One of my longest-lasting friendships in racing has been with Jeff Braun. It started when I got hired to drive a World Sports Car in IMSA in 1994, where Jeff was the engineer. Since that time I’ve learned more from Jeff than from just about anyone else… with the possible exception of what I’ve learned by coaching and being friends with Jeff’s son, Colin Braun.
I reached out to both Jeff and Colin to ask, “What do the best drivers do?” Jeff has worked with them; Colin has co-driven with them, raced against them, and is one of them.
Jeff came back first with his random observations, and then Colin added to what he’d written. As Colin said, “When Ross first talked about writing this article for Speed Secrets Weekly, he mentioned a bit of perspective from both my dad and myself. But I have to say after my dad finished his part up first, I really don’t have too much to add to it. This is a really insightful article that everyone can learn from, whether you’re a race mechanic, engineer, data guy, or driver.” Colin’s added observations are in red .
Random Observations: What the Best Race Drivers Do
by Jeff & Colin Braun
I have been very lucky in my forty-five years of professional race engineering to work with some of the very best drivers in the world. Ross asked me to write some random observations on what they do, and why they are the very best. So, that seemed easy: just list what I see them do with training, data, video, and all that, and then others could follow that, do those things, and also become one of the best drivers in the world.
I started to make the list and… it’s useless. When I thought about it, every one of these world class drivers did things differently from the others. There was no exact path to greatness. Some were data hounds, some never looked at it. Some trained like crazy, some almost never. Karting… that’s the answer they must all do that… nope, some do, some never. You get the point. I was struggling to write this because I could not find the common method they all used. Then, thinking about it — while trying to not think about it — it dawned on me.
They all have one thing in common. A deep-rooted desire to be the best, to perfect the craft, to be better than they were the last day, or lap, or corner. They never did it for the money or glory or fame or adulation, they did it because that’s ALL they wanted to do, nothing else mattered to them, that’s all they knew, or ever considered. This often made for dull, or crazy, or strange people, but they don’t care; they just want to be better, so they could win.
So many drivers “think” that I would be talking about them, but 99% of them are NOT really that person. They like the “idea” of being that person, but they are not and don’t really know what it’s like.
You can’t “decide” to be that person. It happens organically and the scary part is no one can stop it or slow it down or knock it out of them. It’s 100 times more than passion and desire. It’s more than obsession or drive. Commitment is not nearly enough to describe it. And that brought me to something written by one of the people who helped me most in racing, Steve Johnson. He thought he found the common thread all the greats had, and he explained it to me like this, many years ago.
“Singularly what sets them apart is an elemental, molecular, overwhelming self-confidence in their abilities. Not a single shred of self-doubt. It simply never occurs to them that they won’t be successful. Do they win all the time? Nope. Does it bother them? Of course. Do they learn something from every combat? No question. Does it affect the way they approach their decision making process? NEVER. They know that their talent, abilities, and work ethic will prevail. They KNOW this… They don’t just say to themselves, ‘Well, I have a good chance here and I can do okay if things go right.’ They say, ‘If I simply execute properly, no one can beat me.” And then they take whatever the situation is, bring whatever resources are required to bear and without hesitation or second guessing, wrestle the situation to the ground and overwhelm it with singular discipline and force of will.”
I think Steve may be onto something here. So how do these people (and I say people not just race car drivers because I think this applies to many more than race car drivers), but let’s stick to that. How do these people get that supreme self-confidence? They have it, but the trick is how to get that. They prepare and prepare and keep preparing until they know no one is better prepared than they are. They think about every aspect of racing and what they do and work to be better in each area. It is not something all of us would want to do or could stand to do. So that’s those guys, maniacs to be sure.
You and I may not be willing, or able, or even desire to be the best in the world at driving race cars, but I’ll bet using some of the things they do, and understanding that you don’t need to do them all, may get us closer, or make the weekends more fun. And I know there is some of that, “I just want to be better every day, lap, corner” attitude in everyone who drives a race car at any level. So let’s look at some random things I have seen these guys do to achieve that remarkable self-confidence. I hope you can pick some that make your racing more fun. If that works, then you may have something over many of the best in the world. You may have more fun racing than they do. Being the best is often just plain hard work and exhausting. As the world class Alpine climber Alex Lowe said, “The best climber in the world is the one having the most fun.”
Whew, this is a pretty intense opener, but so true…. I would say for me, I have driven at quite a few different teams and cultures over the years, and the places I feel like have the most success are where more of the team members have this same attitude. This is important for the driver, but equally important throughout the company to really achieve high level success day-in and day-out. And I would add that maybe this mindset and attitude can be a bit hard and tiring when you get going with it, but once you are bought in and see the results, it really doesn’t seem so hard – it just becomes the way to operate. ~ Colin
