In 2019 Netflix released their new series “Drive to Survive” which showcased the world of Formula 1 (F1) racing. I binge watched the show in a couple of days and was hooked on all of it: the personalities, the cars, the races around the world. I started getting up early every Sunday morning to watch. Most races started around 8:00 a.m. I could have recorded them and watched them later but I had to watch live. Before long my teenage daughter, Emily, started watching with me. It didn’t take long until she was as obsessed as me (maybe more).

With a sport like Formula 1 you can just watch to see how your favorite driver or team performed or, like we did, you could go deeper studying things like tyres (my daughter insists I use the European spelling common to F1), strategies, car set-ups, aerodynamics, engines. Emily and I learned about all of these things. It became the best bonding experience for Emily and me, much to the dismay of my younger daughter and wife who quickly became tyred (see what I did there) of the fact that every conversation Emily and I had revolved around racing and drivers. Don’t even ask my co-workers how annoying I am about it.

One of the many aspects I love about F1 is that the times are measured down to the thousandths of a second which means that every team is looking for any small thing they can do to make even the most incremental of improvements. One year a team essentially put a giant fan on the back of their car “for cooling” so it wasn’t against the rules. Lucky for them it also gave them incredible traction and that car easily won the race. It was never used again which is probably a good thing since it also blew debris at any cars unfortunate enough to be following them, but it is an extreme example of the outside the box thinking the teams use.

The Drivers

During the off season and between races my daughter and I delved into the history of the sport including the great drivers. I recognized many of the names such as Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher.

One driver we learned about was 3 time champ Sir Jackie Stewart. The Flying Scot raced in the 60s and 70s and is still a fixture on the grid. He is often interviewed on the track just before races in his trademark plaid tam.

Race Against Dementia

My other love is for the work I do at KC Elder Law. I feel so lucky that I am able to have a job where I enjoy what I do and I know that I am helping people in a time of crisis. Recently both my passion for helping seniors in our community and for Formula 1 racing came together when I learned about a program Sir Jackie promotes called Race Against Dementia.

Sir Jackie Stewart shares something in common with the families that we help here at our law firm. In 2014, his wife, Helen, was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia. "I know first-hand the devastation that dementia brings to entire families when they realise there is currently no cure." - Sir Jackie Stewart

Sir Jackie knew that finding the cure for dementia would be a team effort, and in 2016, he founded Race Against Dementia. Race Against Dementia (RAD) “Is driven to raise money to fund breakthrough and innovative dementia research.”

"In my world of motorsport I have seen extraordinarily creative systems introduced, as well as incredible work to prevent the fatalities that the sport once endured. I have no doubt that finding a cure for dementia is one of the biggest challenges we’ve ever faced. But my vision is that by thinking out of the box and finding new ways to achieve success. We will find a solution to allow millions of people to live without dementia." - Sir Jackie Stewart

"F1 Attitude"

As Race Against Dementia notes on their website, they are bringing an “F1 attitude” to the fight against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Considering some of the amazing things I have seen F1 teams come up with (did I mention they strapped a giant fan to a car?) I am very excited to see what they will be able to accomplish to help Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers. I hope you will check out their website.

With that said, it’s lights out and away we go!