Hello my name is Pete Mottaz and I have AIDS (Autocross Induced Divorce
Syndrome :-)
Dennis, trust me - you aren't the only one. Hopefully others will share
their coping strategies. The most simplistic answer I could suggest is you
and your wife need to sit down and honestly evaluate and discuss your
priorities - what activities are important to your family. If you are
serious about autocross and if your wife doesn't willfully support your
autocross activities - things will only get worse. I'm a voice of experience
here. BTDT. This doesn't mean she must come to the events or be involved at
all- but she must honestly support your involvement. And if you are the only
one involved in your family then you need to be willing to make some
comprimises to be involved in the other activities your family enjoys.
As far as kids go, face it autocross is boring as hell if you are a
spectator - especially for kids. I wanted to bring my kids but didn't feel
good about it - just wasn't fair to them. Fortuitously the kart program was
thrust upon the membership at the national level and I saw this as a great
opportunity to have cake and eat it too. Equally fortunate that the SFR
steering commitee is progressive and was open to instituting the class here
as well - this was not a popular idea in the Autocross community. I saw
karts as a great way to make autocross more family friendly. Long story
short - my daughter is running a kart, is sharing an activity that both of
us enjoy - and having a good time. This last Sunday's event we had 5 juniors
running. After they ran they had an equally good time playing with each
other and hopefully there are some lifelong friendships being formed amoung
them. I can only hope my son will want to do it as well. They of course play
basketball, baseball, and are involved in a wide variety of other activities
like Scouts and such that I make a priority to attend. Makes for a real
scheduling challenge.
Anyway, I don't want to bore the whole list. But you do ask a good question
and just wanted to let you know that there are quite a number of folks that
face this challenge. If you want to take this offline - feel free to email
me. It is an important and current issue with me.
Regards,
Pete Mottaz
Dennis wrote:
>Greetings
>I have a question for all of you. How do you balance you
>family life with autocrossing? Or are most of you single,
>divorced & without children?
>
>My wife has been getting angry at me for spending so
>much time autocrossing. This is especially bad because
>I work nights during the week. How do all of you handle
>this situation? Or am I the only guy who is Married with
>Children?
>Dennis Armstrong
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