It's a strange thing to be suddenly thrust into the center of a social circle, as I was after my Sr. Honda success. I only started hanging out with that group at the beginning of 2002's racing season. These were the Pomona boys and the Tri Valley kids mixed with the Baylands girls and the random American person. It wasn't just the Baylands GT kids I hung out with anymore. I had to completely adjust how I interacted in a group in 2002. And being in the limelight in 2003...boy did I learn a lot!
See, I say kids to describe this group but most of these kids weren't exactly kids, they were all teenagers. I was the second youngest in the group, and yet I was the most important girl. Think of your cliques, your groups, in middle school. The boys and the girls were just starting to hang out together, right? Maybe a few boys would go eat lunch with the girls and eventually the two groups melded? Or a couple formed and the two groups were stuck together? I had already gone through that awkward new group formation stage at the race track when it happened to my group at school.
Being one of the core members of a group is also a quick way to learn about being a teenager. Most of what I learned about sex and drugs came from hanging out with that group, as members were very vocal about their experiences with both. I learned how to gossip, how to start rumors, how to save face, how to flirt, from being in this group. But I didn't use any of it. I just sat back and let people talk around me. I'd speak up when required, but I preferred to take it all in. I eventually became aware that it was worth my time and effort to maintain my alliances with these people. See, we were the group that everyone wanted to be a part of. We ran the race track. We were the popular kids. The kids you wanted to hang out with, the kids who everyone wanted to beat. It was fun being "that" group. You got to do basically whatever the heck you wanted off the track and on, you had so many friends you never worried they would do something to hurt your car. It made stiff competition a little more fun. In higher levels of racing you don't have those friendships off the track, only bitter competition, and that is often what creates wrecks (which creates more dislike, which creates more wrecks).
However, at the club, I wasn't part of that popular group and my choices ended up costing me some friendships. It is worth pointing out that I did try to balance my club friends with these cooler friends. I would hang out with one set of friends at my club, the cool group at all other tracks. I still said hi, waved and smiled as I passed by, wished them luck before races, went to their trailers after they qualified to make sure they were getting on okay, but it wasn't enough. I was once confronted by my club friends about this, my lack of hanging out. I just said that it only made sense that I would hang out with these people when I could since I got to see them less. I promised I would hang out with them more. The one I said that to didn't believe me. I didn't believe it myself. This is the first time I distinctly remember lying about something of significance.
It's fun to look back and notice things about your group that you didn't notice before. I realized there were 4 people the group centered around. Two girls, two guys. Each gender set were close friends. One boy had the same personality as one girl, and did the other pair. Also how those four all raced both Hvy. 160 and Hvy. B in 2003. And for the four of us, it was our last year. We all had something to prove and this was our year to do it.
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