What Makes A Natural Driver?

[Dan Bennett]

I agree with John that's it's really hard to clearly define the term, but I am positive that "natural drivers" exist.

I worked for Roy Hill at a number of his schools. At a different level, I worked with some Pro Stock and Comp teams and studied the graphs on every run they made.

From the school experience, I learned that there are some people who would never be able to consistently do the necessary things, and others who could immediately correct a mistake on their next try and be perfect from then on.

Just pulling this out of my backside, I'm thinking that the two most important things are having a quick mind that can react instantly - and the ability to control your muscles to a very fine degree.

As for the luck part, I could not agree more. I saw tremendous driving skills from 3 or 4 drivers who could have been consistent winners in Pro Stock but things never fell together in the right way for them to do that. And I also saw some who were going have a very hard time qualifying let alone winning a round..

So natural drivers vs people who try really hard but just can't pull off all the things that need to happen.