I held a grudge against another racer for so long that I had to call the cops to resolve the dispute. It taught me that grudges are good but it’s better to use the long arm of the law than confrontation.
This summer, our racing calendar had a big gap in it, so I inquired at the local short-track about renting a race car. Might seem strange, but rentals are commonly offered by race tracks / race teams. If you only do a couple races a year, renting is much cheaper than buying a race car. Plus, it’s a pathway to get new competitors in for a ‘test drive’.
A rep from the track wrote back with the contact information of a race team with a rental program. I spoke with team representative Chris A. who explained they were a top team running at the front of the pack. We agreed on 1 practice day plus 5 weekly races. Chris then demanded over $1,000 up front to show that I was serious. Very unusual, since we had never even met before.
I explained that I’d be OK paying for practice in advance, to show good faith, but not to pay for everything up front. They bring the car, I bring the driver, money changes hands. Chris accepted my offer, but never kept up his end of the deal.
Hours before our scheduled practice day, Chris cancelled on me due to a ‘family issue’. A week later, he cancelled due to a ‘wiring issue’ with the car. Two weeks later it was a ‘medical issue’. There was always another reason for Chris not keeping up his end of the deal. What really made me hold a grudge was that he continued racing while telling these stories.
Realizing this guy was just scamming me, I asked for a refund, but Chris said his bank account was frozen. We agreed to meet at the track for a cash refund, but when I got to the track he had another story about waiting for a cheque to clear. I wanted to confront him about this run-around, his but as I approached, Chris and his team were busy having a fist fight with other racers over some on-track incident. I’m a civilized man, not about to get involved in this type of hooligan behaviour. That’s not my scene.
But I couldn’t let the grudge go, so I called the cops instead.
In the report to the South Simcoe Police department I alleged that I’d been defrauded, and since the track was recommending this guy, it was possible that others had been scammed too. I accused this unscrupulous racer of taking money for rentals he never provided to fund his racing season. The police felt the accusation had enough merit to investigate, and it didn’t take more than a phone call from a Police Constable to resolve the issue. Chris’ account suddenly became un-frozen and he e-transferred my money back. After this experience, I don’t ever see us returning to short-track racing again.
Is there a moral to this story? I don’t know. Never trust anyone at the local short-track, that’s for sure. Choose wisely the people you involve yourself with, because there’s a lot of scammers out there. You just can’t let people get away with stuff like this, and sometimes holding a grudge is the only way to get a problem solved.
What a very civilized way to deal with the situation. Is this just because you are Canadian? 😉 Seriously, this is a textbook good use of a grudge to resolve an issue that was ongoing.
Susan, I’m a 40-something year old father, husband, and employer. I’m on the gosh-darned PTA, for cripes sake. I watched this guy and his friends punching other drivers (after a race) because of an on-track crash.
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Heck, I watched one of them walk on a live track in the middle of a race to confront another racer by pounding on their hood.
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And these guys ARE Canucks too. Being civilized is not a national characteristic.
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I am glad the situation got resolved, but I was way too mad for way too long about it.
Unfortunately there are people like Chris everywhere. I’m glad you didn’t let him get away with it.
Phoebe, I had to REALLY shorten today’s article because my bitch-fest could have gone on and on. But there was just no way I was letting this guy get away with ripping me off. I bet he’s done this to other racers and now that there’s a police report, the local cops are more likely to help the next person…rather than doubting them.
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Even if the police wouldn’t help, I had all kinds of plans about how to pressure the track into helping. They may not have had a legal obligation to assist, but they had a MORAL obligation to help since they told me to call Chris.
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P.S. When I was searching for an image for this post, I wanted to use AI to make one. Like the way you do. But I don’t know which websites are good for this. Can you recommend one?
I would have gone all “vengeance is mine!” on his ass. 🤣
I paid to upgrade my AI image generator, but here’s several of the ones I use.
1) https://ideogram.ai
2) DALL·E 3
3) Mid journey
4) Wonder
Vengeance is Mine…you’re hilarious. And kinda scary. Someone would hafta be cuckoo to cross you.
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Thank you for the AI advice. I’ll check them out and do some experimentation.
Let me know how it goes, or if you need anymore help. 🤗
Sad story, Chris, but I am happy you got your money back. This automotive business, either in motorsport or else is full of opportunists.
In my hometown there was a body shop specialized in hot rods and the owner used to get the down payments but never finished the jobs. One day the police found his body, inside an old Ford pick up truck that was burned to the ground. Yep, everybody is a tough guy until you find one.
Oh SHIT! I did not expect your hometown story to go THAT way.
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Yeah, I was trying so hard to get Daniel a seat in a stock car for August, I should have used better judgment. But at leat that’s finished now, got the money back, and we can focus on road racing and forget those small minded small town people up north on the short oval. Who would burn a brand new customer for a couple hundred bucks when there was potentially thousands to be made in the long run.
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Anyhow…all behind me now.