ihra

In this age, it’s easier - more natural than ever - to judge ourselves and our racing in comparison to others. Between social media, live feeds, and frankly people like Jed and I, It’s so easy to put successful racers on a pedestal:

Racer X wins, and is never worse than 010 on the tree for 9 straight rounds.

Racer Y dominates, holding .06 or more.

Racer Z’s matched the dial in 8 times in 9 rounds.

And we think…

Damn.

I can’t do that!

Very selfishly, part of this podcast is for my own benefit: as I work through some of these ideas in the process of my own day-to-day life.

On our way here, not even halfway through our trip, our new (to us) motorhome broke down. It was certainly not the way that things were planned!

The reason I share this, not to pat myself on the back, is because I'm actually really proud of the way that I handled this situation. 

In racing, I think we face this juxtaposition a lot, often in settings that can elicit high emotion.

We’re passionate about what we're doing.

We put a lot of time & work into it.

We’ve typically got aspirations surrounding competition.

We’ve often got an expectations - both about our performance and how things will go in general.

And, occasionally (perhaps more often than not), something doesn’t align w/ those expectations!

How we deal with that, I'd argue impacts not only our peace of mind, but ultimately our ability to perform.

How do you frame personal performance? Is your self talk directed toward being THE best, or toward being YOUR best?

There's not necessarily a right or wrong answer; but it's interesting to dive into the connotation and the mental framework of each approach - not necessarily to think about what others are doing, but to think about which approach may best serve each of us.

Are you a perfectionist? Have you convinced yourself that such perfectionism serves you?

I've often held myself to incredible standards... And I've been very hard on myself when I've failed to uphold those standards. Often times, that constant drive - that incessant pursuit has helped make me better. Perhaps you feel the same way.

And yet, what got us to where we are, isn't necessarily going to be what gets us to where we want to be.

There is an element of patience in what we do - this HARD game that we choose to play; and how patiently staying the course (even when the destination isn’t completely clear) has a tendency to pay off (often when we least expect it). 

A speech for the ages. Listen in on what reads like pre-game pump up message to those competing on the biggest stage of their careers. Taken from an exclusive ThisIsBracketRacing ELITE strategy session, this episode describes competing in the most electrifying atmosphere our sport has to offer: The Spring Fling Million. 

I believe that we tend to overestimate the presence of skill in our own positive outcomes. And that we tend to overestimate the presence of luck in our negative outcomes.

When we view others, however, that gets flipped. We tend to overestimate the presence of luck in other's successes. And we overestimate the presence of skill (or lack thereof) in their negative outcomes.

In short: we lose because we're unlucky. They lose because they suck.

They win because they're lucky. We win because we're amazing.

While we typically use this podcast space to focus on the psychology of competition (partly because you've requested it, but mostly because that's totally my bag!), we occasionally get requests for more specific, technical, on-track insight. The most common of those requests often revolves around weather, and predicting the impact that changes in weather will have on our cars' performance.

In this episode, we focus on the impacts weather can have, and the specific weather measurements that seem to impact combinations on gasoline, methanol, and E85.

In a previous episode, I shared some takeaways from coaching youth basketball that I think apply directly to driving a race car. If that may have seemed like a stretch, this week's show may provide a more direct parallel. In it, I discuss some of the lessons that coaching has to offer than can make us better parents, leaders, and teachers.

What does coaching 4th and 5th grade basketball have to do with drag racing you ask? Well, maybe more than you think. In this episode, I share what I've learned about staying in the moment when we're surrounded by overwhelm. When there are 7 different things I could focus on, how do I pick the one that's going to facilitate my best performance? 

Our game is filled with ups and downs. It's easy to go from "hero to zero" and feel like we're only as good as our last run down the race track. In this episode, I share a mindset you can use to combat this constant battle of ups and downs.

In this episode we discuss the (obvious) benefits of a potential bye run and the common pitfalls racers often overlook when sitting on the bye. While these pitfalls can have a negative impact on performance, a simple mindset shift in the staging lanes can help you avoid them altogether. 

Where do you start when you're new to this? How do you "catch up" when you feel like you're years behind the rest of your competitors? In this episode, I share what I believe to be the best approach for accelerating your learning curve when you're new to bracket racing.