Great and Funny Racing Quotes

[SPOHN]

1.To finish first, you must first finish. – Rick Mears

2. Nobody remembers the guy who finished second but the guy who finished second. – Bobby Unser

3. The winner ain’t the one with the fastest car, it’s the one who refuses to lose. – Dale Earnhardt

4. You win some, you lose some, you wreck some. – Dale Ernhardt Sr.

5. Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines. – Enzo Ferrari

6. The client is not always right. – Enzo Ferrari

7. If you think the last 4 words of the national anthem are gentlemen, start your engines, you might be a redneck. – Jeff Foxworthy.

8. Need to tie some kerosene rags around his ankles so the ants don’t eat his candy ***. – Dale Earnhardt speaking of Mark Martin.

9. The lead car is absolutely unique, except for the one behind it which is identical. – F1 commentator Murray Walker.

10. Turbochargers are for people who cant build engines. – Keith Duckworth

11. Here Kitty Kitty Kitty! – Tony Stewart

12. We broke something, I think it was traction… – Carl Edwards after getting spun out by Dale Jr. at Michigan

13. Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports… all the others are games. – Ernest Hemingway

14. Calling upon my years of experience, I froze at the controls. – Stirling Moss

15. Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death… – Hunter Thompson

16. 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

17. It is amazing how may drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down. – Mario Andretti

18. Once you’ve raced, you never forget it…and you never get over it. – Richard Childress

19. Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win. – Enzo Ferrari

20. There’s no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and steer left. – Bill Vukovich

21. To achieve anything in this game you must be prepare to dabble in the boundary of disaster. – Sterling Moss

22. What’s behind you doesn’t matter. – Enzo Ferrari

23. When you win a race you’re on top that day, so take it for what its worth, have a good time and party, cause the next day when you get out of bed, the meter goes back to zero again. – Bobby Allison

24. 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

25. 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

26. If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough. – Parnelli Jones

27. Mr. Bentley – He builds fast trucks. – Ettore Bugatti

28. Why worry about death, it’ll come sooner or later. – Jim Dunn

29. Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… that’s what gets you. – Jeremy Clarkson

30. Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built. – Henry Ford

31. As far as cheating goes, they’ll never stop it. The only way it can be done successfully, only one person can know about it. – Smokey Yunick

32. It’s like flying jet fighters in a gymnasium – **** Trickle was asked what racing at Windchester Speedway was like.

33. You can’t fix stupid – Larry Morgan, NHRA Pro Stock driver

34. 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

35. I got hit in the head pretty hard. My clock ran backwards for two years. – Buddy Baker

36. He ran out of talent about halfway through the corner. – Buddy Baker

37. After the third flip, I lost control………… – Don Roberts after crashing in the Jade Grenade at New England Dragway in 1975.

38. We worked 80 hour weeks for 30 years to keep from having to get a real job. – Tom Lemon’s comment on the rigors of being a drag racing.

39. It’s basically the same, just darker. – Alan Kulwicki, on racing Saturday nights as opposed to Sunday afternoons.

40. Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside down. – Dave Barry

41. If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari. – Gilles Villeneuve

42. There are seven winners of the Monaco Grand Prix on the starting line today, and four of them are Michael Schumacher. – Murray Walker

43. 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

44. I love this kind of racing, (but) these guys sure change their personalities in race mode. They’re like Doberman Pinschers with a hand grenade in their mouths. – Road racer Boris Said speaking of NEXTEL Cup drivers.

45. The crashes people remember, but drivers remember the near misses. – Mario Andretti

46. When I started racing my father told me, ‘Cristiano, nobody has three balls but some people have two very good ones. – Cristiano Da Matta

47. 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.

48. 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.

49. Winning is everything. The only ones who remember you when you come second are your wife and your dog. – Damon Hill

[SPOHN]

