dealing with fear

If you could have made it without calamity, it was fear.

yea, Karts are fun, but I've got the BMod car and that takes care of my business quite well.

walterj wrote:

Per Schroeder wrote: I think part of it is that I'm also a little car conscious and I'd rather not have to deal with fixing someone else's mistake. Do_not_mind fixing my own. Oh, and I get bored going around the same track over and over.

So you prefer a quick test of skill, and no damage to your car... How about kart racing then. Its cheap, fast, short duration and still has the intensity (probably more if the bruises are an indication)...you can auto-x them too so you aren't giving anything up. I am not telling you anything you don't already know... more like I'm trying to convince myself. I can't seem to make the leap from tin tops but on paper the kart is the answer to all of my racing problems regarding cost/space/towing/value etc. My son is learning on a CRG cadet chassis this season so there is also a family aspect looming. I just can't seem to fall in love even though I'm pumped after a 20 min sprint.

on race day my bladder shrinks to the size of a pea...all apprehension is gone once on the track.

"If you are not emotionally and financially prepared to leave your car and health in the dumpster, then you should not be racing."

This is a great quote and deeper than you first think.

I have been very nervous but not quite scared, once the flag falls I am totally in the moment. I am not the best driver in the world but neither am I the worst.

I guess I have a flaw, I do not fear death I just want to be the best I can be. This relates to driving and life in general, I have often thought I would be proud to die defending my family, my countries or just doing all I could to actually enjoy being a part of the human experience. It is not a death wish but a desire to be someone who actually LIVED

My greatest fear is to die sitting on a couch watching television.

"My greatest fear is to die sitting on a couch watching television."

QOTW!

I've been a bracket racer on and off - my fear is watching the other car if it's considerably faster after it flys by near the finish line But it's easier than driving to work and having to watch out for all the in-attentive drivers without skills.

You can live a safe life and wait to die or live life for all it has and taking chances is part of that. I have gained so much by sticking the neck out that I would have not had if I played safe.

Tim Suddard wrote: Speaking of fear, my son Tommy ran Road Atlanta a few weeks ago, at 15 years old. I wasn't real afraid of his abilities, and the NASA event he was at and his instructor, Ron Delvalle, had things totally under control. I was a little worried if something went wrong I would be buried in the patio with the rest of the people that pissed Margie off.

And I thought I was the only one who had a wife like that. I try not to watch when my kids drive on track and I am confident in their abilities - but it is a constant fear when you see the red flag and they are not in sight. A couple of times they were the reason for the red/black and I am still not buried in the stables. My oldest (a whopping 20 now) ran both Thunder races on Sunday (at the Rd ATL event) - my only fear was some clown being stupid (like trying to pass in the grass on the front straight at the start) and causing an incident. When I ran the Thunder race on Saturday my only fear was to my wallet from an on track incident - I was preoccuppied with sweating.

As far as personal fear - if I am breathing in a corner I know I am not driving fast enough. Not really fear but a need to take it to where it is at the limit just to feel I did.

We saw you guys at check in on Friday and off/on all weekend - looks like you had fun.

I got the new issue...

"And that is the magic of racing."

Well done, Tim. You hit the nail square on the head with the concept of "comfort". That seems to be the difference. Once again, our old truths raise themselves again. Know the car, know the course. Don't push it until you do.

And next time you talk to Pobst, ask him about coming downhill from 11 to 12 at Road Atlanta before there was a chicane back at 10 to slow you down.

I've got home vid of the 93 Runoffs where he was trying to run through there fast enough to get a run on Fiala into 1.

I'm more afraid of hurting someone else than myself. (I'm disposable) Big fear moment was losing it in a coner, tail came out, and was within a hair of wiping out the spec racer ford that I was trying to pass on the inside. I was driving a spec Miata. (It was a "mixed bag" co-driver race.) Wrecking a car, worse if it's someone elses, runs a close second.

Tim Suddard wrote: I was just sitting down to write my next column and I have been thinking about fear when racing. How many of you race? Are you scared when you race? What scares you?

I just got my new GRM and your column was an excellent read!

your comment, "the ones who aren't scared are the ones you need to watch out for" reminded me of something my grandfather used to always say:

"Confidence comes from having done something enough times to know that you are reasonably good at it....Arrogance is when someone has no experience but thinks they are the best; they mask their ineptitude with ego and bluster - those are the people you have to look out for."

friedgreencorrado wrote: ...coming downhill from 11 to 12 at Road Atlanta before there was a chicane back at 10 to slow you down.

