Speed Secrets: Race Car Drivers are Human

I used to hate all race car drivers.

The list of race car drivers I’ve hated over the past four decades is long. Very long. The list of race car drivers I’ve learned to like over the past decade is also very long. In fact, with the exception of one or two, the lists are the same.

When I competed against other race car drivers, I didn’t like many of them, but as I got to know them, I had a big Aha! moment: they’re human, have other interests, are very interesting people when not behind the wheel, they have families, and are genuinely good people.

Funny how perspectives change when you’re not wearing a helmet and looking at anyone else who is wearing a helmet as the “bad guy.”

More recently, as a coach of race car drivers in endurance racing where there are multiple drivers in a team, I’ve had the experience of a new driver coming into the team I’m working with. Often, I’m coaching one particular driver, and they’re being paired up with a new co-driver. Immediately my alarms go off and I walk into this situation in the “I don’t like you” mode. I admit that this is not a good trait of mine. In fact, I don’t like the fact that I’m starting off by not liking someone.

Ironically, I believe there are two types of people in the world: those who begin by trusting another until it’s proven that that someone shouldn’t be trusted, and those who start off by not trusting another until the person proves they should be trusted. I’m the former – I trust people until they prove that I shouldn’t trust them. And yet, when it comes to drivers, I start off not liking them until they prove I should. Again, it’s not a trait I’m proud of, but I think it’s part of the make-up of a pro race driver.

After this year’s Spanish GP, my wife made a comment about Max Verstappen, asking why he couldn’t have let his teammate, Sergio Perez, have the fast lap of the race (and the point that goes with it). My response was simple: because he’s a race car driver…

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