What do you do to stay motivated?

That was so funny Jeff it actually hurt!

The list thing usually works for me too. I had a list on the trunk of my car, but it looked awefully large. While this sounds pretty silly, I decided to take that handwritten list and type it out in word. It was amazing how much smaller (manageable) it then looked. Nothing changed but the size and how neat the list appeared. This weekend I decided to get my butt in gear a bit. One of the things I did was just a silly/fun thing to the car, which did nothing for performance nor safety. It did get me in the garage and then turned into my painting the roll cage. While I did a far from perfect job, at least now when I look inside the car it doesn't look like rusting tubes. There's plenty more for me to do, but the ball is now slowly starting to roll.
 
Greg stays motivated by watching Matt work......... :P[/b]
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You're such the card...butt-munch...

Actually that *is* the way I get motivated when I have to do things, whether it's the race car project (yes, I do) or some other project.

However, the easy way to get MATT motivated is to simply write a check...
 
Lose. It works wonders...
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It most certainly does.


The second half of last year was my hardest test of attrition to date. I wiped the front end off the car in early September and we had to seriously thrash to get it put back together in time for the NASA Nationals in only 10 days. We barely made it (the paint was hardly dry) and quickly got it up to speed, but then rolled the damn thing during Sunday's championship race. Right then I seriously left the heap in the shop for a week and didn't even set foot in there - I didn't even want to lay my eyes on it. We then spent the next two weeks fixing the car again in order to get it out for the last GLDiv regional before the ARRC - it was far from pretty, but I needed to test the chassis. It did well going under the track record during Sunday's qualifying. That felt like a huge accomplishment after the previous month I had. Over the next three or four weeks we then took to finishing all of the body work and painting the car to the point that many of you saw it at the ARRC. At the same time we also built a brand new engine for it, got it installed, and tuned it. Overall, it was about two months of pure hell. This was just my Dad and I in our shop at my house, that's it. After it all, going on to finish 2nd at the ARRC seriously made it all worth it and made me realize why I had the motivation to do it in the first place. But that being said, after getting home from the ARRC, I seriously didn't touch the car for almost two months and I loved every minute of it!

I think that knowing I had a good car that deserved to be fixed and deserved to participate in "the big race" made me keep working on it. Then when it actually did, it made it all worth it. I mean, it treats me pretty good afterall. :P
 
I have that check writing excercise down to perfection. I remember Nick Leverone telling me, "Ben, step away from the vehicle - with your mechanical skill you will write more checks to undo what you have done."

Still trying to learn how to thrash from books - but I did find a new shop this weekend - GT1 guys from Mach 1 Performance. They ran a 1:57 at the Glen this weekend in a hybrid Stock Car Trans Am machine - extremely cool & fast.

Even better - they are 30 minutes from my house.
 
My list always gets started Monday morning first thing after a race weekend, while it's all still fresh in my mind... and I race every 4 weeks!

But that does nothing for my motivation...
 
You're such the card...butt-munch...

Actually that *is* the way I get motivated when I have to do things, whether it's the race car project (yes, I do) or some other project.

However, the easy way to get MATT motivated is to simply write a check...
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I find that when motivation is needed a yuengling helps. Something about beer and working in garage the next thing I know its been 6 hours and I have done an hours worth of work. Without the beer I would have never started tinkering in the garage.

I can find motivation when I want to, its just so well hard.
 
Solution....Get a showroom stock car!

Seriously, this is a route I would have taken if there were more then one or two at every single race I've ever been to....I really dont like racing alone.

I have a business, a house, a wife, street cars/trucks, and very little time or energy at the end of the day to be going down into the basement garage to work on the race car. Heck, I can barely keep up with the regular chores every week.

Not to mention, very little extra disposable income to be spending on a hobby....
And, compared to every other hobby I have ever had, this one is three times as expensive....


This is why I only race a few times each year. Cant afford the time or money to race much more than that.

I will always get beaten by guys with more money in their cars and more energy/interest in car set-up. I'm sure there are tons of you out there in the same boat.

I personally cant see making those kind of sacrifices for a trophy and some bragging rights...

Kudo's to those that do.
 
Something about beer and working in garage the next thing I know its been 6 hours and I have done an hours worth of work. Without the beer I would have never started tinkering in the garage.[/b]
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I can relate and have to get at least some work done before I start drinking otherwise nothing would get done. :birra:
 
I love beer but in the shop it just makes me lazy. The secret for me is getting started. I have to convince myself to get out there and do something promising myself that if once I get started if I want to quit I will. Once I get going I can usually get a little done and sometimes a lot.
 
More seriously, it's a matter of knowing I need to do X to make the car faster and better for the next race. I focus on that. Maintenance is easy, it's normal, I could cover than in a half-hour between races - doesn't take that much, just an oil change and a brake bleed.

I agree, splitting stuff up by priorities, time required, or whatever, helps a lot... I figure out what I need a solid weekend day to do, what are little small things I can get done in the evening after work and before dinner, etc. Then I can tackle it bits at a time, and not fall behind...
 
For us last minute certainly makes us motivate.... last year it was the championship that got us motivated but also burnt out... this year we decided to just have fun and we have not run one race weekend yet. The entire crew gets together every Monday night and we work on the cars prepping for Mid Ohio. Sure we have been a bit lazy but things have been accomplished every night. We made deadlines and on some weeks some of us worked more than others to meet our deadlines. This weekend everything should get finished up without cramming wich will be very very nice. We didn't get everything we wanted done, but I am sure we got enough done to beat Dave in the ITB race!!!

Raymond
 
1. Try autocrossing. It keeps you in the seat and motivated. I call it "low impact motorsports".

2. Find someone to help you, even if they are clueless and all thumbs.

3. Bribes with alcohol and pizza work well. :birra:

4. Find someone rich to sponsor you. :D

5. I don't know how a young cute Wife/girlfriend would help you, you would be too busy doing "other things" to want to go racing. Matter of fact, you'll want to start doing things S L O W L Y, if you know what I mean.

I'm trying to get back into this after 10 years. Just cant get the motivation to buy a car, because I KNOW what I'm up against.
 
For me..I see a picture like this one and some how all the work is worth it!




Mike B[attachmentid=1079]
 
Find minions, they really help keep you going because to new folks there is novelty in working on race cars.

I always promise Jude that if there is a gentleman's club near a track that we can go. That seems to work out okay.

Probably the biggest motivator though is getting to see all of our racing friends.
 
I always promise Jude that if there is a gentleman's club near a track that we can go. That seems to work out okay.

Probably the biggest motivator though is getting to see all of our racing friends.
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Wow Jennifer I wonder if I could get my wife to use that Gentlemen's club motivation ;)
Right now she's just pissed that I'm more motivated to work on my car instead of hers. You said it though its not the trophies, it's the racing friends and the BS'ing with them that are the most rewarding motivators.
 
I always promise Jude that if there is a gentleman's club near a track that we can go. That seems to work out okay.
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jeeeez, I can't believe nobody has asked yet.....Do you have a sister?? ;)
 
jeeeez, I can't believe nobody has asked yet.....Do you have a sister?? ;)
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No, and you should all be thankful that there is only one of me. I am mostly crazy so Jude had to put up with a lot of crap to get to the good stuff but we do have 6 240SX's at the house right now so I guess it is a give and take situation.
 
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