Rookie Questions For A Pro Driver: Stephan Verdier

                Driving to the track I couldn’t help thinking how special this moment was. Being my first year racing and meeting people in motorsports, here I was interviewing one of the best rally drivers in the United States. This guy has raced against Sebastian Loeb, Ken Block, Travis Pastranna and is on the same team as Rhys Millen, who’s history and family go deep into rally and motorsports.  I arrived at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Thursday at 445pm. All the teams where setting up, Ken Block is racing one of his crew members on his bike around the garages ,Bucky Lasek is standing supervising his team working on his car, I feel strangely  at home around the sound of impact wrenches and revving engines. Stephan arrives and invites me into his private RV where we sit down and like old friends we joke with each other while we get comfortable. Noticing he has other things that are going to need his attention soon, I quickly begin firing away.

RP: In your opinion, where is the disconnect with race fans/attendance in your motorsport?

SV: The main thing is, the sport is brand new. They don’t have any indication of the sport, You can relate that to Rally in general. Especially in the US, the philosophy is, you bring the sport to the people, in to a stadium or a place where they can sit, have drinks and food without having to go anywhere. Any motorsport that comes from Europe is the other way around, people go to the sport. They will walk to a stage through a forest for two hours to watch a car go by for a few seconds. Which will never work in the US. The beauty of the Rally Cross, is we brought the Rally from the forest to the stadium environment. So I think the disconnection we have is people don’t know the sport yet. They don’t know the cars very well, and they don’t know the European Drivers we have. So I think in a couple years with the help of games like Dirt 3 and the 10 year old kids playing those games, as they grow up are going to know about the sport and the cars. They are going to be our main fan base.

RP: What advice would you give young people striving to become professional drivers?

SV: Find another job, LOL!  No, motorsports is different than lets’ say being a swimmer. The amount of money needed, you can be the best driver in the world, but if you don’t have good equipment you’re going to look like hell on the track. So for someone who wants to be a professional you obviously have to be very driven. Everything comes second to your sport. Look at the big picture, if you lose your ride your career is not over. One off day is not going to make your career disappear. Be driven and focused on it.

RP: Being focused is a big one, also the changes in social media it’s more about marketing now.

SV: and Ken Block is a perfect example, it wasn’t until his Ghymkana videos was a decent driver, with mediocre results who was able to do WRC events no other American could do, because of his media exposure(he has become an excellent driver). That’s the good thing about media now, you don’t even have to be the best driver, if you are good with media you can attract sponsors. They don’t even care about results as long as you’re promoting them in a positive way.

RP: If you could make one change to the rules of your series, what would it be?

SV: I kind of like the way they are. But I would change the rule on tires. I would like to use DOT instead of race tires to bring more manufactures to the series. It would help inject more money from sponsors into the series.

RP: Where do you see technology taking the car/equipment of your race series?

SV: The cars are limited, it keeps costs down. I think technology wise, we’re not going much further, we’re pretty much at the top.

RP: Explain what goes on behind the scenes. How many days a week do you dedicate to the business side of your career? Test days? Off days? Event Preperation? Etc.

SV: There’s different levels of professionals, like me for example, I don’t have a manager. So when I’m not racing it’s 24/7 I’m working on the backside of it. If you have a manager, the manager takes care of all that stuff. So, there are different levels of control. As a pro guy you are always working. Whether it’s a race, commercial, manufactures event and a lot of it comes because of racing. Racing got me to where people ask me to take a Ferrari around a track because they know I can race a car. It’s always related to your racing , so you pretty much always work on the backside. Then you also have the physical part of it. We’re lucky we only race a 10-15 minutes at a time, so we don’t have to be in shape like an F1 driver. But still, we cannot be lazy about it. There is also the mental side. When you become a pro Sure I don’t go to a job from 8-5 but, I am working everyday all the time. There is always something I’m doing that is for the goal of racing. It’s nonstop.

RP: A lot of networking I’d imagine?

SV: Oh yea, you never know, and you got to think about working on deals for the next two or three years.

   

RP: Besides car preparation, Is there anything you do before an event to get ready?

SV: I work out more before an event to be more ready. Drink a lot of water like any other athlete.

RP: Stephan, you’ve had a successful career and have accomplished a lot, what’s next?

SV:  I would like 5-7 years of the GRC. I would love to end my career in the GRC. After that I will be in motorsports somehow.  Being part of a team, owning my own would be great. If not I’ll go do some commercials, LOL.I hope in 5 years I’m doing another interview like this.

                As we wrapped up the interview Stephan was super gracious, he told me if I had any other questions to give him a call or text him. What pro drivers do you know offer that kind of accessibility?! So I walked   through the garage one more time to check out all the ridiculously bad ass cars like all the Puma Subaru cars, the Ford Fiestas’, and of course the  Disney XD Motorcity Hyndai Veloster. Freakin Rad. The question I have to ask myself is, am I ready to work 24/7? A better question would be, is it really work if you love everything about it? 

-Ray Piloto

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Choosing The Best Advice

Everyone has advice for you. Think about it. Your neighbor has the best stock tips,your boss has the winning horses for Santa Anita, and the Post Man knows exactly what you should do to get that elusive energy drink sponsor. So who do we listen to? First of all,only take advice from someone who is more successful than you in your given field.You want stock advice,talk to a SUCCESSFUL stock trader or local investment manager.You want advice about a career in Motorsports talk to a SUCCESSFUL person in that specific  field. Fortunately for you thousands of successful racers out there willing to give you advice. All you have to do,is ask... That's right!Try emailing successful drivers in your field of racing and ask them for 10 minutes of their time to answer a few questions. If they say yes,which most will, ask them those questions you've been dying to know, from the source. Those behind the scenes questions you wonder about. Don't be scared,you have nothing to lose and everything to gain! Who knows,you might even get asked a few questions yourself,so be prepared. Being prepared is one of the keys to success! 

