Shelby Manning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shelbycobra) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
muserevival2015-08-17 12:45 am
shelbycobra) wrote in muserevival2015-08-17 12:45 am
Entry tags:
080.3.3 - quotes
"Maybe everything was meant to be this way."
I have all the days counted out in my head. There are two until I get on a plane from Indianapolis to Pennsylvania. Six until I step back into my race car for the first time in two weeks at Pocono. Nine until we fly from Pennsylvania to California. And thirteen until the season finale at Sonoma, where I'll either be celebrating my first championship or kicking myself that I let it get away. I know exactly what I have left to do, where it will be, and I can see the finish line.
There's so much that's behind me now that it feels implausible. It feels at times like someone else's life. January was my first ever 24-hour endurance race, in front of my friends and family in Daytona. Getting to share a car with the man I consider a mentor and still an inspiration in my IndyCar career. Watching from the garage as he drove it home and celebrating with him in Victory Lane. That winner's Rolex sits on my shelf, still in a box that's only been opened once.
March was St. Petersburg, wanting to prove to the world that I was back in the league and still had what it took to be competitive. Making it into the top five in my first race in two years was a huge relief. April was being involved in my first crash at Louisiana, the sheer dread of knowing I was about to collide hard with somebody else, then missing my 29th birthday because I was too busy with the Grand Prix of Long Beach, mostly thinking of how close I'd been to my first podium before Montoya beat me to the punch.
May I'll never forget as long as I live. Getting that first podium and doing it in my hometown of Indianapolis. Having that breakthrough moment with Shane where we just looked at each other and we knew we had the car to take it to the next level. Working our asses off for the rest of the month to make that a reality. Qualifying on the front row, starting next to my teammate and Scott again. Knowing the drive felt different, but not how different until I made that final pass on Will. The silence as those last laps fell away and I crossed the finish line. I don't think I realized that I'd won the Indianapolis 500 until I was halfway through mile 501.
June I got my first pole at Fontana, and I also hated my job for the first time. Driving in that pack racing I really thought I might actually die, or at least have a heart attack. It is terrifying to see two of your friends crash into pieces in the infield. Thankfully no one was hurt, but I know that threw me off my game at the next race in Wisconsin. I rebounded in Iowa, and climbed the podium again at Mid-Ohio, trying to figure out how I'd driven better than Scott. I'm not exactly sure I did.
I've seen a lot of podiums this year, plus a Verizon P1 Award, Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Borg-Warner Trophy. It's far and away the best season that I've ever had in my three years of IndyCar competition. Sometimes it's just your year, and this feels like it's mine.
But I still remember last summer when Penske made me the contract offer. I was so nervous about signing it, about leaving the team that I had always been with and that had promised me I would always have a seat with them as soon as the money was there. They had never turned their back on me and I was being asked to turn my back on them. I agonized over that contract. I went over it with my father, with Peter, with the guys in New York. I wasn't sure then if I wanted to be Team Penske, or even if I did if I would be good enough for The Captain.
Fourteen months have gone by and I can't believe any of them. I'm happier, more calm, smarter and more mature than I've ever been. I've accomplished the childhood dream I had since I was five in a Power Wheels. I've been the subject of a TV documentary and gotten to race a fighter jet. I might be buying my first house in the offseason. Everything that's happened now has exceeded not just my expectations for my return to IndyCar but my wildest dreams, so I can't help but think that as intimidated as I was then, maybe everything was meant to be this way. Maybe in thirteen days I'll climb that mountain after all.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
787 words
I have all the days counted out in my head. There are two until I get on a plane from Indianapolis to Pennsylvania. Six until I step back into my race car for the first time in two weeks at Pocono. Nine until we fly from Pennsylvania to California. And thirteen until the season finale at Sonoma, where I'll either be celebrating my first championship or kicking myself that I let it get away. I know exactly what I have left to do, where it will be, and I can see the finish line.
There's so much that's behind me now that it feels implausible. It feels at times like someone else's life. January was my first ever 24-hour endurance race, in front of my friends and family in Daytona. Getting to share a car with the man I consider a mentor and still an inspiration in my IndyCar career. Watching from the garage as he drove it home and celebrating with him in Victory Lane. That winner's Rolex sits on my shelf, still in a box that's only been opened once.
March was St. Petersburg, wanting to prove to the world that I was back in the league and still had what it took to be competitive. Making it into the top five in my first race in two years was a huge relief. April was being involved in my first crash at Louisiana, the sheer dread of knowing I was about to collide hard with somebody else, then missing my 29th birthday because I was too busy with the Grand Prix of Long Beach, mostly thinking of how close I'd been to my first podium before Montoya beat me to the punch.
May I'll never forget as long as I live. Getting that first podium and doing it in my hometown of Indianapolis. Having that breakthrough moment with Shane where we just looked at each other and we knew we had the car to take it to the next level. Working our asses off for the rest of the month to make that a reality. Qualifying on the front row, starting next to my teammate and Scott again. Knowing the drive felt different, but not how different until I made that final pass on Will. The silence as those last laps fell away and I crossed the finish line. I don't think I realized that I'd won the Indianapolis 500 until I was halfway through mile 501.
June I got my first pole at Fontana, and I also hated my job for the first time. Driving in that pack racing I really thought I might actually die, or at least have a heart attack. It is terrifying to see two of your friends crash into pieces in the infield. Thankfully no one was hurt, but I know that threw me off my game at the next race in Wisconsin. I rebounded in Iowa, and climbed the podium again at Mid-Ohio, trying to figure out how I'd driven better than Scott. I'm not exactly sure I did.
I've seen a lot of podiums this year, plus a Verizon P1 Award, Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Borg-Warner Trophy. It's far and away the best season that I've ever had in my three years of IndyCar competition. Sometimes it's just your year, and this feels like it's mine.
But I still remember last summer when Penske made me the contract offer. I was so nervous about signing it, about leaving the team that I had always been with and that had promised me I would always have a seat with them as soon as the money was there. They had never turned their back on me and I was being asked to turn my back on them. I agonized over that contract. I went over it with my father, with Peter, with the guys in New York. I wasn't sure then if I wanted to be Team Penske, or even if I did if I would be good enough for The Captain.
Fourteen months have gone by and I can't believe any of them. I'm happier, more calm, smarter and more mature than I've ever been. I've accomplished the childhood dream I had since I was five in a Power Wheels. I've been the subject of a TV documentary and gotten to race a fighter jet. I might be buying my first house in the offseason. Everything that's happened now has exceeded not just my expectations for my return to IndyCar but my wildest dreams, so I can't help but think that as intimidated as I was then, maybe everything was meant to be this way. Maybe in thirteen days I'll climb that mountain after all.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
787 words
no subject