by Kristin Swartzlander | Mar 14, 2014 | Thoughts and Rants
In many ways, racers have the characteristics of a tribe. We have driver’s suits, crew uniforms and t-shirts that show we’re part of the group. We have our own unique language, coining terms like ‘up on the cushion’, ‘full noise’ and ‘wide open’. We show up at the same racetracks, by the hundreds – sometimes the thousands – for the same reason. Races are legendary – movies are made, songs are written and art is created to depict our racing. We’ll travel far and wide just for a few hours of action and turn around to tow home. We wake up groggy the next day, knowing that we’d do it all again if we had the opportunity. We share the same dreams, hopes and fears. We celebrate together in the best of times and mourn together in the worst. But, we seem to be missing something. By definition, a tribe can’t exist without a leader. Some days, we are lead by the best of us – the driver that runs the best, clean race. The team that reaches victory lane. But generally, we give that driver our respect and move on. We’re not lead by them. Our leader is speed. Speed is a living, breathing beast. It is mysterious – always reachable but never achievable. It is powerful and commands respect. In speed, we achieve glory. Speed pushes us to the brink of what’s safe, healthy and sane. It continuously demands our best – mechanically, mentally and physically. We innovate, trying to get more of it. Sometimes, we lose track of the edge and are swallowed by it. But...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Dec 24, 2013 | Thoughts and Rants
First of all, I just want to wish everyone a happy holiday season! I hope you’re able to relax, eat bacon and watch lots of World of Outlaws coverage on CBS Sports. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on doing a fourth quarter intervention where you take stock of your year-to-date goals and see if there’s anything else you’d like to accomplish before the ball drops on 2013. And since I’m so good at taking my own advice, I did the same for myself (<- completely false.) In the days that lead up to our trip to Indy for IMIS/PRI, I was frantically searching for paperwork (scraps of post-its) that I filed (threw in my desk) for our trip. I ended up doing a full clean-out (tilted drawer into trash can) and found a piece of paper that I hadn’t thought about in months: my goals for 2013. I had set ambitious goals for my income and savings, personal relationships, public relations and sponsorship, etc. I was pretty shocked. In all honestly, I’ve been pretty down on myself lately. I haven’t been hitting my billing goals in the last few weeks – even though I have clients waiting to give me more work. I haven’t been posting here as often as usual because the admin section of the website has been down. Related -> I haven’t fixed the admin section of the website. I haven’t released the new website redesign I’ve been working on for months. I haven’t started projects I know would be well-received and I haven’t pushed Start on projects that are already complete for...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Nov 22, 2013 | Thoughts and Rants
We’re over halfway through the fourth quarter of 2013, and I’ve got two questions for you: Looking back, did you accomplish what you set out to this year? What can you do in these last few weeks of 2013 to hit your goals and kick off 2014 right? The first question is pretty serious – I don’t know about you, but it automatically made me think about all of the ways that I fell short this year. The projects that I haven’t completed yet because I set unrealistic timelines or (I don’t know…) life happened, the miserable client work I slogged through because I didn’t sign a contract or didn’t value my time, the fun well-paying projects that I had to turn away because I was working for other clients practically, and sometimes actually, for free. But this self-induced panic attack actually gave me two opportunities: to figure out what the actual hell went wrong and to think about what I did right and how to voice it to myself and others. Now that I’ve re-evaluated my year, I’ll probably write at least one blog post about the mistakes I’ve made in my business and how your race team can learn from them and avoid them – think about not leaving money on the table and getting sponsors to chase after you. Because, after a few Jack-and-Ginger’s, I was able to move on from beating myself up for my mistakes to learning about what I could have done differently and how I’ll do that in the future. Because the cold, hard truth is: if you’re not happy with where...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Nov 8, 2013 | Thoughts and Rants
If you’re in the racing business, especially if you’re a driver, you’ve probably run into quite a few critics in your day. The fans that boo you, the crew that gives you the stink-eye, the millionth guy that asked for ‘anyone else’ when you answer the phone because he wasn’t going to talk to a girl about racing, thankyouverymuch. (← Oh, just me? AWKWARD.) They’re everywhere. And they’re easy to brush off. Because we all know haters are gonna hate, my friends. We can easily choose to walk away, cut them out of our lives, even (gasp!) un-friend them on Facebook. But what happens when the person criticizing your choice of dreams is a relative or a friend? What happens when the criticism comes wrapped in a nice, well-meaning package? You can’t just tell them to shut it, and peace out. At least I can’t, anyway. I know what it’s like to tell the people you love that you want to do something they think is crazy. I moved to a ‘dangerous’ city where I didn’t know a soul for college. I hauled my butt across the country to another city I never visited before for a job at a major sports franchise, with no safety net and no guarantee of what are considered basics in most jobs. I left a really successful career in advertising to be un-ceremoniously un-welcomed by my own team as a young racetrack promoter. And to really brings things around in the risky and unstable department? I left that job, the last salary I ever collected, two years ago to start my own consulting...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Sep 26, 2013 | Racing Sponsorship, Thoughts and Rants
Silly question, I know. We race to win. Obviously. It’s like asking why you go to a bar, right? Most people would say the answer is to drink. But that’s only partially correct. It’s cheaper and easier to drink at home, where you don’t have to tip the bartender or find a taxi. We drink in bars because we want to interact with people. We choose one bar over another because we want to be associated with the other types of people that chose that same bar. We don’t drink in bars because we want to drink. We drink in bars for all of the other reasons. The choices we make go beyond the obvious, logical, need-based reasons. It’s easy, looking at racing from the outside, to assume why one races. There are so many apparent reasons. But at the core of it all, we could achieve the same things with other activities that didn’t cost as much, weren’t as dangerous and didn’t require a heavy time commitment. So why do we do it? At the most basic level, drivers race to win. But the desire to win comes from a different place in all of us. For some, it’s for the applause (applause, applause ← there it is! The Lady Gaga moment. Don’t resist.) For others, it’s the look of pride on their father’s face. The victory lane pictures they can post on Facebook. The kids that ask for their autograph. The feeling of satisfaction when they’ve proven the voice in their head wrong. The answer is different for everyone. But why does it matter? At the end...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Sep 13, 2013 | Thoughts and Rants
We’ve all heard the quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” Unless you’ve been living under a rock, in which case point me in your direction. It sounds peaceful and me (and my bottle of wine) would love to shack up next door. The quote, often misattributed to Albert Einstein, first appeared in a Narcotics Anonymous text in 1981. How ironic that I’d be using advice given to addicts to discuss the state of the racing industry. NOT. Aside from you under the rock, how many of us have heard racetracks complaining about how hard it is to fill seats? Not enough viewers for TV broadcasts? How many of us have complained that there aren’t enough sponsors in the sport? Guess what? Nothing will ever change unless you try something new. And the tough fact is that everything you try won’t work, so you’ll have to try lots of things before you succeed. Sounds hard? It is. But the alternative is death. Or not racing. (Same?) Here’s a useless fact about me: I avoid my own mailbox three days a week for fear of having to face a certain weekly publication. Side rant: It should only be one day since it’s mailed on the same day every week, but it always arrives on a different day. Thanks, USPS, for not one but three days of mailbox-Russian-Roulette. ANYWAY. This publication has always been a running joke in our house, and not because of its wit and bravado. It’s the offensive number of typos, misquotes, inaccuracies and errors that make it to print....
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