JG: Something to add, Lorhaven?
L: I find this fascinating.
JG: Out there on the track a lot of testosterone is pumping. Men are in a primal form. Be the best. Be the strongest. They’re intimidated by a female coming along and trying to beat them.
GS: You said trying. Have you ever won?
JG: Of course. If I had more print time in these racing magazines and sports channels, you’d already know that.
GS: And what was it like for you after you won?
JG: It doesn’t matter if I win or lose, it’s always the same. I’m not wanted. They make it clear. I’m often isolated, left to work on my own. They don’t want to talk to me, but at me. When I try to interject into a conversation, say about engine parts or torque ratio, they suddenly start acting like I’m dumb or a child.
GS: Have you ever been hazed?
JG: The pro racing circuit prohibits hazing of any members.
GS: Do you think he [Ron Gamble] sponsors you because you’re his only child?
JG: My father is a businessman, and I think his accomplishments attest to that. Do you really think a businessman would sink as much money into a racing sponsorship for someone if he wasn’t going to get a return on investment?
GS: This is all very interesting. I’d like to talk further with both of you. But first, I just really want to know… Is it true you will be leaving the pro racing circuit for a sponsorship in the NRR?
JG:
GS: You don’t like pro drivers. You’ve never hidden that fact. What’s up with that?
L: Because they’re a bunch of stuck-up assholes.
JG: Let me guess. You tried out, and they didn’t want you.
GS: So what are your thoughts on this crossover and a female driver in the NRR?
L: I think she can’t hack it in the pros. She thinks it’s going to be easier in the NRR.
L:
GS: Don’t you think no rules racing is a good place for a female driver? Because there are no rules?
L: No.
GS: Fair enough. Could you maybe elaborate on your experience with the pro driving division?
L: I’ve been driving all my life. My cars are top of the line; so are the parts. It took me years to get an audition, and I admit, my father had to use some connections of his.
GS: I take it the audition didn’t go well?
L:
GS: You auditioned with a Corvette.
L: Yep. And as he well knew, the sponsors would come if the interest came, but he wasn’t willing to show any interest.
GS: Why do you think that is?
L:
GS: A criminal record?
L: Yes.
GS: For what?
L: Illegal betting.
GS: Well, I could see how that might raise some trust issues.
L:
GS: You don’t seem very apologetic about it.
L:
GS: What does your father think of your racing?
L: It doesn’t matter what he thinks. I drive for me. Not him.
GS: Does that mean he doesn’t approve?
L: My father supports me.
GS: You mentioned a Corvette and so did Joey G. I’m assuming you have one, yet you drove a Lotus Elise here today. What happened to the Corvette?
L: Casualty of a street race.
GS: You wrecked it?
L: Yeah.
GS: I would think someone as skilled at driving wouldn’t wreck his cars.
L: Shit happens.
Bieber: That’s not exactly true.
L:
GS: Who is this?
L: My brother, Arrow. He’s also a driver.
GS: Arrow Lorhaven?
Arrow:
GS: You two are half-brothers, then.
L: We’re brothers.
AA: Lor didn’t wreck his car because of his driving. He actually wrecked it on purpose.
GS: I can’t imagine why he would do that.
AA:
GS: What happened next?
L: The other car fell on the Vette and totaled it. So I bought a Lotus.
GS: You have a reputation of…
L:
GS: Frankly, yes.
L: I am an asshole. But that’s my brother.
GS: Where do you see yourself at the end of the first season for the NRR?
L: At the top.
GS: The man to beat is your rival, Drew Forrester. Think you can do it?
L: Yes.
GS: Do you and Drew really hate each other as much as the media purports?
L:
GS: One more question before we wrap up. You told Joey G. you think women don’t belong in racing and you don’t think she’ll be able to hack it. I’ve seen her stats. She’s a good driver. Do you really believe that?
L: I think being a woman in a male-dominated sport takes guts. She clearly has that. I’m down with the
whole women equality and diversity. You gotta let people be who they want to be.
GS: But do you think she belongs in the NRR?
L: No.
