There are and have been plenty of father-son duos throughout NASCAR’s history. Even today, the likes of Keelan Harvick and Brexton Busch are following in the footsteps of their fathers to break into motorsports. Youngsters born into racing families need more than just admiration for their fathers — they need a personal urge to race.
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Chase Elliott is an icon in his own right in 2025. But at the end of the day, he is known for being the son of the legendary Bill Elliott. He spoke about how he developed a love for racing beyond his father in a recent conversation on The MeatEater Podcast.
His words serve as an insightful lesson for upcoming youngsters with famous fathers. He said, “I think there comes a point in time where you have to have some natural interest and you have to have your own obsession with it, right?
“Or it’s never going to work. I don’t know at what age that happened. Probably when things were starting to get more serious for me in racing. I would say probably ten, eleven, or twelve.”
Elliott has gone from racing just because his father did it to racing because he loved the craft and discipline of it. He’d realized that there was a lot more than what meets the eye in the industry, and he eventually developed a deep bond with it. It is using this obsession that he has been able to create a remarkable name for himself.
How do NASCAR drivers handle the risk of death?
Beyond passion, another defining trait of a race car driver is how they view risk. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was asked about what makes one a good race car driver. Is it the blatant disregard for death? The willingness to put oneself constantly on the verge of a life-ending risk?
He responded by explaining that drivers stop looking at things that way after spending some time in their cars. Driving at 200 miles per hour doesn’t seem like much of a thrill to them all the time.
Moreover, doing so on the track doesn’t come with the risks that are present in the streets. What they are more focused on is pushing their cars a little bit more to gain an advantage over their competitors.
