FORD SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 23, 1999

Dale Jarrett

Gary McCord

DALE JARRETT: He probably won't have much to say about my golf swing. At the test, it was fun. I think that there are a lot of professional golfers that I've met over the years that enjoy cars and driving fast, and Gary is definitely somebody that could do that. He wasn't showing me what he could do out there.

GARY MCCORD: Yeah, that was it.

DALE JARRETT: I think I knew there was a lot more to what his abilities are in driving. But I think there are similarities in the two sports because they were kind of out there alone by ourselves. It's up to us. We get the best equipment that we can, and then we go at it, and I think that there's a lot of guys that could handle the type of pressure that we have driving a car because of the pressure that they go through as a golfer.

GARY MCCORD: Yeah. Just watching, we're on a little track that goes around and around, bunch of curves and stuff. But watching what he was doing and then try to put yourself in a position with a bunch of other cars coming up your exhaust as 200 and whatever miles an hour they are going, and for the length of time they do it, No. 1, it was the ability to steer the damn car. I mean, to have the strength to do that for four hours is amazing to me. But the concentration, also, much like golf, we're talking about the same time period, four-hour time period where really, our mind -- our mind can wander a little bit, because we walk to where we're going. Okay, now we're thinking about what we're doing, and we're choking our guts out, but he's got no time to wander at all. There's not a nanosecond that goes by that he cannot be on top of what he's doing because he's going to get run over he's going to hit a ball, he's going to do something. That would be interesting to talk to Dale about how he developed the ability to concentrate, physically, mentally. That's going to zap you, I know it does us. Just walking out there in a nice green pasture, I can't imagine his concentration level has got to be a lot greater than golf. A lot greater than golf, because he could get hurt badly out there if he slips a little bit. We could just make a bogey or worse, which sometimes hurts, but not like really hurting.

DALE JARRETT: That's a lot of the same things that I've heard from other athletes. I mean, exactly that. The concentration level that we have to maintain because of the consequences, they are so much greater at a mental lapse at what we do. But aside from the physical danger part of it, mentally, I think it does as much to you, and that's where I think that the golfers have to be so strong is mentally, to be able to overcome the conditions that they face on the course, first off; and then being able to recover from a shot that wasn't what they wanted. And I think that's what makes them so good is that they can do that. They have that mentality that they really -- what I'm amazed at, they can't hit it anywhere that they can't get it up-and-down. That's what's amazing to me. Where the rest of us make a 6, they make 4. That's just the difference. But it's that mental aspect. But you talk about the concentration level, that's kind of how -- I guess you come by that two different ways: You hit the wall enough times, you realize you've got to concentrate harder or either find another profession. Or the biggest thing is that you just -- you train yourself mentally to adapt to the surroundings, just like you do whenever it's bad weather or the wind is blowing, or each different hole. Adapt mentally to that. And that's what I do as a race driver is adapt myself to my surroundings. And I realized this past week we were run doing 100 miles an hour at the Poconos, and this coming week we're on a 10 or 11-turn road course, and I just mentally get yourself prepared to do that. And then the same thing that you have to deal with, walking around the golf course is the heat that we have to deal with inside the race car because it's 140 to 150 degrees inside the cars. Just like your game a lot of our game is mental, too. You have to overcome that. And the ones that are successful are the guys that are able to handle that pressure and overcome these obstacles that are put in front of them.

GARY MCCORD: Let me ask you a question. We deal with a lot of these people on our TOUR, sports psychologists, okay. And I've got some very good help just before I started The SENIOR TOUR. I went to Dr. Debra Graham, and I had never been to one before I knew I had some abilities and wasn't getting the best out of them. I said: Doc, I just keep walking towards the end, I just keep choking. I think it's the end, and I'm choking; and so she gave me basically a pre-shot routine so I could get out of the future and exist in the now. Basically it's get up, get your club, find it. That's the club you're going to. Not 7-iron, 6-iron; it's 9-iron. Two, visualize the shot you're going to hit. And then, No. 3, take it back into some sort of mechanics, and only one thing, like right knee to left knee. Get up, do those things, get in and hit it. What it did for me was, I quit worrying about what I was coming up against and going over here, and I got into the now with these shots. Did those guys in Nascar, did they have sports psychologists to help you guys concentrate better?

