The hard lessons of a 16-year-old dirt track racer

With the nights getting longer and colder, most dirt track racing leagues around the country will run their final laps of the year over the next couple of weekends. Calling it a "grassroots" motorsport makes it seem too calculated; it's a pure and accessible form of speed, featuring racers who have to serve as their own mechanics, ad buyers and engineers for a paltry reward. In "Dirt Racer," a short by Seattle filmmakers Lucid Inc., a Texas teen-ager demonstrates what it takes to get on the track — and how it can be to keep up, with more excitement in a few minutes than most hours-long NASCAR races.

Dirt Racer from Lucid Inc. on Vimeo.