Racing has a way of allowing you to see life in a different way once and awhile – especially when it comes to observing core values like dedication and commitment.

A glimpse of those qualities were on display this weekend as Andrew Rogers and his Mike Rogers Racing team competed in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Southern Division regular season event at Lakeland, FL. Rogers, a 20-year-old aspiring driver, and his team put in a Herculean effort to compete in the USAR regular season final at USA International Speedway. Before the team even got to the racetrack, it had put in countless hours building a new car for the race after their previous car was destroyed in an event a little over three weeks earlier.

Working into the early morning hours each night in the days leading up to the Lakeland event, the team took a roll of steel and truckload of parts and turned them into a racecar. Despite the effort, the car still didn’t have a body on it as of Wednesday morning and it didn’t look like Rogers would achieve his goal of competing in Saturday’s Lakeland race.

Thanks to Robbie McCloud and his team at RMI Racing Fabrication, the body was hung by Thursday in time for the team to complete the car – but not before they had worked straight through until 10 p.m. Friday night.

With the garage opening at 9 a.m. Saturday morning in Lakeland, the team drove all Friday night long from their Denver, NC shop to be at the pit gate when it swung open the next morning. There, sweltering Florida temperatures in the 90s with humidity to match greeted them and the rest of the teams. Just standing out in the blazing conditions caused you to sweat. Working on a hot racecar – especially after a week of inconsistent meals and no sleep – had to be brutal at best.

When the green flag finally flew on the event around 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening, it’s safe to say few in the large crowd could comprehend what Rogers and his team had accomplished just to be in the starting field for the race. Just getting there was a testament to their drive, will and commitment to the sport.

The fact they eventually finished 25th after a mid-race crash is only a postscript to what will never show up in the record book as a winning effort but was every bit as much of a triumph as that scored by Joey Logano, the victor in the race.

Rogers (shown left at a pre-race autograph session) and his team’s effort this week exemplified what racers everywhere go through to compete. For all the fans – God love them – who sit in the stands and dream about being a part of a race team, there are few who would ever be able to exact the demanding standards that being a ‘racer’ requires.

Bad food and long hours are just a part of it. There’s also missed family events such as birthdays, anniversaries, school plays, ballgames and countless other functions too numerous to mention.

Racing isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a passion – or an affliction if you will - that can’t be explained because if you tried, you’d come to the conclusion you’re an idiot for doing it. The hours and family strain can’t even begin to be counted in dollars and cents. If you computed things in that context, most people who call racing their career would be paid in pennies per hour.

Then, there are also the disappointments. At every race, there is only one winner. Everyone else goes home with something less, and in many cases, a whole lot less. Crashes routinely destroy cars worth tens of thousands of dollars and most teams don’t have the financial backing to build or buy another.

Unless you’re a NASCAR Cup racer, or toil in one of the other premiere racing series, you probably work another job (two or three?) just so you can go to the shop at night and work on your racecar. You then head to the track on the weekend and if you destroy a car, it’s back to the shop to put in untold hours like Rogers and his crew to get it fixed or build a new one. It surely isn’t like Nextel Cup where you just roll another one off the trailer.

Most sane people would look at a racer’s job description and decide that this isn’t for them - even the ones who sit in the stands and dream about being a part of a team. Those that do race don’t question it – they just do it because they love it. Many do it to the point of financial and personal ruin, unwilling to give up or ‘kick the habit’ until they have nothing left.

Racing can be a dark business at times.

That wasn’t the case Saturday as Rogers and his team stood around after the Lakeland race and discussed the day's results. Drawn and exhausted from the week’s events, you could still see the pride they took in their accomplishments. While they were disappointed with the finish and the fact they would again have to go home and fix their battered racecar before the next event, no one was ready to quit or give up.

It was a special moment and while it didn’t match the excitement of winning, it was one everyone could point to with pride despite the less than desired results. If this was one of those ‘character-building moments,’ this group got the full measure of the experience – and then some.

Congrats to Rogers and his team for their efforts this weekend at Lakeland and to all the teams who compete around the country in divisions like the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series.

Continue to chase your racing dreams and remember that dedication and commitment are the qualities of a champion, even when you aren’t standing in Victory Lane after the race.