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Jeff
Purvis' Tips For
Beginning Drivers
Safety Be sure you race car is equipped with the best safety equipment you can buy. Make sure you fit the seat in your car. The safety harness is very important. But the most important thing is your helmet. I told Gene when he was looking at a $50 helmet, "If you got a $50 head, buy a $50 helmet ... for me, I wear the very best helmet Simpson makes. I think a whole lot of my head and I want all the protection you can get if you happen to hit the wall at 200 miles per hour. I'm often asked about racing suits. Pick one that is made for the type racing you are doing. Fire is a frightening thing and you want as much protection from it as possible. It sounds kind
of corny, but practice makes perfect in any sport.
I don't practice golf much and I can't play worth a darn. But I've been
practicing racing since I was a teenager. Practice is never as much fun as
racing to me. But if you don't practice, if
you can't drive the car in practice, then how in the heck are you going to line
up with 30 to 40 other people who want do the same thing you want--win. Practice
lets you learn your crew and your car. Race car drivers aren't just born ... the
good ones practice racing from a very early age. When you are not out there
every week, you lose your edge and you know deep down that the drivers who have
been out there every week have learned a little something you don't know--that
gives them an edge on race day.
Equipment
and set-up The most important thing to
winning is having good equipment and a race set-up in which you have confidence. Our Busch and Winston Cup teams
fabricate most of the cars and do most of the set-up
these days. Drivers do very little of the actual work themselves. One of
the key elements of our job is to communicate to the crew chief so he can
translate the conversation in to a second or two faster. But as a beginner,
you probably don't have a paid professional crew. So you have to do the work
yourself. I know, I've been there. I spent years
running dirt tracks all over the country, doing nearly all the work myself. Even
when I was running for the national dirt championship (Purvis won that three
times), I worked hard on the car. It
is important that you learn every nut and bolt on the car. You must also
know the rules...what you can do to the car and what you can't do to it. Once
you get a good baseline set up, measure and record every setting on the car.
Then you have to practice and practice and practice. That's the only way to
learn. It is critical that you record each change you make to the car and what
effect the change had. No little thing is unimportant. When you get a setup in which you have confidence, have enough seat time to know what the car can or can't do, then you can compete for the checkered flag. Few ill driving race cars win races regardless of the talent behind the wheel. And lots of good driving races cars win races despite the talent behind the wheel especially in those classes below Busch and Winston Cup.
Sponsors
Two things
cost lots of money---racing and women. I haven't figured out which one of them
is winning the race for number 1. My crew put a decal on the dash of my Busch
car once that read, "If it's got boobs or wheels it costs lots of money and
causes lots of trouble." Boy,
is that a true statement. Everything about racing, if you do it well, costs money. I
don't care if you are racing tricycles or Winston Cup cars. It is not a game for the weak of heart or pocketbook. That's
why it is very important you represent your sponsor well on and off the track. A
good sponsor can help put lots of fun into racing. So always say good things
about your sponsor. Always mention your sponsor name---if you are talking to
your hometown Rotary Club or if you happen to be on national TV.
I'm reminded of a line from an old country song where a very poor mother
is giving advice to her daughter "You be nice the gentlemen Candy, and
they'll be nice to you." It works that way with sponsors too. Of course
winning doesn't hurt either. Be sure to use your
sponsor's products. I know Gene does a great job of that since Budweiser of
Clarksville and Cookeville is his sponsor.
General
I never
dreamed when I started racing on the dirt track in Clarksville, Tennessee that
one day I would qualify a Winston Cup car for the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis
or be sitting on the pole for a Busch event at the Daytona Motor Speedway and
would be driving cars at speeds close to 200 miles per hour. I've
been racing for many, many
years and I've loved all the
good times and I've survived the bad times. I've seen good friends die. There
may be other things I would have changed in my life, but racing is not one of
them. I've been blessed with a sport in which I can compete and one that gives
me a great deal of pleasure. Not everyone is that lucky. One day I'd love to see my two children, Tom and Clay, drive-- if that is something they decide they want to do. I don't think anyone ought to be pushed into anything they don't want to do. I guess the
last tip is that if racing is something you want to do and it makes you
happy... do it if you can afford it. But don't
do anything at the expense of other
commitments that you've already made. And as I told
Gene the first night I watched him race, to be successful all you need to
do is hold it wide open, turn left and don't let anyone pass you. Happy racing. Jeff Purvis
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