Winning 2
This is the second part of a discussion I have with 13 year old boys and girls at Hoquiam Middle School.
By Shawn McDonald
What I am now going to talk with you about is winning, or maybe I should rephrase that by saying that winners hang out with winners and losers hang out with losers. That sounds real harsh doesn't it? Probably is. Funny how life can be that way some times. This ties in with what we just talked about in taking responsibility for where you are in life. If you think that there is some super secret society with it's sole intent on destroying any chance of your happiness, then you're looking in the wrong place. The first place to look, as I have said, is at yourself and the decisions you have made, and the second place to look is to who surrounds you. Let me put this in racing terms for myself. I speak RACER. If you are say in a race class of 35 competitors and you are constantly finishing in the 30th spot, look around your pits and see who you are hanging out with. They're your buddies that you chose to hang out with, and pit together with. Guess what places they are finishing in? Yeah, you got it. You are the king of your group because your buddies are right behind you in 31st, 32nd, 33rd and 34th places. The guy in 35th place was a DNS (Did Not Start) because he had pre-entered and was sent to Iraq for 2 years a week before the race. Sure it's an excuse, but it is a darn good one. So you are the King of the back markers. Congratulations. I'm sure your parents must very proud of you. Now let me tie this into an integral part of this circle of life which is 'No Wucking Excuses.' I can just hear the fast talking jabbering of the loser's pits float across the noisy bikes until it lands upon my ears. What is that they're saying? "I would have nailed the holeshot if I had only remembered to put gas in the tank. And of course 'Smiling' Sam only wins because he has that beautiful girlfriend. If I had that good looking of a girlfriend I would also be winning all the time. That, and possibly a new bike and tires. Shouldn't forget the leathers, helmet, gloves. Oh, of course the ability to turn the throttle. That goes without saying." "That's nothing. I would have taken home every 1st place trophy if all those guys in front didn't keep pulling away from me. I thought this was a race where the fastest man wins. How am I supposed to win if they don't wait up for me. The racing just isn't fair when I get lapped three times. It just isn't fair. If I was cleaned up, brushed my teeth, used deodorant, shaved and didn't have a bike held together with duct tape then I also could win, but that's not me man. I have to stay true to who I am." "Those 'Smiling' Sam's, 'Magic' Mike's, 'Fast' Freddie’s, 'Dominating' Dave's are such a bunch of wankers. I mean they go talk to everybody in the pits, say hello to the spectators and are always smiling. When they come over to say hello to me I just turn my back to them and don't acknowledge them at all. Bastards! Another thing. They all pit together and hang out with each other." "Yeah. What's up with that?" I have been racing on both two and four wheels, in the dirt and on the pavement in my life. I have been successful at all, and not because I had any talent. I would say that at least 50% of the racers have more natural talent than I do. Which puts me as just the average guy on the track. What is it that makes me in a very short amount of time successful when I try something new? If you guys see my head start to swell please apply these hose clamps that I have given each of you and screw down tightly on my skull as quickly as possible. We wouldn't want to have a monster explosion would we? Uggh, yuck! The first thing I do when I decide on a new sporting adventure is to find the people who are winning. Then I start with asking a few questions, followed by more questions without being intrusive. Well, maybe a little intrusive. When I go back to the event I know exactly where they are and will park next to them like some deranged stalker. If nothing else, I will watch them intently to see how they do everything. How they fill up their gas tanks. What clothes they wear, and when and how they put them on. What type of food do they eat. Their routine before and after the race. Is it twenty, fifteen or ten minutes before a race do they get dressed? How long before a race do they start up the bike? I not only watch one racer, but I watch all of the top racers. You know what? It is pretty much the same. There are of course differences, but they all have routines and are always ready on time to race. Not to early and not to late. Winners have a common theme. In practice I get on their rear tire as soon as possible and see where their braking, turn in and acceleration points are in the corners. If it's off road then it is the speed they carry into a jump, how they are reading the corner in that are they squaring it off, riding the berm or cutting tightly around the corner. If I can stick with them for a few corners, all I am going to do is watch. Then I will try it. Not all at once or I would be picking either pavement or dirt out of my teeth. Little steps at a time. Little steps. I know that if they can do it, then so can I. I quickly start keeping up on more and more corners with them until I'm right on their ass all the time. The next thing of course