NASCAR Cup
Team Gordon; Patience... A Virtue?
NASCAR Winston Cup is a trying game on patience. Everyone's patience. Somehow the pressures of this game melt down to every single person on the team from the travel coordinator to the painter. 9 races in 10 weeks. Then beginning in May, 23 ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
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NASCAR Winston Cup is a trying game on patience. Everyone's patience. Somehow the pressures of this game melt down to every single person on the team from the travel coordinator to the painter.
9 races in 10 weeks. Then beginning in May, 23 of 25 weekends straight. Now that calls for patience.
Being a young team, patience is not our strong suit right now. We are all trying to be patient, but the fiery competitive nature of each team member pushes us harder to try to succeed. And consequently, we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. Every single person on the team....and that includes our driver.
Martinsville this past weekend was yet another test in the book of patience for Team Gordon. "Man, is that a long race!" I don't think there was one straight car in the entire paddock when we left. There was serious "rubbin" going on out there. Not a good situation for those with little patience.
With every race like this, the hope is that you walk away from the experience a little smarter. We didn't finish well, but I know that we learned some things. Are we more patient because of the experience? Probably not. But we might be a little smarter. I know that every single person on our team is working here because they "believe" that we will be successful. Maybe not today, but sometime soon. That is why they work hard and more importantly, that is why they will work harder.
I know Robby Gordon wants to win. I know he wants it very badly and sometimes his patience for things runs thin. I believe that happens to all successful people. However, he wants to win no more than each of the pit crew members or each and every person on our Team.
I can see in this game, it is very easy to have nuclear warfare. To start the finger pointing. I see it happening all around us, in every team. This is a trying sport.
But guess what? That is the business we have chosen. Good teams and organizations stick together through thick and thin. If you have sensitive skin, you definitely don't have any business in NASCAR.
You might be asking, what is your point?
My point is very simple. This is a message to my team and their family members and to those fans who appreciate all of the hard work and long hours that goes into running a NASCAR program.
Gather yourself up, take a deep breath. And then give thanks that you live in a country with great sponsors who allow you to make a living doing something you love. Don't take yourself so seriously.....we race cars for a living.
-Mike Held-
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