‘You feel like you are in complete control … until you are not,’ Daytona 500 champ, Michael McDowell on the mystery of racing


‘You feel like you are in complete control … until you are not,’ Daytona 500 champ, Michael McDowell on the mystery of racing

Michael McDowell

Michael McDowell has learnt it the hard way how difficult racing can be when he went nearly more than a month without winning something on the various racing circuits on his way to NASCAR. The struggle didn’t end there.

It took him 94 tries to win an Xfinity series race and exactly 358 attempts before he could get his hands on the championship.

That goes on to speak volumes about the grit and determination of the man. He could have given up at any given stage of his career but he chose to fight his way through the obstacles. He has been rightly rewarded for his perseverance with an induction in the Hall of fame which is the summit of the sport.

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“I came into NASCAR in 2008, I was young and arrogant and had a chip on my shoulder,” McDowell says in a film short about his life that debuts this week. “I had won everything I had ever done leading up to that point and felt like that wasn’t going to stop. Very quickly, I got humbled in this sport,” as reported by sportscasting.

Michael McDowell inducted into the Hall of Fame

Micheal McDowell

Michael McDowell pointed out his religious convictions and also the importance of peace and there are aspects which can be tied down to his racing career as well. He talks about the fact that when he got in the zone, his brain used to take over. Although the speed of the car was tremendous, the brain was always a step ahead of the car and helped him in his decision making.

Even though you are 200 miles an hour, inches apart or inches from the wall, you feel like you are in complete control … until you are not,” as posted in a tweet.

McDowell was in complete control for less than one lap of the Daytona 500 a year ago, but it was the lap that counted, delivering him that long-awaited first victory. He has reiterated the fact that a driver needs to move with caution and care because things can change pretty quickly in this sport.

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