Being a Racer Takes a Certain Kind of Person

The willingness to take calculated risks is what separates the "decent" from the truly great. That willingness is also a key personality trait in smugglers. Racers and Smugglers Have a Lot in Common, and Psychology Can Prove It.

According to a study done by The New York Times, some of the main traits that determine how successful a racer can be are: Dominance, Self Sufficiency, and Relaxation. A racer needs to be assertive, both when driving and off the track. If a driver is unsure how their car is performing, they can’t relay that to the mechanics “Honestly, what the F*** are we doing here?”

Being Self-sufficient is also a critical racing skill. A driver might have an entire team behind them relaying car information and strategy calls, but when shit hits the fan, the driver will be forced to make tough calls on their own. The same is required of you when you’re running contraband. If you’re fleeing the cops, you won’t succeed if you can’t think on your feet.

It’s also crucial for a driver to keep their head when the heat is on. Racing isn’t a very chill activity. Taking turns at 100 miles an hour with cars all around you isn’t for people who panic. American racing legend Bobby Rahal once said, “Emotion is the enemy of the race cardriver.”

Like racing, smuggling also requires that you keep your emotions under control. "Say Hello to my little friend!" One final trait mentioned in the racing study was shyness. It doesn’t have much to do with driving, but a lot of professional racers are shy people and naturally introverted, which you can tell by watching old Kimi Raikkonen interviews.

"Just leave me alone, I know what I’m doing." Looking at the two groups and their traits side by side, you might think that Smugglers would make great racing drivers. And you’d be right. Randy Lanier was the 1986 Indy 500 rookie of the year. Before the race, Randy’s name was pretty obscure, He’d only been racing since he was 25.

But according to his driving instructor, Lanier was one of the most talented drivers he had ever seen. At age 30 Randy bought two race cars and started his own team, and began beating factory teams, despite the fact that he didn’t have any big sponsors. And that’s because Randy was paying for racing with drug money.

"I like weed, and sometimes when my friends need weed I hook ‘em up." Randy grew up near Fort Lauderdale and started selling weed as a teen. He eventually made enough money to buy a 27-foot powerboat and started smuggling pot from the Bahamas back to Florida. It was easy money, and he was good at it.

His empire quickly grew from one man to an operation that sprawled the entire US, and included a fleet of speed boats and a barge modified to carry over 100 tons of Marijuana. It’s estimated that Randy made over $68 million, and used the money to buy vacation houses and collect a fleet of exotic cars.