As you can see, both of these drivers got #swag. And no, I’m not talking about the kind of swag that propels young men to wear their pants below their butts and allow their behinds to hang out (seriously, what’s up with that?). I’m not talking about some kind of rap term used in a popular song.
The kind of #swag I’m referencing is the confidence in which a person carries themselves. In order to have #swag, you have to be loaded with it. Something, I think, both of these drivers have in spades.
Furthermore, this interview has raised a lot of good discussion points that I don’t think have been addressed at length by the racing world.
What do you think about women in racing?
Do you think females are just as skilled and capable as men to drive and drive fast?
What are your thoughts on Joey G.? Do you think she’s right to think she’s been treated unfairly by the racing world?
Do you have a stance on the Pro vs NRR regarding which is a more “legitimate” racing division?
Does diversity belong in sports?
Let’s start a discussion! Hit up our online forums at GearShark.com/RacingDiversity to share your thoughts and opinions. As this continues to be a topic at the front and center of the racing world, we here at GearShark promise to bring you continued coverage and updates about all things racing, whether it be on the pro side or the NRR.
I sat back away from the computer screen and raised the beer to my lips in thought. None of the smooth liquid hit my tongue. I tipped the bottle back farther, and when I still wasn’t rewarded with the cool taste of comfort, I yanked it away with an aggravated grunt.
Empty.
Apparently, this article made me chug it down.
I pushed out of the desk chair, tossed the bottle in a nearby waste bin, and grabbed another longneck out of my fridge. Once the top was open and the first taste of a freshly opened brewsky slid down my throat, I was able to ponder what I just read.
Leaning a hip against the counter, I gazed across the room at the lit-up laptop screen. It could have been worse. I honestly thought Emily was going to rip me to shreds in her piece, considering I basically alleged she’d be giving Jace a blowjob when I left.
Uh-oh.
He’d become Jace in my thoughts. Not Lorhaven. That was dangerous with a capital D.
Emily skipped over my worst parts of the day and even erred on the side of giving me the benefit of the doubt. I would almost venture to say she could see my point in all of this. But it still wasn’t great.
I felt like it had been too telling… I’d been a little too honest.
Not that I was against honesty. I wasn’t. I hated liars.
But I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of effect this article was going to have when it came out and what the dudes I raced with on the pro side would think when they read what I said about them.
And then there was the NRR side. Lorhaven literally came out against me. He said he didn’t want me there. Would the other drivers follow his lead? Would I be an outcast among my peers before I even had a chance to prove them otherwise?
No. You have Drew and Trent this time. You already have support. That made me feel marginally better, because having them behind me was more than I had when I started in the pros.
But still… why did he have to be so blunt and unsupportive in the article?
At the end of the article, he did sort of backtrack a little. He said I had guts. He stated he was all for diversity.
And then there was the Corvette.
He’d put himself in danger to knock his brother out of the way. He showed loyalty and even love toward his family in that one act.
Actions speak louder than words.
And the way he acted when he kissed me… I shivered.
So once again, I got a glimpse of Jace.
“He literally said you couldn’t hack it, J,” I told myself and pushed off the counter to go change out of the damp shirt so I could finish checking my emails.
In my walk-in closet (that was partially empty because I wasn’t one of those girls that loves to shop and buy a bunch of clothes I’d probably only wear once), I pulled on a pair of black jeans and a grey T-shirt.
My mind kept wandering to the article, to Jace and to the mention Emily made of the cover. I wanted to see it.
Taking my half-empty beer along with me, I padded back to my desk. X-ing out of the article, I went back to Emily’s email to read it, since I hadn’t bothered in the first place.
Joey,
Here is the finalized proof of the feature for GearShark. If you have any changes, please send them in immediately, as our production staff has decided this article is going to run in next month’s issue (instead of the following month’s), which means it’s going into production in just a few days. The article is a big hit at the office, and the editor is anxious to get it onto stands.
I have also attached the cover so you can get a peek at it. No changes will be allowed to it.
