"It happened very quickly. We were racing very hard and when I dropped
in beneath him, trying to out-brake him, it was at a high-speed area of the
racetrack. When we locked wheels, it happened so fast, I really didn't know
what happened till it was all over with.
"The car was lying upside down, and I was stuck inside the cockpit waiting
for the safety people. It probably only took a few seconds for them to get
to me, but it seemed like an eternity."
When Mike Adams has a bad day at work, it's a bad day. Luckily, he walked
away from that one with only a few bruises.
Adams has been racing for more than 15 years, ever since he took a performance
course and found out it was his kind of fun. From there, he got involved in
several regional and national amateur events, and later went on to drive professionally.
Speed and danger seem to be key ingredients in Adams's life. Before getting
into racing he worked as a rodeo cowboy. Drawing on his experience with horses
and race cars, Adams has also been working for years as a stunt performer
in film and television. At least in that job, you're supposed to wipe out.
Adams doesn't have a problem with the dangers of racing, though. In fact,
the sweat and bumps of a long race aren't even on his mind half the time.
"I feel very secure in the driver's seat, very safe. You really don't think
much about the rough ride, either, because your attention is on the car and
what's way down the racetrack. You are focusing very heavily on what's ahead
of you, as well as what's behind you. If you're in a battle for a position,
you'll have guys trying to pass you.
"You'll notice the fatigue after the race. If you've had a good day, you'll
feel pretty good," laughs Adams. "But it all catches up to you. The night
after a race, I've gotten into a shower and felt like a sponge. It was like
I just wanted to absorb all the water, I was so dehydrated."
The danger of racing attracts all types of people to the sport, and in
recent years the ranks of champion female drivers have grown rapidly.
Amy Selig, a stock car racer, says young women often attend her races to
cheer her on. Many have been drawn to the sport by other drivers, such as
Stephanie Welch, whose father was a motorcycle racer.
"When I started racing, I would be the only woman at the track," says Selig.
"Now there are tons of young girls cheering in the stands, women driving,
women on pit crews. The barriers are almost all gone."
And many of the women were drawn to the sport for the same reasons cited
by male drivers.
"The rush of adrenaline is amazing," she says. "And there is the teamwork
and friends you make by working closely with other people. But most of all
there is the chance at each race that you can win. Winning is the best feeling
in the world."
Adams points out that it's a team effort that places a car first. "When
you win, of course you're very, very satisfied, but you're satisfied with
the crew's performance and the team as a whole. It takes everybody to make
that car work right. If you don't have a good crew, you can be the best driver
in the world but you're not going to win anything."
It's chaos on the track, though, and sometimes even the best team and driver
can't win. Adams describes what goes on during those lovely seconds when his
car does a high-speed ballet of destruction.
"Usually, when the car starts to go out of control, everything's in slow
motion. I can see a lot going on. Then everything seems to speed up two or
three feet before you hit the wall."
Yikes!
"Something happens when it speeds up like that, and I think it has something
to do with your mind. It's a protective device."
While many kids dream of this career, the truth is that relatively few
will make it. That's because you need a unique combination of skills -- you
not only have to be an excellent driver, but you need to be a success at the
money game too, to get the right marketing and advertising to support your
career.
There are only a handful of drivers at the elite international level, and
thousands of people racing at the regional level, looking for their big breaks.
It's hard to become a paid driver, to make that jump from paying thousands
to race to earning thousands per race, says Orval Murchie. He works with a
racing school.
"The return can be very high. But the risk level until you get there is
very high," says Murchie. One star racer he knows probably spent a couple
million dollars developing his career until he became a paid driver.
If you're serious about being a race car driver, this is Murchie's advice:
"Develop your talent through a pro racing school. It will be cheaper than
doing it yourself," says Murchie.
That's because a school can outfit you with a car and a crew,
which would cost far less than if you went out and purchased a car yourself,
since you'd also be responsible for the mechanics, the financing and other
ownership issues.
"You should concentrate on your driving, especially early on," he says.