My family is my biggest advantage as a racer. My success boils down to the opportunities my dad, mom and sisters have showed me, opened for me or helped me recognize. How racers can be competitive without a strong, close-knit family behind them is beyond me.
All my sisters, Stephanie, Lisa, Suzie and Joselle, are five- to ten-years older than me. When you're growing up around that much estrogen and double-X chromosomes, you define your manhood pretty quickly. But the big advantage is our interests didn't intersect and our age difference meant we had different sets of friends. I was pursuing my guy stuff, they were pursuing their girl stuff, I had my posse, and they had whatever it is girls have. So in place of sibling rivalry, I had their support and a rivalry with the rest of the planet.
Throughout my life, my mom, Elaine, has indulged me with amazing grace. Before I could drive, she'd take me wherever I needed to go and she still makes food for us before we hit the road. Best of all, despite all my various broken bones, close calls and general affection for mayhem, she hasn't had a nervous breakdown. Ultimately though, the biggest influence in my life is my dad. Personally and professionally, Joseph Anthony Rado, Jr. is as good an example to follow as any son could hope for. When I was born, he was a teacher and coach. Then he sold insurance for 11 years. He bought World Electronics when it was just five people putting together circuit boards in the basement of a house and built it into one of the largest contract electronics manufacturers and suppliers of diagnostic tools and circuit boards. My success builds atop his.
My dad is a hardcore businessman. He knows how to make tough decisions, but he's also honest, straightforward, and does what he says he's going to do. You can be aggressive without being dishonest and my dad's a good example of that. It's his example that makes everyone at World Electronics, I think, feel part of the team. And everyone on that team feels like part of the family. It doesn't hurt that two of my sisters, two of my brothers-in-law and I, all work for World Electronics, too.
World Racing is aiming to be for cars what World Electronics is for high-technology electronics, which is the source for cutting edge ideas and equipment. We're as much an R&D company as a race team. My father and I are partners in World Racing, with World Electronics providing most of the seed capital, and me pouring in everything I have (and get) back in. My job is to win races and develop products that World Electronics can then build. Things have gone well so far; we should be profitable by the end of this year.
I'm not married and don't have kids, but there are five guys working full time at World Racing now and each of them depends on the team I created for their livelihoods. Sure, I pay them, but I'm also responsible for their well-being beyond the checks I sign. In late May, Jason Szabo, World Racing's media manager, was coming back from a test session in my Tundra pickup towing the racecar. Now, we've abused the hell out of this Tundra. We've put over 100,000 miles on it towing twice its rated capacity and I've never hesitated to use it in a burnout contest. And on his way home, Jason found out how abused it was.
About 45 miles from our shop, the Tundra's left rear wheel bearing finally gave up, shearing off and taking the axle and wheel with it. It turns out a truck with three wheels doesn't run particularly well, especially when it's towing and carrying 75 gallons of combustible methanol in its bed. I'm still young and dopey enough to kind of think it's cool when a wheel comes off the truck. But another part of me was thoroughly unnerved. This was damn near a catastrophe. After all, Jason isn't just a member of my team, he's family.