Race Car Driving and The Speedway: A Family Affair, with Bonnie Neely

…Chatting with Bonnie Neely about race car driving

Grandma and Grandpa … start your engines

Bonnie and Bill Neely are two of the most enlightened and open-minded travel journalists I have had the pleasure of knowing … and travelling with.

Based in Paris, Texas, Bonnie and Bill travel extensively, hither and yon. And they are also RV enthusiasts, which is a whole skill set unto itself. And when they travel, whether in their RV home-away-from-home, or by other means, they explore destinations from a very up-close-and-personal, hands-on, and grassroots perspective. They are the type of travellers who really enjoy being “where the action is” — even if the “action” is a sublime and remote forest in northern Quebec.

They are also the proprietors of Real Travel Adventures ,a very traveller-friendly website that is as eclectic and “down-to-earth” as they are.

Bonnie and Bill are also grandparents; and as parents and grandparents they understand how important travel is, as “the most experiential form of learning,” and as a medium through which social values are examined, explored, and confirmed.

Over the years Bonnie and Bill have travelled with their children and grandchildren — it’s called “intergenerational travel.” In particular they have experienced with their children and granchildren the world of race car driving.

The Speedway as a learning experience

As you will hear in my chat with Bonnie, race car driving, NASCAR especially, was a learning experience for her and Bill, and also an opportunity to share that learning experience over the years with their children and their grandchildren.

As Bonnie also points out, we often have the tendancy to overgeneralize, to apply “fixed notions” in areas we know little about; and this includes race car driving. And yet, like so many sports, there is much more to race car driving than initially meets the (uninitiated) eye. There is even a philosophical side to The Speedway: the proverbial dreaming the impossible dream; man against time; man against the forces and limitations of nature; the Olympic goals of higher, faster, farther.

And, as many race care fans will tell you, there is an aesthetic side to race car driving: design + engineering = a “beautiful machine” — for many it is an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the ultimate dream machine.

But one of the most important things that Bonnie learned, in her chat with race car driver Terry LaBonte, is the very real commitment on his part and that of his colleagues to set a good example for kids, to be role models, and not to create “speed demons.”

Read about Bonnie and Bill’s excellent intergenerational adventures at The Speedway

Car Racing : A Family Event

Enjoy A Mini-Vacation at Texas Motor Speedway

The Race Car Experience

…and be sure to visit Real Travel Adventures.

For more information on intergenerational travel…

See also Travels with Grandchildren

There are numerous travel companies and tour operators that specialize in intergenerational travel. Google “intergenerational travel.”

Generations Touring Company in Seattle, Washington is a good example.

Grandtravel is another company that specializes in intergenerational travel.

Photo courtesy and copyright of Bonnie and Bill Neely