Faith – Keep it Real
“It would not rain. It just wouldn't rain…” - Ian Landies Jr.
Racer, engine builder, crew chief, and consultant, Ian Landies Jr. wears many hats. Originally from Chardon, Ohio, Ian relocated to Tennessee in 2004 where his favorite hat is a Jr. League football coaching cap.
If the name Ian Landies sounds familiar, it should. His father, Ian Landies Sr., started racing at 16 in the 60’s and professionally in the 70’s. He raced Pro Stock Camaros in the seventies, Factory Modifieds in the eighties, and Street Roadsters at the turn of the century.
Ian Jr. said, “I was one of those kids where if
he would have been a dentist, I'd have been
a dentist. If he’d been in the army, that's
what I'd have done. If he’d been a cop, that's
what I'd have done. He was a crane guy and
racer. That's what I was going to do.”
And race Ian did. Two comp-eliminator wins
(Joliet Lucas Oil Powerade Route 66 Nationals 2003 and Bristol O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals 2004). NHRA record setter in A-street (Englishtown 2000) and F-altered (Redding). Ian adds, “That was kind of when I started tuning. He (dad) sort of started letting me do more of that”.
And tune he did. Crew chief for Gray Motorsports and Larry Morgan Racing, Ian describes the blessing of the experience. “Somebody said, hey, I read something about you, …you're on this list… one of less than 100 crew chiefs to win a pro stock race, that’s pretty cool.”
Ian understood the privilege of being a pro-stock crew chief. “Sometimes, I would wake up on Sunday and realize I’m one of only 16 guys in the world getting to do this today. (But) it's a grinder. You go from Chicago to Denver to Seattle to Sonoma to Brainerd before you get a week off. Yeah. I mean, by the end of it, like, I've seen lots of dudes that just don't show up after Sonoma
Ian made the decision to change hats. He told his boss, Larry Morgan, “look, man, I'm missing my kid. Now he's running, you know, and I'm missing it, like I didn’t see him learn to walk. I was in Phoenix.”
Parenting is important to Ian. He recalls his mom (Vicky) and dad, leading him to Jesus, “It was like you grow up in church, and you're like, ‘eh’, you know. You're kind of messing around. And then you start listening, and it's like, I better get this figured out. (So) I talked to my mom and dad.”
“faith that can’t be tested, can’t be trusted”
Noted Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe is credited with the saying “faith that can’t be tested, can’t be trusted”. In my interview with Ian concerning his faith, he repeatedly said that faith (among other things) had to be real.
And tested his faith was. His dad passed tragically when Ian was 21, in a racing accident at Cecil County Dragway in the summer of 2000. Out of privacy, all is not shared here, but Ian recalled some of the details.
“We were debating whether or not to even go. That track is up on top of this hill, so you can see a ton of sky. I mean, it was that color (pointing to something black). And it was coming. It was like, it's going to pour rain. But it would not rain. It just wouldn't rain.
And David (friend) started yelling, like, ‘you guys better get going’. We were second to last pair. And, you know, the whole deal happened. And then it poured rain when we were pulling out of the track to go to the hospital”.
“I didn't sleep… I didn't sleep for years”
For some time Ian agonized, “what if it had rained an hour earlier? (But) it would have just happened at the next racetrack. That's all. Because what broke was going to break. And we would not have known to even look at what broke. My worst time back then was I didn't sleep… I didn't sleep for years”.
I asked Ian how the accident affected his faith. He indicated there was a time of asking “why me.” But said, “It's taken me 20 more years to figure out how arrogant of a thought that is. Why not me? You know? You turn on the TV and it's like 5,000 people got slaughtered in Kosovo or something. And you're like, well, I'm not the only one. This stuff happens every day. Right? So who am I? It's pretty arrogant of me to think that I'm some kind of untouchable character”.
Ian stressed the importance of people that helped him come to terms with the loss of the man he wanted to emulate. Speaking of uncles Bob and Keith, “I was 21 when my dad got killed in that car. You're just like, I don't know where I'm at anymore. My uncle would see a crane drive by, because I was a crane operator, right. And he'd see one drive by, and by the time I was pulling into the shop my cell phone would ring.
I'm like, ‘hey, what's up?’ And he's like, ‘nothing, I’m going to be here for a few hours’. And I'm like, ‘all right’. And I just go sit in his office and we talk about absolutely nothing. I didn’t realize what they were doing. But now, looking back, it's like, man, I'm glad I had those guys around at that point.”
“God took the time to make you right? What are you worried about?”
Uncle Bob and Keith shaped “tested faith” into “trusted faith”. Ian explains, “I think maybe sometimes it still serves me now. Jesus either did or he didn’t, right? And it's not real hard. If I believe that, there's a bunch of stuff I don't have to worry about. You know what I mean? Control what I can control, that's my attitude and my effort every day. I don't want to say, like, I don't care. (But) there's a huge amount of stuff that you just don't worry about.”
Ian adds, “Jesus knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5) and isn't that tied to the one where he's like, look at the birds he made the birds (Matthew 6). I think his point was like God took the time to make you right? What are you worried about? That's what I mean by the thing with my dad, the thing with the race, like figure out who you are with Him and you don't have to worry about it.”
I would call that keeping it real!
Ian and I spoke at length about today’s racing scene, its future, and broader things of the world. But I think those discussions can be summed up in his answer to my last question, “what advice would you give a young racer?”
“I would tell them stay off the internet and get your hands dirty. Like actually learn what things are, don't listen to somebody tell you what it is”.
That’s good advice for life! Get your hands dirty. Be an Uncle Bob or Keith. Take the time to sit and listen. Help someone get back in the lanes.
And don’t just listen to someone tell you about faith. Get out there and experience it. That doesn’t mean you ask for tragedy. It simply means there are many opportunities in which God calls us out of our comfort zones. He says in effect, “is your faith genuine? I formed you in your mother’s womb. You can trust Me.”
Race On … and keep it real!
Dean