Also, I’d like to just apologize because I feel like you and I didn’t get off to the greatest start. As a female who works at a magazine with predominately male readers, I want you to know I can see the kind of… challenges you must face in your chosen career. I wasn’t as sympathetic as I should have been. I’ll blame it on the fact Lorhaven was sitting there with us, and his presence was very distracting ;-).
Emily Metcalf
GearShark Magazine
Emily and I would never be friends. She irritated me the way synthetic fabric irritated my crotch.
And I called bullshit on the fact she was “distracted” by Jace. She was turned on, horny, and jealous because she saw me as competition.
However, I appreciated the parts of my interview she omitted.
I clicked on the attachment to pull up the cover. The image appeared on the screen.
My stomach clenched. My breasts tightened, and heat pooled between my legs. They chose the image of me against his back, in his shirt, with it slipping down my arms.
I still remembered the way his body felt against mine, the way my cheek fit against his shoulder.
It was all right there in my eyes, the attraction and heat I felt for him. It was almost electric.
And Jace… that photo was all Jace, no trace of Lorhaven.
The way he held his arm sort of in front of me and the look in his eyes… I hadn’t seen his face during the shoot because I, too, had been focused on the camera.
God help me, he was sexy.
And dangerous.
It was as if he dared anyone to come near either of us.
The image was black and white, done in shades of grey. I couldn’t help but draw a parallel with that. It was like me and him.
Joey and Jace existed in the grey of the racing world. Like we were on separate sides, apart but together… Together we were somewhere else altogether.
I minimized the pic and got up to pace away.
Suddenly, I felt full of energy and tension. My need for a restful, relaxing day was blown to hell.
I felt the need to shed it all. The feelings he incited in me. The image of our photo burned a hole in the back of my brain. Most of all, I wanted him out of my system. I didn’t want to be in such a tightly tied knot.
I snatched up my cell and hit a button. He answered on the first ring.
“I need a race. NRR style,” I said, still pacing.
“Our door is always open,” Drew replied.
“See you in a few hours,” I said and cut off the connection.
I went back into my closet to throw a few things in a duffle bag. Jace was going to eat his words.
He didn’t think I could hack it in his world?
I would prove him wrong.
Lorhaven
I owned this part of town.
Not in the monetary, sign here on the dotted line s
ense, but in the unspoken yet acknowledged sense.
I’d been running the streets in this part of Maryland for a long time. Since I was old enough to drive. I never really fit in my father’s world.
No. Scratch that. I fit in. I just didn’t want to. I didn’t like it.
His world of numbers, suits, and boring, stodgy dinner parties made me feel like I was suffocating. Like I had one foot in my grave.
I enjoyed comfort. I enjoyed having a nice home to grow up in and a father who took care of his family. But in the back of my head, there was always this voice. This urgency inside me.
There’s something more out there.
When I hit my teen years, I was just like every other boy, no matter how he was raised. Curious, wanting to test my limits and explore. I ended up on the other side of town one night, at a party for someone I didn’t even know.
The music was loud, the girls were fast, and the cars were even faster.
I’d been to lots of parties. I’d been drunk, experimented with drugs, and most definitely wasn’t a virgin. But this was a whole new world to me. A whole different vibe. That voice always whispering in my head suddenly shut up.
I loved the stripped-down nature of the streets. The way everything was black or white. There was no room for BS here, and while money talked (it didn’t matter where you were, money always talked) it wasn’t number one. Respect was.
Everyone here lived by a code. And the cars, hot damn, the cars were off the chain. To a kid who was used to nice stuff, this was a whole new ballgame.
Nothing compared to a shiny body, brand new tires, and an engine that made your insides vibrate when revved up.
This world was a stark contrast to the smooth lifestyle I grew up in. It was gritty here.
I loved it.
After that, there was no going back.
I met Kurt, whose father owned a garage, and I started spending time there after school and on the weekends. Kurt and I worked on cars, chased women, and went to every street race we could.
I used to be the guy on the sidelines. I used to be the one who sat amid the exhaust, loud music, and planned when I would get to be the one on the start line.
#Swag (GearShark #3) Page 9