Running Up Front: Life Lessons from Stock Car Racing

By Ted Hull and with Matt Weeda

Running Up Front will transport you from the grandstand to the pit lane, from your TV to turn four, so you’ll never view stock car racing—or life—in the same way again. There is a message underneath the roar of engines, a view of life from the spotter’s stand, and lessons to be learned during a thirteen-second pit stop.

In the same way that winning race teams have access to virtually limitless resources, we can have access to the unlimited divine resources which fuel a successful life. Like spotters who have a broad view of the track, we need people in our lives who see things in and around us to which we are oblivious. Drivers can get caught up in crashes they didn’t cause and can’t avoid, just as we can be the victims of personal and relational wrecks. These are a few of the fifteen life lessons we can learn from stock car racing.

Ted Hull draws on his own life experiences, including some of his wins and wrecks. His desire is that you will be encouraged and challenged to drive the race of your life that will have you Running Up Front.

”…the One who put you behind the wheel will make sure that you have all that you need for running up front.”

—Mike Yorkey, author of the Playing with Purpose series and co-author of the Every Man’s Battle series

• Language: English
• Publisher: Word Alive Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781486608966

Book preview

Authors

Acknowledgements

Ron Hoppe. There wouldn’t have been a shop to build this project without your initiative in making contacts as well as your hospitality, so generously provided in the heart of NASCAR country.

Jeffrey Baker at Team Penske. You tirelessly (at least so it appeared to me) answered my questions or hooked me up with others who could fill in the details. You are a model for how many of the lessons in this book need to be lived out.

Russ Salerno. For sharing your expertise and experience in the pits with the same passion you have for seeing people introduced to Jesus Christ.

Ted Harbour at Roush Yates Racing Engines. You clearly illustrated the need for having an attention to detail in engine-building and in life.

Ed Kinakin. You were what I needed as a teen. A hero.

Ian Nairn. You have spotted for me every week for over thirty years, and you kept doing it even when I took out some cars.

Rod Buxton. You have been a great drafting partner.

Steve Masterson. You coached me as a young driver and helped me get to the big tracks.

Matt Weeda. Until you joined the team, I felt like a driver with no crew chief. Then you climbed on top of the box and gave this team some much needed focus and direction.

Evan Braun. You made the literary adjustments which ensured we could run a faster race. Any scrapes are my fault.

Jen Jandavs-Hedlin and Amy Groening at Word Alive Press. You did a great job with the paint scheme, even when I wanted it to be purple. You were both so patient as I grumbled and complained.

My daughter Marcie. Your passion for life is inspiring, your support encourages me to drive hard, and your love for me is invaluable.

Lorna. For your patience toward me, and especially for the times you went to Daytona and Bristol with me. I know it nearly did you in… but there is no one I would rather be with. I love you.

Foreword

Throughout history, every form of racing, including stock car racing, has had both a temporal and eternal purpose and meaning. You will discover that NASCAR racing has the power and capacity to entice and draw millions of spectators into enjoying the mystery, passion, thrill, and excitement of competing rivals with an unknown winner. If you know the winner before the race begins, there will be no mystery, thrill, or excitement. This is what captivated Ted’s father Frank, then Ted, and finally his son Brian. Dad Hull created a legacy of NASCAR racing fanatics for three generations.

In his book, Running Up Front, Ted has taken the NASCAR phenomenon and applied it in a very personal and practical way to the greater reality: the race of life. You will discover that these life lessons from NASCAR are intended to illustrate real-life truths which transcend racing and offer clear, practical guidelines on how to run the ultimate race of life.

Ted is the ultimate NASCAR enthusiast who, in his personal race of life, has modeled transparency, vulnerability, and integrity in applying these practical life lessons in each lap of his race of life—and I respect, admire, and continue to benefit this. I assure you, the reader: you will, too! He will challenge, almost dare, you to take the risk and apply these life lessons to your own life. To this end, his hope and prayer is that you will race in such a way that others will desire to run their race with you as a winning team.

Ted has been a personal friend for thirty-four years and I know he is a winner. He is a devout follower of Jesus Christ and his life is an example of how he has followed, and still is following, men like Paul the Apostle, who wrote about his life race:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly.

—1 Corinthians 9:24–26, NIV

So Paul could say as he was about to cross the finish line in his race of life.

This is the only race worth running. I’ve run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that’s left now is the shouting—God’s applause! Depend on it, he’s an honest judge. He’ll do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for his coming.

—2 Timothy 4:7–8, The Message

Ted has written Running Up Front to challenge and entice us into finishing our race well so we can hear the cloud of witnesses cheering us on to victory to receive the ultimate crown of life. Ted and I will be there at the finish line of life, in order to then be at the starting line of eternity. We want you to be there with us!

—Dr. Steve Masterson

BRE M.A., M.A. BC

Introduction: Drivers, Start Your Engines

Beginning the year my father turned sixty-five, he, my son Brian, and I made an annual pilgrimage to a NASCAR race until Dad was well into his eighties. Living in Canada, we would leave our home in Winnipeg, Manitoba on a Wednesday evening, drive to Chicago through the night, spend the day there, and then drive over to Brooklyn, Michigan on Friday afternoon. We would find a local speedway on Friday night, go to the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday afternoon, then over to the Butler Speedway for some dirt track racing that night. Sunday was the weekend’s main event; we’d drive over to MIS for the Sprint Cup race. As soon as the checkered flag waved, we’d drive home through the night and arrive just in time for a late breakfast Monday morning. On those many trips, Brian and I learned from Dad about life and how he handled many of the challenges that faced him. I have had to learn some of the lessons in this book the hard way, but it’s not because I wasn’t taught; I’m just a slow learner.

Some lessons in life have to be learned on the road of experience. That road can be hard and long, and sometimes we go over the same road a few times before we learn. As a husband and father, I’ve had the personal experience of taking the same rough road more than once. As a marriage counselor, I’ve watched as spouses and families suffer the pain created because someone has ignored some of life’s lessons.

My exposure to NASCAR includes attending races, watching them on TV, chatting with NASCAR insiders, and a trip to Kentucky with my son to have the Richard Petty Driving Experience (a sixtieth birthday gift from my family). This exposure has enlightened my perspective on life and illustrated some practical lessons. Hopefully you will learn some life lessons from the world of NASCAR and thus avoid some of life’s wrecks. Or, possibly, you’re currently in a wreck, up against a wall, or spinning out of control with your hands off the wheel. If that’s where you find yourself, I trust some of these lessons will help you get back on track—so straightaways will be smooth and navigating turns will be safe.

Running Up Front isn’t just a book for the estimated 3.6 million men and women1 who attend NASCAR races each year or the roughly thirty-five million people who tune into the Daytona 500. Even if you’re not one of the millions who spends an entire Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon watching NASCAR on TV, you’ll be able to relate to some of its inside lessons. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t get the point of watching cars go around in a circle, this book will help you to understand your fanatical friends. If you come across a term you’re unfamiliar with, check the glossary at the back of the book. That way you’ll know what the words mean, and more importantly you can impress your NASCAR friends.

The racing analogies aren’t important—after all, they’re just analogies. These life lessons from NASCAR are intended to illustrate real-life principles which transcend racing and offer suggestions as to how you can apply them to your life. If you’re passionate about running up front in the race of life, being part of a successful team, and pursuing a championship that won’t be forgotten by the start of next season, this book is definitely for you.

Writing this book has reminded me about what it takes to run up front. After all, what a tragedy it would be if I settled for winning vicariously through my favorite driver but lost out as a dad. I don’t want to settle for admiring the choreographed efficiency of a pit crew as it completes a 12.8-second pit stop