It starts out loud, so strap yourself in. Watch the 3-minute video and then we’ll talk.
Ken Micheli is a second-generation rice farmer. At age 76, his body isn’t what it used to be and he spends much of his free time taking care of his wife who suffers from Alzheimer’s. During long days driving tractor, he dreams of his real passion, dirt track auto racing at the local speedway. While some think racing is too dangerous for a man of his age, Ken’s son Matt insists that the thrill of racing is the one thing that keeps his father alive.
When filmmaker Kevin Gordon offered me this short film for my blog, my first thought was annoyance. See, I don’t believe in elevating older people based on how well they imitate youth. Racing is definitely a young person’s game. When we celebrate older people just because they look or act like younger people, the standard of excellence is youth. And that diminishes us.
However.
This is a kick-ass older dude, a guy with a big heart who refuses to give up. In that he is so inspiring, I wanted to share his story with you. It made me happy, and I hope it does for you as well.
I’m going to watch it again, with the sound up.
I just attended a memorial luncheon for a guy who at seventy something was too young to die, but he did. Pictures upon pictures of his many interests were displayed. he too was a bad ass guy. if you out live me will you say the same for me at a memorial “breakfast” if the only pictures of me are in different chairs? I am a bad ass reader. Not too many of us guys left.
Maybe that should be our goal, Bob. To be a badass in our own opinion however we measure that!
Very cool, Ken. To enjoy one’s passion at any age is what makes life worth living. Not only do I appreciate your drive to keep racing, I also admire your everlasting love for your wife.
Isn’t that the truth, Pat. What we do for love.
“Well, Ken, you’re 76 years old…when do you think you should quit?”
I ask myself a similar question each fall when I return to my dance classes.
Does anyone else ask that question?
Sue, I do all the time! I am constantly torn between the urge to make my mark or smell the roses. Assuming you can’t do both (I can’t sit on my butt all day and, at the same time, finish writing my novel AND start the Diamond Valley Writers’ Guild here in the San Jacinto Valley, for example), which do you choose? That fevered attempt at a goal, or the relaxation we’ve craved all our lives while working our damn fool heads off?