Racing locally is tough enough. You pack the truck, fight the traffic up to Lombardy or Shannonville, set up the canopy, and wrench all weekend.
But what happens when your kid is racing 12,000 kilometers away?
This August, Jäger Stockill was invited to race the Ohvale Guangzhou Supercup in China. I run his media, which means I’m not the dad on this one — I’m the guy back home cutting the content and watching the timing screen. It is an incredible opportunity to line up against some of the fastest mini road racers on that side of the world.
For a Race Dad stuck back in Ontario, it means your entire reality shifts by 12 hours.
Guangzhou is exactly half a day ahead of us. When he’s rolling out for morning practice, I’m sitting in my office in the dark, refreshing timing screens and waiting for updates on my phone. His race day is my overnight. Sleep becomes a luxury you trade for live timing sectors.
You can’t be there to check the tire pressure. You can’t give the pep talk on the dummy grid. You just have to trust that all those parking lot drills at Brechin and the battles at MiniSBK prepared him for exactly this moment.
It is incredibly stressful, but honestly? It’s also the proudest you can be. Seeing that little Ohvale lined up on an international grid makes every long drive, every late-night oil change, and every dollar spent completely worth it.
Next stop: Valencia.
Massive thank you to everyone supporting Jäger on this international run, and to the Ohvale Guangzhou Supercup organizers for the incredible hospitality.