On Saturday afternoon I went to a friend’s birthday party. He assembled a nine person crew to race a mini grand prix at K1 Kart Racing in Gardena. This friend I met in class at Pepperdine. This was his third birthday race so of course most of the other attendees had racing experience. One of which is an actor currently featured in Night at the Museum and HBO’s True Blood (I haven’t seen either of these, so I wouldn’t have known if my friend didn’t tell me). He did look vaguely familiar though – and when I checked IMDB I found that he’d had many small parts in other things I’d seen.
I’m always blown away by how actors and actresses look…well… normal in person. Growing up in a place where no one was involved in the entertainment industry you develop this fantastical idea of those up on screen. But in real life, they’re just real people. Often I don’t even recognize them until someone else points them out. I can’t count how many times I used to go to coffee shops and concerts with Aaron and he’d later say “did you see the girl/guy over by the door/stage/etc.?” He’d always ID some B grade celebrity/actor/musician that of course I’d heard of, but didn’t recognize in person. This fellow at the racetrack was no different. Although his jovial demeanor was fitting for someone who is used to being on stage or on camera.
Later in the same day after thinking about all this I walked past Henry Winkler at the mall.
Anyway… Back to the racing. We signed up to do the mini grand prix; which consists of a warm-up of 14 laps that determines starting positions for the main race of 16 laps. In the warm up I placed second to last, just ahead of the only other guy that had never raced before. As it turns out, my friend’s father informed us that he (the father) was a racecar driver when he was younger, and so racing is in the blood. In the warm up and final races my friend and his younger brother were battling for first place leaving the rest of us behind.
In the second race I finally figured out how to move in and out of turns and even take up and maneuver around other drivers. The karts have a top speed of 50 mph, which takes some getting used to until you slam into someone (or something) and realize it’s okay to slam on the “gas” without worrying so much about the consequences. It isn’t gas though, it’s charge as these karts are running on battery power. The other kart racing business in SoCal, Formula 1, uses gasoline karts and requires you to wear a full fire suit while racing. With the sweat I built up in 16 laps in the open air and a t-shirt I can’t imagine how soaked we’d have been if we had to wear those thick suits.
I finished fifth overall, exactly middle of the pack. Not bad considering I had to start 2nd to last and almost lapped the driver in 8th place.
The racing is thrilling while you’re doing it, but by Sunday morning I was starting to feel the effects in my neck, back, wrists, ribs… well.. everywhere. I even had a big red bruise/scrape/something on my left side.
