Famous Race Car Drivers Quotes

Every little kid has always wanted to be a race car driver. This gets some of that out. ~ David Alan Grier

A great race car driver in a bad car doesn't make great results. A great car and a bad race car driver doesn't make great results. You have to have both. It's the combination of driver and car. ~ Jeff Burton

Let me ask you. If someone called you and offered you a ride in the Indianapolis 500 and you were a male race car driver, would you turn the ride down? ~ Janet Guthrie

As a race car driver, driving is the easy part. The hard part is containing the emotions on the race track. ~ Kevin Harvick

I lean on a lot of drivers. I have a dirt racing background so I gravitate towards asking for advice from drivers who also dirt race, people like Clint Bowyer since dirt racers seem to have a similar driving style and like the car set up similarly. ~ Austin Dillon

I think fear is what keeps us from going over the edge. I mean, as a race car driver, I don't think what makes a good race car driver is a fearless person. I think it's somebody that is comfortable being behind the wheel of something that's somewhat out of control. ~ Jeff Gordon

If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough. ~ Mario Andretti

To be a driver that can cross off one of those marquee events as a winner, that cements your legacy in motorsports, to be able to win the Daytona 500 is the ultimate dream of a race car driver. ~ Tony Stewart

The builder of the best racing car is not necessarily its best driver. ~ Hans Selye

Guys are so predictable. They can't seem to separate fantasy from reality, so I get a lot of bikers and race car drivers hitting on me. They're all just playboys, so they don't interest me. ~ Michelle Rodriguez

Teen drivers are more dangerous even than drivers in their eighties. And safety education, including showing teens gory movies of car crashes, has little effect. ~ Elly Blue

I'm driving my old car until I'm on a first name basis with the low tow truck drivers! ~ Michelle Singletary

The only healing I've ever known is getting back in that race car - for all us racers. ~ Clint Bowyer

I want to be a race car passenger: just a guy who bugs the driver. Say man, can I turn on the radio? You should slow down. Why do we gotta keep going in circles? Can I put my feet out the window? Man, you really like Tide.. ~ Mitch Hedberg

If I had a musical identity that was definable then it would be time to get into painting or something else. Race car driving. ~ Chris Cornell

I've never been to a race car race before. ~ Christina Ricci

A Race car is more beautiful than the Victory of Samotracia ~ Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

I love race car drivers, I love gymnastics, I love UFC, I love police officers, I love firefighters. I just try to give them the same enjoyment they give me. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

Sometimes I vocalize in the car. It's a good way to multitask. Although fellow drivers on the road think I'm craaaazy. ~ Emmy Rossum

You won't catch me driving a race car that I have built. ~ Colin Chapman

I will always enter a race car from the left side. Always. Why? I have no idea. ~ Mario Andretti

Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win. ~ Enzo Ferrari

The format of the race weekend is also very well thought out. We have enough practice time to get the cars well set-up and have a proper qualifying session where we can do as many laps as we like, which is great for the drivers and spectators. ~ Nigel Mansell

This car of mine, I am tickled to death with it. The machine is nearly everything, its power, stability and balance. The driver, allowing for his experience and courage, is much less. ~ Malcolm Campbell

The Daytona 500 is a career-winning race. It defines careers for drivers, crew members, crew chiefs and race teams. It has that power. ~ Jimmie Johnson

Indy makes the race driver. You become famous when you come here. ~ Rodger Ward

If you have a car and you win a race, you cannot just settle for that. You must try and make the car better. We're a good car but you always want a bigger engine. ~ Rafael Benitez

Driving race cars was an avenue for me to learn how to build my own car, and that was my ambition all along. ~ Carroll Shelby

Any car which holds together for a whole race is too heavy. ~ Colin Chapman

The irony is that it was tougher to rent a car from Cerberus when it owned Alamo than to buy a semi-automatic. To rent a car, one had to provide ID, a drivers' license, and get insurance coverage. To buy a gun? Cash and carry, from the back of a station wagon at a gun show. No concerns about downstream liability or risk. ~ Eliot Spitzer

The problem is Twitter is designing the metaphorical equivalent of a Toyota Prius. A car for the masses. While I want a Formula One race car. ~ Robert Scoble

I keep my weight low, although you need to be able to move your weight around the race car to change the balance. I'm 6ft and I'm 70kg so I haven't much fat on me. ~ Jenson Button

Coltrane had a sax, Dale Earnhardt drives a race car and everybody has their tools. ~ Talib Kweli

Janet's a serious racer with some good race-car stuff. She can get the job done. I respect her as a racer. ~ Neil Bonnett

What's behind you doesn't matter. ~ Enzo Ferrari

There are a lot of drivers who can carry a car. It doesn't happen very often very successfully. I think it takes a certain amount of sensible bravery. It's no good to be brave and just keep crashing. ~ Paul Newman

My friend is a former race car driver, so he races for Mercedes, and I root for him. I have a car that I love to race, I'll take it to the track. ~ Hill Harper

