“Press On Towards The Goal”

The 30^th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Persistence and drag racing seem to go hand-in-hand.  At the end of each day of racing there is only one winner.  If you go out each week and have to win to have fun, I think you are going to be very disappointed.  However, you cannot let the lack of winning stop you from pursuing the goal; you must persevere.

I spend about 30 weekends a year at a drag strip and have the privilege of watching the very best in the sport compete.  But as good as these top level racers are, they still do not win everything.  I have seen the best lose first round and have to put their stuff in the trailer.  I believe what makes them the best is that they never give up.  When things look insurmountable they find a way to make things work.

I watched Terry Edwards, a top ten Super Comp racer, climb into a race car he had never driven so that he could make first round at a national event.  The car didn’t even have the controls set up for him and the crew was making changes as he rolled down the staging lanes.  To me that shows perseverance, that rugged determination to compete in the face of adversity.

In our culture today everything is instant, microwavable, downloadable and easy to navigate.  Racing is not like that.  It is hard work with lots of repetition.

Life is loaded with challenges.  We can dive into them or decide to quit and walk away.  One of my heroes showed the determination to dive in.   If you remember the Bible story of Joshua and how he had to get the Israelites out every day for a week.  This was no easy task since there were thousands and thousands of people to get moving each day.  (Can you imagine the whining involved?) They had to march around the walls of Jericho and finally, after seven days, they blew trumpets and screamed.  Their hard work and persistence paid off when the walls fell down.

Now I don’t want to see you using that method on your competitors at the track.  You would probably scare them to death with the trumpet blast.  But if you use the idea of sticking with it, even when times get tough, then you can overcome some tough stuff. 

Let me close with a quote from another great thinker, “Those who commence deliberately. They plod on. They stick to it. They persevere and finally reap their rewards.”

Ken Webb