I am a racer’s wife. When I say that, I don’t mean I’m a ‘Hop into our private jet, deliver me to our spacious motor home in the infield where I sip wine or whatever with a private video feed to my husband’s car wife, I mean I am just a plain Jane, we work full time too, racer’s wife. I met my future husband when I was in high school and here we are, almost 20 years later, married, two children, 40 hours a week each, working on cars in the evening, taking kids to dance class and birthday parties, homework…ugh the homework… and racing on the weekends.

One of the reasons I think I fell in love with my husband is that he has always been a dreamer. They say dream big, well he takes the cake. Every smirk when I get home, every Facebook tag, every text message from him is like a little time bomb, are we talking or wheeling and dealing… better just open/look and find out… ha-ha honestly I love him, he makes me crazy, every time I turn around there is some car or trailer, motor, gears, parts… sometimes everything, somewhere, that he wants. He is kind of like a big kid but sometimes he makes sense, new parts aren’t cheap, sometimes the package deal is better because you can sell off what you don’t need and make some cash, spares are a GOOD thing… the list goes on. Round and round we go. We do the best we can with what we have and considering we started with pretty much nothing, I think we’re doing ok. We aren’t rich, we don’t have flashy, big-name sponsors but we have loyal ones. The kind that will help when My Racer gets some crazy idea to run a race 10 hours away the upcoming weekend, or when we need tires for a big race, or something else happens/is needed… our sponsors are not rich, they do the best they can as well and we are thankful. So that’s what my blog will show, a real, regular, working-class, racer’s wife, from the trenches. I will complain A LOT. I will whine A LOT. I will worry A LOT. I will laugh A LOT, because you have to, because racing is a huge part of our life and I wouldn’t change it… but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t really suck sometimes just like anything else.

So, as a racer’s wife, I am mostly broke ha-ha. No, I can’t blame it all on that, we are regular people with everyday bills; we are broke because we are normal. Ok, so we aren’t crazy poor, can’t buy groceries broke, I am thankful when My Racer breaks his glasses we just have to go buy new glasses and no one suffers. It sucks, but we can. I can go to the grocery store and use my coupons and be happy I saved but not have to count every penny for fear of being completely destitute but the fact is that we have to watch what we spend. We can’t just up and take off for the weekend, bills need to be paid. If we want a vacation, we have to save. My Racer has to try and plan what races he will race so we can save for them. Sometimes we breathe but more commonly, we struggle.

What am I going to blog about??? I’m going to blog about how awesome, and not awesome, it is to be a racer’s wife and how awesome/not awesome it is to be just me. I have one of those brains that wanders a lot, one minute I’m working and then next I’m cranking out a fake budget for the next few months because I remembered some odd detail and have to make sure I fake plan for it even though I know when it actually comes around we’ll only be slightly prepared and act surprised. I will blog about my successful and unsuccessful saving attempts. I will blog about racing on a budget. I am going to blog about us, the worrier moms and wives, because maybe you aren’t a racer’s wife but I bet a lot of you are moms or with someone who has a hobby that isn’t free and you face the same stuff we do. A lot of you fail like we do and wonder if you’ll ever succeed. A lot of you just want a few minutes to breathe and a lot of you hope someone out there is on your wavelength. I am. Let’s rock and roll.