I think some of the keyboard studs on here need to take a Frank Hawley class and try to drive something down the strip at more than 150mph. Once you get past that hurdle, let me know when you get your first Wally. People who have been in the sport for decades are still waiting for theirs. The skill it takes to do this sport at the highest level is, while very different, is no less than what it takes to compete in NASCAR. A fat checkbook can get you into either sport, but by no means guarantees you will be credible.
The determination and focus Erica showed yesterday was no less than what Danica showed. Hours of intense preparation for seconds of execution at the correct moments. Danica was third just a couple of laps before the finish but failed to execute properly and ended up eighth. Erica spent hours (from about 11:30am to about 4pm) doing the same and came out on top. Except if Danica had made a poor pit stop or some other loss of focus, she had hours to make up for it. Erica would have been on the trailer.
Yup. I race Top Dragster, but in the past I've raced bicycles, motorcycles, 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, street cars
o), door cars, and stock cars. Each has a certain skill set, some people are better suited for one more than the other, but none are easy to master to the point where you can compete with the best of the best. In each sport there are people that have spent their entire lifetime perfecting their craft. To say that it would be easy to step in with a checkbook and out-perform someone that is competitive in a sport is naive in my opinion.
We only stock car raced 4 years, but it is a different focus than drag racing. You are concentrating on the fastest line if you are out front or not in traffic. You are thinking about being smooth, about how to pass the next car or making it hard on the car behind you to get around you. Focused, yes, but if "I shouldn't have eaten that chili dog" slips into your mind for a second you don't automatically lose the race. In drag racing, that thought creates a .150 light instead of the .005 you needed.
From that perspective, I always thought stock car racing was "easier", because you could work on your game as the race and season progressed. Very little chance for that in drag racing--you get another shot next weekend.
One of the big mental challenges in drag racing is being consistent. If you sit next in line for an hour as they clean up an oildown, you have to be instantly "on" when they tell you to fire it up. And not just "on", but the same level of intensity, heart rate, breathing, and thought process whether it is first round of a weekend race or the final round of a national event. It's easy to get too jacked up and red light, or too calm and go .050 on the tree. Stock car racing I always found easier to be consistent because you get warm up laps and time to get in the goove.
When you and your crew have worked hard on the car, it's late in the rounds and you roll out from under the tower and there is 20,000 people in the stands staring at you, for me THAT is a lot of pressure to perform and perform in the exact same way as every other time. I can only imagine what that is like strapped BEHIND 10,000 hp, on national TV, with big-time sponsors to please and high expectations from everyone. If that doesn't affect your ability to focus and do the same exact burnout, same heat in the clutch, same backup procedure, same staging procedure, hit the tree the same, keep that monster in the groove, think about pedaling it at the exact right time, go 320-325 mph, hit the 'chutes and hopefully stop safely, you have icewater running through your veins and should be doing something other than banging on a keyboard!