now that you know the winning ways is to pass the leader. You've done it! You are now the leader and the winner of the race. All that long time spent learning by your own mistakes scenario I have just skipped right over and passed 'GO.' It's not cheating. It's called being smart. Are the other top guys really mad at you for copying their techniques and using them? How do you think they got to be fast. Winners love to see another person pushing to their personal best, and not giving up. There is the catch however. You actually don't have to win the race to be a winner, you just have to push to your own personal limit. There are only so many first place trophies in the world, but there are a lot of winners. If an average guy, of average weight, average looks and average talent can win then so can you. Let us imagine for a few seconds that you are in your 40's with two divorces under your belt, no education, no home, no job and your dog doesn't even like you. As a matter of fact your dog left you last week for a better home with the wolves. As Robert Redford said in the movie 'The Natural' "My life didn't turn out the way I expected." If you find that is true for you then look at yourself and see the decisions that you have made that placed you there. Look at who and what surrounds you in life. Ask yourself are these people the winners or losers in life. Now a message from this short little guy next to me. Says his name is Yoda. "Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes." I bet you inhaled didn't you Yoda? This sounds so corny that I will be serving butter on all of it for you. The winning force is a powerful tool. Check under your chairs for vomit bags. And please, please, please no excuses at all. You never see winners making excuses. There was this Australian Craig Trinder who was racing up here who could be on the day the fastest guy on the track. One day he finished in 4th place and I asked him what happened. Craig just said, "I finished where I finished." There were no excuses. Just a statement of the facts and a look in his eyes that he would do better the next time out. Even when I started playing wheelchair Rugby, also known as Murderball, I saw that the best player was Gary Kanazawa. He was such a good player. Even made the Olympic 'B' team while working full time at Microsoft and raising a family. Fast, and could turn on a dime. I was about 5 inches taller and heavier so he could leave me on the open court in the dust with just a faint of his head and a twitch of the 24" wheels. I was real good at defense by bouncing guys out of the key, smacking down passes and stealing balls. Speaking of smacking down balls a hello to new subscriber Rik Smits. Working together we could stop some of the best teams around. Gary pushed me to my limits because he wanted another winner on his team. I was at a road race and I had just put a new Barnett clutch in a Yamaha FZR 600. The Barnett springs were real strong. The clutch actuator was on the left side of the engine and when pulled in pushed a metal rod through the cases that pushed out and seperated the clutch plates so that they would be free spinning. There were two rods with a ball bearing in between so that you didn't wind up with a two foot long rod that would bend very easily. The clutch springs were so strong that the pressure on the rods to push out the clutch plates welded the ball bearing to the rods. Every time I went out I would pull in the clutch once, twice and hopefully three times before the lever went limp in my hands and I had a solid clutch. Pulling into the pits with a heavy bike and clip ons made finding neutral in the gearbox very critical before doing the 'Stall and Fall.' It was a weekend race and I must have pulled that actuator apart 10 times. I would take out the rods, chisel the bearing off, sand the rods and beg someone for a new bearing. The bearings were running out as was any patience I had left. Sunday morning practice and of course you have finally figured out the problem and cured it. And of course I was dead wrong. Pulled in after practice, found neutral before falling down and parked next to Bruce Lind. I was to say just slightly pissed off and frustrated after two days. There wasn't that much time until my first race and I just sat my fat ass in the lawn chair and decided to just pack it up for the weekend. Bruce looked over at me with a look of slight disgust at what I had become and started barking orders at me,"Take off the foot peg and shifter! Pull the clutch cover off! Pull out the rods! Get the chisel and sandpaper!" Without a thought I just did what I was told and soon we had it all apart by working together. Amazing! We changed the springs back to stock and we were both off to race. It was also Bruce's race, but he had the time to help out someone to achieve their best. Plus he would rather beat me on the track than in the pits. The clutch lasted half way through the race this time, instead of just one corner, and that was good enough to finish. The exhaust cam had broken earlier in the day and was only running on three out of four cylinders without my knowledge. Hey, I thought it was the jetting. I finished in 14th place but it was one of my best races ever because even though I got passed down the straight by about a 1/4 mile each time by another friend Steve Dahlstrom I made up for it