Mountains in Racing

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

I saw a great 60 Minutes Sports piece this week. It was a feature on the Jackson Wink MMA gym in Albuquerque. The gym has trained champions including Holly Holmes who helped send Rhonda Rousey into wrestling with an upset win in 2015.

Among other training methods the gym sends fighters up a mountain seven times in the 6500 foot elevations of the Sandia Mountains outside Albuquerque. It teaches fighters to focus when they’re uncomfortable.

My mind drifted to racing drivers who must focus in the most uncomfortable of environments. Some don’t, obviously. Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson certainly has.

I don’t know if Johnson’s training methods include mountains but he’s been a champion in off-road racing and that’s the definition of focus in a difficult environment.

And April 15th Johnson ran the Boston Marathon in three hours, nine minutes, seven seconds. A fantastic time and an example of focus in a difficult environment. Maybe more drivers should be training in the gym or on a mountain instead of just a racetrack.

Peace.