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)
muserevival2015-12-17 03:15 pm
shelbycobra) wrote in muserevival2015-12-17 03:15 pm
Entry tags:
111.7.1 - random
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I intended to be."
I've had the opportunity over the last few months to spend time with a number of other champions. I was a guest at NASCAR Champion's Week in Las Vegas and had a really long conversation with Kyle Busch about our respective comebacks. I've done a lot of work with Brad Keselowski. I've gotten to meet Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. And last week I had a UFC champion giving me career advice.
I've also been blessed to have a very specific type of people in my life. I guess I just am drawn to them or something, but many of the people closest to me are either current or former soldiers. They've spent their lives working for some of the most elite units in the world, and they've also taught me many things. Most notably that no matter how high I climb I'm still not getting up every day doing anything that's going to change the world.
It all amounts to a perspective I've never had before.
Right now, I am exactly where I intended to be. The only goal I've ever had in mind my entire life is to be Verizon IndyCar Series champion and that's what I will be for at least the next nine months. But through these conversations I've had with the people who've also been where I am and those who've done a lot more than I ever will, I look back now and realize that I would probably not be here if things hadn't turned out exactly the way that they have today.
It would have been an easier road if I hadn't lost my ride two years ago. If I'd stayed with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and run the 2014 season, maybe I would have had a rebound season to make up for the one before. I wouldn't have run away like a scared little girl and disappeared off the face of the planet. There would have been no crashing on the couch in the shop until I was able to find an apartment. No working twelve-hour days just because I didn't know what else to do.
But that year away kicked me in the ass. Even though I wasn't some know-it-all rookie when I got to SFHR (my father would have disowned me if I'd ever behaved that way), I still needed to grow up. I was listening but I wasn't doing anything with what I heard. I thought I could take care of myself; after all I'd gotten this far. Then when I couldn't make things happen I let my frustration get the best of me. Some people get cocky and take it out on everyone else; I was taking things out on myself.
Having to walk away humbled me. It made me have to figure out for the first time in my life who I was when I wasn't in IndyCar. It opened my eyes to the fact that not being a contender didn't mean I was without value as a human being, even if I had poured my whole life into one thing. It introduced me to people who looked at racing from another perspective and who taught me to do things differently. And it made me appreciate so much, from the friends who stood by me the whole time to the ones who hardly knew me and still reached out to me.
If I hadn't left I wouldn't have been available when Chip Ganassi needed his fourth driver for the Rolex 24. I wouldn't have been able to sign with Team Penske and start working with this team that's made me a better driver. I wouldn't have met a lot of people who mean something to me, including the man that I'm spending my life with.
People who've seen me this season say that I'm a different person now. They say that I'm calmer and more dialed in to everything going on around me. That's because I know what it's like to lose it all and to face a much tougher life than this. Because people taught me how to look at my world closer or from another direction. Because instead of trying to do everything on my own, I became a better collaborator and understood that not being in complete control doesn't mean that you're losing control. All things I've learned over this journey in the last two years.
This certainly wasn't a road that I wanted to take, but I'm beyond grateful that I did. It took me losing everything to win it all and I'll always be conscious of that in everything I do. I may be on top now, but there's still always something else I can do.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need for Speed OC
784 words
I've had the opportunity over the last few months to spend time with a number of other champions. I was a guest at NASCAR Champion's Week in Las Vegas and had a really long conversation with Kyle Busch about our respective comebacks. I've done a lot of work with Brad Keselowski. I've gotten to meet Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. And last week I had a UFC champion giving me career advice.
I've also been blessed to have a very specific type of people in my life. I guess I just am drawn to them or something, but many of the people closest to me are either current or former soldiers. They've spent their lives working for some of the most elite units in the world, and they've also taught me many things. Most notably that no matter how high I climb I'm still not getting up every day doing anything that's going to change the world.
It all amounts to a perspective I've never had before.
Right now, I am exactly where I intended to be. The only goal I've ever had in mind my entire life is to be Verizon IndyCar Series champion and that's what I will be for at least the next nine months. But through these conversations I've had with the people who've also been where I am and those who've done a lot more than I ever will, I look back now and realize that I would probably not be here if things hadn't turned out exactly the way that they have today.
It would have been an easier road if I hadn't lost my ride two years ago. If I'd stayed with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and run the 2014 season, maybe I would have had a rebound season to make up for the one before. I wouldn't have run away like a scared little girl and disappeared off the face of the planet. There would have been no crashing on the couch in the shop until I was able to find an apartment. No working twelve-hour days just because I didn't know what else to do.
But that year away kicked me in the ass. Even though I wasn't some know-it-all rookie when I got to SFHR (my father would have disowned me if I'd ever behaved that way), I still needed to grow up. I was listening but I wasn't doing anything with what I heard. I thought I could take care of myself; after all I'd gotten this far. Then when I couldn't make things happen I let my frustration get the best of me. Some people get cocky and take it out on everyone else; I was taking things out on myself.
Having to walk away humbled me. It made me have to figure out for the first time in my life who I was when I wasn't in IndyCar. It opened my eyes to the fact that not being a contender didn't mean I was without value as a human being, even if I had poured my whole life into one thing. It introduced me to people who looked at racing from another perspective and who taught me to do things differently. And it made me appreciate so much, from the friends who stood by me the whole time to the ones who hardly knew me and still reached out to me.
If I hadn't left I wouldn't have been available when Chip Ganassi needed his fourth driver for the Rolex 24. I wouldn't have been able to sign with Team Penske and start working with this team that's made me a better driver. I wouldn't have met a lot of people who mean something to me, including the man that I'm spending my life with.
People who've seen me this season say that I'm a different person now. They say that I'm calmer and more dialed in to everything going on around me. That's because I know what it's like to lose it all and to face a much tougher life than this. Because people taught me how to look at my world closer or from another direction. Because instead of trying to do everything on my own, I became a better collaborator and understood that not being in complete control doesn't mean that you're losing control. All things I've learned over this journey in the last two years.
This certainly wasn't a road that I wanted to take, but I'm beyond grateful that I did. It took me losing everything to win it all and I'll always be conscious of that in everything I do. I may be on top now, but there's still always something else I can do.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need for Speed OC
784 words