As a driver, you want to race every lap possible, especially when you've got a good car. ~ Romain Grosjean

Driving a race car is like dancing with a chain saw. ~ Cale Yarborough

The first time I fired up a car, felt the engine shudder and the wheel come to life in my hands, I was hooked. It was a feeling I can't describe. I still get it every time I get into a race car. ~ Mario Andretti

I make jokes about the fact that as a neuro-surgeon I shouldn't be required at a motor race because the drivers don't have any brains ... otherwise they wouldn't race. ~ Sid Watkins

We couldn't get the car back until well after the end of the race and we had very little time for repairs. ~ John Surtees

Running on different types of racetracks is challenging - not only for the drivers, but even more for the team members who have to make adjustments to the cars before each race. ~ Michael Andretti

People want to see the car crash instead of the race. But, when you're the one in the car that's crashing, it's not much fun. I'm enjoying the race. ~ Nikki Sixx

The car, by bisecting the human outline, diminishes it, producing a race of half-people in a motion not of their own making ~ Marya Mannes

I'm like a fine-tuned race car. You've got to make frequent pit stops when you drink as much tea as I do. ~ Si Robertson

The Ford Falcon holds the proud title of Slowest Car Ever Built. In certain areas of the country you can go to a stoplight and find Falcon drivers who pressed down on their accelerators in 1963 and are still waiting for their cars to move. ~ Dave Barry

I felt like a car that had only been operated by one driver ... a car its new prospective buyer was determined to take to the Daytona 500. ~ Charlaine Harris

I get really irritated with crap drivers, so the last time I got cross was probably behind the wheel. I'll shout from the safety of my car, with the window up, but if anyone ever got out and challenged me I'd be terrified. ~ Nikki Sanderson

I felt like I already knew how to race by the time I was four. I was always at the race track with my dad. I watched him race thousands of laps in a sprint car standing on top of a trailer watching him, getting down and cleaning the mud off his car. That's just what I grew up doing. ~ Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

I think we'll be in pretty good shape. We've got the same car we ran in all the speedway races since 2001, and it's been a real good car for us. It's led every race we've been in. ~ Sterling Marlin

There is always a chance of failure, of producing something totally unnecessary. But I guess that chance of failure is what makes tightrope walking, race-car driving ... ~ John Updike

When you're in a car which can win every race, or fight for a win every race, that is pressure. ~ Jenson Button

First time I looked at a Formula One car in person, I just stared at the cockpit, figuring I'd never get in there. The drivers wear the whole car like a tight-fitting suit. ~ Chris Hemsworth

If there's one great thing I think that's happened over the years, it's that women are being accepted into a man's world in all different areas, whether it's flying an airplane or driving a race car. ~ Danica Patrick

Well, if someone is a bad driver and all the other drivers around them are good drivers, then they are safe because all the good drivers will dodge the bad driver so that there is no car crash. But if there is another bad driver, then there can be a crash. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald

If we want every car on the road to be a Lyft, we need to make it incredibly convenient for drivers. ~ Logan Green

This is like my dad's race team where we had one Legend car. If we wrecked it, we couldn't race the next week unless we had enough parts to put it back together again. ~ Kurt Busch

There are not many things you can do to make the car go faster at some racetracks. What you got from the shop is just how you're going to race. It's really about strategy. ~ Darrell Wallace Jr.

The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it which is identical. ~ Murray Walker

The cars themselves are getting smarter and will be increasingly able to assist drivers - to the point where the cars will be completely automated. ~ Robert James Thomson

I mean, you've kind of got the track down, especially with ovals. The only thing that improves is that when race conditions come, you know what to expect slightly more from the track and from your car. ~ Danica Patrick

I used to have horrible cars that would always end up broken down on the highway. When I tried to flag someone down, nobody stopped. But if I pushed my own car, other drivers would get out and push with me. If you want help, help yourself - people like to see that. ~ Chris Rock

One of those professional drivers hit one of those blockade barriers. It was the first car accident I have ever been in, so I was a little startled. ~ Matt Hasselbeck

I had a '56 Ford, and my first car was a '49 Chevy. I converted it to a stick and used to race with the other high school kids down along the river. ~ Craig T. Nelson

Italian drivers: "...he drove as if he were at the wheel of a Ferrari at Monza. Like all drivers, he insisted on showing off his skills. ~ Michele Guittari

If you think Abraham Lincoln became famous for inventing the town car, it is time to spend a few hours on history. ~ Bo Bennett

One of my biggest problems this season was with the clutch at the start of the race. I hate to risk the car. ~ Alain Prost

Race makes things funny. A black guy driving in NASCAR: not funny. A black guy driving a car sponsored by Tide: not funny. A black guy driving a car sponsored by Aunt Jemima: hilarious. ~ Carlos Mencia

