“If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower.”
— Mark Donohue
“To achieve anything in this game you must be prepare to dabble in the boundary of disaster.”
— Sterling Moss
“He ran out of talent about halfway through the corner.”
— Buddy Baker
“Auto racing began five minutes after the second car was built.”
— Henry Ford
“Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.”
— Hunter Thompson
“Why worry about death, it’ll come sooner or later. ”
— Jim Dunn
“The crashes people remember, but drivers remember the near misses.”
— Mario Andretti
“There have been other tracks that separated the men from the boys. This is the track that will separate the brave from the weak after the boys are gone.”
— Driver Jimmy Thompson speaking about Daytona International Speedway
“It is amazing how may drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.”
— Mario Andretti
“You can tell that you’re in trouble when you feel the air on the back of your neck instead of in your face.”
— Buddy Baker
“Moonshiners put more time, energy, thought, and love into their cars than any racer ever will. Lose on the track, and you go home. Lose with a load of whiskey, and you go to jail.”
— Junior Johnson, NASCAR legend, and one time whiskey runner
“You can’t fix stupid”
— Larry Morgan, NHRA Pro Stock driver
“After the third flip, I lost control...”
— Don Roberts after crashing in the Jade Grenade at New England Dragway in 1975
“The lead car is absolutely unique, except for the one behind it which is identical.”
— F1 commentator Murray Walker
“The winner ain’t the one with the fastest car, it’s the one who refuses to lose.”
— Dale Earnhardt
“Winning is everything. The only ones who remember you when you come second are your wife and your dog.”
— Damon Hill
“No, I don’t drive her to win, I just drive her as fast as she will go.”
— Juan Fangio
“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports… all the others are games.”
— Ernest Hemingway
“What’s behind you doesn’t matter.”
— Enzo Ferrari
“If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough.”
— Parnelli Jones
“To finish first, you must first finish.”
— Juan Manuel Fangio
“Calling upon my years of experience, I froze at the controls.”
— Stirling Moss
“Mr. Bentley – He builds fast trucks. ”
— Ettore Bugatti
“ No, no, he didn’t slam you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you… he *rubbed* you. And rubbin, son, is racin’.”
— Harry Hogge, Days of Thunder
“Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… that’s what gets you.”
— Jeremy Clarkson
“I don’t know driving in another way which isn’t risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other’s.”
— Ayrton Senna
“Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines.”
— Enzo Ferrari
“When I started racing my father told me, ‘Cristiano, nobody has three balls but some people have two very good ones.”
— Cristiano Da Matta
“You win some, you lose some, you wreck some.”
— Dale Ernhardt Sr.
“ We broke something, I think it was traction...”
— Carl Edwards after getting spun out by Dale Jr. at Michigan
“When I raced a car last it was at a time when sex was safe and racing was dangerous. Now, it’s the other way round.”
— Hans Stuck
“If you think the last 4 words of the national anthem are gentlemen, start your engines, you might be a redneck.”
— Jeff Foxworthy
“Nobody remembers the guy who finished second but the guy who finished second.”
— Bobby Unser
“Once you’ve raced, you never forget it…and you never get over it.”