What My Most Successful Drivers Have in Common (not money)
Very quickly this characteristic emerges at the race track. It's what fuels drivers when the normal would give up.
Racing is stupid, surely we agree on that?
It is the most profligate and wasteful way to spend money known to humanity. It absorbs all your time, and most of that time involves crushing disappointment!
Therefore when I see a driver fully spit the dummy and do their nut, just because they didn’t meet their own (often ridiculous) expectations I am ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED!
How come?
Because in a completely irrational pursuit you need a thoroughly unreasonable attitude and disproportionate emotional energy to keep going flat out. And the strongest indicator of the required staying power is when a driver cannot contain their disappointment in themselves, and it comes out with tears and tantrums.
I’ve seen this materialise in one way or another with just about every driver of note I have worked with. Storming off, locking themselves in the car, shouting, screaming, crying, refusing to remove their helmet or even get out of the kart - the examples of histrionics is vast. This isn’t always young drivers either!
For sure this can cause lots of problems and it’s a good idea to try and channel your emotional power so that you don’t become a nightmare to have around, BUT the power has to be there in this absurd and magnificent occupation.
What if you are naturally cool, calm and collected.
I don't reckon you are totally chill, otherwise you wouldn't be into racing. If you have a cool exterior I bet that you are keeping a lid on a lot of emotional power that you don't know what to do with.
It might feel uncomfortable to even contemplate the idea of ‘losing control’ because racing is all about control.
If you have experienced how high emotion can mess with your driving then it makes perfect sense to strategically suppress things like anger, fear and anything else that fills you with adrenaline.
Suppression can also dull the discomfort of nerves between races, it can be bloody awful waiting around all day at the track feeling nervous the whole time.
So, I get it. Life can be a lot easier if you can hold down your emotions BUT that comes at a cost. Here's the danger:
If you manage to control yourself, make yourself unemotional and rational then eventually that cold logic spreads and eventually it says ‘racing isn't worth it’ and slowly the impetus to race fades. Other more normal attractions of life start to appeal, safer more comfortable things.
If you are a racing driver then I reckon the above paragraph either frightens you, or if you've been through that already, it might burn a bit. But so long as you aren't dead it's all redeemable!
So get started releasing the beast, a bit at a time. You don't have to go berserk, just allow some of that power to start emerging.
Here, let Bruce Lee talk you through it. (any excuse I get to throw in Bruce Lee I’ll take)
A bit of ‘emotional content' will do to get you started, then you can open the taps a bit more as you go.
So get started!
Until next time
Terence