I'm posting this for my brother Jon. I called and gave Jon the news after I recieved a call from another racer and good friend. Hope ya'll enjoy and benefit from this as much as I did.
~Jamie
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I realize the length of this, but if one person finds it helpful…I feel it was worth the post.
In Times of Qusestion…
After reading all of the posts concerning the loss of fellow racer Drew Lippolt, many thoughts were running through my mind. But there was one word in particular that lingered in my mind hours after logging off the mboard and continued to remain so loud that I couldn’t even sleep. The word was passion. Previously overlooked and under minded, upon further thought, this word was the answer to many questions I had about my own life. Here’s just some food for thought.
Passion…Passion is what drives you. Just to be able to partake in whatever you passion may be is your motivation to get out of bed and face the routine of everyday life. Your true passion is always on your mind, if not in full focus, then lingering in the back and providing you the willpower to get through the day. Passion will involve sacrifices in your everyday life, sacrifices that you wont even bat an eye at making because your passion (whatever it may be) means that much to you. I once heard someone ask John Haner how he could possibly crash in the infamous turn 8 during a sprint race at Texas World Speedway and then get back up and take a third place. His response, “ it’s the end of the month…I got rent.” That is passion. I’ve seen on countless occasions riders show up to the track without even enough money to make it back home. So much passion for the sport of road racing, it didn’t matter. Of course these riders won just enough money to make it home and back to the next race where they would show up in the same situation. That is passion.
All to often to an outsider looking in on someone who has discovered their passion, words like insane, crazy, and even stupid are brought up. I feel sorry for that person because they obviously haven’t felt what true passion for something is.
It is a known fact that the human body requires the will to succeed, the will to improve and excel. Your true passion should allow you to do this, whatever the cost. The human race requires a passion to drive them, and it amazes me that there are people who live life every day lacking it. As sad as it is, there are those who leave this world without ever knowing what having a passion even feels like.
Your passion should fire you up. It should make day-to-day life into stepping-stones to get you from where you have to be to where you want to be. In this case the stepping stones may be that 8-5 Mon.-Fri. job that allows you to get in your truck at 5:15 on Friday afternoon, hook up to your trailer, crank up Call Me the Breeze by Lynard Skynard, and head off only to spend you weekend fulfilling your passion and hanging out with, by far, the coolest, most caring, but yet diverse group of people in the world.
All motorcycle riders have been called insane, at one time or another, for competing in such a dangerous sport and we all know that were risking our lives every time we flip down our visors and barrel toward turn one. In your true passion, you overcome these fears in order to succeed and improve. Your true passion will allow you to come out of a corner completely slidewayz, spinning the rear, sliding the front, knee on the ground, when everything you have ever known is telling you to back out of it, but you don’t. As puckered as you are…there is still that unexplainable smile on you face. That is passion. Willing to sacrifice all you know, including you life, for the simple fact that what your doing makes you smile. That is passion.
Passions may change or evolve over the course of your life, and that is ok. Friendly faces around the club will come and go, some more long term that others, and that is ok too. What I challenge you to do is chase your passions, whatever they may be, no matter how extreme. Listen to the advice provided by others, but most importantly listen to your heart. The mind has been known to mislead, but I assure you that your heart will never fail you. Follow and listen to it, and it will lead you to your passion, whatever it may be, and I assure you it will make life worth living. And when the end does come, and your looking back over you life, that unexplainable smile will still be on your face. And that is passion.
In times of question, perhaps brought on by the death of a fellow racer, your mind does crazy things. As stated earlier follow your heart. Sure, the consequences are always in the back of you mind, but in my years with the CMRA the good times have considerably outnumbered the bad. Don’t take for granted the abilities you have been blessed with. And as Yogi Berra once said, “it ain’t over till it’s over,” so discover your true passion and make the most out of life.
~Jon
