The race will always bring out the competitive nature of individuals.
Competition drives us to work harder. The end result of victory is a prize that focuses our attention on the path leading to it.
No matter the nature of the race, both athletes and spectators are energized. This page contains some of the most renowned racing quotes.
Racing Quotes
1. “Be confident in the work you did to prepare for the race. Take a look back at your training logs to remind yourself that you’ve done everything possible to prepare. The race is the fun part where you get to see the hard work pay off. Enjoy it.” —Desiree Linden
2. “Big occasions and races which have been eagerly anticipated almost to the point of dread, are where great deeds can be accomplished.” —Jack Lovelock
3. “Different people have different reasons for racing, but one is simply the incentive to get out and run, increase mileage and feel good.” —Hal Higdon
4. “Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine.” —John Trautmann
5. “Fast running isn’t forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you.” —Desiree Linden
6. “Fear is gradually replaced by excitement and a simple desire to see what you can do on the day.” —Lauren Fleshman
7. “Good health, peace of mind, being outdoors, camaraderie: those are all wonderful things that come to you when running. But for me, the real pull of running—the proverbial icing on the cake—has always been racing.” —Bill Rodgers
8. “I also realize that winning doesn’t always mean getting first place; it means getting the best out of yourself.” —Meb Keflezighi
9. “I love controlling a race, chewing up an opponent. Let’s get down and dirty. Let’s fight it out. It’s raw, animalistic, with no one to rely on but yourself. There’s no better feeling than that.” —Adam Goucher
10. “I’m always nervous. If I wasn’t nervous, it would be weird. I get the same feeling at all the big races. It’s part of the routine, and I accept it. It means I’m there and I’m ready.” —Allyson Felix
11. “I’m going to work so that it’s a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it.” —Steve Prefontaine
12. “It doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.” —Fred Lebow
13. “It’s just as important to remember that each footstrike carries you forward, not backward. And every time you put on your running shoes you are different in come way than you were the day before. This is all good news.” —John Bingham
14. “Let’s just say it and be done with it. Racing hurts. But here’s another truth: having put in the effort to prepare for a race and then not giving it your all hurts even more. The first kind of hurt goes away in hours or a day. The second kind of hurt can last a lifetime.” —Larry Shapiro
15. “My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: ‘Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you’ll win.'” —Carl Lewis
16. “My times become slower and slower, but the experience of the race is unchanged: each race a drama, each race a challenge, each race stretching me in one way or another, and each race telling me more about myself and others.” —George Sheehan
17. “My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold. You sometimes have to be aggressive and gamble.” —Bill Rodgers
18. “No marathon gets easier later. The halfway point only marks the end of the beginning.” —Joe Henderson
19. “Once you’re beat mentally, you might as well not even go to the starting line.” —Todd Williams
20. “Racing is an escape from society. From symbols of status, and self-perception. A chance to just be. For everyone to just be, with each other.”—Erin Beresini
21. “Racing is the fun part; it’s the reward of all the hard work.” —Kara Goucher
22. “Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it’s all about.” —PattiSue Plumer
23. “Running is in my blood—the adrenaline flows before the races, the love/hate of butterflies in your stomach.” —Marcus O’Sullivan
24. “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” — John Bingham
25. “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”—Jesse Owens
26. “When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting.” —Doris Brown Heritage
27. “Why race? The need to be tested, perhaps; the need to take risks; and the chance to be number one.” —George Sheehan
28. “You didn’t beat me. You merely finished in front of me.” —Hal Higdon
29. “A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they’re capable of understanding.” ~ Steve Prefontaine
30. “A racing car is an animal with a thousand adjustments.” ~ Mario Andretti
31. “At some point in every racer’s life he has to make his peace with cheating. I do not approve of cheating … at all. Of course, like every successful racer, I differentiate between taking advantage of loopholes in the regulations, stretching the grey areas and outright cheating. In any given racing series I will not start the cheating. If someone else starts it, I will appeal to them and to the officials to stop it. If my efforts do not succeed, then I’ll show them how it is done.” ~ Carroll Smith
Racing Quotes
32. “Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built.” ~ Henry Ford
33. “Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports… all the others are games.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
34. “Be confident in the work you did to prepare for the race. Take a look back at your training logs to remind yourself that you’ve done everything possible to prepare. The race is the fun part where you get to see the hard work pay off. Enjoy it.” ~ Desiree Linden
35. “By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, we are competing to win.” ~ Ayrton Senna
36. “Calling upon my years of experience, I froze at the controls.” ~ Stirling Moss
37. “Cornering perfectly is like bringing a woman to climax.” ~ Jackie Stewart
38. “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.” ~ Mario Andretti
39. “Different people have different reasons for racing, but one is simply the incentive to get out and run, increase mileage and feel good.” ~ Hal Higdon
