Religion and racing drivers

[superkartracer]

Interesting to see Lewis and Massa both thanking God on Sunday, it seems a fair few racers are deeply Religious, even the best!

Being a complete atheist and more geared towards science and proof, am a missing out on this god thing? should i start bashing the bible as it were.

Does it offer more stabilty in life?

How many racers/fans/people on here follow religion

SK-R

[VladD]

There is but one God.

His web-site

[mattikake]

Yeah, bothers me too. Wasn't going to bother with it until someone else did!

I mean, how can someone be so good at adhereing to newtonian physics, and all the anti-god ties to quantum mechanics that comes with it that is deeply rooted in racing, be sure that it has nothing to do with this and instead everything to do with some all-powerful uncaring sky-man pulling puppet strings.

Senna was the same. I hope it was either figuratively (possibly), a P.R. exercise/programming (ideally) or because of following their heroes - Senna (hopefully, most likely).

Makes you wonder how much they actually understand about inertia, gravity, mass & energy and accelerating in new directions (because there is no such thing as centrifugal forces) and how much of it is just natural self-taught action and reaction.

How much better could someone like these two be if they learned to race with physics than just seat-of-the-pants? Maybe it just goes to show how automatic most of reality is in the unconcious mind, and it's only bringing it into the conscious mind that makes it difficult?

Edited by mattikake on Tuesday 4th November 13:44

[BoRED S2upid]

Which "god" do they both support?.

[german tony]

mammon, same as the rest of us

[VladD]

Footballers are my favorite. They make the sign off the cross as they run onto the pitch, spend 90 minutes diving around, claiming throwins and corners that they know aren't theirs and calling the referee a wker, but will then thank god after the game for helping them win.

[ewenm]

Who really cares if they do or don't have faith in a religion? Unless you think it does actually influence their performances of course. An atheist would need to find a non-religious reason for that or be forced to re-assess their religious position to compete. One example of such a reason could be a driver being calmer believing a god to be on their team. Having identified an opponent's psychological advantage, the atheist would need to work on that aspect themselves.

[zac510]

ewenm, so you think it could merely be a 'distraction' from the more significant psychological pressure of the actual race?

[Don]

VladD said:

There is but one God.

His web-site

Very, very good. I had seen that before but now I am reminded...and it's very good!

[ewenm]

zac510 said:

ewenm, so you think it could merely be a 'distraction' from the more significant psychological pressure of the actual race?

Competing at a high level in any sport requires significant mental strength. Successful sportspeople derive and attribute that strength from/to a variety of sources. Some say it's religion that gives them the strength, some say it's training, some say it's visualisation of different scenarios, etc, etc. The common theme (IMO) is focus and the ability not to panic when things don't go to plan. If someone is better at that than someone else, then they are more likely consistently to handle the pressure of competing, no matter to what they attribute the ability.

Less time worrying about others' strengths, more time working on your own weaknesses.

For example, in my sport (running) I know there are some people I can influence in a race by forcing them to lead it - they don't handle it well and it gives me an advantage. Equally there are others that always want to lead the group, so preventing them doing so can offer me an advantage. Mainly, however, being fitter than them is the key

[superkartracer]

ewenm said:

Who really cares if they do or don't have faith in a religion?

Becuase it's the first coment they spout/thank etc, you never here *science was on my side etc* and the thanking of motion physics.

It's runs deeper than this tho, they often seem very stable people.

Are the non believers missing somthing.

[superkartracer]

ewenm said:

zac510 said:

ewenm, so you think it could merely be a 'distraction' from the more significant psychological pressure of the actual race?

Competing at a high level in any sport requires significant mental strength. Successful sportspeople derive and attribute that strength from/to a variety of sources. Some say it's religion that gives them the strength, some say it's training, some say it's visualisation of different scenarios, etc, etc. The common theme (IMO) is focus and the ability not to panic when things don't go to plan. If someone is better at that than someone else, then they are more likely consistently to handle the pressure of competing, no matter to what they attribute the ability.