each lap by the third corner. I did it by driving harder than I have ever gone in my life. That is why I always say that racers always fininsh no matter what is underneath them. I finished that race with not the best of bikes, but put in the effort to do my best. The same thing applies to now that I am in a wheelchair. I've got four wheels instead of two legs, but I'm not pulling out of the race and am going to finish to the best of my ability. Oh, and when I was at band camp. Sorry that's a movie. At a four wheel off road race (Baja car short course) I could not get my car running on the track pass crawling speed. Remember my mechanical knowledge? You don't? Neither do I. It would crank over and run right up to about 1,700 rpm and then die. It was definitely something to do with Lucy in the sky with diamonds, or electronics. I am a real num nuts when it comes to electrical knowledge. Embarrassing when your dad is an electrical engineer. I would always go "DAD! I need help, and your volt meter." After looking and looking all morning, missing practice with the race coming up soon it was one of those packing up early days. The rest of the pits would not hear of it. As I was buckled in the car about 17 racers come over and tipped it on its side and proceeded to sound like an emergency room. The sounds from behind me as I sat tight and askew in the car were; Wrench, Screwdriver, Hammer, Gas, Volt Meter. It was coming real close and in the end it was un fixable because of a hidden fuse. A 25 cent fuse. The thing is that these racers wanted me to be out there with them having fun even though I was going to beat everyone except the two Pro drivers. Whether it is Tennis, LaCrosse, Golfing, Basketball, Skiing or even motorcycle racing you play to the ability of the people around you. If I'm playing a really good tennis player I play to the best of my ability, if not more. If it's a player who is not good then I'm hitting shots wide, missing the baseline or even hitting the ball over the fence into the bushes. Find somebody good to play with. The winners aren't a bunch of stars from the movie screen that you can't approach. They are always willing to help out someone as long as you take responsibility and don't make any excuses. Whatever group you are in today I would suggest you look at them hard and make the next step up the ladder. Find the winners in any situation and go up to them and introduce yourself and start asking a few questions because winners always love to share. The only thing you learn when you hang out with losers is how to lose and just one of the things you learn by hanging out with winners is how to win. So ask yourself what you want to be.
This is the second part of a discussion I have with 13 year old boys and girls at Hoquiam Middle School.
By Shawn McDonald
What I am now going to talk with you about is winning, or maybe I should rephrase that by saying that winners hang out with winners and losers hang out with losers. That sounds real harsh doesn't it? Probably is. Funny how life can be that way some times. This ties in with what we just talked about in taking responsibility for where you are in life. If you think that there is some super secret society with it's sole intent on destroying any chance of your happiness, then you're looking in the wrong place. The first place to look, as I have said, is at yourself and the decisions you have made, and the second place to look is to who surrounds you. Let me put this in racing terms for myself. I speak RACER. If you are say in a race class of 35 competitors and you are constantly finishing in the 30th spot, look around your pits and see who you are hanging out with. They're your buddies that you chose to hang out with, and pit together with. Guess what places they are finishing in? Yeah, you got it. You are the king of your group because your buddies are right behind you in 31st, 32nd, 33rd and 34th places. The guy in 35th place was a DNS (Did Not Start) because he had pre-entered and was sent to Iraq for 2 years a week before the race. Sure it's an excuse, but it is a darn good one. So you are the King of the back markers. Congratulations. I'm sure your parents must very proud of you. Now let me tie this into an integral part of this circle of life which is 'No Wucking Excuses.' I can just hear the fast talking jabbering of the loser's pits float across the noisy bikes until it lands upon my ears. What is that they're saying? "I would have nailed the holeshot if I had only remembered to put gas in the tank. And of course 'Smiling' Sam only wins because he has that beautiful girlfriend. If I had that good looking of a girlfriend I would also be winning all the time. That, and possibly a new bike and tires. Shouldn't forget the leathers, helmet, gloves. Oh, of course the ability to turn the throttle. That goes without saying." "That's nothing. I would have taken home every 1st place trophy if all those guys in front didn't keep pulling away from me. I thought this was a race where the fastest man wins. How am I supposed to win if they don't wait up for me. The racing just isn't fair when I get lapped three times. It just isn't fair. If I was cleaned up, brushed my teeth, used deodorant, shaved and didn't have a bike held together with duct tape then I also could win, but that's not me man. I have to stay true to who I am." "Those 