The research paper was our only major english assignment for this unit. We started our brainstorming process in english class by making lists of the different people and places we had access to. After picking a topic, we wrote a Freakonomics-style question to grab our reader's attention and exchanged feedback with our classmates on our individual topics. We then created essay outlines and wrote our rough drafts in sections to make organization easier. Our final drafts of our essays were then edited and put into our books or articles. For my english paper, I chose to write about race car drivers and sibling rivalry. Since race car driving is a very individual sport, I wanted to research the effect that rivalry among family members would have on the competitors' success. Since I have a lot of friends involved in the sport, I had great access to their workshops and homes to gather information.

 

 

Fast Like a Nascar

 

 

When one considers the effects that competition has on the family dynamic it is especially interesting to consider the realm of competitive sports. Does it pit sibling against sibling or serve to bind a family together? How do the countless hours parents spend taking their kids to practice, traveling and taking them to competitions affect home life? In interviewing several families who race cars competitively, it was especially relevant to consider how the element of danger effects both the driver and the family. I went and spoke with Al and Molly Galedridge whose sons, Bradley and Alfred, participated in Sprint Car racing for over ten years. When I sat down to speak with them, Al started out by telling me that he had spent close to a million dollars on the sport over the years. The boys went and watched a cousin race and decided they wanted to get involved. Al bought a used car and the boys had to share it. His initial intention was to give the he and his sons a hobby, but it soon turned into much more. They soon began competing at Altamont Speedway and within the first year, he purchased a new car for his oldest son and they were traveling around the state competing. As the years went on, he rented a shop near his office so that the boys could come and work on their cars after school. It was apparent that Molly wanted to interject, but Al was telling his story. As he paused between sentences, Molly’s mouth opened and then closed as Al sprang confidently into his next thought. As he reflected on the many Christmas,’ Thanksgivings and Fourth of July’s they had spent on the road, a broad grin came to his face. He looked over at Molly and began recounting stories like the time they invited the extended family to meet them in Denver to spend Christmas with them after the boys were done racing and someone in the stands threw a beer at one of the cousins. Before they knew it, Al’s brother was in a food and drink throwing pushing match that ended with a conversation with the police and an escort off the racetrack premises. Al’s brother is an attorney. We all laughed as they told us about getting back to the hotel as the buffet was soon closing and sat down for Christmas dinner with the stench of nachos and beer permeating the room. I asked if they ever felt like all of the distractions from traveling, competing and putting so much time into one activity was ever so all encompassing it got in the way of normal life. Molly jumped in and explained how she believes that the distraction not only kept the boys out of trouble, but bonded them more closely to each other and the family. They learned to support and depend on each other. This was the perfect opportunity to ask the toughest question. I asked how they felt knowing that each time their sons got into their race cars, they could be injured or killed. The topic was sobering. They looked at each other and it was obvious I had hit a nerve. Molly explained that Alfred Jr. had sustained several broken collar bones and Alfred's car had once caught fire. The smoke was thick which made getting out of the car difficult, but he was unharmed. He also sustained a broken ankle that never healed properly which has left him with chronic arthritic pain. Both injuries landed Alfred Jr. in the hospital. After doing some research I found that there had been six fatalities on the Sprint car circuit over a two year period. Al shared that they knew several of those drivers. One of those drivers was from Southern California and had raced against their boys. He lost control of his car and crashed into several other cars before his car came to a stop. He had a collapsed lung and a severe head injury. He passed away a few days later. I wondered whether those close calls had ever dissuaded them from wanting or encouraging the boys to continue racing. Al commented that they had spoken candidly with both boys about the dangers and the boys were committed to continue racing and did not want to let fear sway them away from doing something that they love. All in all as a family, they laughed, cried, screamed, loved, won and lost together. They both couldn’t have imagined life any other way. Yes, they rarely spent a holiday at home, the boys did most of their homework on the road, they didn’t play sports with the other kids, but they both were accepted to Purdue University a year apart from each other and are still on the racing circuit. I ended our conversation asking if they had any regrets. They did have a few. Al’s mom passed away while they were traveling and Alfred Jr.'s hospitalizations weighed heavily on their minds.