DALE JARRETT: I can't say that we do. We probably should. I think that there's a lot that could be gained from that, and I'll take it to where I feel like that -- of course, I have a dad that was in the business; so, he understood what I was talking about when I would go to talk to him about certain situations. And to me the most difficult part, I've always felt like at the end of a race, if I can get myself into position, I don't get nervous, I get excited and feel like I can handle that. The most difficult part for me is the beginning of the race where everybody is right there together and you start, and you're not sure what your car is going to do. It may have rained the night before and you've made changes on the car and not sure what's going to happen. I need help getting started with the first part of the race. If I could get through that anxiety I would be a lot better off. So, talking with my Dad, he helped me to understand that first off, you get with somebody that you feel comfortable with about any changes and they have got the car setup properly. And then you get yourself mentally prepared in the morning, kind of getting in a routine to get ready so it's no different from your deal. And that's what throws me off. If we have a rain delay to start the race, I've gotten setup to start this race at 1:00 in my mind, and going through everything so that I can kind calm down as that gets ready to start. So I don't know that I'd call my Dad, a sports psychologist by any means, but he definitely helped me a lot there. But I think there are people that could because we don't talk enough about the mental aspect of driving a race car. Everybody thinks of the physical abilities that you have to have. But mentally, that's where a lot of these races are won and lost.

GARY MCCORD: Let's say I'm a race car driver and working underneath you. I'm real good, real aggressive, but I get down within the hunt. I'm within five cars getting in the hunt the last 4, 5, 10 laps, and all of the sudden I can't do it. For some reason, I don't get as aggressive. I start to back off. Something happens. What would you tell me as a driver to get rid of that phobia or that mindset and get me more back to where I was to get there?

DALE JARRETT: Where I go to talk and I'm going into it with my 23-year-old son now, is that I'm telling him that you have the same thought process -- it doesn't -- it doesn't change from what got you there to what's going to take to the end of the race. If you ran the leaders down, don't change when you get there to try to make the pass. You do the same things. Start watching, it's easy for us, and I'm sure that you can do the same thing in watching someone else play and watching how they get the job done. Don't start driving your race car like the guy in front of you, or if you happen to be in front, I would like to be able for a young guy to take the mirror out of the car in the last 10 laps because there's where you mess up. You start looking in the mirror, and all of the sudden you're missing where you need to be on the racetrack; so you're start to make mistakes just by paying attention to them. Basically the same thing. Pay attention to what you've got to do and put everything else about your mind.

GARY MCCORD: So the movie Canon Ball Run was right. The Italian guy, when he got in the Ferrari, first thing he did was took the rear-view mirror and threw it out; that was right; that's the deal. That's excellent. Any questions?

GARY MCCORD: I actually have a car and I told Dale I've got an NSX, it's about that high off the ground (indicating several inches) and it goes real fast. And it's fun. It would be fun -- I've got a buddy of mine that used to drive Formula One. So, kind of showed me how to do it and I talked to Bonnie Ray Hall (ph). He helped design the suspension, so he was helping me. I've never gone to a school. They keep telling me go to Bob Bondrats (ph) driving school out in Phoenix, where I live. Because I've got something that's very powerful, and it can corner really well. But I found out today -- I go around a corner and -- with no sound and he's going 95 around, you know, an S-turn and I found out, you know to float it and everything else. It's really interesting. I might try that whether I go home, but my tires won't last that long. They are expensive.

GARY MCCORD: That's the one he really -- if he's going to show off a little, bit that's the one he was going to show off with. Because the other one had cameras and equipment and center of gravity is a little high, and he didn't want to roll it. That one had more horsepower to make me wind a little bit, which I did.

GARY MCCORD: I tell you what, when you get done, physically for just a couple three laps, it is amazing all the shifting going on. And on their Mustang, there was no hold. And I was comfortable in the other two cars I had a hold. I could not hold the Mustang; so I wrapped my fingers up underneath the window and held the window because he was going pretty good. He got it up to 85, 95, 100 a couple times and there was not that many straightaways out there. And you can feel your body fighting itself as it was going one way and you're trying to go another. I was pretty sore, and that was after only three laps. I can't imagine what these guys go through at that heat, in a concentration level, and the physical endurance it takes. It must be unbelievable.

GARY MCCORD: Not at all. The rear end was going all over the place, and he was steering it one time like this. It wasn't smooth at all. (Laughter.)

