Well Meag it's a tuff deal,but not impossible, First ya gotta have seat time and lots of it,most of the young guns have been racing 5 nights a week since they where 5 years old starting in 1/4 midgets & go-carts, then advancing to mini sprints or IMCA or UMP modifieds by the time they're 12-14, then to late models or midgets & sprint cars by the time they are 16-18, O.K. now ya got some seat time but ya gotta be able to talk to the media & sponsers so ya gotta spend lots of time at the Dale Carnegie school, ( I help out an 19 year old driver thats as good as any body, but I don't think he'll ever make the big time cuzz he can't do an interveiw) Now ya can drive and talk but who do ya know ?,Gotta make contacts,ya gotta go meet and talk to car owners gotta let em know who you
are, plus ya gotta run up front all the time,make em start talkin bout ya, Gotta totally devote yourself to racin every minute of every day, Gotta miss holidays and birthdays and family functions, gotta eat bologna & beans so ya got gas money to get to the next show, ( I've seen Tony Stewart sleep in his car and hafta borrow gas money to get to the next midget race in his pre USAC & Nascar days) I started out in 1972 at Lakehill Speedway here in St.louis as did Kenny Schrader & Rusty Wallace, Both those guys Dads where racing legends and they had lots of help,knowledge,and contacts,Both of em TOP notch drivers but they had the other resources to go with it, (specially Schrader, That guy could talk anybody into anything) I spent 30 years as a short driver,made lots of sacrifices, could I have done it in the big time ? maybe at one point, but I'm not sure I coulda made the commitment it takes and then theres the age deal,if your past 30 chances are ya ain't gonna cuzz they want them youngsters, I know for a fact that theres hundreds of Saturday night drivers that are good as anybody in Nascar that'll never get a shot, But so what I wouldn't trade a single second of the memories or fun I had trying and neither would they. One of my last midget races last year it was cold and there was a poor turn out in the stands, the promoter called a drivers meeting and said guys only way we can put on a show is to cut the purse, wasn't a problem, everybody went out there and raced like it was a million to win.Hell we'd a raced for a bag of peanuts. So if thats what ya wanta do go for,but put everything ya got into it cuzz it will be a tough road.