* Aerodynamics are for people who cannot build engines. (Enzo Ferrari)
* All I had to do is keep turning left! (George Robson - Winner of the 1946 Indy 500)
* Anyone can drive a fast car, few can drive a car fast.
* Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports...
all the others are games. (Jim Dietz)
* Calling upon my years of experience, I froze at the controls. (Stirling Moss)
* The cost of racing hasn't increased in 30 years. Back then, it took everything you had. And it still does.
* Fast cars drag race, fast drivers road race.
* Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death... (Hunter Thompson)
* Friends don't let friends apex early.
* Horsepower has this tendency to break things. If you're not breaking anything you're not going fast enough.
* I always ask God for blessings of protection on that person in the car, for blessings of protection on the crew as they're attending to the car on pit road. And I always ask for peace of mind for the wife. (Dale Beaver - NASCAR chaplain)
* 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)
* I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
* I feel safe when I'm on the racetrack, I really do. I know that I'm surrounded by the best drivers in the world. That's something you can't say when you're driving down the interstate. (Sterling Marlin)
* I feel safer on a racetrack than I do on Houston's freeways. (A. J. Foyt)
* I live my life a quarter mile at a time.
* I was doing fine until about mid-corner when I ran out of talent.
* If I had all the money I'd spent on cars...I'd spend it all on cars.
* If you can't run with the big dogs, Stay on the porch
* If you're going to lead, then lead.
If you're going to follow, get the hell out of my way!
* In the old days drivers were fat and tires were skinny.
* It has been said that motor racing shares in common with sex the distinction of being one of the most popular, most maligned and least understood of human activities.
* It is amazing how may drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down. (Mario Andretti)
* It is not always possible to be the best, but it is always possible to improve your own performance. (Jackie Stewart)
* It's basically the same, just darker. (Alan Kulwicki - on racing Saturday nights as opposed to Sunday afternoons)
* Life may begin at 30, but it doesn't get real interesting until about 150.
* Never drive faster then your guardian angel can fly.
* Never run out of real estate, traction and ideas at the same time.
* The number of laps remaining is always one more than the amount of fuel left in the car.
* The number of times you get hit in a pileup is directly proportional to the number of times you said "I think it will go ok today".
* The older I get, the faster I was.
* On the other side of fear there is freedom!
* Once you've raced, you never forget it...and you never get over it. (Richard Childress)
* Oversteer is when your *** hits the wall, Understeer is when your face hits the wall!
* Oversteer scares passengers, understeer scares drivers.
* A part never breaks during a test session, only during a race. And the part you need will be the one you left at the shop.
* The price for men in motion is the occasional collision... (Carroll Smith)
* Race car drivers love the fast lane.
* Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win. (Enzo Ferrari)
* Racing is living, everything else is just waiting.
* Racing is the process of turning money into noise.
* Racing's less of a sport these days than a commercial break doing 150 mph. (Peter Dunne)
* The shortest way between two points is a straight line...what's the fun in that?
* Straights are for fast cars. Turns are for fast drivers.
* A 10-car pileup never happens behind you!
* There's no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and steer left. (Bill Vukovich)
* To achieve anything in this game you must be prepare to dabble in the boundary of disaster. (Sterling Moss)
* To finish first, first you have to finish
* What sets these - and all - racers apart from less daredevilish mortals is their complete lack of fear and their joy of doing something on the edge. They love to speed because it is dangerous. (Peter Golenback)
* What's behind you doesn't matter. (Enzo Ferrai)
* When I look fast, I'm not smooth and I am going slowly. And when I look slow, I am smooth and going fast. (Alain Prost)
* When you win a race your on top that day, so take it for what its worth, have a good time and party, cause the next day when you get out of bed, the meter goes back to zero again. (Bobby Allison)
* Winners win races. Champions make it look easy.
* Wrecks are going to happen in this business, that's just a risk of the sport. If you can't keep from worrying about it, then you're in the wrong line of work. (Coo Coo Marlin)
* You will never know the feeling of a driver when winning a race. The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood. (Ayrton Senna)
* You win some, you lose some, you wreck some. (Dale Earnhardt)

[Red__Zed]

great collection of quotes

[m4a1mustang]

good stuff.

[BGTV8]

Quote from Allan Grice, a privateer Commodore V8 driver in the Group A/C days at Bathurst in the 80's .... following massive engine failure on Con-Rod straight at 180mph.

"All we had was a small electical problem" .... referring the the fact that no. 6 rod had broken, ventilated the block and in the process knocked the solenoid wire off the starter motor so that the engine would not crank any more.

The master of understatement.

[TreeSemdyZee]

"The best way to make a small fortune in racing, is to start with a big one"? (Can't find the first who said it).

[Arkaine]

"Doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning"

[m4a1mustang]

Originally Posted by TreeSemdyZee

"The best way to make a small fortune in racing, is to start with a big one"? (Can't find the first who said it).

It gets credited to a lot of people. As far back as Junior Johnson and as recent as Felix Sabates.

[kchu221]

haha great quotes...

[NewlyIMPORTed]

Nice! some of these are really good.

[WhiskeyHotel]

Good stuff. Still can't say D1ck Trickle on the forum.

[vividracing]

1st post has the "racing is a sport/others are games" quote attributed to Hemingway. 2nd post credits someone else. I've always seen it credited to Hemingway... Anyone know if it was him who said it 1st?

[m4a1mustang]

I am pretty sure it was Hemingway. I've always seen it attributed to him.

[TreeSemdyZee]

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

It gets credited to a lot of people. As far back as Junior Johnson and as recent as Felix Sabates.

First time I heard it was Bob Varsha

[Skeeterbop]

Can't believe this hasn't come up yet:

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

If You ain't first; You're last!