GARY MCCORD: No. Absolutely -- just hold on. You get -- I can imagine him in traffic, if he's going somewhere and he's going 55 or something, and a couple old ladies in front of him or an old guy in front of him. That must be, that's like me going to a muni or something. It must be frustrating for you to drive around town. I pity you. It must be fun to come out and do one of these and go: I feel better now. Yeah, it was very interesting. You don't blink a lot, and that's -- you don't blink a lot and, you know, you're concentrating a lot. That's what amazes me about what they do.

DALE JARRETT: I can't hit it as far as they do. No. There's no part of my game that comes close to what they do. No.

GARY MCCORD: First of all, his golf swing is unbelievable. I mean he is really good. Physically, yes, he could hit it as far as us guys once he got going and got efficient. You can look at some of the physical specimens we have out there, and they can hit it fairly well; so he's going to do just fine. So matching up if he played, there is no question that he has -- he has the physical abilities to do our sport. That's why our sport is so nice, because all shapes and sizes can play this game. Where it gets to the level that it separates is what Dale is doing. I mean, their levels of concentration are greater than ours, and that's why he could be as good as he wanted to be in this game, you know if he didn't like to drive fast and suck up exhaust all the time.

GARY MCCORD: It would be a lot safer, yeah, because we could jack up one of those golf carts for him and put some big tires on it and let him go. It might be a nice change of pace for him. He could apply the things he's doing now -- you're catching up to me-- I think you're 42 now. So he's got about eight years, and go off in the sunset and have a great time. But I know he'll be in a pit somewhere inhaling fumes. I know that.

DALE JARRETT: I'm going to be on a golf course somewhere, but it won't be with you guys. You haven't seen the putting strokes.

DALE JARRETT: In my mind yeah, that's what I wanted to do growing up. But, I mean, I have friends that I know now that have tried to make it on the TOUR, and they can't even get through qualifying school, and I know that they were better than myself. Now, if I applied as much time to golf with the right people surrounding me, could I have? You know, if I applied that as much as I applied to racing, who knows. That's hard to say whether that could have happened. I think I made the right choice, though. I will say that. I literally -- I enjoy watching these guys play. But you know, there's just something about trying to make those 3- and 4-footers that's difficult.

GARY MCCORD: Not that much. I'm on TV or I'm playing every weekend. But I know -- I know one thing -- working at CBS, their sport is getting huge. Huge, because we talk to a lot of our people and Nascar used to be something that you kind of put it on Saturday late, and now it's -- all the buyers in New York will tell that you it's huge.

GARY MCCORD: I don't get home much. I'm on the road -- last year I was on the road, I think, 41 weeks without going home. So I'm pretty much there probably more this year, because it's now either senior TOUR and then I go right to -- right to CBS. So I just hopscotch.

GARY MCCORD: I'll go back after Ameritech. I'm playing the next five out of six. We just got off nine in a row, and then I'm playing five out of six and then we go eight more in a row and then I go play the rest of the year on The SENIOR TOUR.

GARY MCCORD: Not next week. I'm going home for the first time since last year in -- October the 4th. Laughs. I was in Phoenix and I left April some time, late April. Middle April, I think. It's a different. Dale has got children. I've got grandchildren; so I can kind of go and do what I please now and I'm not like in his situation where you've got to get home a lot and make sure the driving habits of the 23-year-old are still up to par. Is he working in your crew, your boy?

DALE JARRETT: He actually races. He works for me in the week and he races on the weekends.

GARY MCCORD: Perfect. Good tutor.

DALE JARRETT: The best I've ever shot, 64. A little course.

GARY MCCORD: Smoking.

DALE JARRETT: A little course called Maiden Country Club in Maiden, North Carolina. I actually grew up playing golf there. Not a very long course, obviously.

DALE JARRETT: That's right.

DALE JARRETT: This is going to sound like I'm bragging. The court record was 63. Still is 63. And for a period of 18 straight days, I played golf, imagine that. But I was 17 years old, and I played 18 straight days at this golf course, and every round that I shot was between 64 and 68. And just never could shoot 63.

GARY MCCORD: Let's -- aah. What did you do on the last hole?

DALE JARRETT: I made par.

GARY MCCORD: How long was it?

DALE JARRETT: It's not very good.

