The Motorports Mindset Podcast – Get Motovated – focusing on why we choose to dedicate our money and time to our machines that give us joy.
Want to be on the podcast? Stand up jet skis changed my life for the better by giving me direction, fitness, and a rugged mindspace; what did motorsports do for you? Share your motorsports story to talk about on the podcast. Examples could include: how you got into your motorsport, how it changed your mindset or motivated you to change, sent you on a new career path, met new people, or however it altered your life for the better.
Check out David’s wonderful, personal motorsport story below to get your juices flowing!
“Go Do It” – David Wisby
Since freshman year in high school. I’ve loved cars.
Something about the heady mix of movies like The Fast and The Furious and video games like Need For Speed: Underground and Gran Turismo 3 did something to me. I wanted to go fast. I loved everything, import tuners, euro trash, American muscle, all of it. So long as it was fast, I was in.
But unfortunately, like most of us at that age, speed was out of reach. No money, no place to keep a car, no real way to get something fast without being kicked out of the house. I was sadly relegated to playing video games which were all together, unsatisfying. Forza helped, but none of it scratched my itch.
I wanted to turn wrenches, make it handle, make it stop, make it go. I started hanging around people who did it every day. People like our beloved editor, Ashley Haude, who ran psychotic fire breathing drift cars, rode motocross, and bounded around the countryside on liter bikes. But at the end of the day, living vicariously just couldn’t cut it either.
Time goes on, I set my desire to go fast aside and got a real job. I took up competitive shooting, I went fast with a pistol. Time went by and I still would catch myself thinking, “Man, maybe I should find a fun car. Maybe a Miata, maybe a Nissan 240sx. Wish I could afford it. Oh well better pay bills.” The itch was always there.
Then eventually opportunity came knocking in the form of a black 1992 Nissan 240sx rolling chassis. Nothing much to look at, rough body, and no drivetrain. But, it had a complete interior, and most importantly it was cheap. The car belonged to a friend of mine and if I bought I’d have a place to work on it. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and I sat down and talked about me taking on the car.
That’s when it finally happened, I decided to do it. To not sit and dream about it, not say “someday”, to be a doer.
It was hard, expensive, painful, and it took ages. But I will never forget starting that car for the first time. The second-hand SR20 burbling to life, sputtering and coughing before settling into it’s smooth rumbling idle. The hiss and whistle of the turbo as the car clawed through the rev range. Pure heaven.
As time went on the car got suspension, brakes, good tires. It got caned all over southeast Texas. I ran in drift events and mobbed country roads for ages. All the while with a crazy sh*t eating grin on my face.
Years later, that car is gone. It was traded to a friend of mine for a 1988 BMW 325. It’s a quick little thing that’s heavier on creature comforts. The desire to go fast is still there and likely always will be. The thing that I learned from all of it was the idea of being a doer. That applies to a lot of things in life.
I look around and I see a lot of people waiting, constantly putting their dreams on hold. I am in no way saying that you should shirk your responsibilities, but you should always pursue your dreams. Whatever it is, Motorsports or not. Find a way to dedicate some time every day to accomplish your dreams. Something small, if you want to be a writer, then write something every day. Same goes for photography.
If you want to go fast, which I assume you do. Then dedicate some time every day to fueling that passion. Even drives/rides, hunting parts on social media or Craigslist, even something small like browsing Google images for paint ideas can keep your momentum up and your passion alive.
But in the name of all that is holy – don’t wait. Don’t put it off, you deserve your dream. Go fast….
Go do it.