Although competition brought the Galedridge family closer together, their bond was far different from that of the Bell family. After speaking with Tim Bell, I was able to get a better understanding for how racing affected his relationship with his parents and older brother Matthew. Tim has raced BMW’s for the last five years and unlike the Galedridge’s his mother is his main support. His father is still an important participant, but his mom is his biggest fan. Tim had taken an interest in racing shortly after his brother, and they soon started competing side by side. As I spoke with Tim about his relationship with his brother and how racing has affected their family, his body posture changed. He crossed his legs and arms and began to tell me about the strain racing had put on their relationship. “We’re both fighting for the same thing, so obviously there’s a competitive factor, but we try to leave the drama on the race track and avoid bringing it back home.” He explained that it was hard for them to be in the same competition. “We’re there to support each other, but we’re also there to win.” Shortly after our conversation, Tim took me to his workshop where the family spends most of their spare time. After looking around at his cool gadgets, he showed me his baby blue Datsun that was still old and dusty despite the thick cover he had used to cover it. He climbed inside, insisting that his brother would race him around the block. It was on.
Tim stared up at me from the inside of his baby blue Datsun. “Watch this,” he gestured towards his brother. “I’m gonna’ leave him so far behind, he won’t even know what happened.” He revved his engine twice, which was my queue to step back. Even though it wasn’t a real race, I could tell how badly he wanted to beat his brother. His bright blue eyes were suddenly sharp and focused. Without a word, he took off, his brother following close behind. Seconds later, they both disappeared behind a corner. For a few moments I just sat there, waiting. Suddenly they both zipped around the same corner they had disappeared behind. “Told you I’d beat him,” Tim shouted. I rolled my eyes. “ A little competition never hurt anyone,” he retorted. His brother gave us both a half hearted smile and carried on with his business. I couldn’t help but laugh. Tim explained that although they were very competitive with each other, he has always been there for his brother. The family always traveled together to races, but that he drove with his mom while pulling the trailer and his brother drove with his dad. This gave the kids the opportunity to have a uniquely close relationship with their parents as individuals. He believes that although he tends to go to his mom first when problems arise, he feels deeply connected to his family as a whole having spent so much time away from home and his peers. His parents never put any pressure on them to win and were always willing to financially and emotionally support their sons racing. It was tough at times because although they were in the same competition, his brother would verbally announce himself to be a “professional driver,” but it never bothered Tim too much. I really wanted to talk to them about the dangers of racing but realized I wasn't as comfortable with Tim and his mother as I was with the Galedridges. I had to ask, so I started with Tim. I wondered if he had ever been injured while racing or had he known anyone who had. He laughed, "Oh yeah, it comes with the territory. I broke my leg, my arm and have had so many sets of stitches I stopped counting. My brother was hit from the side once and had a minor head injury. We always say when he does something stupid that maybe it's from his head injury. He milks it sometimes." His response was not what I was expecting and absolutely opposite from the Galedridges. I looked at his mother as she shared his good humor. I asked if she and her husband worried about the obvious dangers of racing and did she ever worry the boys could be injured or lose their lives while racing. She explained that there were risks involved in any sport and she tried to focus on the positive aspects of racing. I asked how she felt with the many injuries her sons had sustained while racing, especially her son's head injury. She said, “I’ve seen a lot of people get injured and collisions are quite common, I was really worried when my sons got injured but we were lucky." It was difficult to find fatality statistics for mid-level car racing, but I asked her how she felt about the high rate of injuries and the certain fatalities that occurred. While still smiling, she commented that she believed they hedged their bets by sparing no expense by investing in the best safety equipment for the boy's cars. She said, “You do all you can to keep them safe, just like any sport, and you let them go." She was more concerned with the "healthy" competitiveness that existed between the boys than them being paralyzed or dying in an accident. She loved spending time with her boys, especially Tim. And for his part, Tim enjoyed the sport so much that his brother’s occasional taunting was considered all in good fun. Although they traveled a lot, he fondly remembers holidays as being times when they could always talk about the sport that they all played a part in.
Competition for anything in life can break apart relationships, but asking whether serious competition in families that race car drive has a positive or negative effect on family dynamics was an interesting and relevant exploration. It was also relevant to explore the dangers of racing as a sport and also to consider its effect on the racers and their families. After deeply delving into the personal lives of two very different families, the conclusion was unanimous. Although competition among siblings can strain relationships and constant travel challenges both parents and kids, both of these families would say without reservation that the time spent together and the memories woven into the very fabric of their lives overshadowed the potential that the competitive aspect had to negatively effect their families.