Here is a listing of some of the greatest quotes as they pertain to the automobile industry and racing.Also included are the photos of those who said them as well… who knows, maybe their pictures will give you a little insight as to the reasons why they said what they said. Either way though there are some kickers in there, so start reading and enjoy.
We all love famous quotes don’t we? Little snippets of verbiage that for whatever the reasons, are so profound that they stay with us forever.
Some, like Neil Armstrong’s famous moon landing quote have made history: That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Others, like the beauties from Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees have just made us laugh and wonder: You can observe a lot just by watching or Baseball is 90% mental — the other half is physical…?
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. To achieve anything in this game you must be prepare to dabble in the boundary of disaster. – Sterling Moss
23. What’s behind you doesn’t matter. – Enzo Ferrari
24. 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
25. 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
26. 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
27. If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough. – Parnelli Jones
28. Mr. Bentley – He builds fast trucks. – Ettore Bugatti
29. Why worry about death, it’ll come sooner or later. – Jim Dunn
30. Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… that’s what gets you. – Jeremy Clarkson
31. Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built. – Henry Ford
32. 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
33. It’s like flying jet fighters in a gymnasium – Dick Trickle was asked what racing at Windchester Speedway was like.
34. You can’t fix stupid – Larry Morgan, NHRA Pro Stock driver
35. 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
36. I got hit in the head pretty hard. My clock ran backwards for two years. – Buddy Baker
37. He ran out of talent about halfway through the corner. – Buddy Baker
38. After the third flip, I lost control………… – Don Roberts after crashing in the Jade Grenade at New England Dragway in 1975.
39. 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.
40. It’s basically the same, just darker. – Alan Kulwicki, on racing Saturday nights as opposed to Sunday afternoons.
41. Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside down. – Dave Barry
42. 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
43. There are seven winners of the Monaco Grand Prix on the starting line today, and four of them are Michael Schumacher. – Murray Walker
44. 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
45. 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.
46. The crashes people remember, but drivers remember the near misses. – Mario Andretti
47. When I started racing my father told me, ‘Cristiano, nobody has three balls but some people have two very good ones. – Cristiano Da Matta
48. 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.
49. 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.
50. Winning is everything. The only ones who remember you when you come second are your wife and your dog. – Damon Hill
51. “Racing Is Life. Anything That Happens Before or After
is Just Waiting.”…The headline quote is a favorite line from
Steve McQueen’s character in the movie Le Mans. It sums up well my
current state of mind.
Heavy traffic – a record 36 entries started the race on the tight, sinuous street course – was a major factor in every team’s race. During the race’s only round of pit stops, the two BMW M3s of Rahal Letterman Racing opted not to take fresh tires. Flying Lizard’s strategists showed extreme confidence in their over-the-wall mechanics, and their gamble paid off as Long beat the previously leading Falken Porsche and 2nd placed Risi Ferrari out of the pits, giving him fresh tires to chase down the now-leading BMW duo. Within two laps, Long had passed Joey Hand for 2nd position, and with 10 minutes left in the race, passed Tommy Milner for the lead.
The victory makes it five consecutive podium finishes for Patrick at Long Beach, and two straight wins. Bergmeister and Long are now tied for the GT championship lead with Jaime Melo and Gimmi Bruni of Risi Ferrari; Patrick and Jörg have now amassed 16 ALMS victories together. The # 45 Porsche also won the Michelin Green X Challenge for the GT entry operating at the highest efficiency with the lowest environmental impact.
Patrick said, “Winning at Long Beach is just an unbelievable result. It’s always spectacular racing at my home track, where I’ve been coming since I was a kid. There’s just something about the energy and the vibe that make it such a special race. The second half of the race started with the Lizard boys absolutely nailing it in the pits – we left nothing on the table with that effort. We were able to overtake the Falken Porsche, the Risi Ferrari and the leading Corvette in the pits. From there, it was about getting past the BMWs, who were very quick on the straight but didn’t take tires in their pit stop.”
He continued, “In the end, I got past Joey Hand in traffic to get into 2nd, and had to make an aggressive move on Tommy Milner to take the lead. Then I was able to pull clear, and by the time the Corvette had got past Milner’s BMW, I was far enough down the track that he wasn’t able to catch me before the checkered flag. We’re excited to be tied for the championship now, and all in all, it was just a fantastic weekend. I’m looking forward to being at the LMS race at Spa in Belgium here in a couple of weeks, and then of course up to Laguna Seca for round 3 of the ALMS.”
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They’re probably the only cars in the world that would stand up for
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