Those were the days! 2000 pound car hits the dip at turn 10 at maximum speed, Now weighs ~3500 pounds (lotsa suspension breakage there). Under the bridge and down th hill to turn 12, now your car effectively weighs ~1000 pounds. The elavation change was brutal, but lotsa fun to watch! One of the greatest courses ever.

In reply to NYG95GA:

My first drivers' school was there, in a ITB Golf A1. Lil' story that actually relates to the topic (for a change )..I'd been a Corner Worker for years before the school, and was the only one who noticed when the yellows were removed on the backstraight. We'd all been bunched up behind someone who'd just been cruising around in 3rd-4th gear. We came out of 7, and when I saw no yellow at 8, I promptly pulled out of line, went to WOT and passed about ten cars. So...I pass the Worker stand at 9, and it hits me.

This ain't the street. No excuse to lift. My friends are watching.

I start down the hill, headed for the kink at the bottom of The Dip, and my throttle leg starts shaking. I've wanted to do this since I was a child..after all these years, do I not have the stuff for it after all? I'm just about to reach down with my hand and push my leg back down, when there was an almost phyiscal shock-starting in the center of my forehead, and seemingly working its way across my crown & down the back of my neck. It felt like someone pouring water on my scalp. I've always thought it was the adrenelin kicking in, but I've never felt like that since. Maybe I just learned how to turn it on slowly in Grid, instead of having it kick in all at once.

All of a sudden, my leg stopped quaking. I started breathing again. I roared (well, as much as a VW 1800 8v can roar, anyhoo..) through the kink at the bottom of 10, set the car up on the left, picked a braking marker & downshifted, and drifted just the slightest lil' bit through 11. When I came out from under the bridge and headed down the hill to 12 I was a completely different person. "I can do this!" Swept through 12 laughing like a villain, and headed off for 1 with a grin like the Cheshire Cat.

I knew I wasn't going to set the world on fire, but I also knew I could go out there without hurting anyone or embarassing myself. It took Tim's article for me to finally hang a name on that feeling. Confidence. That's what conquers fear. You build it step by step. Confidence in yourself by being just as honest about your achievments (even something as small as "..am I the only guy who knows what these flags mean?.." or coming in 10th and noticing everyone in 11th-16th spent more money than you did) as you are with your failings. Confidence in your equipment by getting as much seat time in it as you can, taking good notes, and doing the maintenence even when you'd rather be doing something else.

So, yeah...I miss The Dip. The damn thing made me a man. I kind of wish they'd found a way to keep the old configuration for a "club" course, while slowing down the prototypes enough to keep professional racing (much like they with this recent re-design at Lime Rock), but hey..whatever Dr. Don has to do to keep it a racetrack instead of a housing development is cool with me.

Road Atlanta, Original Course: Paul Reckert, Datsun 240z, early 1990s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l95zOIBpr7Y&feature=related

44Dwarf wrote: on race day my bladder shrinks to the size of a pea...all apprehension is gone once on the track.

You too? Man, in my motorcycle days it seemed like I had to pee every 10 seconds right up till the start. The butterflies kicked in as well, they lasted till about halfway through the first turn then it was ride as fast as you can. AX doesn't do that to me but hillclimbs do, as did LeMons.

Jensenman wrote:

44Dwarf wrote: on race day my bladder shrinks to the size of a pea...all apprehension is gone once on the track.

You too? Man, in my motorcycle days it seemed like I had to pee every 10 seconds right up till the start. The butterflies kicked in as well, they lasted till about halfway through the first turn then it was ride as fast as you can. AX doesn't do that to me but hillclimbs do, as did LeMons.

I've never done the bike thing (but sometimes wish I had). Never did a hillclimb, either..but since it's a real road, I could see getting the feeling on.

I don't mean to demean autocross (and considering how slow I am, I probably have no buisness saying this!), but I gotta go with J-man here. That doesn't give it to me. I do it because I feel like I ought to be doing something instead of sitting on the couch at home. The tight courses (and I'll admit-the fact that they're different every event) make me feel more like it's a lab experiment instead of a rocket launch. What's LeMons like? I know they like tight courses to keep the speeds down, but it seems like being wheel-to-wheel racing would get those old juices flowing!

Of course, if any of y'all with a fire-breathing AMod ride want to put me in your car long enough to teach me differently about autocross, I would not say no...

Steve Allen had a great quote: "Most people are afraid of loud noises and falling. I'm afraid of making a loud noise when I fall."