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NEWS | Aug. 7, 2006

Langley officer lives life-long dream

By Tech. Sgt. Michael Voss 1st Fighter Wing Public Affairs

Twenty-year Air Force veteran, Capt. Patrick Ritchie has waited his entire life to live the dream of driving a race car. 

Since he came to the area and heard about the Langley Motor Speedway, he knew one day he would get to live that dream. 

The Air Combat Command communications actions officer arrived at Langley in April 2005 with a season ticket to the speedway in hand. 

"I've had an interest in racing most of my life," said Ritchie. "I have watched NASCAR for years." 

"The Air Force and Langley have provided me an opportunity to explore the possibility of racing with the UCAR (You Can Afford Racing) league," explained the Florida native. 

Captain Ritchie took a chance and sent an e-mail to the Langley Speedway Web site asking for information on how to become more involved. 

"I went to a few races and wanted more - not just to watch, but to start exploring the real chance of actually getting in the car," he said. 

Within a couple of days, he received a response telling him to contact Don, owner of the VR racing team. 

"I went into this with a basic understanding of cars and mechanics," said Ritchie, "but never really understood what all was involved. Thank God, the VR team and everyone in the racing community just takes you under their wings," he said. "They gave me the opportunity to change tires and parts, get in the pits and go to team meetings." 

After about two months of helping in the pits, Ritchie got the chance to get behind the wheel of one of VR's cars Independence Day 2005. The team placed duck tape in the shape of the number 40 (required to race) on the car, and off he went for the first time, actually racing. 

"We picked the number 40 because I am 40, and my wife explains the whole thing as a mid-life crisis," laughed Ritchie. "She might just be right." 

That first race he only finished 18 of the scheduled 25 laps because he broke the right hub, the part that holds on the wheel. This was the first broken hub, but not the last. 

"I stunk, but from there, the excitement level was through the ceiling," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're in the lead, the hunt or the back of the pack a lap down. When you're doing 70 mph on a nearly zero banked race track you're racing." 

After that first experience, Ritchie was hooked and began looking to purchase his own race car. He started with a 1992 Geo Storm, the most popular car in the UCAR league; he bought it for $350 and took it racing the rest of that season. 

As the racing season came to a close, Ritchie had gotten some of the experience he wanted - racing, being part of a team and spending hours under the hood. 

"Just finishing a race became quite the victory," he said. "You learn a lot ... by the end of that season, I said I will never second guess a race team's effort again." 

As the winter turned back to spring and the 2006 racing season approached, Ritchie bought the 2005 championship car, the number five 1992 Geo Storm, with a 100-horsepower motor and a reputation of being a tough car. 

This provided him a reliable means to race, that hopefully would see more track time than the shop. The season also brought in more family involvement; brother Tim Ritchie, daughter, Katie and son, Mark, have joined the team. Mark has aspirations of perhaps racing one day. 

"Racing has become a real family experience," said Ritchie. 

Starting in the Rookie class this year, Ritchie has finished all nine of the scheduled 16 races, and is currently 12th points overall with two top-10 finishes and has finished in the top 15 in all the races he has started. 

For details of upcoming events at the Langley Speedway, visit www.langley-speedway.com