'Smiling' Sam's, 'Magic' Mike's, 'Fast' Freddie’s, 'Dominating' Dave's are such a bunch of wankers. I mean they go talk to everybody in the pits, say hello to the spectators and are always smiling. When they come over to say hello to me I just turn my back to them and don't acknowledge them at all. Bastards! Another thing. They all pit together and hang out with each other." "Yeah. What's up with that?" I have been racing on both two and four wheels, in the dirt and on the pavement in my life. I have been successful at all, and not because I had any talent. I would say that at least 50% of the racers have more natural talent than I do. Which puts me as just the average guy on the track. What is it that makes me in a very short amount of time successful when I try something new? If you guys see my head start to swell please apply these hose clamps that I have given each of you and screw down tightly on my skull as quickly as possible. We wouldn't want to have a monster explosion would we? Uggh, yuck! The first thing I do when I decide on a new sporting adventure is to find the people who are winning. Then I start with asking a few questions, followed by more questions without being intrusive. Well, maybe a little intrusive. When I go back to the event I know exactly where they are and will park next to them like some deranged stalker. If nothing else, I will watch them intently to see how they do everything. How they fill up their gas tanks. What clothes they wear, and when and how they put them on. What type of food do they eat. Their routine before and after the race. Is it twenty, fifteen or ten minutes before a race do they get dressed? How long before a race do they start up the bike? I not only watch one racer, but I watch all of the top racers. You know what? It is pretty much the same. There are of course differences, but they all have routines and are always ready on time to race. Not to early and not to late. Winners have a common theme. In practice I get on their rear tire as soon as possible and see where their braking, turn in and acceleration points are in the corners. If it's off road then it is the speed they carry into a jump, how they are reading the corner in that are they squaring it off, riding the berm or cutting tightly around the corner. If I can stick with them for a few corners, all I am going to do is watch. Then I will try it. Not all at once or I would be picking either pavement or dirt out of my teeth. Little steps at a time. Little steps. I know that if they can do it, then so can I. I quickly start keeping up on more and more corners with them until I'm right on their ass all the time. The next thing of course now that you know the winning ways is to pass the leader. You've done it! You are now the leader and the winner of the race. All that long time spent learning by your own mistakes scenario I have just skipped right over and passed 'GO.' It's not cheating. It's called being smart. Are the other top guys really mad at you for copying their techniques and using them? How do you think they got to be fast. Winners love to see another person pushing to their personal best, and not giving up. There is the catch however. You actually don't have to win the race to be a winner, you just have to push to your own personal limit. There are only so many first place trophies in the world, but there are a lot of winners. If an average guy, of average weight, average looks and average talent can win then so can you. Let us imagine for a few seconds that you are in your 40's with two divorces under your belt, no education, no home, no job and your dog doesn't even like you. As a matter of fact your dog left you last week for a better home with the wolves. As Robert Redford said in the movie 'The Natural' "My life didn't turn out the way I expected." If you find that is true for you then look at yourself and see the decisions that you have made that placed you there. Look at who and what surrounds you in life. Ask yourself are these people the winners or losers in life. Now a message from this short little guy next to me. Says his name is Yoda. "Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes." I bet you inhaled didn't you Yoda? This sounds so corny that I will be serving butter on all of it for you. The winning force is a powerful tool. Check under your chairs for vomit bags. And please, please, please no excuses at all. You never see winners making excuses. There was this Australian Craig Trinder who was racing up here who could be on the day the fastest guy on the track. One day he finished in 4th place and I asked him what happened. Craig just said, "I finished where I finished." There were no excuses. Just a statement of the facts and a look in his eyes that he would do better the next time out. Even when I started playing wheelchair Rugby, also known as Murderball, I saw that the best player was Gary Kanazawa. He was such a good player. Even made the Olympic 'B' team while working full time at Microsoft and raising a family. Fast, and could turn on a dime. I was about 5 inches taller and heavier so he could leave me on the open court in the dust with just a faint of his head and a twitch of the 24" wheels. I was real good at defense by bouncing guys out of the key, smacking down passes and stealing balls. Speaking of smacking down balls a hello to new subscriber