It's no secret that Eric Bostrom and I drove to Daytona together last March after bad weather hit the Atlanta airport. We left ATL at around 6:00 PM in a rental car, stopping just for gas and pair of Subway sandwiches.

We talked about a million different things that night, the car's headlights piercing the darkness towards Florida. Books, movies, the gulf war, dirt bikes, music, fathers, politics, women, coffee, kids, our mutual hatred for network television and the like. Eric is a pretty deep guy, a very cerebral sort of renaissance fellow with a million interests outside of racing, so the words flowed easy.

He said several profound things on that drive, one of which I'll share here. I told him that what scared me the most about getting older is the time acceleration factor, that days grow into months and into years so much faster as you age. After I said this, I asked Eric if that was his perception as well and really expected him to empathize. Most people over thirty do agree, almost universally, with the time acceleration declaration.

Eric didn't.

He said that for him, days pass very slowly and that he is mindful of each one as much as possible. He said that when he feels the days slipping by quickly, he takes that as a warning sign that he needs to stop and examine his life and figure out what is causing the time accelerator to kick in. And to stop it.

After Laguna Seca I asked Eric if he really wanted to race in 2009 and I could see in his eyes that he was mulling over a dilemma.

He called today and said that after some serious thought, he won't be racing in 2009. He stopped short of saying that he would now be retiring from racing, but did say that he wanted to take some time away, and "figure some sh*t out". Eric has property in California and also in South America and he said he'll be spending a lot of his time south of the border in 2009.

"For 21 years I've had the same goal, trying to be the fastest and win races. It's been an amazing experience but right now I need to take a break," he said. "I'm going to be working with the land next year and after that we'll see. I've felt more enlightened since I made this decision than I have in a long time."

"I'm not leaving the sport forever," Bostrom said, "I think what Ben proved this year is that you can come back and if the team is right and things are right in your head you can come back and make a mark. I'm not that old and I think also what you saw this year with Troy Bayliss is a good example too. You can come back and be at the top of your game."

We wish "EBoz" well and hope his days continue to go slowly.