40. “Faster, Faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson
41. “Finishing races is important, but racing is more important.” ~ Dale Earnhardt
43. “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
44. “I just bought a Lambourghini, I’m not even into racing with a windshield full of tickets cause I live right by the station.” ~ Drake
45. “I love to feel a racing car around me, to feel the way it holds me.I love to make it do all that it was built to do, and then a little bit more.” ~ Stirling Moss
46. “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
47. “I want to be up front racing.” ~ Dale Earnhardt
48. “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
49. “I’ve tried everything other than jumping out of a plane, but nothing gives you an adrenaline rush like racing a car.” ~ Nigel Mansell
50. “If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” ~ Mario Andretti
51. “IF is a very long word in Formula One; in fact, IF is F1 spelled backwards.” ~ Murray Walker
52. “If lightning strikes while you’re in the car it’s your fault.” ~ Doc Bundy
53. “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
54. “If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough.” ~ Parnelli Jones
55. “In racing there are always things you can learn, every single day. There is always space for improvement, and I think that applies to everything in life.” ~ Lewis Hamilton
56. “In racing, I wanted to be a winner and to be a winner, you have to be willing to roll the dice.” ~ Bobby Rahal
57. “In racing, the fastest person wins. It is very simple.” ~ Paul Newman
58. “In the old days drivers were fat and tires were skinny.” ~ Jose Froilan Gonzalez
59. “It is amazing how many drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.” ~ Mario Andretti
60. “It is not always possible to be the best, but it is always possible to improve your own performance.” ~ Jackie Stewart
61. “It’s basically the same, just darker. (on racing Saturday nights as opposed to Sunday afternoons, 1991” ~ Alan Kulwicki
62. “My No. 1 goal in racing was never to be the most popular driver.” ~ Brad Keselowski
Racing Quotes
63. “My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold. You sometimes have to be aggressive and gamble.” ~ Bill Rodgers
64. “Nobody is born with a steering wheel or a gear shift in his hand. It’s something you choose to do or you don’t.” ~ Mario Andretti
65. “Nothing good has ever been written about the full rotation of a racecar about its roll axis.” ~ Carroll Smith
66. “Oh yes. It’s not when you brake but when you take them off that counts. Most people don’t understand that.” ~ Jackie Stewart
67. “Once you’ve raced, you never forget it…and you never get over it.” ~ Richard Childress
68. “Racing drivers have balls, unfortunantly, none of them are crystal” ~ David Coulthard
69. “Racing is dangerous, but I’ve been in a lot worse situations as a pipe fitter.” ~ Neil Bonnett
70. “Racing is not what I like to do; it’s winning.” ~ Jeff Gordon
71. “Racing is the constant search for the weakest link.” ~ Duane Bailey
72. “Racing is the fun part; it’s the reward of all the hard work.” ~ Kara Goucher
73. “Sitting beside the pool is fine for two weeks, but after that I think it’d be quite hard to live with – so I need to keep racing.” ~ Mark Webber
74. “Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that’s what gets you.” ~ Jeremy Clarkson
75. “Stardom equals financial success and financial success equals security. I’ve spent too much of my life feeling insecure. I still have nightmares about being poor, of everything I own just vanishing away. Stardom means that can’t happen.” ~ Steve McQueen
76. “Straight roads are for fast cars, turns are for fast drivers.” ~ Colin McRae
77. “The driver of a racing car is a component. When I first began, I used to grip the steering wheel firmly, and I changed gear so hard that I damaged my hand.” ~ Juan Manuel Fangio
78. “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” ~ John Bingham
79. “The winner ain’t the one with the fastest car. It’s the one who refuses to lose.” ~ Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
80. “There are seven winners of the Monaco Grand Prix on the starting line today, and four of them are Michael Schumacher.” ~ Murray Walker
81. “There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.” ~ Garth Stein
81. “We broke something, I think it was traction.” ~ Carl Edwards
82. “What sets these – and all – racers apart from less daredevilish mortals is their complete lack of fear and their joy of doing something on the edge. They love to speed because it is dangerous.” ~ Peter Golenbock
83. “When I first started racing, my father said, “Win the race as slow as you can.” ~ Richard Petty
84. “When I look fast, I’m not smooth and I am going slowly. And when I look slow, I am smooth and going fast.” ~ Alain Prost
85. “When I started racing my father told me, ‘Cristiano, nobody has three balls but some people have two very good ones.’” ~ Cristiano da Matta
86. “When you shift the gear and that little needle on the tach goes into the red and reads 9,000 rpm, that’s bad.” ~ Robert Duvall
87. “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
88. “When you’re in the back of the pack, you can gamble a little bit more.” ~ Michael Andretti
89. “When you’re racing, it’s life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.” ~ Steve McQueen
90. “Winning is everything. The only ones who remember you when you come second are your wife and your dog.” ~ Damon Hill
91. “Wrecks are going to happen in this business, that’s just a risk of the sport. If you can’t keep from worrying about it, then you’re in the wrong line of work.” ~ Coo Coo Marlin
92. “You will never know the feeling of a driver when winning a race. The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood.” ~ Ayrton Senna
93. “You win some, lose some, and wreck some.” ~ Dale Earnhardt
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