Whether manhandling beasts over 300 miles per hour or trying to take less than a hundredth at the finish line in a 12 second street car , a driver ’ s capabilities are astounding . Years of training produces pilots who are akin to the engines under the hood in terms of consistent performance .

In many ways , technological advancements have leveled the playing field , taking out some of the driving factor . As electronic components are added and more and more parts are controlled by computers , the consistency of race cars has made it easier for even novice drivers to quickly become good . Closing the performance gap also means tougher fields of cars , making it more difficult for drivers to gain any type of edge over another . Any mistake will be taken advantage of by a competitor .

Perhaps because of this , the driving piece of the puzzle is taken more seriously than ever these days . About three decades ago , Frank Hawley established his drag racing school and has helped hundreds of novice and professional drag racers reach their next performance edge . While that next step in becoming a better driver looks different for everyone , Hawley says there ’ s one critical piece that affects every driver , regardless of experience : emotion .

“ There are a lot of things in your body and brain that don ’ t perform well when you get overly enthusiastic or experience other emotions like fear of poor performance ,” Hawley educated . “ It ’ s interesting because people say , ‘ Well , I ’ m learning to drive the race car . I ’ m pretty nervous . I don ’ t want to mess up . There ’ s a lot of pressure for me to learn how to drive the car .’ And yet if you go

to the pros and they ’ ve been racing for decades , the same sorts of things can happen . They say , ‘ There ’ s a lot of pressure on me to perform . I don ’ t want to mess up . My team is looking to me for a good performance .’ Emotion issues are universal , no matter how many years of experience you ’ ve had . Emotions can hinder a person ’ s performance across the spectrum .”

Managing emotions while competing for for any prize can be a daunting task . Hawley emphasizes that mental preparation is key and also suggests visualizing runs before they happen :

“ Mental rehearsal or visualization is something that virtually all professional athletes spend a great deal of time on . We spend a fair amount of time talking about visualizing your routines , especially if you ’ re a new driver . You can do it in your kitchen chair , if you want , but if you ’ ve got

a race car , we suggest you get strapped in and go through the routine : the burnout , the back up , the staging , all aspects of the run . Where your body is . How much pressure you have on the left foot , the right foot . Is your head on an angle ? How are you breathing or are you breathing ? All of those things go into visualization . New drivers need to visualize procedures , because you ’ re writing programs in your mind that hopefully will allow you to do this at a later date without any conscious thought .

“ Actually , once the driver gets really good and experienced , we don ’ t spend a lot of time going over how they ’ re going to drive the car , but we do spend time with them on settling down , getting quiet moments in the car ahead of the time they ’ ll drive . Get rid of all outside influences . They ’ re not necessarily having to practice how they ’ ll

PHOTO : FRANK HAWLEY ’ S DRAG RACING SCHOOL