[thstone]

*** MILESTONE: 100 Track Days! ***

Racing last Sunday at Laguna Seca was officially my 100th track day since I bought a Boxster 4 1/2 years ago. Please allow me a few moments of reflection...

What have I achieved?

Track day competency. Time trial license. 12 time trial wins. DE and Time Trial instructor. POC and PCA race licenses. Two POC track records. One PCA race win. One POC second place. Paid racing sponsorship.

What have I learned?

One doesn't just wake up one morning and say, "I think that I'll commit a majority of my free time for the next 4.5 years to a single endeavor". It all started with one track day - it really is a slippery slope.

Along the way, I became a student of the sport of high performance driving and racing; wanting to learn and experience as many aspects of the sport as I possibly could.

But I have learned more about myself than about performance driving or racing. For me, the experience has been much more mentally and emotionally challenging than physical or financial.

The reality is that learning to race mimics your entire life. Its every emotion, every challenge, every battle, every joy, every burden, every fear, and every blessing. Its raw, its passionate, its painful, its humbling, its freeing, its dizzying, and its ecstasy.

Its all of your years of living wrapped into a 1 minute and 34 second lap. Its like taking a cup of life, pouring it over your head, and letting it wash through your mind and body.

I have never felt more alive than when I get out of the car after driving on a race track.

Maybe Steve McQueen said it best;