Motor Racing Outreach is great. They provide a chapel service every Sunday for drivers, wives, crew members, and others in the NASCAR industry so that we can gather and celebrate our faith. It's important to me to have this time before the race on Sundays. They also provide other services such as at-track childcare and counseling. ~ Austin Dillon

It's pretty cool to be able to hang out with the President and have the race-winning car on the South Lawn. ~ Buddy Rice

I will continue to get behind the wheel of a racing car as long as I am able. But that could all end tomorrow. ~ Paul Newman

I get appalled when I see good drivers being left on the sidelines because they haven't come up with the half million to a million to put themselves in a competitive car. ~ John Surtees

My grandma's the most careful, safe driver in the world. You put her in a rental car, and she's doing doughnuts in the K-Mart parking lot! ~ Jeff Foxworthy

Every time my cameras go out on a movie, we learn something new and then we take what we learn and we put it into the next generation of the cameras so we're constantly improving. It's kind of like building a race car, racing it, then running back to the shop and working on the engine some more and tinkering with it to improve it. ~ James Cameron

What is more likely? That tomorrow will be called 'Thursday' or that Maxine Waters will play the race card in her ethics investigation? ~ Jonah Goldberg

I hate to take compromises with a racing car. The more standard a car is, the more compromises you have to take. ~ Michael Schumacher

You don't get a mix of ovals and road/street course racing with this level of competition and speed anywhere other than Indy Car, and I think that's why it has remained a popular choice for so many young drivers. ~ Charlie Kimball

Well, everybody does something, some people race cars, others collect stamps, I find tai chi to be philosophically, aesthetically, physically and spiritually fascinating. ~ Lou Reed

Is that your final answer? Here in New York garbage men, bus drivers, taxi cab drivers, bus drivers, whoever, you know, people just yell it out to me. So that was a lot of fun. ~ Regis Philbin

Yeah, our car was really good even after the crash. I told you before the race that if we had good track position at the end I thought we could finish good. It was a really good day for our Linksys car. Just a fun day racing. ~ Jamie McMurray

The criticism from the other side of [race] debate - and these are not necessarily I think defenders of [Donald] Trump, but they're certainly quick to say, you know, if you're going to live by the race card, you die by the race card. ~ Dahlia Lithwick

It's as if women are in a totally rigged race. A lot of men are driving souped-up, low-slung racing cars and we're running as fast as we can in tennis shoes we managed to salvage from a local garage sale. ~ Naomi Weisstein

I once bought an old car back after I sold it because I missed it so much and I had forgotten that it never ran. It was a British racing car. You know, because I just wanted it back. I could only remember what was good about it. ~ Connie Chung

We're just into toys, whether it's motorcycles or race cars or computers. I've got the Palm Pilot right here with me, I've got the world's smallest phone. Maybe it's just because I'm still a big little kid and I just love toys, you know? ~ Catherine Bell

I have always tried to drive a car that was better than me, and race against people who were better than me. If you are surrounded by people who are as good as you, or not as good, how are you going to learn? ~ Joey Logano

To drive an F1 car you have to be a little mad. On the morning of a race there's a mix of excitement and fear. If it's a wet track, then it's worse as you're not in control most of the time, which is the thing all drivers fear the most. ~ Jenson Button

I don't want to be famous for being famous. ~ Kelli O'Hara

I'm a really bad driver. When I'm in L.A. my husband always has to park the car for me, because I'm likely to hit something. ~ Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

When I saw all those other drivers, I realized that they wanted to win that money just as much as I did. But I didn't have to worry. A tire came off my car and I was lucky I got it off the track. ~ Buck Baker

It's not important how we play. If you have a Ferrari and I have a small car, to beat you in a race I have to break your wheel or put sugar in your tank. ~ Jose Mourinho

The highest test of the civilization of any race is in its willingness to extend a helping hand to the less fortunate. ~ Booker T. Washington

When I get in the car I love my wife and kids more than anything, but I'm not thinking about that side of things. I'm thinking about the car, I'm thinking about the race and I'm thinking about how to make the car faster. ~ Scott Dixon

It's basically the same, just darker. (on racing Saturday nights as opposed to Sunday afternoons, 1991 ~ Alan Kulwicki

Get in the race car do what I do then go home. We don't have freedom to do anything anymore. ~ Tony Stewart

A famous person to themselves, they don't get up in the morning and think, I'm famous. I'm not famous to me. Famous is a perception. ~ Van Morrison

I assure you that the training that you get in a midget, in a sprint car and perhaps in a Silver Crown car is really the kind of experience that makes you into a damn good race driver. ~ Rodger Ward

I race to win. If I am on the bike or in a car it will always be the same. ~ Valentino Rossi

[T]he distance Boston drivers generally maintain from the car in front of them is visible only with a good microscope. ~ Dan Ariely

I am training at such a high level that I actually could eat anything and get by. But as my coach always says, your body is like a car, and food is like your fuel. I am a race car, so I can't just put unleaded fuel in my car. I need that good premium fuel. ~ Lolo Jones