I ran into a friendly face at the track. This was a guy that was fairly new to the sport of karting and he has a nice soul. He saw that I was coaching my son and how I was communicating with him over the radio communication system we were using. As he saw the connection between my son and me, he soon started to ask questions about his driving, and then we dove deeper into driving techniques, and soon after that what to do and where. Throughout our conversations, I noticed that he was able to take in the information that I was giving him and applying them. He was a rather large guy so I had to adjust my advice to suit his size and driving style. It was completely different than the driving style of my son, who is smaller than the average eleven-year-old. What made giving him advice so fun is that we were having a conversation about driving. I wasn’t teaching him to do things he already knew but I just had to instruct him what to do and where to help him discover what worked for him. He would then give me feedback and this back and forth went on for the several times we saw each other at the track.
One evening, we were all there practicing before one of the league race nights. I noticed him in the background somewhat distant from others. So I approached him to see how he was doing. He said that he was fine, but you could tell in his voice that not all was fine. I asked him if he was going to race that night and the response that I got, was fairly shocking as he said, “no.” When I asked him “why?” the response I got was just as surprising; “I’m just not fast enough and I don’t want to get in people’s way.” At first, I thought he was kidding and then I saw that he wasn’t. I looked at him straight in the eyes and told him that he is fast enough. I told him to not worry about other people and to worry only about the things that he can control; to work on his driving and to become better. I reminded him that everyone there was not fast in the beginning and that all of us had years of practice to get to where we were at that point. Still not convinced, I also pointed out that by giving up, that was taking away, not only seat time, but experience driving with other racers. I told him that the number one, main reason why I got to the level I did was that I raced against people that were faster than me and from that, I could see, feel and hear what those guys were doing and what I could do to copy or see where I could improve to be faster. Soon after our conversation, he decided to participate in that evening’s league races.
I’m just not fast enough and I don’t want to get in people’s way.
I think this is an important message. Many people feel like they can’t compete because they are not fast enough. The idea behind competing isn’t always about “the other guy” but instead it’s about yourself. How do you expect to improve if you’re not out there working hard for it and putting yourself in a situation to learn from? Champions are not there because they’re lucky… well, actually in motorsports, there’s a lot to do with luck. However, you have to create your own luck or put yourself out there to be lucky, in the first place! If you’re going to give up, do it because you don’t enjoy it and go discover something that you will enjoy. Don’t give up because you’re not good at it compared to other people. Instead, work on improving yourself and the other things will fall into place. I was extremely proud of this man for not giving up but more importantly for taking the opportunity to try and learn to be a better driver.