Grassroots philosophy

(TLDR version at the bottom of post.)

So I have to write a literary analysis about a novel for my English 102 class and I'm using The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It's only been out a few months since the book was released and I'm having trouble coming up with good literary criticism on the book so I'm taking a slight change of direction on what I'm writing on. It's still related to the book, in a slight stretch, but this is my basic thesis statement that my professor accepted. I know it's a bit bland but I already turned in the research proposal and he accepted it, so I'm going to stick with it instead of trying to come up with something genius.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is about Denny, an aspiring race car driver, who believes that life, much like racing, isn’t simply about going fast and by using the techniques and philosophies needed on the race track one can successfully navigate through life's ordeals.

So I've come here to the well of infinite knowledge to all that is racing & life, Grassroots motorsports dot com Message Boards!

Basically what I'm looking for is what have you learned from racing/wrenching/car culture that has helped you in the non-racing related part of your life?

I'll start off the thread with an example I'm using from the book. In the book, Denny, says that when racing in the rain one must manifest what is before you. "If I intentionally make the car do something, then I can predict what it's going to do. In other words, its only unpredictable if i'm not possessing it. So you spin the car before the car spins itself. If I initiate the action then I know it's going to happen before it happens then I can react to it before the car knows it's happening."

In life this can mean that if you can get one step ahead of the potential problem, you'll know how to react to that potential problem before it becomes a real problem.

Too long, didn't read version: Gimme good racing philosophies that can relate to life as well.

Pick your eyes up. The farther you look ahead, the slower things seem to come at you, the more relaxed you will be, and the more fun you will have.

Set-it and forget-it. Set up for the turn ahead. Look where you want to end up. Once you're set on one turn, don't worry about it anymore, focus on your exit point. Don't waste your mental energy with what's behind you.

Always go 10/10ths. But know where that threshold is.

Those last two lead to my ultimate personal philosophy: act decisively. Don't hesitate. Make a decision and commit to it. You cannot commit halfway. Commit to something fully. That thing might end up being incorrect. If that turns out to be the case, pick a new course and commit to that fully. Deciding not to act is an action. Deciding to gather more information is also an action.

It is better to control your vehicle off the track than to be on track and lose control.

Always be smooth and relaxed with your controls. Don't rush. Don't panic. Pay attention to what's happening and work with that rather than trying to fight it. You won't win.

Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast.

Slow in + fast out is better than fast in + tree.

Rally X folk are waaayyy more laid back than auto X folk, in general. And those who do both are berkeleying awesome. This one relates to life in the sense that, well, just because you are participating in a racing event doesn't mean the finish line is the only goal. Friendships and fun are just as important, so don't get super competitive to the point that you are not fun to be around or you'll miss out on a lot. Or something like that.

Losing my license three times taught me patience. I had to wait for three years. Plus, it allowed me not to run out and buy a car, and get an apartment and such, so I didn't screw up my credit, so all of it has benefited me now.

Also, never wreck your car swerving to miss a puddle so your clean car stays clean. Meaning, don't make a big problem trying to dodge a much smaller one.

Joey

Axiom:

In order to finish first, you must first finish.

Life Application:

At any given moment, there will be people who are ahead of you…the guy that made a killing on a risky stock, the lady that started a successful business by borrowing against her house, etc.

You don’t see the people who failed by using overly aggressive strategies just like you don’t see the cars that are out of the race by being driven overly aggressively.

Don’t be fooled by the illusion that over aggression tends to be rewarded; it isn’t.

You may win on the track, but you can lose at the shop, in the pits, or in the wall.

Lessons from racing.

1) Where you are at on course (or in life) at any given point in time is a result of what you did 5,10 or 15 seconds (or hours, days months) behind you somewhere. You can't change it. You only have control over where you go from here. So focus on where you are driving to, not where you at right now.

2) Almost any idiot can go fast in a straight line. It takes brains and experience to find a straight (or straighter) line in any tangled mess of turns.

3) Fix whats not working first. If your car doesn't turn well, work on that. More power from a new engine will just to put you off course faster. There are lots of application for this. If your business loses money on every customer, more customers will put you out of business sooner. I am sure the board can add plenty more.

Basically what I'm looking for is what have you learned from racing/wrenching/car culture that has helped you in the non-racing related part of your life?

1. It's a lot cheaper to berkeley something up yourself than to pay someone else to berkeley it up for you.

This applies to most things in life. HVAC repair, hardwood floor installation, plumbing, etc., etc., etc. Pretty much the only things I'll pay someone else to do are those that are required by the government (i.e., medical stuff...though I have performed "surgery" on myself more than once.,) or things that require an insanely expensive piece of equipment that will never pay for itself.

1. Talk to strangers wherever you go. You'll be amazed what you have in common with some folks, just by asking what they're into.

2. Sometimes "free" is expensive.

"You can't win a race in the first turn, but you can lose it there."

Life is not a sprint, its an enduro.

I've got another great one:

Drive your own line. Don't worry about what the person ahead of you or behind you is doing. Just drive your own line.

More than one person has been lead into a crash because they were focusing on the car ahead of them and not on their own path through the course.

Alonso wrote: ... I'm having trouble coming up with good literary criticism on the book so I'm taking a slight change of direction on what I'm writing on...

Of no real help, but is it too late to pick a book you can come up with a good literary critism about?

Salanis wrote: Pick your eyes up. The farther you look ahead, the slower things seem to come at you, the more relaxed you will be, and the more fun you will have. Set-it and forget-it. Set up for the turn ahead. Look where you want to end up. Once you're set on one turn, don't worry about it anymore, focus on your exit point. Don't waste your mental energy with what's behind you.

I think these are my favorite two as of yet. Really solid.

Eric

Osterkraut wrote:

Alonso wrote: ... I'm having trouble coming up with good literary criticism on the book so I'm taking a slight change of direction on what I'm writing on...

Of no real help, but is it too late to pick a book you can come up with a good literary critism about?

Not too late to change but my research proposal was accepted. I own a couple other books that met the research criteria but after reading four books in two weekends I'm not too excited about starting to read Old School by Tobias Wolff or Homemade Love by California Cooper.

And thanks everyone for the great input! I'll surely have more than enough material to cover the 8 page minimum for the project.

Shake... and Bake...fist bump

Don't worry about the other guy - pay attention to your own driving. Watching what the other guy is doing is just taking focus away from your own actions.

That said... be aware of what's going on around you.

Never trust German engineering, ever. (What, this doesn't apply to real life? :) )

"We may not win any races, but we never lost a party" Delma Cowart

Race cars don't ever love you back.

Wally wrote: "We may not win any races, but we never lost a party" Delma Cowart

This sounds like something the Hongs would say.

If you think rallycross guys are cool, you should hang with stage rally guys. For some reason, they are about the coolest group of people I have ever met. That said, I am one of those "rallycross guys who also autocrosses", so according to ECM, I am "berkeleying awesome"