The one thing you learned/did that made you faster?

Tiger - Precisely; on getting coaching and guidance from multiple sources. Ross is a good friend of mine and I have repeatedly thanked him for writing books so that I didn't have to as we think a lot alike. As an aside, if you read Senna's Principles of Race Driving, he even briefly goes into diet as well as fitness training, etc. I have worked with fitness trainers in the past to develop special regimes for drivers as being in a race car is a certainly a unique environment. I love talking with people who don't believe that NASCAR Cup is a sport that requires athletes. When they refer to Billy Joe Jim-Bob as "just driving around in circles", I often say "If you don't think those guys are athletes, you go sit in a 120 - 130 degree sauna, fighting a wheel that wants to pull extremely left all the time while subjecting yourself to 2.5 - 4 downward/lateral Gs every 15 - 18 seconds, sparring with 10 other dudes while on the brink of a spin for 3.5 - 4 straight hours. Then get out and tell me you didn't just do a massive workout..."

Not that I'm a big NASCAR guy (I like to hit the brakes and turn right every now and then... ) but slice it any way and racing is an athletic sport. That being said, it's also a very physical representation of a very mental game.

As for the 'crap' comment... I'm used to that, especially when I start associating things like driving and Tai Chi. There are lot's who believe that driving is a 'you've got it or you don't' type of art and that no amount of thinking outside the box-shaped drivable device is going to help you if you don't. Nothing wrong with that - they're entitled to their opinion just like anyone else. It's just the people who believe that it is a learned science and that skill level can always be improved - both inside the car and out - to prepare one to be on the track, will likely consistently pass by those who don't see it that way, leaving them wondering why/what just happened. Driving is both art and science and we have to nurture both sides if we are going to be our best at it. Some people simply don't see it that way.

I've been a coach for going on 10 years now and seen (and worked with) all types of drivers. There are those who are willing to do whatever it takes and those who aren't. Those who are usually find themselves up front. Look at Colin Braun for example. He started working with Ross Bentley when he was 13 years old and greatly impressed Ross, so he put him through lots of 'unorthodox' training. Now, at an age considered barely legal, he's now a major force with which to be reckoned in the NASCAR Truck series. It's just a shame that Jack Roush is one of those who believes that those who have it came out of the womb with a steering wheel already in their hands and that anyone who needs a coach is most likely a weakling and has no place on his team. If Jack would have brought Ross with Colin, Coin may already be in Sprint Cup, running up front there... Not to say he won't be there; just that if he would've kept Colin and Ross as a unit, progression would likely be/been accelerated.

Cheers & C U @ d'Track!!
C

Chuck Hawks,
Pro-Driver, Coach, Instructor & Facilitator
DreamsFulfilled, LLC & rEvolution Performance Driving System ©

 

(Relative newbie here) But doing the above has helped me more than anything I can think of. (Kind of like snow skiing, when my eyes are far down the hill instead of on the up coming turn, things smooth out, cause less fatigue, and makes me much faster).

"Seeing" as much of the track as possible also helpes with this...

Which means learning and trusting what your car will (and won't) do....(usually, there is so much more "car" than "trust" from me )

 

also melding aggressiveness and smoothess...an oxymoron in my mind so far.


Another thing that's helped me alot....when I make mistakes...they have to be "already forgotten". That mistake is now..."immediate history".. staying focused in the future, not what's already happened (whether good or bad), helps alot.