The thing called luck

By DAVID GREEN

Numerous successful folks over the years have avowed their skepticism about the notion of luck, whether good or bad. "You make your own luck" or "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity" are common expressions of that attitude.

For sure, it is admirable (and wise) to think positively and to prepare intricately. The driver's mindset and training and the mechanical condition of his equipment can, indeed, make the difference between winning and losing.

However, based on my experience and observations of a little more than half a century, I find it impossible to go along with those who believe there is no such thing as luck. There is just too much over which we have absolutely no control. It is silly to believe that we can hope to be masters of our fates in every respect.

I believe it was Richard Petty who once said, "I'd druther be lucky than good any day," and he didn't mean that as a sour-grapes kind of sentiment. For sure, the King had his share of good fortune. He recognized that, and it was a classy thing for him to acknowledge it.

At the risk of alienating the Jeff Gordon fans out there, I suggest that Gordon, during his first decade in NASCAR, enjoyed more good fortune than any three other drivers combined.

Not that Gordon is lacking in talent and does not deserve the success he has had. Certainly the same is true of Petty. Luck alone is not enough to carry one to such heights as these two drivers have reached. It is not my intent to denigrate Gordon, his talents and his achievements.

But, in watching Gordon migrate from USAC to NASCAR and rise to stardom, I cannot count how many times I saw his car head into a multi-car pileup, only to see the wreckage part, like the Red Sea under Moses' direction, so that Gordon could motor through unscathed. Or, when a crashing car missed Gordon's DuPont-sponsored machine by fractions of an inch. Or, when he needed to replace a failing tire and, presto! the caution flag came out.

Yes, all drivers get such breaks all the time. But I don't remember seeing any get them with the frequency Gordon once did.

For that matter, for all of Gordon's talent and all the assistance he had from stepfather John Bickford in grooming him for a racing career, there were several examples of luck -- things that neither Gordon, nor Bickford, nor anyone else could control -- that led to his present stardom. Examples range from the snub by CART team owners that turned his attention to NASCAR, to Ford's support of his early NASCAR endeavors through the Bill Davis Racing team, to Rick Hendrick's offer of the lucrative, binding contract that Ford and Davis had not required.

For that matter, Gordon was lucky in that he emerged on the Winston Cup stage at the precise moment the great Dale Earnhardt was at his peak. Their rivalry was one of the great ones in auto racing history, rivaling Foyt-Andretti and Petty-Pearson. Each made the other not only better, but a bigger star than he would have been otherwise.

Gordon seems lately to have lost his horseshoe or rabbit's foot or guardian angel or whatever. His frustration is apparent, such as when he lashed out at the other drivers involved in the crash that took him out of the Pepsi 400 Saturday night.

Gordon's criticism of others may be excused as a heat-of-the-moment comment, but it was unfounded. No one did anything inordinately stupid, from gambling on two new tires to trying to fight for a position on the racetrack.

To those who shrug off the notion of luck, or to those who dismiss it as an excuse for failure or a false explanation for success, I say: You cannot engineer these things. They are much too complex and serendipitous for that.

Call it what you want. I call it luck.