TwinTurbos
07-26-2007, 10:21 PM
This was taken from a post over at MotoDrive in a thread called Re: The Complete LL's Thread Combined. It's a great, very well written story and a great reminder. Thanks Winn!
I post this every year, so here it is again. It's an article I wrote for RacerX in 2001
MX DAD
VIEW FROM THE HEART
By Winn F. Peeples
It’s the Wednesday after Loretta’s and I’m sitting in the waiting room of the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic awaiting my son Jordan’s surgery. Just nine days prior to Loretta’s he tore the ligaments in his throttle thumb; we went anyway in hopes that he would be able to endure the pain. The pain, he handled; holding on without the use of a thumb proved to be the problem. He got a good start in the first moto of the 250A class, only to fall on the first lap. He got up in 32nd and soldered on to a 19th-place finish. He didn’t fair as well on the start of the first 250A Pro Sport class, but again managed to hang on and move up to 17th. At this point I was beginning to wonder if allowing him to ride was the right decision. And, after his horrific get-off in the second moto of the 250A class, he made the decision to throw in the towel. He crashed on the mechanics’ area sweeper (same place as Gene Stull) and knocked himself goofy. He had made it to the show, rode with pain, and proved his desire to compete, even though he was not physically able.
But this column has nothing to do with the lessons of riding in pain, or desire to compete. It’s about the whole Loretta Lynn’s experience and what it means in the long run. It’s the greatest achievement many young motocrossers will ever have. Some will win titles; some will finish in the top five. Others will go on to compete at the professional level. But for so many, just making it to Loretta’s will be their single greatest achievement. But aside from the achievement of making it to Loretta’s, I believe the most valuable accomplishment from the whole Loretta Lynn’s experience is the family bond created while working so hard to get there.
I’ve often said to friends who don’t understand the sport at all that I have spent more time with my son in the truck getting to and from the races than most dads spend with their kids in a life time! And what makes this “quality” time? We are both doing what we want to do, at the same time, with each other. Some can only imagine that. Personally, motocross has also provided an avenue for my son’s mother and me to stay focused on our God-given responsibility of raising a son, even though we are divorced. It has created an environment where it’s okay for us to communicate, worry together, work together, and be proud of him together. And I like that. Getting along with my ex-wife has been my single greatest achievement, and I owe it to the sport. A lot of folks spend a lot of time and money with a shrink trying to figure out how to do it, and we just go racing. What a sport!
We must also be mindful of what can go wrong with a family in this sport. I had a long discussion with Ronnie Tichenor one night up on stagecoach hill (which produced a lot of aluminum shrapnel) about what’s good and bad with amateur motocross. He agreed with me on the good parts, but expressed his genuine concern over where some folks go about it wrong. “If at any point a kid is not having fun its time to reevaluate,” he said. “Maybe it’s time to back off and just do local races; maybe it’s time to evaluate the pressures that may be unnecessary; maybe it’s time to find something else to do.” A lot of parents freak out when their racer starts to contemplate quitting, because of one of two things (or both). First, they are living their life through their kids and they don’t want to quit racing. Or secondly, they feel they have too much invested in bikes, gear, rigs, etc., to give it all up. I myself have been guilty of that one. Both are extremely selfish; and left unattended can be very detrimental to the youngster and the relationship.
One thing Ronnie said that stuck with me is that “pushing a kid a little is not always bad, so long as you know what you are pushing. If you are pushing their own desire to win, that’s one thing. If you are pushing them to win that’s another.” I agree. The most asinine thing I’ve ever seen in amateur motocross is when the parent yells at his or her son or daughter for not doing a double or a triple. If they’re not doing the double, so what? Work with them on braking before the double and carrying the momentum off the down side so they want lose as much time. But don’t fuss at them for not being ready for something so dangerous. They will do the jump when they get good and ready. Can you imagine the pressure of doing something that scary, that you don’t feel comfortable doing, just because Dad is going to yell at you when you come in? It’s unnecessary, and the sport can do without it.
Another common mistake is the parent saying, “did you see Bubba Stewart triple-triple-triple through the Ten Commandments? Why don’t you? Not every little Johnny and Susie is Bubba Stewart or Jessica Patterson. I guarantee that all forty-two riders on the gate in any class at Loretta’s want to win. But all must try to accomplish it within their own limits. Yelling never accomplishes anything. It only makes the yeller look like an *** and the “yellee” want to be somewhere else. And yes, I’ve been guilty of all of it. But like the shrink says, admitting it is the first step to recovery.
Now that the twentieth running of Loretta’s is in the history books, we must thank those brave soles who gave all of us the opportunity to participate in worlds greatest motocross vacation. Without them, we wouldn’t know what it’s like to be there. And I for one would miss it. For those young soldiers, including mine, who earned a purple heart this year - thanks for giving it your all. In the long run, we’ll all be better for it.
Well, the Doctor just came out and said the surgery was a success. He had to reattach the ligaments to Jordan’s thumb; but that all else looks good. He will be in a cast for four weeks, and rehab about another month. I’m headed in so that when he wakes up I can tell him I love him, and that when he’s healed he can still race… provided he wants to, of course.
