Oh, yeah, I remember hypercompetitive parents. I also remember working with my father to help my younger brother with his car; we did everything we could legally do to reduce friction and assure smooth running while getting it to the maximum weight. Even painted it British Racing Green, only proper color,, y'know.
Then again, I've also served as a judge for SAE student aircraft competitions and those can be quite competitive and techy on their own; great fun to judge, too, since written and oral presentations are judged in addition to the flying competition.