Rik Smits. Working together we could stop some of the best teams around. Gary pushed me to my limits because he wanted another winner on his team. I was at a road race and I had just put a new Barnett clutch in a Yamaha FZR 600. The Barnett springs were real strong. The clutch actuator was on the left side of the engine and when pulled in pushed a metal rod through the cases that pushed out and seperated the clutch plates so that they would be free spinning. There were two rods with a ball bearing in between so that you didn't wind up with a two foot long rod that would bend very easily. The clutch springs were so strong that the pressure on the rods to push out the clutch plates welded the ball bearing to the rods. Every time I went out I would pull in the clutch once, twice and hopefully three times before the lever went limp in my hands and I had a solid clutch. Pulling into the pits with a heavy bike and clip ons made finding neutral in the gearbox very critical before doing the 'Stall and Fall.' It was a weekend race and I must have pulled that actuator apart 10 times. I would take out the rods, chisel the bearing off, sand the rods and beg someone for a new bearing. The bearings were running out as was any patience I had left. Sunday morning practice and of course you have finally figured out the problem and cured it. And of course I was dead wrong. Pulled in after practice, found neutral before falling down and parked next to Bruce Lind. I was to say just slightly pissed off and frustrated after two days. There wasn't that much time until my first race and I just sat my fat ass in the lawn chair and decided to just pack it up for the weekend. Bruce looked over at me with a look of slight disgust at what I had become and started barking orders at me,"Take off the foot peg and shifter! Pull the clutch cover off! Pull out the rods! Get the chisel and sandpaper!" Without a thought I just did what I was told and soon we had it all apart by working together. Amazing! We changed the springs back to stock and we were both off to race. It was also Bruce's race, but he had the time to help out someone to achieve their best. Plus he would rather beat me on the track than in the pits. The clutch lasted half way through the race this time, instead of just one corner, and that was good enough to finish. The exhaust cam had broken earlier in the day and was only running on three out of four cylinders without my knowledge. Hey, I thought it was the jetting. I finished in 14th place but it was one of my best races ever because even though I got passed down the straight by about a 1/4 mile each time by another friend Steve Dahlstrom I made up for it each lap by the third corner. I did it by driving harder than I have ever gone in my life. That is why I always say that racers always fininsh no matter what is underneath them. I finished that race with not the best of bikes, but put in the effort to do my best. The same thing applies to now that I am in a wheelchair. I've got four wheels instead of two legs, but I'm not pulling out of the race and am going to finish to the best of my ability. Oh, and when I was at band camp. Sorry that's a movie. At a four wheel off road race (Baja car short course) I could not get my car running on the track pass crawling speed. Remember my mechanical knowledge? You don't? Neither do I. It would crank over and run right up to about 1,700 rpm and then die. It was definitely something to do with Lucy in the sky with diamonds, or electronics. I am a real num nuts when it comes to electrical knowledge. Embarrassing when your dad is an electrical engineer. I would always go "DAD! I need help, and your volt meter." After looking and looking all morning, missing practice with the race coming up soon it was one of those packing up early days. The rest of the pits would not hear of it. As I was buckled in the car about 17 racers come over and tipped it on its side and proceeded to sound like an emergency room. The sounds from behind me as I sat tight and askew in the car were; Wrench, Screwdriver, Hammer, Gas, Volt Meter. It was coming real close and in the end it was un fixable because of a hidden fuse. A 25 cent fuse. The thing is that these racers wanted me to be out there with them having fun even though I was going to beat everyone except the two Pro drivers. Whether it is Tennis, LaCrosse, Golfing, Basketball, Skiing or even motorcycle racing you play to the ability of the people around you. If I'm playing a really good tennis player I play to the best of my ability, if not more. If it's a player who is not good then I'm hitting shots wide, missing the baseline or even hitting the ball over the fence into the bushes. Find somebody good to play with. The winners aren't a bunch of stars from the movie screen that you can't approach. They are always willing to help out someone as long as you take responsibility and don't make any excuses. Whatever group you are in today I would suggest you look at them hard and make the next step up the ladder. Find the winners in any situation and go up to them and introduce yourself and start asking a few questions because winners always love to share. The only thing you learn when you hang out with losers is how to lose and just one of the things you learn by hanging out with winners is how to win. So ask yourself what you want to be.
