STAY HOME OR FOLLOW A SERIES
I'm sure you've all heard of the big fish in the little pond.
In the case of auto racers those are people who enjoy staying home and being important in their own community.
It's a very heady feeling to be the "town", "neighborhood", "subdivision" racer. Everyone knows you, likes you, admires you, respects you.
Venturing outside your home territory can be a big challenge, a big triumph, or more often, a big failure because what strangers to a track forget is that the locals know it better. Because you are super good at one track doesn't necessarily mean you are going to cherry pick your way through the field at a strange track.
It happens quite often where we live.
To say Texas is a prejudiced place is a slight understatement. The people who live near the big cities--Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston tend to look at and dismiss folks who live in the wide open and often empty places in West Texas.
Big time racers like to come to west Texas with their entourage, expecting to clean up.
Sometimes they go home with their tails between their legs because the westerners, having no one else much to compete with have unknowingly given more than most and become better than most.
It can happen anywhere. Just showing up to smoke the locals doesn't always work. Ask Tony Stewart.
But there comes a time when a local racer is very very good when he needs to ask himself, do I plan to step out, move up a class, go to other tracks, or just stay around here and race weekly? And then one day just sell off my stuff and retire?
It depends on the racer. Some have the endless need to test themselves at different tracks while some enjoy being at a familiar place.
What kind of family you have can also play into this. If you have little kids and you want to stay close to them on a daily basis, you might skip all that traveling.
Making that decision is very personal.
The worst part about staying at a home track is that is your limit. That's as far as you'll go. You won't be champion of the midwest division or national champion...you'll be the best darn racer in your home town.
When your home is full of trophies you won at the same track, you just might want to ask yourself, "Was that enough?"