Do you think you could be a good competitive driver? NASCAR, Indy, etc.?

[Jack FFR1846]

I've told my story of stopping playing the guitar for 30 years. 25 of those years was amature roadracing. 12 years of that, I was instructing on the track. I was well aware of the fact that to make a small fortune in auto racing, you have to start with a large fortune.

Any pro racing is huge money. At races like the ALMS series, teams come with 3 tractor trailers of support. Spare cars, full machine shops, parts galore and a team of paid workers. Crash a Ferrari on practice day, use up $50k worth of parts and come back for race day. Way above my pay grade. The NASCAR guys have to be able to concentrate for hours on the track at 140 degree cockpit temps and then do press and promotion and on to the next race a week later. It seems like a very tough life to me.

[getbent]

I think I could have been adequate, but not great.

I mean, I'm no Dick Trickle.

[elicross]

Heh. You said "Dick Trickle." When I was younger, the company my dad worked for was one of his sponsors. I was just the right age to get a chuckle out of Trickle's name. (Actually, after all these years, I'm still the right age. )

I think this thread kinda boils down to talent vs. skill: How much of competitive racing success comes from natural talent and how much comes from training and experience? I think it's probably like all other sports; with sufficient training and practice, the average guy can become adequate -- maybe even good -- but greatness requires more than just training and practice; it requires a certain innate talent. Which is why I was actually going out on a limb just saying I could be good with the right training.

(Is that redundant? "Innate talent"? We could probably have a whole discussion on that alone. )

[ne4tt]

Mebbe I could excel at demolition derby?

jaime

[Toriginal]

I was a good drag racer and darn good at go carting but at those speeds with so little protection I think I would have just crapped my pants. Not to mention having someone else work on the car? Noway. That's just insanity. I'll do my own wrenching thanks.

[musicalmartin]

Originally Posted by KokoTele

Five years or so ago they starting installing whirlygigs on all the roads around here. (You may know them as traffic circles, but I'm calling them whirlygigs to better describe the comically absurd way people drive on them)

On every trip I'm always looking for the straightest line across, and if I have to take a turn I'm always trying to downshift and break at the right time so I can hit the apex and accelerate away. On a good day I can pick up one or two positions.

I do this a lot .Its called the racing line .I do it mainly to piss off drivers in larger cars who think they will shove me out of the way on a "roundabout" .It can work with most autos even cheap grotty ones but its a real hoot in an auto built for it .I had several Ford XR3's.They cornered like on rails with gas filled Bilsteins and their acceleration out of corners just left other cars standing still even if sticking to speed limits .You can come unstuck though or rather others can .I tried outcornering a tricked out Honda one evening who insisted on trying to make it through the roundabout by cutting me up and the car looked like a real racer but its ride height looked a bit high for a real hot car .It proved right .The Honda went straight on instead of cornering and turned over .It was stock underneath and flabby .
My favorite for outcornering any car was my daughters 1275 Metro .it had the hydragas suspension which meany you could drop the front suspension and alter the wheel camber to negative camber like F1 cars.This produced awsome cornering and often if some dude overtook me midcorner I could hang him or her out to dry in the opposite lane by going up the inside as they went wide .huge fun but dangerous for them..
It all sound a bit dangerous but I only did to people who tried to shove me out of the way .The look on their faces was priceless and still is .I can still out corner most cars by taking the racing line even with a Golf or BMW automatic.An old mans small pleasure

[KC]

When I was a kid, and my dad let me drive his Sunbeam Tiger, I thought I know what I was doing. Looking back, I'm just glad I didn't kill myself -- or anybody else.

Any lingering doubts, take a look at that recent (and I thought pretty damn fascinating) film bio of Ayrton Senna. Blinding talent, endless nerve, and a pirate mentality -- that guy would run you off the road in a tricycle race. Died behind the wheel. Lived before he died.

[spikypaddy]

Originally Posted by musicalmartin

I do this a lot .Its called the racing line .I do it mainly to piss off drivers in larger cars who think they will shove me out of the way on a "roundabout" .It can work with most autos even cheap grotty ones but its a real hoot in an auto built for it .I had several Ford XR3's.They cornered like on rails with gas filled Bilsteins and their acceleration out of corners just left other cars standing still even if sticking to speed limits .You can come unstuck though or rather others can .I tried outcornering a tricked out Honda one evening who insisted on trying to make it through the roundabout by cutting me up and the car looked like a real racer but its ride height looked a bit high for a real hot car .It proved right .The Honda went straight on instead of cornering and turned over .It was stock underneath and flabby .
My favorite for outcornering any car was my daughters 1275 Metro .it had the hydragas suspension which meany you could drop the front suspension and alter the wheel camber to negative camber like F1 cars.This produced awsome cornering and often if some dude overtook me midcorner I could hang him or her out to dry in the opposite lane by going up the inside as they went wide .huge fun but dangerous for them..
It all sound a bit dangerous but I only did to people who tried to shove me out of the way .The look on their faces was priceless and still is .I can still out corner most cars by taking the racing line even with a Golf or BMW automatic.An old mans small pleasure

I think you're the first person I've ever heard sing the praises of an Austin Metro!