GARY MCCORD: I guarantee he remembers the putt, how he was thinking, the heartbeat, everything.

DALE JARRETT: I missed a 3-footer one day, and actually drove it on the fringe of the green one of the days I shot 64 and 3-putted.

GARY MCCORD: You choking dog.

DALE JARRETT: Let's see if he tells the same story.

GARY MCCORD: I got it to 152 once.

GARY MCCORD: This is a straight line. That doesn't require anything other than horsepower. Straight. This was straight. I'm out in the middle of nowhere and I just jumped it. But going where he was going -- that's totally different. Totally different. Totally different. (Indicating waving motion), not even the same deal. I can point the thing, believe me. But I couldn't -- the corners are fun.

GARY MCCORD: I need to get her something like a Hum V, something like that where she just runs over things anyway. Have you ever been in one of those things? I'm up in Vail, Colorado with a guy -- we're all up at -- what's the name of the ranch, up on top. You go up there and you take a wagon up there. So this guy owns the Hum V dealership in the United States, he goes Gary we are going to take the Hum V back down. I think he's going on the road. He goes over the cliff. He went straight down this cliff. He went four miles. He went over a boulder that was much bigger than these two chairs. Just right down the hill, like that. (Indicating jumping, waving). That's the last time I got in a Hum V. That's the last time I'll be in a Cobra with you, and the last time I'll be in a Hum V.

DALE JARRETT: I keep telling myself that I'm doing it to relax and I do. But I enjoy just going out, but I'm still so competitive. And I still want to play well, and it kills me when I can't go out and break 80 anymore. But I still try. It's still, on the other hand, relaxing. It's away from what I had to do. Everybody can't get to me. I don't take a phone out there or anything. It's so I can get away and enjoy some time.

GARY MCCORD: Your window is 50 to 55 when you're physically, you know, you can go against, you know, young guys. I'm an old guy, and I came in last year, my rookie year. So I'm a young, old guy and you know that the guys right behind you, you know, Watson and Watkins and Kite, and those guys are coming up. Man, you'd better get it in a hurry. You get to a certain age -- Chi Chi and Lee both told me, you get to about 56, 57 and the speed starts to go. You can't rotate as fast. Things hurt all the time. So you just, you know, that's fine. You know your window. Just go do it as fast as you can. That's why I'm trying to do both and get as much done as I can. You can see the sunset fading right over there. Starting to go down right over there.

DALE JARRETT: I think there definitely is. I mean, even though I'm 42 now, I feel very good and I see guys that they are older than myself winning. As the speeds increase in our sport at these different racetracks, I mean that makes it more difficult because we know that we lose a little bit. You lose a little bit of that hand-eye coordination. You just can't react quite as quickly. I mean, you don't hang it out quite as much then. So I think that I feel like I've got seven or eight more years that I can do that. But after that, then it would be time to start looking at something else.

DALE JARRETT: No. Just watch more golf. Maybe I can play in more Pro-Ams then.

GARY MCCORD: Because I had not played since 1986 basically, full-time. My physical tools were getting much better; so I needed to kind of find a little bit of light, find out what I was doing wrong. And you know, she pointed out some things, and it worked nicely.

GARY MCCORD: Texas.

GARY MCCORD: Some farm down there. She works with a lot of guys out here. A lot of them.

GARY MCCORD: Out here? It's like anything else. I'm playing well. I'm got afraid to win and that's I think the big thing. I think Newport helped me realize that. Once you get over that hump, on the regular TOUR, I didn't win for, you know, takes billion years. So there's huge -- there's a lot of scar tissue there when you start coming down to the end, and you've got a chance to do something. But in this game you keep recalling things that in the back of your mind, how you reacted before, and those are all pretty negative. You've got to get those out of your mind and put something positive. When you don't have anything, you've got to invent things. Now, I've got something positive. Just go out and play and try adds hard as you can. Like any other sport, like he said in his sport, try to hang around there in the end and get in position, and sooner or later, you get there enough and it's going to work out for you. You won't know it. It never happens when you think it's going to happen. It's kind of serendipity. This guy does this and you do that and: : Oh, I won. It's just getting yourself in position in all sports. You heard about basketball now with the Knicks and the Spurs, same things. Just get in position to win at the end, that's what the NBA -- you're sooner or later going to do it. The guys that learn from their past mistakes, they are going to be better at getting there and winning more regularly.