For this first blog of mine, I’m going to talk about a crazy last couple of weeks I’ve had. I feel that this past few weeks will give everyone a good look into my life and who I am. If you don’t know me, hi! My name is Chris Rado.
I am the driver for and owner of the WORLD Racing Motorsports team. I’m
that guy at that track most likely in a tank top, going fast as hell in
a Scion tC, working hard, but playing even harder.
After a long couple of weeks in New Jersey, competing in two NOPI events back-to-back, I
headed to Tennessee
for an eight-day retreat in the mountains. I went there to do some meditating,
yoga, and also to offer a helping hand.
I am one of the most fortunate people I
know in this world. And by fortunate, I don’t mean money, I mean overall
well-being. I’ve got the best family in the world, great friends, and the best
sponsors and partners that anyone could dream for. I’m in a great place and if
I don’t embrace all these wonderful things and do what I can to give back, I
don’t deserve any of it. So basically, I went out there to sleep in a tent for
eight days in a muddy field, enjoy nature, and prepare meals for 500 meditaters
every day.
I looked like I was in some medieval kitchen stirring caldrons with
big ladles – it was unreal.
But you know what? I went to this retreat with a horrible shoulder injury and coming out of it, I was not only totally healed, but I was also in the best physical shape of my entire life. All I was doing was working hard, doing my yoga and meditation, but I was putting 100 percent into everything I was doing.
Now you might be a bit confused. Chris Rado does yoga and meditates? Yes, I do. And doing these things might just be the best decision I’ve ever made. Let me elaborate. Usually I like to spend my mornings in silence while doing my yoga and meditations. It really helps to keep the body balanced and keep the mind sharp, and keep our emotions in check.
You know, most of us don’t realize that we are running around with our careers like a bunch of lunatics. Going here, going there – basically the body is going for a ride. And anything that goes for a ride constantly needs to have its regular check-ups. When you’re on the rev limiter, going from point A to point B, you need to take the time to wind down. Most of my “wind down” time is in the morning. I like to do a pretty strict yoga regimen followed by some meditation which allows me to greet the new day coming in with a fresh outlook and be prepared for whatever comes at me.
Not only is that silence and stillness good for the body and for the soul, but it’s also good physically – I mean it is tremendous exercise. It never gets easier and I’m probably going to do it my entire life. But this is just the start of a normal day for me.
I look at my body as a machine, no more different than a car and no more attachment than a car. I will say right now that I am no more attached to my body as I am to my car. For some people this concept is a wacky perspective, but it’s my perspective. People always say “Chris you’re not normal”, well, what exactly is normal? You only call something normal because somebody else is doing it and it’s copied behavior. But when something is unique and it comes from within, it’s never going to be normal and that’s just where I’m coming from.
Since my body is nothing different than my car, I need to fuel this sucker up. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am a vegetarian – that’s right, no meat. I do eat a little fish here and there, and I do cheat on my diet and have a little bit off cheese and eggs from time to time. It’s really tough to stay away from those foods, especially when you’re traveling on the road all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love meat and I love dairy, but I just don’t do it. I want my body – my machine – to be operating at 100 percent of it’s’ potential. This means 100 pounds of boost, 14:1 compression and go, go, go! I don’t have time to put stuff in my body that it doesn’t want and doesn’t need.
Now that you know all
little more about where I’m coming from, I’ll move to the good stuff, the car
stuff! So after leaving Tennessee,
I felt absolutely amazing and more alive than ever. I came back to California and headed
straight to Vegas for Scion United, which was the first big Scion brand meeting.
This event was huge! There were performances by feature entertainers; they had
nut jobs like me out their talking with people and signing autographs. Leslie
Armendarez and Ken Gushi were there chatting it up with the fans. They had all
the new TRD products featured. While this was going on, Scion shot a commercial
using 500 Scion owners’ personal cars. Toyota
and Scion left no stone unturned when it came to this event. It was truly an
amazing experience. It was really neat to see Scion give back to their enthusiasts
and their customers. But that’s just the kind of brand they are and it just
reiterated to me how glad I am to be part of the family.
After the event, I hightailed back to LA to prepare for the
second annual Modified Ultimate Tuner Challenge which was held May 23rd
and 24th at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Arizona.
This was going to be an awesome event that involved road racing, drag racing,
and drifting.
The WORLD Racing team
began immediately to hammer away at the time attack Scion tC to get a drag
racing setup in the works for the Modified Ultimate Tuner Challenge. You may be
a bit confused as to why we needed a drag racing setup for a time attack car.
Let me clarify. Yes it is a time attack car. And yes it is designed to go on a
road course, not drag race. But since one of the categories at the Modified
Ultimate Tuner challenge was going to be drag racing, we decided to pull out
our bag of tricks.
What’s in the bag of tricks
you may ask? A set of wheelie bars, a parachute, a staging brake, and some big
nasty slicks. You can’t go down the track right if you don’t have the right
gear. We spent a week reconfiguring the time attack car so that it could be
switch from one setup to another with no problems.
We headed out for Phoenix this past
Thursday night at 3 AM after finishing up the car in the nick of time. Friday
night was the dyno competition, the first event of the Modified Ultimate Tuner
Challenge. We took 1st place, with no other car even within 150 horsepower
of the WORLD Racing time attack Scion tC. Our stats were 713 horsepower and 703
pounds of torque. We are a racing team by nature – when it comes to horsepower,
it’s our job to always make the most.
All in all, the event was awesome and the
team and I had a blast.
In other exciting news, we
finally just got our lease for our new WORLD Racing shop which is only a half
block away from corporate Scion and Toyota which is a dream come true for us.
Whether it comes to racing or building show cars or just going out their and
showing the Scion culture our support, we embrace this culture we every breath
that we take. We are here to go fast, put on a good show, and have fun –
because if you’re not having fun, you should not be in this industry. Take it
from me; if all you have at the end of the day is stress, you seriously need to
find another job.
Now I want to switch topics by talking about someone very important to me, my dog Slick otherwise known as Mr. Floppy Flop, Mr. Butt, or just known as the coolest Pit Bull around. When I went to Tennessee, it was the longest time I have been away from him ever. I grew up in a household with four sisters and I remember my mom was always worrying when she left, and now I know why. I know what it’s like to have a child. Yes he’s a dog, but he’s like my son.
With my busy schedule, I’m not going to be having kids anytime soon, so I got Slick, who is the coolest kid on the block. When I was away from Slick for only a day, all I could do was think about that cute little guy. But we have been reunited and it feels so good. I’m out!
-Chris Rado
World Racing