Fast Words, Still Images Story and photos by Dwight Drum Web work by Larsen & Drum
Luck & Work (Page Two)
Sources: Daytona International Speedway, ESPN Cafe @ Walt Disney World, Don Schumacher Racing, NASCAR and IndyCar teleconference calls
More Complete Answers to Luck and Work (Page Two)
Luck in motorsports is always a nebulous factor. Good luck and bad luck seem to show up on two sides of the same coin. You can count fingers, but don’t look for any hands capable of grasping and holding luck. Drivers in NASCAR, NHRA and IndyCar have strong thoughts on luck and work. Some think it's all effort, a skilled team working relentlessly. It might be a wild mix of work and luck that nabs wins.
Reporter Dwight Drum asked drivers:
Are good results mostly about hard work meeting good luck or hard work avoiding bad luck?
Jeff Burton (NASCAR)
"Most of the time you make your luck. There's certainly things that happen to you that are completely out of your control. You know, there's no question about that.
"But most of the time you had a play in the outcome. So, you know, people that subscribe to bad luck all the time I tend to buy into being people that don't take responsibility very well. So I do know that there's bad luck, and I do know that people go through periods where they don't have things going well for 'em, and it's completely out of their control. But for the most part this sport, you know, a lot of it is what you make of it. You know, and that bad luck tends to balance itself out with good luck. People forget about the good luck; they only remember the bad luck."
David Ragan (NASCAR)“Luck in motorsports, you create your own luck. I hate it when someone says, ‘Oh we had a loose wheel we had to come back down and got in a wreck. That’s bad luck.’ That’s not bad luck; the wheel shouldn’t have been left loose. If you’re slow and struggling and running twenty-fifth and you get in a wreck, they say that’s bad luck. You shouldn’t have been slow you should have been in fifth and you wouldn’t have wrecked. I think you create your own luck in this sport. Sometimes there are just bad situations to be in but I try not say anything. If luck happens it’s one of those things. We just try to be good and be on top of our game and it usually works out good for you.”
Patrick Carpentier (NASCAR)“I think results are getting speed and maintain it for a lot of laps. You can have a lot of bad luck but the results will come one of these days. If you don’t have the speed at all, you can have all the good luck in the world and never see good fortune. You kind of need the speed to be there all the time to get the luck. . When luck comes your way you will get it, but you really need to be there. You kind of make your own luck in a way.”
The question: Are good results more about hard work meeting good luck, or hard work avoiding bad luck?
Ron Capps (NHRA)
Driver of NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car:
"It's probably more like the first one, but it's just hard work. Obviously you have no control over it. I'm not so sure you can call it luck, sometimes it seems that things just go your way no matter what, so I guess we call that good luck."
Driver of the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car:
"Good results are all the result of hard work. You don't get good results with this much competition out here without hard work. Without hard work you don't get good results. It has nothing to do with bad luck. Good luck is the result of hard work."
Driver of the FRAM Top Fuel Dragster:
"I think you kind of set yourself up for good luck. Some people just have good luck. And with some people it is a result of hard work which overcomes bad luck to make good luck. We work as hard as we can to overcome what may be a bad situation to make a good situation out of it. There's going to be bad luck, it happens to everybody. And there's going to be good luck that happens to everybody too. But I look at it this way: if you put yourself in a situation to have good luck by working hard at it, it's more worth it and you're going to be better off because of it. It's a profound statement but I do believe in it."
Rider of the Schumacher Electric Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle:
"I'd say good results are about hard work and sometimes you need good luck. Overall, hard work pays off, that's my answer."
“The race starts actually on Friday, the actual race day, it's basically the results of what you prepared in those practice and qualifying (sessions). You just can't find enough information. Hopefully Friday, we are going to make our luck on Saturday much better.”
Kenny Wallace (NASCAR)“Luck is what we’ve seen in the last weeks. Luck is when you’re Dale Jr. and you think you have a ninth place car and all of sudden the caution don’t come out and you crew chief says, ‘Ohh, O.K. Start letting off the gas because we pitted a while ago because our car wasn’t handling good.’ That’s luck. Also luck is David Gilliland’s crew chief going, ‘Hey, We’re going to pit now.’ Luck is Jeff Gordon’s crew chief. Those guys who finish second and third make great calls. The ultimate luck is Kurt Busch. Who would have known that it was going to pour down rain like that? I’ve seen opportunity and luck. Those crew chiefs are smart but it’s opportunity and luck at the same time. The rain had to fall at New Hampshire for Kurt to win that race.”
Marcus Ambrose (NASCAR)“You have to work hard. Everybody works hard. It’s commitment in this game. Everybody in this garage is committed to racing otherwise they would not be here. It has a heavy impact on families and time. It’s a tough life. You’ve got to be dedicated to it. Everyone at this level is pretty committed to it. I’m sure of that.”
D.J. Kennington (NASCAR Nationwide)“I really don’t know how to answer that. I think you make your own luck. On the racetrack things can happen like flat tires stuff that nobody has control over. There is nothing you can do about that. That’s the nature of this game. I do believe the harder you work the better luck you are going to have because you eliminate things that can happen. That’s what I’ve got, a bunch of guys who are hard workers and so far that’s what we got, good luck.”
Eric McClure (NASCAR Nationwide)Hard work is the most important. Preparation is everything. When you have an opportunity there’s always luck involved that you can generally avoid more of the bad problems. Some of the problems we’ve had this year because of the size of our team has hindered our preparation at some of these tracks. Preparation is everything in this game and you’re still going to have your share of bad luck. Preparation in this type of life will generally help you avoid most of the pitfalls.”
Eddie Cheever (Grand AM)“When you find somebody who can give me a logical explanation to luck, I’ll pay him to work for our team.”
Wayne Taylor (Grand AM)“Hard work eventually earns good luck. I think if you don’t work hard you don’t get the luck. There’s a lot of luck that goes into sports car racing. It brings around the luck.”
Justin Wilson (IndyCar)"Well, it's a bit of everything. It's getting everything in order in the right situation, hard work. Everybody in the pits is working hard. But some people may be working hard in the wrong areas and the wrong direction, and that's what a good team can do is they've got the people that have the experience and are able to just put everything together. It's whoever is putting it all together the right way at the right time.
"I think Newman/Haas/Lanigan have got some fantastic people, and I feel very privileged to drive the McDonald's car and go out there and be able to attack. From what I've seen, it's not that much different to what was happening in the other teams I drove for, but it's just the subtle details that make the difference, and that's what counts in this sport."
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