In motorsport, or any endeavor, for that matter, where pursuing the limit is your absolute goal, the human heart inevitably faces times of doubt, darkness, and difficulty. You think you’re not good enough, or that you won’t be able to make it, or you just feel like quitting. My motorsport career has felt this way as of late. I finally and very happily made it up to Miatas at Laguna Seca for the 30th anniversary, but before that recent event, it’s been years since I’ve been able to put my cars on track. Lastly, and quite simply, my day job is to support from the sidelines, not from the seat. It’s hard to watch life pass you by. Sometimes though, the light shines through.
Takaharu “Koby-san” Kobayakawa is a certain someone who had a lot to do with making sure a certain 4-rotor car took the checkered first in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. My exacting knowledge of his accolades and history with Mazda is not the best, I admit, but this one simple fact is a very deep and meaningful one to more people than just rotary and Mazda enthusiasts. But let’s go to Sevenstock 22 which took place yesterday on the storied grounds of the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA, a rotary mecca of an event that I personally have not missed since I became an RX7 owner. Koby-san was in attendance as a special guest. The sun was beginning to set and the venerated man was supposedly retiring for the day– he instead chose to continue taking the time to shake hands, take photos, and sign autographs with all the rest of us unworthy folks and fans. I made my approach with the full intention of simply saying hello and thank you.
Instead, as I shook his hand and bowed my head, the words avalanched from my mouth, “Thank you… if it wasn’t for this car, I would not be racing today.” As I attempted to enunciate, the sheer weight of the words and the meaning behind them gave me an unexpected bursting sensation from my chest. The words were more true than I was even aware of. My life would have taken a completely different path if it wasn’t for my RX7. My eyes began to mist and I managed to mumble about my 10th consecutive attendance of Sevenstock and how I was very honored about the whole thing– he shouted with surprise at the 10-year comment and beamed with pride.
He stood next to my white FC3S with a gleam in his eye and approached the door, shiny golden Sharpie in hand (this is important). He turned around and told me, “I will sign this with ‘Never Stop Challenging!” I just nodded sloppily and ecstatically in my attempt to not shed any more embarrassing tears, absolutely pleased to hear the mantra behind what it means to drive rotary. He was so happy to just listen to my short story, so happy to just shake hands and greet people. We then took a brief photo and he was off to greet yet another elated appreciator. I stood there quietly, along with my close friend and respected RX7 owner, Glen Powell and my cousin Vince, a new Miata owner as of only a few months, standing nearby grinning ear to ear at my obvious loss of words for what just happened. I felt so humbled.
Back to that golden Sharpie that was used. I borrowed it from long-time supporter of the rotary community Jorge Leal. He too had been graced with the presence of Koby-san with a signature in his RX-8. Still brimming with this sense of utter fullness in my heart, as I approached him, the two of us both recounted that same overwhelming feeling, that the chance purchase of our cars led to a life that we never thought we’d have. His friends standing nearby us just added more to the energy we were feeling that moment. If it wasn’t for the community and the connections we’ve come to share, this would all be for naught. All of the heartache would have been for naught.
I’m no writer and I doubt my words are even half-able to express the meaning of what I’m really wanting to say. Only recently, I had felt the darkness and the doubt, even forgetting about all of these really important things, these moments that define our lives. Things like the first moment I drove down the Corkscrew. Things like sitting at Mazda’s R&D office to test behind the wheel. Things like going wheel-to-wheel in a go-kart against a Grand-Am driver. Things like choking back tears during a parade lap for a beloved driver who passed on. Things like the moment I put on my big girl pants to pass tech when I failed it at the very first event I ever ran.
Every year at Sevenstock has always been a wonderful reunion with my rotary family. I bought this FC3S on June 18, 2010 (nearly a decade ago!) and since then, I went on, and still continue on, a journey I never thought I’d have. I’ve driven cars I’d never dreamed of even touching, driven at speeds and on courses I never thought accessible to me, and met lifelong friends who have become my family.
This is why I do this. This is why I fell in love with cars and racing in the first place.
Never stop challenging.
