20/20 Driving Secrets

20/20 Driving Secrets
By Tami Eggleston (c) - www.DrivingSecrets.com

In March, the www.tuffpaw.com and www.racingsecrets.com Dragster landed in the winner's circle by getting runner-up at the Gateway Super Comp Open. A close 8.88 to a 8.89 led to double brake-out loss, but it was still a GREAT way to start the season. It always feels good to start off the season on the right foot. Once you get the momentum going, you have to keep it. Now, as a psychologist, I KNOW that hindsight is always 20/20 and there have been plenty of races where we did the same things we did this weekend and then were loaded up on the trailer first round, but here are my thoughts on why this race went so well:

1.) Hard work! This was our first race of the season and to get ready was a lot of work. Mike worked on the dragster and everything else for weeks getting ready. Even if you have all winter to get ready, there are still a million last minute things to do to get ready. Behind every happy winner's circle picture is hours and hours of work!

2.) A positive attitude! Both Mike and I were really eager for this season to start. We have mapped out most of our tentative schedule and we were excited and ready for the season to start.

3.) Goal setting and past season analyses. Mike and I went through our log book from last year and spent some time really trying to figure out what we were doing right and what needed to be improved. We made some changes to the dragster to try and help consistency (that is still being tweaked) and we set some new goals for our racing season.

4.) Practice! Not everyone is a big fan of the practice tree, but as a psychologist, I think it is the best thing we have to get a drag racer's mind ready for the actual thing. For the two weeks before the race, Mike and I spent some quality time on the practice tree complete with me logging in his averages and we had some really intense practice tree competitions at home.

5.) Luck and Fun! Finally, it just has to be said, we got the luck when we needed it. I don't think hardly any win can come without a little luck just when you need it! We also were enjoying every round we won. The plaque and the winner's circle photo are now on our fireplace to remind us of the great start to the year. Hopefully we can keep doing what we are doing, tweak the car a bit, and keep the momentum going.