral thrill of the purest race machinery ever engineered to that time, I secretly promised myself that someday I would participate directly in racing in some form.

This occurred at the age of 47 years. Yeah, there were a couple of drag races in a '66 Mustang fastback at the old Detroit Dragway but I never really considered that racing, at least not the kind where Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt made grown men shake there head in disbelief. After a somewhat successful career in the auto parts supply business, I decided that it was now or never to get involved as a driver of a high performance race car. Having been introduced a few years earlier to amateur road racing while helping crew a friend's racing effort, I thought I had an idea of what was in store.