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Retirement
Forced retirement. Still young and healthy. My Dad's ex partner had convinced our general manager, an employee of 21 years who came up through the ranks, that he had a better position with him, and went into competition with our company. He was still on our payroll when my Dad found out and fired him. That was in September 1981. I was scheduled to race in the OD World Championships in Berlin several weeks later. My Dad said time to quit racing and go to work. Unfortunately for our company, but fortunately for me, we had a bad need of parts to repair some German built trailer hitches. The sole importer was moving from his old location to a new one and no deliveries for six weeks. I convinced my Dad that I could go to Germany, race, and bring back the parts we needed. I did just that.
The other reason why it was not hard to give it up at that time was because of the Carter Presidency. The dollar had shrunk during his first year and continued to do so. My first race in Berlin it was 3.5 marks to the dollar. My last race in 1981 it was 1.6. What that resulted in was a lot of boat racers retireing because they could not afford the parts, even if they could afford to buy the motors in the first place. Then there was the total lack of confidence in our government and way of life which Jimmy Carter coined the word that evoked what his administration brought upon our country..."Malaise".
If all that weren't enough, we lost five of our friends in America and Europe in racing accidents during the final three years of my racing. My mechanic was pretty much done by 1978, we were down to only the UIM classes we could promote by 1979, and after so many competitors dropping out, it just wasn't the same anymore. My Dad didn't even go to the 1981 Pro Nationals with me. I went by myself with no pit crew and the 700 hydro on the roof of my Dad's suburban.
So you can see there are a variety of reasons to retire. I would suggest the main one would be if you no longer felt safe running with the crowd, but evidently that is not the case. If you have to ask the question of when to retire, I think you probably already know. Do whatever you want, and you can still hang with the boat racing crowd whenever you want. You can compose your own retirement story when you get around to it.
Forced retirement. Still young and healthy. My Dad's ex partner had convinced our general manager, an employee of 21 years who came up through the ranks, that he had a better position with him, and went into competition with our company. He was still on our payroll when my Dad found out and fired him. That was in September 1981. I was scheduled to race in the OD World Championships in Berlin several weeks later. My Dad said time to quit racing and go to work. Unfortunately for our company, but fortunately for me, we had a bad need of parts to repair some German built trailer hitches. The sole importer was moving from his old location to a new one and no deliveries for six weeks. I convinced my Dad that I could go to Germany, race, and bring back the parts we needed. I did just that.
The other reason why it was not hard to give it up at that time was because of the Carter Presidency. The dollar had shrunk during his first year and continued to do so. My first race in Berlin it was 3.5 marks to the dollar. My last race in 1981 it was 1.6. What that resulted in was a lot of boat racers retireing because they could not afford the parts, even if they could afford to buy the motors in the first place. Then there was the total lack of confidence in our government and way of life which Jimmy Carter coined the word that evoked what his administration brought upon our country..."Malaise".
If all that weren't enough, we lost five of our friends in America and Europe in racing accidents during the final three years of my racing. My mechanic was pretty much done by 1978, we were down to only the UIM classes we could promote by 1979, and after so many competitors dropping out, it just wasn't the same anymore. My Dad didn't even go to the 1981 Pro Nationals with me. I went by myself with no pit crew and the 700 hydro on the roof of my Dad's suburban.
So you can see there are a variety of reasons to retire. I would suggest the main one would be if you no longer felt safe running with the crowd, but evidently that is not the case. If you have to ask the question of when to retire, I think you probably already know. Do whatever you want, and you can still hang with the boat racing crowd whenever you want. You can compose your own retirement story when you get around to it.
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