His life was basically a Rick Ross song. Bought A Fleet Of But the authorities had caught on to Randy’s drug running ways. Randy left his glitzy racer lifestyle and fled to Antigua, where he was soon arrested at gunpoint.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enBeing a racer takes a certain kind of person.The willingness to take calculated risks iswhat separates the “decent” from the trulygreat.That willingness is also a key personalitytrait in smugglers.Racers and Smugglers have a lot in common,and Psychology can prove it.According to a study done by the New YorkTimes, some of the main traits that determinehow successful a racer can be are: Dominance,Self Sufficiency, and Relaxation.A racer needs to be assertive, both when drivingand off the track.If a driver is unsure how their car is performing,they can’t relay that to the mechanics “Honestly,what the F*** are we doing here?”Being Self-sufficient is also a critical racingskill.A driver might have an entire team behindthem relaying car information and strategycalls, but when shit hits the fan, the driverwill be forced to make tough calls on theirown.The same is required of you when you’rerunning contraband.If you’re fleeing the cops, you won’tsucceed if you can’t think on your feet.It’s also crucial for a driver to keep theirhead when the heat is on.Racing isn’t a very chill activity.Takingturns at 100 miles an hour with cars all aroundyou isn’t for people who panic.American racing legend Bobby Rahal once saidthat ''Emotion is the enemy of the race cardriver.”Like racing, smuggling also requires thatyou keep your emotions under control.“Say Hello to my little friend!”One final trait mentioned in the racing studywas shyness.It doesn’t have much to do with driving,but a lot of professional racers are shy peopleand naturally introverted, which you can tellby watching old Kimi Raikkonen interviews.“Just leave me alone, I know what I’mdoing.”Looking at the two groups and their traitsside by side, you might think that Smugglerswould make great racing drivers.And you’d be right.Randy Lanier was the 1986 Indy 500 rookieof the year.Before the race, Randy’s name was prettyobscure, He’d only been racing since hewas 25.But according to his driving instructor, Lanierwas one of the most talented drivers he hadever seen.At age 30 Randy bought two race cars and startedhis own team, and began beating factory teams,despite the fact that he didn’t have anybig sponsors.And that’s because Randy was paying forracing with drug money.“I like weed, and sometimes when my friendsneed weed I hook ‘em up.”Randy grew up near Fort Lauderdale and startedselling weed as a teen.He eventually made enough money to buy a 27foot powerboat and started smuggling pot fromthe Bahamas back to Florida.It was easy money, and he was good at it.His empire quickly grew from one man to anoperation that sprawled the entire US, andincluded a fleet of speed boats and a bargemodified to carry over 100 tons of Marijuana.It’s estimated that Randy made over 68 milliondollars, and used the money to buy vacationhouses and collect a fleet of exotic cars.His life was basically a Rick Ross song.BOUGHT A FLEET OF CA-But the authorities had caught on to Randy’sdrug running ways.Randy left his glitzy racer lifestyle andfled to Antigua, where he was soon arrestedat gunpoint.It’s possible that Randy was so good atboth racing and smuggling because he saw thesimilarities between the two.In an interview with Rolling Stone magazinehe remarked on how alike smuggling and racingare.Quote : "You're hitting your lines, hittingyour apexes – you're in the zone."I don’t think the comparison is that surprising.The worlds of racing and smuggling are highstakes and high stress.I don’t want to glorify what Randy did butpulling off those huge jobs must have feltpretty awesome, like winning a race.In Randy’s case racing and smuggling wereseparate activities.But what if someone combined the two?Vic Lee Motorsport was a top British TouringCar Championship team in the early nineties.And like Randy Lanier, the Vic Lee team didthis all without factory support.The team did a lot of testing outside of theUK particularly in the Zandvoort circuit inHolland.They did so much testing in fact, that thecops started to get suspicious.Why was a British team going to the Netherlandsto test so often?The answer was lots and lots of cocaine.Turns out the Vic Lee Racing team was usingtheir race hauler as a drug barge.British police stopped the trailer on it’sway back from Holland.In a secret compartment was nearly 40 kilosof coke.“So much coke, That’s a lot of coke”I think the reality of racing is that it attractspeople who are willing to take risks.And nothing demonstrates this better thanthe inception of America’s top racing series.The 18th amendment made the production andsale of liquor illegal in the United States.People started smuggling homemade moonshinein the back of their cars, even going so faras to modify them to make the job easier.They put stiffer suspension in the rear, Theytook out the rear seats to hold more product,and they put bigger engines under the hoodso they could outrun the cops.The moonshine runners were basically buildingrace cars, and it didn’t take long for themto start pitting their custom builds againsteach other in unofficial contests.Even after prohibition ended, they were stillracing their cars, but a guy named Bill Francewanted some organization.The National Association for Stock Car AutoRacing was founded in December of 1947.NASCARwas built from smuggling.Racers aren’t more likely to be criminalsthan any other athlete, obviously.Drug smuggling is often portrayed as a victimlesscrime, something that Robin Hood-like figuresdo.Because of this, it’s not hard to glamorizeit and neither is racing.Racers and smugglers alike become folk heroes.And when you’re someone who does both, youalmost get elevated to another level.As if someone like that could only exist ina movie.But they don’t, these did it for real.Subscribe to Donut Media, the more subscriberswe get the more cool stuff we get to do.Have you ever smuggled anything?The FBI and NSA aren’t watching these comments,let us know!If you liked this episode of WheelHouse checkout this episode of Up to Speed on the DeLorean.Check out this episode of Science Garage,it’s all about turbocharging and it’sawesome.Follow Donut Media on Instagram at DonutMediaand follow me on Instagram at NolanJSykes.I need followers.I need that clout!I want to get sponsored by some fitness clothing.Don’t do drugs, see you later :)