I would love to have a go on a race track, but I know full well that I don't have the skill to be able to pull it off! The drivers I really admire are rally drivers - the guys who compete in the WRC are legends pure and simple!

:EDIT: Actually that's not entirely true - those group B Metro 6R4s were meant to be complete monsters!

[cj11l]

Yeah, maybe in my younger days. Raced 12 years in a dirt latemodel and a couple years in open wheel ( started in go kart racing ) Older I got, more I realized that a hard hit into the fence is going to hurt. Got out of it after that. Won some races, and actually was interested when the Indy cars first started running Olds Aurora engines since I was a Service Manager at on Olds dealership at the time, but since Indy has gone on to rule out the "little guy" . Oh well, The dream of sitting on the front stretch and listening to Back Home Again In Indiana as I am buckling in will always be a dream

[thorton077]

sorry but i never got people who watch nascar. you sit there for hours watching cars go around a track a billion times. I just think it's so monotonous.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by getbent

I think I could have been adequate, but not great.

I mean, I'm no Dick Trickle.

I have video tape that proves otherwise.

[tazzboy]

I'm not that good at judging distance and speed with Asperger Syndrome that one thing I am not good at all.

Now my mom she could cause she used to race stocks for fun.

[Nick JD]

I forget the exact numbers, but something like 80% of drivers (on the road) believe they are "better than average" at driving.

You don't need to be a stats man to know that only 50% can make that call.

Me? I'm a great driver! I could race! That said - I'd love to know where I would get on the Top Gear wall. Pity I'm not a celebrity.

[Slow Reflexes]

I know the stats on the "above average driver" mentality... but still, I'm certain I have the aptitude for many driving sports, assuming I could fit into the car (are there any 2m drivers?). No freakin' way I'd have the intestinal fortitude for competitive cycling (motor or otherwise), or football, or any other moneymaking athletic venture with the possible exception of bowling.

Idiocy, I have in spades.

[tfsails]

I love speed! I love hard cornering! I haven't done a whole lot of racing but I've done enough to know that sometimes less is more, like a slower speed through cornesr produces quicker lap times, and that it's real hard for me to control my speed consistently.

Would I be good? Given enough practice, yes. Am I now? No.

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by getbent

I think I could have been adequate, but not great.

I mean, I'm no Dick Trickle.

You should start working that line into as many threads as you can.

When Trickle was active... and Sports Center was still good... I used to love to hear those guys always report where Trickle finished in every-single-race.

"Allison finishes first, followed by Rudd in second, and Rusty Wallace in third."

"Dick Trickle, the man, finishes in 26th."

[Nick JD]

All the people that think they can do this don't realise that they actually can't. The cars require that you are brave enough to thash them, or the aero technology doesn't work - you crash if you can't drive them at 100%.

Hit Eau Rouge at 300kph - all good - hit it at 250, you would end up in a fast helicopter.

[muchxs]

Sprint cars. Man, those are cool! 410 cubic inches and you can't buy any of it at the Chevy dealer. They run on anhydrous alcohol. About 800 horsepower, 1300 pounds with a single disc brake in the rear. No transmission, no differential. They're a motor, a place to sit and a gi-normous wing. They pay homage to '50s Offenhauser indy cars. The tail section / fule cell is modeled on an ancient Indy Offy. 150 mph sideways on damp clay.

Yeah, I can drive one. It's a matter of calibrating yer ass on a sideways motorcycle. With age comes a cage. It's a lot less painfull to flippy-flop into the catch fence strapped into a nice comfortable race seat than it is so sled into the haybales while yer bike beats you on the head. Trust me on this!

[otterhound]

No doubt in my mind . Back in something like 1995 , I was approached by Rogert Snodgrass Jr while at Daytona about making the switch from road racing motorcycles to cars . He was putting together a team and was looking for a driver to team with a youngster named David Donohue to drive another car for Brumos in the prototype class . Guess I should have said yes , but I still wanted to race bikes . I saw him again at the Rolex 24 in 2005 in the pits . Darned if he didn't remember my name . He introduced me to a few of the Porsche reps in attendance .
RIP Mr Snodgrass and thank you for the chance at a shot that most will never have .

[goonie]

Two thirds of respondents believe they could have been a competitive top-level race car driver ... denial is not just a river in Egypt!