Significant
Others --by
Donald MacDonald
With
an eye (if not a lecherous glare) to those of
the opposite sex who know better and put up with
us anyway, Team Juicy presents the following
monthly forum for the better looking half of
our species.
This
month’s forum is based on a December 2003
issue of the British racing mag, Formula 1 which
published an article titled, HEAD CASES Sensations
Seekers or Dangerous Psychopaths who want to
have sex with their mothers: What makes up the
psychology of the Formula One driver? Citing
a 1950 study by Peter Fuller, a British psychoanalyst,
the article documented Fuller’s conclusion
that the real meaning of a racing car “is
the externalization of the phallic fantasies
of those who participate and those who watch.” Guilty
parties all around if you ask me ladies! In a
later study one of Fuller’s associates,
Melanie Klein analyzed several drivers and decided
that, “they were deeply disturbed little
boys.” She went on to suggest that high-speed
corners had Oedipus like implications and that
the threat of an accident was symbolic of “castration
from dangerous paternal phallic symbols.” She
also concluded that the spraying of champagne
on the podium was…well, you know. Now,
I don’t know about the rest of you but
I knew auto racing was silly and expensive but
I really don’t have time while on track
to think about Oedipus or obelisks or anything
else that begins with “O” or points
skyward.
Anyway,
fast forwarding to today, the best insights into
the mindset of a race car driver is provided
to Formula 1 by Human Performance International
(HPI), a North Carolina firm that has worked
with many world famous race car drivers and specializes
in improving mental and physical performance
in business and in sports. According to HPI studies,
racing car drivers are undoubtedly ‘stimulus
addicts,’ and ‘sensation seekers.’ But
more specifically (and with less sexist overtones)
HPI describes drivers as, “usually ambitious
and self confident, easily bored, relatively
intolerant of routine and tough minded to the
extent that they have unusually low needs for
intimate personal relationships and conformity.” Know
that’s more like it.
Team
Juicy welcomes the comments of those “who
know better” and “know us best.”
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