Shelby Manning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shelbycobra) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
muserevival2015-07-15 11:17 pm
shelbycobra) wrote in muserevival2015-07-15 11:17 pm
Entry tags:
096.2.1 - quotes
"Family is not an important thing. It's everything."
Being raised by my father was the best thing that could've happened to me, but it also wasn't easy. Dad was still working on an IndyCar spotter's schedule, spending the summer traveling from racetrack to racetrack, now with a baby in one arm. When I was too young to fly, he'd have to leave me with his mother, but Grandma said he called every night, sometimes two or three times a day. As soon as I could travel with him, he took me to each track and kept me with him as much as he could. It wasn't uncommon to see me sleeping in my bassinet in the corner of the hauler or being pushed around the paddock in my stroller. And when Dad was on the rail, he had someone to look out for me. I was raised by the drivers and crews of IndyCar before I could talk.
I'm always aware of how difficult that must have been for my father, moreso now that I'm older and more mature. What he does, what we all do, isn't just a career but a way of life that never really stops. People don't know that it's not only the races but also the practices, the meetings, the garage time, the offseason testing. My father did his job and he did it well, but he also never missed a phone call, a family dinner, a school event, or a bill payment. I never wanted for anything nor did I ever hear him complain about being tired or stressed, though I'm sure he was. And when it came time for me to go to college, I had a savings account that would've paid my tuition if I hadn't earned my scholarship.
When I decided that I wanted to be an IndyCar driver, it wasn't because it was the world that I knew, it was because it was the world that I loved. My father never tried to talk me out of it. He always supported my career choice and gave me the tools I needed to make it a reality, while also making it clear to me that it was something I would have to earn. I didn't start karting until I was ten, which is late in my line of work, because he wanted me to have a little bit of a normal childhood before I started focusing on climbing my way up the ladder. He bought me my first set of tools and taught me how to use all of them. He came to see me every weekend he could when I was away at Georgia Tech, and didn't begrudge me when I told him I was going to Europe.
I think that's what makes me so damn driven to do well, no pun intended. I know I can't give my dad back all those hours he spent with me as a single father. All the things he might have missed out on because he had to take care of me. What I can do is make him proud of me. I know with every good result I post, and more importantly every week I conduct myself with integrity, I'm making all the time and effort and everything else he invested in me worth it. I'm doing well by my last name. And at the end of every Sunday, I always walk my way down pit road to see him, and I never skip a family dinner. I'm proud of a lot of things and hopefully will be proud of a lot more, but there's nothing I am or will ever be more proud of than being Richard Manning's daughter.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
601 words
Being raised by my father was the best thing that could've happened to me, but it also wasn't easy. Dad was still working on an IndyCar spotter's schedule, spending the summer traveling from racetrack to racetrack, now with a baby in one arm. When I was too young to fly, he'd have to leave me with his mother, but Grandma said he called every night, sometimes two or three times a day. As soon as I could travel with him, he took me to each track and kept me with him as much as he could. It wasn't uncommon to see me sleeping in my bassinet in the corner of the hauler or being pushed around the paddock in my stroller. And when Dad was on the rail, he had someone to look out for me. I was raised by the drivers and crews of IndyCar before I could talk.
I'm always aware of how difficult that must have been for my father, moreso now that I'm older and more mature. What he does, what we all do, isn't just a career but a way of life that never really stops. People don't know that it's not only the races but also the practices, the meetings, the garage time, the offseason testing. My father did his job and he did it well, but he also never missed a phone call, a family dinner, a school event, or a bill payment. I never wanted for anything nor did I ever hear him complain about being tired or stressed, though I'm sure he was. And when it came time for me to go to college, I had a savings account that would've paid my tuition if I hadn't earned my scholarship.
When I decided that I wanted to be an IndyCar driver, it wasn't because it was the world that I knew, it was because it was the world that I loved. My father never tried to talk me out of it. He always supported my career choice and gave me the tools I needed to make it a reality, while also making it clear to me that it was something I would have to earn. I didn't start karting until I was ten, which is late in my line of work, because he wanted me to have a little bit of a normal childhood before I started focusing on climbing my way up the ladder. He bought me my first set of tools and taught me how to use all of them. He came to see me every weekend he could when I was away at Georgia Tech, and didn't begrudge me when I told him I was going to Europe.
I think that's what makes me so damn driven to do well, no pun intended. I know I can't give my dad back all those hours he spent with me as a single father. All the things he might have missed out on because he had to take care of me. What I can do is make him proud of me. I know with every good result I post, and more importantly every week I conduct myself with integrity, I'm making all the time and effort and everything else he invested in me worth it. I'm doing well by my last name. And at the end of every Sunday, I always walk my way down pit road to see him, and I never skip a family dinner. I'm proud of a lot of things and hopefully will be proud of a lot more, but there's nothing I am or will ever be more proud of than being Richard Manning's daughter.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
601 words