As a professional race car driver, it always surprises me to hear people comment on how calm I appeared to be before a race. It amazes me that so many people seem to think you should be all psyched up. In fact I have even heard other drivers talk about being psyched up before a race, but the truth is. There is absolutely no advantage in having any emotion before you start a race. I always try to be in as neutral a frame of mind as I possibly can, because that is when my reaction time is at its fastest. That is when my mind is so clear that I can then put myself through this process of visualization.
I think through the whole field. I think who is starting in front of me that I am going to need to get past. I think of who is starting behind me that for some reason may have qualified a little slower than me but might be faster at some point during the race. I think about who I trust enough to run side by side with lap after lap or who I really don’t have enough confidence in to do that, because then I know I need to get in and get out as fast as I can.
Then I imagine the start of the race. I think of all the things that could go wrong. I imagine all kinds of scenarios and just how I will react. I imagine what’s going on at the front of the pack. What if this happens? What if that happens? Then I imagine how I would react to that and just what kind of repercussions that might have. And all the time I am going through this mental process, I’m looking for an escape route. Always try to give yourself a way out if something goes wrong. If this happens I’ll do that, If that happens I’ll do this. And you know what? You will be surprised at how much faster that makes your reaction time when something does happen. Because you’ve already been through it. You’ve had practice at it. And the more you practice that kind of thing the faster you get and the better you get at it.
