During my kart racing career I’ve run with a few different numbers and they each have a story.
I got into karting in 2008 when my brother-in-law and I bought a kart to share. The idea was that we would alternate races which would give us seat time but also help the other wrench on the kart.
That lasted 1 race before we figured out that we needed to get a 2nd kart….not because we couldn’t get along but that we both enjoyed it so much that we wanted to be able to race together.
Our first kart was #12 which became his, the second kart (mine) ran #34. 1234
Here’s our #12 being driven by me with Mark in our friend James Van Domselaar’s #14. This was our first day on the track.
Mark ran for a few years but eventually went back to drag racing.
I didn’t actually do that much racing for my first few years but eventually met Alex and that just exploded my interest in karting.
I kept running the number 34 for a few years and mostly ran by myself. I always picked a pit stall near the grandstands at Stratotech and really didn’t engage with many of the racers until I was approached by Troy Shelemey. He had seen me for a few years and made sure that I knew that I could ask questions about setups, lines and he’d be happy to help me out. I ended up buying his CRG shortly thereafter and switched my number to 10.
2 reasons that I went with 10:
I was born in ‘73, 7 + 3=10. Silly reason, I know, but that was reason #1
Reason 2: It was the number of my favourite hockey players from my childhood: Guy Lafleur.
I even ran the numbers 71 and 81 for a weekend when I had the opportunity to race our friend’s IMCA modified car as well as a thunder car on a very busy weekend for me at Wetaskiwin in 2019
My transition to the number 87 started around 2010/11. I had gone through a very painful and life altering situation resulting in me entering a period of self-sabotage and self-destruction. It was during this same time that a friend of mine “suggested” (I think his words were more to the tune of if I don’t get my shit together he was going to take me out back and beat the shit out of me) and connected me with a therapist.
I’d never considered therapy for me as I’ve always been very strong willed and independent; in fact, the very thought of therapy felt like failure…..little did I know.
I’m aware that there are many different methods of therapy and personality typing, this is not an endorsement for anything, nor is it an invitation for debating one over the other.
My therapist used a personality typing model called the Enneagram which groups people into one of 9 main personality types as well as a sub-type also known as a wing.
From the first time that I started reading and hearing about the Enneagram it not only made perfect sense but it really helped me start to understand myself as well as those around me. It wasn’t just that it made sense, it made so much sense that I absolutely identify as my personality type.
My main personality type is 8, also known as The Challenger, my wing is 7 also known as The Enthusiast.
It was the inspiration for my first tattoo which was stylized to look like the Metallica logo:
Yes, those are 8s and 7s, you’ll just have to think somewhat abstract or just trust me.
That’s why I use 87. My current phone number has a bunch of 74s in it. I didn’t pick the 74 number aside from it was very easy to remember when I opened up my plan in 200o.
I have kept my eye open for a phone number that would help me further embrace my 87 persona. When I found 587-800-8787 I had to grab it.
7474 will stay with me forever but you can now also reach me on 8787. I’d like to think that over time my friends and family will relate more with my 87 number than 74 despite 74 having a 24 year head start.
Feels pretty good.