(Winn F. Peeples raced motocross back in the day. His son Jordan currently competes in the 250A class. Together they own CycleNation, a Yamaha dealership in Tallahassee, Fl. That’s all we really know about the guy)
I post this every year, so here it is again. It's an article I wrote for RacerX in 2001
MX DAD
VIEW FROM THE HEART
By Winn F. Peeples
It’s the Wednesday after Loretta’s and I’m sitting in the waiting room of the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic awaiting my son Jordan’s surgery. Just nine days prior to Loretta’s he tore the ligaments in his throttle thumb; we went anyway in hopes that he would be able to endure the pain. The pain, he handled; holding on without the use of a thumb proved to be the problem. He got a good start in the first moto of the 250A class, only to fall on the first lap. He got up in 32nd and soldered on to a 19th-place finish. He didn’t fair as well on the start of the first 250A Pro Sport class, but again managed to hang on and move up to 17th. At this point I was beginning to wonder if allowing him to ride was the right decision. And, after his horrific get-off in the second moto of the 250A class, he made the decision to throw in the towel. He crashed on the mechanics’ area sweeper (same place as Gene Stull) and knocked himself goofy. He had made it to the show, rode with pain, and proved his desire to compete, even though he was not physically able.
But this column has nothing to do with the lessons of riding in pain, or desire to compete. It’s about the whole Loretta Lynn’s experience and what it means in the long run. It’s the greatest achievement many young motocrossers will ever have. Some will win titles; some will finish in the top five. Others will go on to compete at the professional level. But for so many, just making it to Loretta’s will be their single greatest achievement. But aside from the achievement of making it to Loretta’s, I believe the most valuable accomplishment from the whole Loretta Lynn’s experience is the family bond created while working so hard to get there.
I’ve often said to friends who don’t understand the sport at all that I have spent more time with my son in the truck getting to and from the races than most dads spend with their kids in a life time! And what makes this “quality” time? We are both doing what we want to do, at the same time, with each other. Some can only imagine that. Personally, motocross has also provided an avenue for my son’s mother and me to stay focused on our God-given responsibility of raising a son, even though we are divorced. It has created an environment where it’s okay for us to communicate, worry together, work together, and be proud of him together. And I like that. Getting along with my ex-wife has been my single greatest achievement, and I owe it to the sport. A lot of folks spend a lot of time and money with a shrink trying to figure out how to do it, and we just go racing. What a sport!
We must also be mindful of what can go wrong with a family in this sport. I had a long discussion with Ronnie Tichenor one night up on stagecoach hill (which produced a lot of aluminum shrapnel) about what’s good and bad with amateur motocross. He agreed with me on the good parts, but expressed his genuine concern over where some folks go about it wrong. “If at any point a kid is not having fun its time to reevaluate,” he said. “Maybe it’s time to back off and just do local races; maybe it’s time to evaluate the pressures that may be unnecessary; maybe it’s time to find something else to do.” A lot of parents freak out when their racer starts to contemplate quitting, because of one of two things (or both). First, they are living their life through their kids and they don’t want to quit racing. Or secondly, they feel they have too much invested in bikes, gear, rigs, etc., to give it all up. I myself have been guilty of that one. Both are extremely selfish; and left unattended can be very detrimental to the youngster and the relationship.
One thing Ronnie said that stuck with me is that “pushing a kid a little is not always bad, so long as you know what you are pushing. If you are pushing their own desire to win, that’s one thing. If you are pushing them to win that’s another.” I agree. The most asinine thing I’ve ever seen in amateur motocross is when the parent yells at his or her son or daughter for not doing a double or a triple. If they’re not doing the double, so what? Work with them on braking before the double and carrying the momentum off the down side so they want lose as much time. But don’t fuss at them for not being ready for something so dangerous. They will do the jump when they get good and ready. Can you imagine the pressure of doing something that scary, that you don’t feel comfortable doing, just because Dad is going to yell at you when you come in? It’s unnecessary, and the sport can do without it.
Another common mistake is the parent saying, “did you see Bubba Stewart triple-triple-triple through the Ten Commandments? Why don’t you? Not every little Johnny and Susie is Bubba Stewart or Jessica Patterson. I guarantee that all forty-two riders on the gate in any class at Loretta’s want to win. But all must try to accomplish it within their own limits. Yelling never accomplishes anything. It only makes the yeller look like an *** and the “yellee” want to be somewhere else. And yes, I’ve been guilty of all of it. But like the shrink says, admitting it is the first step to recovery.
Now that the twentieth running of Loretta’s is in the history books, we must thank those brave soles who gave all of us the opportunity to participate in worlds greatest motocross vacation. Without them, we wouldn’t know what it’s like to be there. And I for one would miss it. For those young soldiers, including mine, who earned a purple heart this year - thanks for giving it your all. In the long run, we’ll all be better for it.
Well, the Doctor just came out and said the surgery was a success. He had to reattach the ligaments to Jordan’s thumb; but that all else looks good. He will be in a cast for four weeks, and rehab about another month. I’m headed in so that when he wakes up I can tell him I love him, and that when he’s healed he can still race… provided he wants to, of course.
(Winn F. Peeples raced motocross back in the day. His son Jordan currently competes in the 250A class. Together they own CycleNation, a Yamaha dealership in Tallahassee, Fl. That’s all we really know about the guy)