carpediemracing 

I realized this is how I think of the guys at work, save one that is 1 year younger than me. I'm older than many of their dads, which is kind of weird (My current thing to say/think is that I have 15 years until retirement and 15 more years before I'm dead.). They're "my" guys, I'm protective of them. I want them to succeed. I want them to be good people.

It's the same way I thought about the racers that did my race series. They were "my" racers. I was protective of them. When one died after crashing at my race, it absolutely crushed me. Someone, I think on Facebook, said that I was upset because one of my racers died. When it became clear that the rider wasn't a teammate, someone asked why he was "my" racer. Another racer said that the way I basically adopted the racers that did my race - they became "my" racers.

If one misbehaved, if they broke some rule, I talked to them. One guy did some wacky stuff in the sprint and immediately after. I pulled aside and told him (like I've told others) that the racing ends after the cool down lap. He could vent or whatever but after that cool down lap the race was over. He was absolutely the most gracious racer after that. I don't think anyone ever said anything like that to him until I did. He raced for probably at least a decade more, and was the model racer. I was, and am, really proud of him, although all I did was talk to him that one day.

If an outsider did something bad...even the riders would tell them how it works. One inexperienced rider crashed while sitting at the back of the field, caught out by gusty conditions and brand new super aero wheels. He threatened to sue me, which I only learned about when another rider told me. That other rider told the aero-wheel-crasher that he cannot sue the promoter, it's just not done. The wheel company (who knew me) gave him a set of wheels. He didn't sue.