DirtonDirt exclusive
There's just one person to talk to in driver's seat
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
(joshjamesartwork.com)
It's a relatively lonely world behind the wheel of a Dirt Late Model.
Drivers snugly buckled in the cockpit wearing full-face helmets can see cryptic signals from crew members and hear lineup instructions from officials via one-way radio, but there's no one to talk to. No one to discuss track conditions, the turn-three crash — or what a bummer it is to keep having to start on the outside when your car is fastest on the inside.
No one to talk to, that is, except yourself.
Not every driver does it, but in a sampling of high-profile racers, some admitted to being vocal behind the wheel, providing an outlet that is more shouting into the abyss than productive conversation.
"It's usually explicit," World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular Tanner English of Benton, Ky., said.
"I'm screaming or yelling," said second-year WoO racer Cody Overton of Evans, Ga.
Added Urbana, Mo., driver Dillon McCowan. "It's just a one-on-one conversation with me."
Talking to yourself isn't unusual, and experts say virtually all of us maintain at least an inner dialogue in our thoughts. Vocalizing those thoughts is less common — perhaps 25 percent of us actually speak aloud — but the habit is generally viewed as beneficial for cognitive processing, problem-solving and emotional regulation, according to studies.
Amid the turbulent action of circling a dirt track, racers are definitely doing a lot of process, problem-solving and dealing with emotions — some better than others.
Veteran racer Chris Ferguson of Mount Holly, N.C., keeps his thoughts to himself for the most part, but on occasion he'll have something to say — even if no one can hear it.
"I'm in my own mind a lot, but the only time that I really get vocal is when I'm reacting to something. If I'm mad about something, I will get a little mad inside the helmet," Ferguson said. "Maybe some profanity, if I'm mad enough. After the race if I'm pissed off about, I would say I shout or scream, just kind of get the frustration out before I get back to the pit area. If I can do it, get it out before I get to my pit area, it's a lot better than if I'm mad when I get out of the car."
For reigning Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., vocalizing isn't unusual.
"I definitely yell and scream and stuff like that just depending on what's going on," Thornton said. "Obviously like, if you get in a wreck or something like that, you're screaming and yelling at yourself more than anything, or say if you miss your line, you're like, 'Man, what the hell was I thinking there?' "
Likewise, he sometimes wonders what other drivers are thinking when he gets into a scrum.
"If a guy runs you over," Thornton said, "and you run him back over and he's the yellow (flag), you might come around (the track) and be like: 'That's what you get, asshole.' "
While some drivers don't speak aloud, Overton says he's a virtual chatterbox behind the wheel.
"I talked to other (drivers), do you talk during the races? And they're like, 'No, that's just you,' " Overton said with a laugh.
Last season, World of Outlaws publicist Emily Schwanke had Overton wear a microphone so they could get an idea of what he said. Let's say there was plenty of material.
"She mic'd me up because they didn't believe I talked," Overton said. "I put a GoPro (camera in the car) and they listened to me talk the whole race and I'm just like, 'There's my buddy Dustin' and I'm literally like I'm the happiest person alive, I think. So I'll just be talking and my crew guys be waving at me telling me I'm like, 'I don't even know what the hell they're telling me to do, but I can't do whatever they're saying.'
"I always catch myself talking like, if I do something dumb, I'm like, 'Oh, you dumbass. Why would you even do that?' I probably say a lot worse."
Overton admits he sometimes gets too excited behind the wheel, including the first time he made the lineup for the lucrative Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. During the four-wide parade lap, he wanted to soak in the moment, craning his neck to see the pyrotechnics on the backstretch. "Oh wow! Look at that!" Overton remembers saying.
But Overton got so distracted he ended up bumping into one of the cars next to him. "It was so funny cause they came up to me (later) and he was like, 'Dude, what in the hell were you doing?' "
McCowan tries to give himself a vocal pep talk while racing, even during high-speed green-flag laps. He's got a mantra that helps him concentrate.
"If I'm out in the lead or out there by myself or something that's just, 'Stay smooth, hit your marks,' " he said. "I repeat to myself just 'Hit your marks, just hit your marks, hit your marks,' like the whole (time) while I'm racing. Consistently, if I'm out in front, it kind of just keeps me focused in on like what I'm trying to do, not like, 'Oh what's going on over here' or whatnot. Just stay focused: "Hit my mark, hit my mark, hit my mark.'
"I mean there's there's no telling what I could be in there saying to myself. I don't really realize it, but I do talk to myself quite often in there. There's a lot of emotions," McCowan adds with a laugh.
While no one answers drivers who are talking to themselves, Ferguson admits he might have a conversation with the official providing instruction via the Raceceiver. Race directors in the scoring tower typically use the one-way communication device to alert drivers to cautions, help them line up or provide other pertinent information. Drivers can talk back, but no one hears them.
Ferguson say he sometimes has a response when he's annoyed by repetitive requests from a race director.
"Dude, shut up. We hear you," Ferguson said, mimicking a potential retort. "We've heard you 1,000 times say this. Why don't you point out the one guy that you're talking to and say, hey, 15 car, I'm talking to you instead of telling the whole field 1,000 times."
Drivers often also receive information from their crews with a variety of hand signals, signal sticks, signs or motions. The problem is that drivers can't talk back — except into their helmet.
"You might pass your crew guy and he'll be giving you a signal and you're like, 'Bud, I can't do that, I've tried that for like five laps and it didn't work,' " Thornton said.
Overton can relate.
"Sometimes when we are racing, I can see like my crew guys talking," he said. "I feel like I know what sometimes they're saying, so I'm like trying to be like, 'What are you doing down there?' Like just trying to talk to them (but) they can't hear me."
English doesn't talk to himself a lot, but he remembers letting out a shout of joy a few years ago after back-to-back victories in Iowa, including one that paid a career-high $30,000.
"The only time I remember really doing something like that is when I won them two races in a row at Davenport," English said. "I just felt like I was on top of the world. I just, I don't know, you just let it out. That's the only way you can let out your emotion, I think."
While many of us in passenger cars might talk to ourselves about annoying drivers around us, English says he's even quieter on the highways than he is at the racetrack.
"My wife probably does it more than me," English said of wife Mallorie riding shotgun. "I don't get too worked up about traffic, but my wife, she gets (excited). I get all my anger out here (at the racetrack). I'm pretty chill with people on the road."
Behind the wheel of a race car, though, McCowan is among the drivers who often keeps his lips flapping.
"I'm pretty vocal in there," the WoO rookie candidate said. "If it's going good, you know, I'll be in there cheering or something like that. If we win a heat race or make the show, I'll be in there whooping and hollering or whatnot. But if (the results) ain't no good, then it's probably not good words that's coming out."
