You Shouldn’t Race What You Can’t Replace
A Porsche 911, a racetrack, and the lesson about risk that changed how I make decisions.
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You Shouldn’t Race What You Can’t Replace
If you spend enough time around successful people, you’ll hear plenty of stories about risk. But looking back, those stories usually sound much simpler than they felt at the time, because what we don’t usually hear about is everything that went into the decision before someone took the leap.
Read More: How to Increase Your Value
But first, a story.
I always wanted to be a racecar driver. When my dad got out of the Air Force, he was a navigator in road rallies, and somewhere along the way, I caught the bug.
The Dream
A few years after I started my business, I’d saved enough money to buy a well-used Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet. But it wasn’t just a racecar. It was also my daily driver, my weekend toy, and the fulfillment of a childhood dream.
I started taking it to autocross events around South Florida and to Moroso Motorsports Park in Palm Beach.
I didn’t have a trailer or a crew, and I didn’t have another car waiting for me at home.
I’d put the top down, load three racing tires in the back, buckle one into the front seat, drive to the track, swap wheels, put on my helmet, scoot around all day, put the street tires back on, and then drive home.
The Crash That Changed Everything
But let me tell you about the crash that changed everything.
One afternoon, I was following a brand-new black Porsche 944 Turbo around a corner when the driver got sideways and lost control. The car slid off the track and scraped and bounced along a tire wall.
The yellow warning flag came out, and everyone slowed.
I was behind him, so I pulled off the track and dashed over to make sure the driver was okay.
He was. He wasn’t hurt at all. But his car was a wreck. The driver’s side looked like it was made from crumpled black tinfoil.
While we stood there looking at the damage, he kept repeating the same thing over and over:
“Oh, no, it’s my only car. What am I gonna do?”
I felt awful for him because I understood.
Then, as I walked back towards my car idling on the track’s shoulder, one of the corner marshals said something under his breath that stopped me cold:
“You shouldn’t race what you can’t replace.”
I realized he wasn’t really talking about that 944.
He was talking about my car.
You Shouldn’t Race What You Can’t Replace
Up until that very moment, I had been thinking about risk in terms of safety. I had a roll bar, a helmet, proper equipment, and I was at a well-run event.
But I also had a young child at home and a new business that was still on shaky ground. My 911 wasn’t a toy. It was how I took my son to preschool. It was how I got to work.
So, when they raised the yellow flag and let us back on the track, I didn’t hop in and stomp on the gas. Instead, I drove into the pits, changed the wheels, and went home. I sold the racing wheels. I sold my helmet. And I’ve never raced again.
Every business has assets it can replace: products, offices, equipment, even customers.
And every business has assets it can almost never replace: reputation, culture, the trust it has earned, and the people who helped earn it.
Those are the things you don’t race.
The lesson I learned that afternoon wasn’t about a car.
It was about value.
Before you make your next big decision, ask yourself one question:
What can’t I afford to replace?