“Yes You Can”

Dempsey Racing’s real main man (as in “the guy who undertakes the larger share of administrative work” and which has nothing whatsoever to do with whether one is a “good looking, talented actor, race car driver” and, probably most important of all to that person, “a humanitarian”) Joe Foster (left) did a darn decent job of kicking off his racing weekend Friday with a second-place in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge’s Grand-Am 200 race.

On Thursday, Foster qualified second-fast in a Multimatic Ford Mustang Boss 302R, then he and Scotty “Beam Me Up” Maxwell (right) teamed to likewise finish the same in the 2.5-hour race, with Foster leading 17 early laps of the race’s 62.

However, a less-than-ideal pit stop and driver exchange dropped the pair well down the leader board into 11th place, from which Maxwell, in the car after Foster, had to claw his way back into the top-2.

In second place and sizing up a last-lap, do-or-die run on leader Matt Plumb’s No. 13 Rum Bum BMW M3 (Nick Longhi, co-driving), Maxwell’s best-laid plans were rendered kaput when the yellow flag flew at the same time the two leaders caught the race’s white flag.

Switching gears and cars over the next couple of days, Foster and his Dempsey Racing No. 40 Mazda VisitFlorida.com RX-8 would finish the Rolex 24 At Daytona in third, the best of any Mazda RX-8 team in the field, and a largely unexpected accomplishment after post-2010 rules changes “leveled” the Mazda to that of the competition.

On a post-Rolex 24 media stage and facing a formidable press gathering from around the world, Foster and co-drivers Tom Long, Charles Espenlaub flanked Patrick Dempsey, who personally led 28 overnight laps in the 24-hour grind.

Not ones to pass on an opportunity to examine the psyche of those who would perform for others, fired at Dempsey alone was a nonstop string of questions that came uncomfortably close to altogether ignoring Foster, Espenlaub and Long – despite frequent co-driver mentions by Dempsey.

Printed words just can’t do justice, can’t possibly describe the point at which a human feels as though he’s exhausted all available personal means – emotionally, physically and mentally – to do battle with an adversary only each of us can define to ourselves.

The worse within each of us is that seething, damnable demon that forever tries to chip, wear and tear down piece by piece self-accomplishment by constantly whispering just two words: “you can’t.”

Fighting that demon within often exhausts so much energy that a combatant doesn’t really have a clue of the fight’s cost until well after the victor’s dust has settled.

The moment will come – sometimes almost immediately; at other times years afterward – where the victory’s cost becomes so overwhelming that emotions often uncontrollably flood the body.

Spurred by questions which delved into the details of the preceding days – including a physical gut check in the form of a round-trip, cross-country overnight Friday business-related flight – Dempsey recounted nearly all that which happened to him since arriving for not just the just-finished Rolex 24, but those that for years had preceded it.

After recalling what he’d characterize as anti-racing negative attitudes of certain “. . . people in L.A. . .” telling him “he can’t,” “couldn’t” or “shouldn’t,” Dempsey’s voice cracked a little and its sound faded.

Almost merciful in its timing, at the same moment finally came a question directed to someone else, allowing Dempsey (being applauded by Foster at right) to quickly sink (“slouch,” as mothers are prone to say) into his chair, simultaneously pulling his hat low to shield his eyes from ever-probing cameras.

His emotions flowed.

“Can’t” is a powerful motivator as long as one is willing to intelligently challenge its premise. Such is, simply, the mark of greatness, whether Christopher Columbus, Dr. Jonas Salk or a guy who wants more than anything to race.

Later,

DC