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.Although we were on parallel tracks, our lives never seemed to intersect anymore.I was working constantly, and Dianne had opened a restaurant in Newport Beach, California, that demanded a considerable amount of her time.Her business responsibilities prevented her from traveling with me to my film locations.She ran the restaurant successfully for five years and then decided to sell it.A bright woman with good business sense, Dianne soon started a music production company that demanded even more of her time.An old saying purports, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” I don't believe it.The more I was gone, or the more often Dianne's and my business ventures separated us physically, the further we grew apart emotionally.The dissolution of our marriage was not the loud, violent blowout that many couples experience but more like a slow leak that eventually causes a balloon to lose its shape, beauty, and attraction.By the time we realized what was happening, there was nothing left.Dianne was and is an incredible woman, and even though we are no longer married, we remain friends to this day.Divorce was a shock to my system.Besides the emotional issues of dealing with a sense of failure, I was suddenly thrown into a whole new lifestyle, one I wasn't particularly sure I was going to enjoy.All my life I had been accustomed to being taken care of and nurtured by strong, wonderful women, first by my mom and Granny, and then by my wife, Dianne.I have to admit that I was more than a little scared about being single and alone in Hollywood.Nevertheless, the thought of being available to the women of Hollywood seemed intriguing.So, I dated … and I dated … and I dated for about eight months.That's as long as the thrill lasted.I was making one to three films every year, and by the time each movie was completed, I was drained emotionally, physically, and spiritually.To counter my workaholic tendencies, I recognized that I needed some time away from work for rest and relaxation.Not the type of guy to sit around for long, I wanted to find some activity that would fill the void in my life yet transport my heart and mind away from the workplace for a while.I remembered Steve McQueen telling me that his favorite form of relaxation was racing a car or a motorcycle since racing required his mind to be totally focused and completely centered on the task at hand rather than on his latest movie.When the race was over, he relaxed thoroughly, mostly from exhaustion! Steve's method sounded like something that might work for me.Being competitive by nature, I entered a celebrity truck race behind the wheel of a souped-up Nissan in the Frontier 100 Mile Off-Road Race held in Las Vegas, competing against other celebrity drivers, many of whom had been racing for years.Amazingly, I placed first! Not surprisingly, after winning that race, I was hooked.Soon after that first win, I entered another celebrity off-road race with my son Eric—then nineteen years old—as my codriver.We were in the lead until I rolled the truck over three times.Fortunately, we weren't hurt, but the wreck left Eric and me stranded in the desert for hours!I had entered and won several more celebrity races when the Vegas race promoters told me they had a ringer to race against me in the Mint 400 in Las Vegas.The night of the pre-race party, a man walked in wearing a racing helmet that covered his face.I stared at him, trying to figure out who he might be.He walked up to me and took off his helmet.To my surprise, it was my brother Aaron!Aaron is as competitive as I am and had been a stunt driver in many films, so I knew I was in for a real challenge.The following morning, when the race began, Aaron immediately took the lead with me following behind, a close second.During off-road races there are designated stops where drivers are given beads to prove they have not taken illegal shortcuts.Every time I came to a stop, I'd ask, “How far is Aaron ahead of me?”The first reply was, “Ten minutes.” The second reply was, “Six minutes.” The third reply was, “Two minutes.”Aaron later told me that he believed he was way ahead of me, so he slowed down as he got closer to the finish line.He was shocked when he crossed the finish line and six seconds later I came flying through.Steve McQueen was right.The most relaxed I ever felt was after driving that Nissan truck in an off-road race.In 1985, Michael Reagan, President Reagan's son, broke the world powerboat record from Chicago to Detroit with a time of twelve hours, thirty-four minutes, twenty seconds.In 1989, I was offered the opportunity to break Michael's world record in a race sanctioned by the American Power Boat Association.I jumped at the chance [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]