"If I Only Had A Sponsor"

"If I only had a sponsor".Sound familiar? I've heard this many times in conversation over the last couple months.My first question is always,what are you working on in order to get sponsored? Which is always followed by "uuuuuuhh..." Well if all you have is "Uuuuuhhh",all your going to get is "Uuuuhhh".My second question is, what does your proposal contain? "Uuuuhh....I've been busy lately..." Well, so have all your potential sponsors.Looking at proposals from all of your competition. But,that's besides the point. The point is you need a proposal(a good one helps).Besides,if you're too busy for your dreams(the things that turn you on in life),your basically saying your too busy to live the life you want...That doesn't make sense..  Next you'll need to do the one thing everyone dreads and call potential sponsors or even go meet them in person! The difference between a sponsored driver and a dreamer is the sponsored driver took his dream and his plan(or proposal) and deposited it into action.So you have your proposal and you've met with a sponsor and they say no! Is it over,do you quit? What if all 30 sponsors you met with in the last 30 weeks says no?what then?You say next! There are always more companies,even if you called and sent a proposal everyday for the rest of your life you wouldn't be able to submit one to every company! Here's some inspiration, Colonel Harlan Sanders received 300 rejections before he found someone to believe in his dream. He REJECTED rejection 300 times and now there are over 11,000 KFC's in the US alone. This is one example of many who just said "NEXT". There is nothing to lose by asking for money,parts or services,only something to gain. So make a proposal,and make it a priority to CONSISTENTLY call/meet new potential sponsors and ask for what you want. Go! Get out of  here!  

Is Racing More Physical or Mental?

For years this question has been debated and we are going to set the record straight... or at least make the record not as crooked. In Ross Bently's book Ultimate Speed Secrets,he describes how all physical acts of driving start in the brain. So is 100% of being a successful driver mental?.... Not until we can drive our cars with our minds, driving  will always contain some sort of physical activity. Although I agree that the mental aspect of racing such as mental programming, imaging, focus,etc are the most important, how do we get an edge on our competition? Easy,look at the best drivers in the world and use them as a model for our success. I picked people from NASCAR to World Rally Championship to shed some light on this point. Who has won the most races in NASCAR? Jimmy Johnson,and he is no lazy mcdazy. He was featured in  March  2012 Mens Health Magazine http://www.mensfitness.com/leisure/sports/jimmie-johnson Describing his workout regimen. Sebastien Loeb was a successful Gymnast before embarking on his WRC domination. Jenson Button is a Triathlete. Sebastian Loeb commented" F1 drivers are in the greatest physical condition". Looking at just some drivers in the world makes it hard to deny,physical fitness gives you an edge. Scientists have been researching the connection between brain function and exercise for years. There is no doubt that exercise improves memory,faster brain function,even the production of new brain cells. Check this out,a write up by  MK McGovern. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro05/web2/mmcgovern.html  .

The brain is the core of all successful drivers,and exercise makes the brain function with greater speed and efficiency, so its like adding a turbo to your brain. This being true its safe to say exercise will make you a better driver. However,Being in peak physical doesn't make you Michael Schumacher, it will add another piece to the puzzle. Want to start gaining an edge on your competition all the while feeling better about yourself creating more confidence than you already have(if that's possible you cocky race car driver)? Start by simply getting your heart rate up to a point were you take deep breaths for at least 15 minutes a day(30 min preferred). Remember its not about how hard you work out, it's really about consistency.So don't get all gung ho for two days and get burnt out. Just do something every day for at least 15-30 min. Got questions or comments? Let them rip,here or on my facebok page  http://www.facebook.com/Triple7Racer .

Holy crap its been too long since my last post! Apologies... We've been crazy busy around here,did North Nevada Rally July 6th and 7th snatching 1st place in Class!Than it was off Mendocino Rally August 4th where we snatched another podium getting 3rd in Class. To see the press releases go here    http://triple7race1.blogspot.com/ . We have great news,Mackin Industries and Peirce Motorsports has joined Triple Seven Racing in these early stages of our career! Check them out http://www.mackin-ind.com/ and  http://www.piercemotorsports.com/ . Also,I just submitted my video to The Octane Academy, so if you have a minute after checking out all the previous links,check this out  https://octaneacademy.com/video/lightin-fires-and-smokin-tires .

Cheers!

Do you believe, that by merely believing in something with enough passion that you can make it happen? Do believe your place in the world is predetermined,like one of those classic cassette tapes just playing itself out? I believe with enough passion,determination, organization and consistency anything is possible,and I'm going to put it to the test. I am going to be a World Rally Championship Driver. My name is Ray Piloto the driver and owner of Triple Seven Racing LLC. I have no motor sports background and I am not rich.I have no connections that will shine the light on the yellow brick road to a drive in the WRC. I do however,have a few tools like The Success Principles by Jack Canfield, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne,and Success magazine published by Darren Hardy. I'm going to put these three to the test by doing all the recommended steps for success and I'm going to publish all my results with write ups,videos and pics on everything that I'm working on. Everything thing I do from the car build,physical training,sponsor proposals,and beyond will be posted and open for discussion.This social experimental of sorts,will focus on all aspects that make a championship driver.Join me in this unique experience and  lets see if these success strategies really work!