Racing Superstitions

[BobbyChaffee]

While in Corpus for the races down there, the option came up for Chicken for lunch and I said they it is bad luck to each chicken on race day. They asked my wife, and I replied I'm not sure, just always heard that.

 

SO where did these types of superstitions get started.

 

Here are the ones that I know,

 

No chicken on race day,

 

No green on race cars,

 

Don't eat peanuts at the race track.

 

I'm sure some of the old timers will know how this stuff got started.

[HiTech]

While in Corpus for the races down there, the option came up for Chicken for lunch and I said they it is bad luck to each chicken on race day. They asked my wife, and I replied I'm not sure, just always heard that.

 

SO where did these types of superstitions get started.

 

Here are the ones that I know,

 

No chicken on race day,

 

No green on race cars,

 

Don't eat peanuts at the race track.

 

I'm sure some of the old timers will know how this stuff got started.

dang maybe i should not eat those on raceday ...green cars do win ...

Edited October 14, 2010 by HiTech

[jwmbishop]

So if a peanut eatin green chicken craps on your hood your pretty much screwed?

[legfixr]

So if a peanut eatin green chicken craps on your hood your pretty much screwed?

somedays I feel like that has happened.

 

I think the last time was NOV 2008...

 

OH WELL VOTING THIS NOV

[neon14]

One night at ccms somebody put a dead chicken behind my drivers seat. When I got in the car for the feature it stunk real bad. Had to get back out to see what the deal was. I had to get it out of the car fast before the race started lol! No way I was racin with that stinky old thing in the car. Never found out who did it but I think I know who. I won that night.

[jwmbishop]

lol that IS funny... Of course I must admit I have been the instigator of a few of those myself, one comes to mind.

 

We all have heard of spray fa rt. that smelly nasty stuff in a spray can that smells like something died (sold in novelty shops)- one night my best friends brother made the main - rookie year so we were always messing with him pretty hard anyway. The track entrance was exit of four so the car entered the track going down the front straight. As the cars lined up and got ready to go out for intros , I stood beside his passenger quarter with a power punch (those little spring loaded punches) that was real sharp and a fresh can o' stinky. the outside row where my victim was went last and was right up next to the crash wall - between the crashwall and the catch fence was about 5 feet of grassy bank - another twenty five to the front row of the grandstands. the main came right after intermission so most of the fans were crowding against the fence to holler at the favorite (or least favorite) driver.

 

Well as the outside row rolled I popped a hole in the can and tossed it into the car - it rolled back and stopped right behid his seat. As the car came into view of the stands the vapor had just started filling the cockpit and began rolling over the door sills on both sides - from the stands the announcer thought it was dry ice fog (it was after all mid october and he innocently assumed it was a halloween prank) so he drew everyones attention to it. Some folks even ran into the mist to get a closer look. the further onto the track my new friend went - the further BACK the fans (now quite alarmed at the stench, gasping, gagging and screaming) went. Oh - yea. Inverted start, slowest car-outside pole. ALL THE WAY DOWN THE GRANDSTANDS. LOL - cost me a 250 dollar fine - but it was SOOOO worth it in the long run. He finished fourth that night - and to this day i will swear it was because by the drop of green he was trying to outrun the smell.

[SASPEEDRACER24]

That sounds pretty damn funny... lol... I could have swore I have heard Crazyhorse tell me about the Green on the car but I could be wrong... Then again that didnt hurt John Kelly any lol... I try not to get caught up in superstitions but I do keep the same routine on going to the race track including getting fuel at the same gas station and eating at one of 2 different places. Worked well so far. Guess everyone has their own vices...

[gundogC3]

#13

[racechick]

Longhorn days Robert Reyes would give you his wallet to take out the money because it was green.

I also remember someone saying "double" numbers were bad luck, I think it was just him when you look at 99 lol

Another about don't shave either the night before or day of... (heard that one this year)

the fried chicken I have heard before but I also know someone that HAS to have fried chicken every race day for good luck!

[Budman]

I've heard of one about car numbers. Don't have a number that reads the same right-side up or upside down, such as 1, 8, 11, or 88.

[TheCloser]

i asked my dad about the green when i was a kid and i tink he said something about it having to do with harry gant. Not too sure. i've slept since then. i have my own superstition. once i put on my firesuit i do not even touch my cell phone until my feature is over. i won my first feature and didn't have it on me.

[PAPA]

When my father raced he had a pair of pants that he had to wear on race day and he ALWAYS had a pack of "Camels" rolled up in his shirt sleeve. The color GREEN and the #13 was a bad thing to have on a race car back then. Now days it's BAD LUCK to not have a cooler full of beer in your trailer for after the races.lol

[KISS_Racing]

These are a little different but funny they came up over dinner last night.

