Who has any superstitions about their racing? I can only assume like any other competitive activity superstition is a common occurrence.
I personally haven’t had any but my friend started telling me that I have better weekends when I don’t record my races, which I’ve been starting to believe more now. It’s weird, and recording races obviously probably doesn’t affect how my races go, but I wouldn’t say I don’t believe that they aren’t wrong in their observation.
Ohhhhhhhhh here we go.
Like a lot of people here, I’m sure I’ve heard so many superstitions. The color green, peanuts, women in the pits…duct tape, etc. etc…some of those are more ‘short track’ superstitions than anything.
Basically, a lot of ‘old school’ superstitions arose because someone raced a sprint car and died that day, and a few people in the pits after the race drinking beers looked around and realized what was different that day, and decided that was a bad omen.
Of all superstitions I’ve heard / seen people swear to, the one I buy into somewhat is the notion / superstition of a full moon on a race evening equaling more crashes.
That’s less of a superstition, and more of a good racing habit.
A superstition is more like “When I wear my lucky socks, I win a race.”
A large part of superstitions come from mental programming and mental triggering. A driver is lead to believe that because they’ve followed some pattern or habit, that they will have a good/bad performance.
Honestly, that can be used to your advantage, if you know how to better program your brain to believe that good things will happen to you when you follow whatever steps you put in front of it. (IE: Climbing into the kart from the left side, or whatever.)
But they can also become a problem, if the driver believes that bad things will happen to him for the same reasons.
It’s all a mental thing.
No superstitions what so ever. I don’t think playing mind games with ones self is the way to go in general. If you spend your time doing the right things your head will be right. Get into the “No FUD Zone”. FUD = Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
I wouldn’t call mine superstitions. More like routines. I put my gear on in a certain order on the grid, and it drives me nuts when someone tries to “help” by handing me something out of my normal order. It’s kind of my pre-race check list.
Yup, I know that one. For me it’s always suit, left shoe, right shoe, walk to the grid, rib vest, balaclava, pull on the top of my suit, helmet, neck brack, left glove, right glove. I’ve noticed everyone has their own method of how they get ready for the grid
Not Sure its a superstition or just routine for me.
Left glove before right glove Always. and always get in from the left hand side of the kart not sure when or how it started but been doing if for as long as i can remember.
I have a habit of doing things in order too. Nothing to do with luck or voodoo. It is just a mental checklist. Just like B.R.A.S.S. I pack things in order and load the trailer in order. Check for loose bolt and missing safety clips in order. Turn around a kart in order. Random vs ordered. Mainly get in & out on the left as kart is less crowded on that side. Some things just make sense.
One superstition that is practical is not walking under ladders.
Anyone know the origin of: Don’t light 3 cigarettes from 1 match ? Not truly confirmed though.
I believe it comes from trench warfare. You didn’t light more than a couple smokes off one match so as not to allow time for the snipers to sight you.
At least that’s what I heard.
That was the way I heard - but it is debated. Seems like practical advice at the time, pre night scope, thermal imaging etc.