It is said that life is better and more fun when you pursue your dreams, and that is certainly true for me. After working my whole life for a stable lifestyle, I decided to make a change and pursue my passion for racing. As the years passed, my dream turned into a reality, and I now own and operate my own NASCAR race team, the No. 8 U.S. Navy SEALs Racing Squad.
The journey has not been easy, but I could not have made it this far without the help of many people. To this day, I still consider myself very lucky to have found my calling in life. When I joined the Navy in 2001, there were only 50,000 active members of the SEALs. Now there are over 80,000, and those numbers keep growing every year.
The Importance Of Building A Team
I started my team, No. 8 U.S. Navy SEALs Racing Squad, with three other teammates from my SEAL class, and together we have built a foundation of support from top to bottom. From the officials on the track to the crews who set up the cars, everything depends on each other to make this dream a reality. You cannot succeed if you don’t have solid support from the people around you, and that is why I make sure to invest in my team from the very beginning.
Having a strong team is very important, because as the owner of a racing team, you are responsible for everything. Every personnel decision, from who to hire to how much to pay them; it’s all up to you. And that is a lot of pressure for someone who is still trying to establish himself in the sport. But it’s worth it.
The Importance Of Building A Supportive Community
One of the things that made the transition from Navy to NASCAR smooth was the support I received from my teammates. It’s funny how things work out: in the Navy, we train together, work together, and then play together. But when I moved to North Carolina, all of a sudden my football friends were my NASCAR friends, and my SEALs became my NASCAR teammates. That is just how it works when you are in a new place. It’s important to establish community ties, regardless of whether you decide to join a church or a sports club.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are other sports teams that can be a little more difficult to navigate. When I was first starting out in NASCAR, I did not have a lot of experience, and it was hard for me to find my place. But thanks to some amazing teammates and the invaluable help of my crew chief, John Church, I have been able to establish myself and my team.
It’s important to have people around you who believe in you and your ability to make it in the sport. Everyone on my team believes in me, and that gives me the confidence to believe in myself.
Racing Is A Challenging Sport
It’s no secret that NASCAR is one of the most challenging sports out there. The whole business of putting on a motorsport event is really difficult to explain, and it takes a lot of work. When you add on top of that the mental aspect of being on the road, driving fast, and making quick decisions, it makes for one stressful sport. But that is what makes it so exciting.
The risks involved in racing are very high, too. In the early stages of my career, I thought that maybe NASCAR was not for me, because I did not want to risk my life like that. Then one day I was racing at California and had a massive accident. I broke my back, three ribs, and was sidelined for a few months. That was when I realized that even though racing is more stressful and dangerous than football, it was also the only thing I wanted to do in my life. It was a no-brainer for me.
There are certain risks that you have to be aware of when you are dealing with, but that is part of the sport. Because of my accident at California, I wear a back brace every day and cannot sit down for more than an hour or two at a time. It definitely takes its toll on my body, but I would not change anything about my life now. Not for anything.
Even the way you prepare for a NASCAR race is different than how you would prepare for a football game or a basketball match. You need to make sure that your car is safe and reliable, and that you have enough gas in your tank to last the whole race. As for the actual race itself, you need to learn how to pace yourself, because if you try to outrun the competition on their first race, you will inevitably crash and burn. It takes lots of experience to be able to run a successful NASCAR team, and I am grateful to have had the chance to learn from my mistakes.
The Importance Of Staying Organized
One of the things that made the transition from Navy to NASCAR easier was having everything written down in a notebook and being able to follow a simple routine. When you are starting out, it is easy to get distracted by all the different things that come up, and before you know it, you have a half-finished project and no idea where you left off. Being organized keeps everything in order, and that is why I like to write everything down as soon as I can, so that I can keep track of everything. It may not seem like a big deal to some people, but when you are a single dad running a construction business and trying to make payroll on time, it can be a huge help.
Writing things down at the beginning helps you keep track of them as you go, and it also means that there is someone else out there who knows what you were doing. As a contractor, I often work with different people and companies, and it is easy for me to lose track of what I agreed to do and when I was supposed to do it. Being able to look back at my notebook and see all my entries and follow the progress is very helpful, and it makes me more confident that everything will be done on time and according to spec. And that is a crucial point, because you cannot control the weather, so if your estimates are wrong and the work is late, it could be because of bad weather, not because of the contractor.
The Importance Of Learning From Your Mistakes
It’s a cliche’, but true: you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes. There is always room for improvement, and that is a fact. The difference is that you cannot always depend on chance to give you the exact same results time and time again, so when something goes wrong, you need to know what you did wrong and learn from it. That is how you improve.
When I was first starting out in NASCAR, I made a lot of mistakes. Sometimes I would not budget for gas, which would result in me running out of fuel before the race was over. Other times, I would pick the wrong track and the weather would be terrible, which would mess up my timing significantly. Still other times, I would just get distracted by the other drivers and end up crashing because I was not paying attention. This is why it is so important to have a support network, because when you are starting out, it is easy to make a mistake and not have anyone to turn to for help. But as you get more experienced, you will see the same mistakes made over and over again, and that is when you know you are starting to learn.
Once you establish a good foundation and have some experience under your belt, all of a sudden things fall into place, and you can start moving up the ladder. That is when you realize how much things have changed, and how much you have to keep learning.
I could not have made it this far in life without the support of others and the guidance of some amazing individuals. My team is my family, and I could not be more proud of what we have accomplished together.