 

A buddy used to work on a top fuel team. He said they had things they would do like they had pieces of a clutch they would put up in the pits to "the clutch god" so they wouldn't have clutch issues. They had something if they weren't qualifying well that they would pray to "the rain god" that qualifying would get rained out. They had their "homie statues" glued on the roll cage for good luck and safe passes. Those were just a few I can remember...

 

I also know of guys/gals who go off before a race to pray or just have quiet time. Others have an IPOD cranked up with who knows what!

[gundogC3]

I've heard of one about car numbers. Don't have a number that reads the same right-side up or upside down, such as 1, 8, 11, or 88.

So that's it....88

 

Oh yeah, My hat!

Edited October 15, 2010 by GUNDOG99

[abrungot]

Yup.. don't shave on friday's or Saturdays....

If i find a penny heads up on race day it gets put on the dash...

Once i get in the car for the feature, i don't get out unless its on fire, or the race is over..

The night i put the tape on my windshield to block the sun, I won my first race... now it stays on....

 

They just start... then you tell someone about it.. and they copy cat it..

Edited October 15, 2010 by abrungot

[jwmbishop]

I used to hold to the don't shave thing - personally it was because I started racing befre I started growing whiskers. Somewhere along the line I seen bad wrecks and injuries in the pits that coincided with the days (as few as they were) when I did need to shave. But as the whiskers grew faster and thicker I started noting that it was mere co-incidence (lost a good friend on a night I was fuzzy for one) - so reasoned myself into it just being a superstition.

 

All superstiions share one thing in common - and is the base for the formation of any superstitions -racing related or not. the need for consistancy to explain existential occurances in all aspects of life - more so for the racing endeavor. Without consistancy randomness becomes too much to isolate what works and what doesn't.

[PAPA]

I heard Bobby wears the same underware each race and he wears them backwards. I dont know if its true or not but thats the lie...I mean story Im telling.

[SULLIVAN]

RACING WHEN THERES A FULL MOON MEAN LOTS OF WRECKS ,NEVER SHAVE ON RACE DAY

[Crazyhorse]

tiff, it was any number that reads the same upside down.

i have to put my helmet on outside of the car. ..and do not put my own name on top of one.

-and i'm pretty much not gonna put green on my car. prefer not to even have so much as a green wire.

[wkr77]

I've heard it's bad luck to have a For Sale sign on your car while you are still racing it...

[racer61]

Bickle always had us throw change in the seat before he got in to qualify. Not sure if it helped but It made the job of cleaning out the car "rewarding".

[Pacecar]

When Brandon Bendele went to Martinsville in 1999 for the NA$CAR Late Model Stock Baileys 300, I held the carburetor thru the pre-race tech line. While in line, several guys were looking at me strangely. I asked what was wrong. They said "everybody knows it's bad luck to hold your carburetor upside down".

 

When the car went thru pre-race tech, the official asked me for the name of the car. I told him 98 MonteCarlo. He said that's not what I asked, what's the nickname for the car. He couldn't believe we didn't have one, as that is bad luck. So we named it "old faithful". And that's what I race today.

[thumper]

I did not believe the peanut thing.One nite I had 4 bags in the truck.I lost the race.The following week I ate 3 bags of peanuts before I left the house,I totalled my car. BLAST the PEANUTS!!!!!!

[neon14]

I tell you one thing I never ate anything extremely spicy on race day!

 

I would always make sure I had 2 or 3 dollars in my fire suit pocket.

 

I never won a race when I washed my car on race day. So I often went to the track with a dirty car.

 

I put havoline oil in my engine and blew up, never used havoline again in anything.

 

I NEVER use champion spark plugs in a race car. Had one fail in a heat race so I had to start in the back of the pack for the feature. Got in a really bad wreck.

 

This ones really strange. A friend of mine put an old dried up goats foot in my car and didn't tell me about it till after the races. I won that night so I left it in there. That thing stayed in my car for about a year. Won alot of races me and that goats foot did. Then one night I wound up on my roof and I guess it must have fell out of the car because I never saw it again. But I did manage to still win races without it.

Edited October 15, 2010 by neon14

[txtom]

The thing about green goes back so far, I can't remember where I first heard it. But I can remember taking a razor blade, and cutting all the green out of any decal that went on a car that Leroy Brooks was going to drive. He also allowed no peanuts, and so on. All the old things.

 

I remember a lucky hat that David Umscheid always wore; and I think it was Larry Bendele that hid it before a TIDA race, and David damn near caused a riot befiore it was returned.

 

I myself am not superstitous, but I will agree with Sullivan about the full moon thing, especially at San Antonio. Seems like the worst nights at San Antonio were full moons.

 

 

I heard Bobby wears the same underware each race and he wears them backwards. I dont know if its true or not but thats the lie...I mean story Im telling.

 

And he turns them inside out every three races.

Didya know his wife buys him a dozen pairs of underbritches every Christmas? One for January, one for February, one for March, etc.............