Less time worrying about others' strengths, more time working on your own weaknesses.

For example, in my sport (running) I know there are some people I can influence in a race by forcing them to lead it - they don't handle it well and it gives me an advantage. Equally there are others that always want to lead the group, so preventing them doing so can offer me an advantage. Mainly, however, being fitter than them is the key

As a runner i'd say being fitter is the key also, simple as that or you lose.

[brum]

VladD said:

There is but one God.

His web-site

Excellent - this is now my official religion and forthwith will be documented as such on all official records

[ewenm]

superkartracer said:

As a runner i'd say being fitter is the key also, simple as that or you lose.

Not always the case. 95-98% of it is fitness, but I've beaten people who are evidently fitter than me (performances in time-trials give the best indication of fitness) by racing more cleverly. Tactics, attitude and mental strength can give you that final few % you need to win. For example, in a slow race the winner is likely to be the best sprinter, who may not have the fitness to keep up in a fast race.

On your question of "are non-religious people missing something?", only you can say if YOU'RE missing something. The fervently religious will say you're DEFINITELY missing something. The fervently atheist will say you're DEFINITELY NOT missing something.

I don't think I'm missing anything by being non-religious but I have worked on the psychology of my training and racing when we (my coach and I) identify weaknesses. Are religious people more stable than non-religious? Not in my experience; I reckon it's about the same. You get stable and unstable people; you get religious and non-religious people; I don't see a correlation between the two.

[groomi]

Presumably it makes it easier to strap yourself into a 200mph car when you can accept that God will decide your fate - rather than having to worry about it yourself...

[superkartracer]

Agree about the extra 2% being mental but you can't push your body beyond the physical limits, if you can you never tried hard/er before. The body has a limit 100% and you
can't go over this. That 100% might kill you tho! and you may well know, nearly killed my mother in her last race years ago, gave her two lungs now running @20%...

Regards the bible bashing and stable people, i was really aiming towards racing drivers really and the best be seam deeply R

[ewenm]

groomi said:

Presumably it makes it easier to strap yourself into a 200mph car when you can accept that God will decide your fate - rather than having to worry about it yourself...

Only if you haven't done the mental training to handle that situation. I'd agree with you for a member of Joe Public, but ALL racing drivers will have ways of ignoring the risk of what they're doing that they've developed as they rise through the ranks of the sport.

[superkartracer]

groomi said:

Presumably it makes it easier to strap yourself into a 200mph car when you can accept that God will decide your fate - rather than having to worry about it yourself...

Maybe, but that line of thought normally leads to your death sadly.

[groomi]

ewenm said:

groomi said:

Presumably it makes it easier to strap yourself into a 200mph car when you can accept that God will decide your fate - rather than having to worry about it yourself...

Only if you haven't done the mental training to handle that situation. I'd agree with you for a member of Joe Public, but ALL racing drivers will have ways of ignoring the risk of what they're doing that they've developed as they rise through the ranks of the sport.

Indeed. And maybe for some of them, that method includes religion.

[ewenm]

superkartracer said:

Agree about the extra 2% being mental but you can't push your body beyond the physical limits, if you can you never tried hard/er before. The body has a limit 100% and you
can't go over this. That 100% might kill you tho! and you may well know, nearly killed my mother in her last race years ago, gave her two lungs now running @20%...

Regards the bible bashing and stable people, i was really aiming towards racing drivers really and the best be seam deeply R

How many of the grid of 20 on Sunday are religious? A sample size of 2 is just about useless.

You're right about not being able to go over 100%, but the key to performance is getting as close to 100% for as long as possible - a non-trivial task. How many times do you hear people say "I could have done better" at the end of sporting contests? The mental strength needed to perform to your absolute maximum potential consistently is very hard to develop.

Lots of the African athletes cross the line and thank God for their success. Are they all personally very religious? I don't know, but I do know that Ethiopian and Kenyan cultures are very religious so that sort of statement is par for the course. Do they really mean that they believe God helped them in that specific race? Who knows? That's why I think it's irrelevant what soundbites are given after the competition.