Today, children are put into go-karts when they are as young as five years old to prepare for a career in the highest echelons of professional motorsports. But even the most sophisticated training standards that a youngster can get don’t determine the level of success that can be achieved, nor the number of years they can stay relevant in the game. That comes down to individual willpower and fate.
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RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski is competing in the NASCAR Cup Series at the age of 41. He has already won a Cup Series championship and is now a successful team owner as the clock ticks away. He recently spoke to the press at Indianapolis about the extreme journey that a driver undergoes throughout a career and detailed how one can stay motivated consistently.
Keselowski said, “When you have great cars, it’s easy to stay motivated. It’s easy to stay hungry. It’s easy to look at it and kind of find that drive that it takes to compete at a high level.”
He added that anytime a driver is asked how much longer they’re going to stay in the car, they say that they will stay for as long as they feel like they can win. That’s as standard an answer as any and Keselowski delved deeper into that idea.
He pointed out how there are stretches during which a driver can’t stop reaching Victory Lane. It is too easy to say that they will go on forever in these moments. But then, there are also stretches during which they might struggle to even finish races. So, what ensures longevity in an arena such as this? The ability to motivate oneself.
“I think those are natural ebbs and flows that you kind of work through, and you have to find your own motivation,” he stated. “That motivation changes throughout your career. At least I feel that way. You find different things that motivate you. You have to find them if you want to stay a part of it.”
Keselowski, for one, has found his motivating factors over the years. It is how he has stayed at the highest level. The age at which a driver peaks used to be between 35 and 45. Due to changes in technology and an increased focus on training and mental alertness, this number may have shifted over the decades.
But then there are exceptions who don’t let age be the determining factor in their performances, like Denny Hamlin. Somehow, they have mastered the secret to keeping their names close to the top of the standings.
