I met Paul on several occasions during our respective racing careers and I can't go any further without saying the man was SUPER enthusiastic about Mustangs and competing in them! The first time I met Paul was at Barber Motorsports Park in 2009. Paul and I found ourselves competing against each other in the first Mustang Challenge race of the weekend, which happened to be only my second race weekend in a pro series and of course, Paul had quite an advantage over me with his years of experience. It's tough to think back and try to remember the results of that race, but I can say that I know that I biffed it and spun early in the race and didn't get the oppurtunity to battle with Paul, but I would have loved to, given the chance.
Unfortunately, I never got the chance to share the track with him again, as I moved into the Grand-Am series and Paul was a World Challenge kind of guy. From the sidelines, I watched him dominate World Challenge GTS in 2011, winning something like 5 races and capturing the championship. I was working with another World Challenge team at the 2011 Petit World Challenge weekend, and I found myself at the end of season banquet held at Chateau Elan at the close of the weekend. I sat, ate finger foods and drank wine with my team and watched as presenters rattled off their witty jokes and one-liners. I sat and watched as drivers, team owners and others went to the podium and accepted their awards graciously and made speeches. ...Then Paul came up to accept his award for the 2011 GTS Championship and it wasn't an ordinary acceptance speech. You know how every once in a while, you'll see someone go in front of a group of people and just let it out? Paul went up to that podium, and as near as I can remember, didn't get but two or three words out before you could see him choke up and start to hold back the tears. He didn't do a very good job of hiding it either. He stood up there in front of nearly every SCCA competitor, team owner, crew member, sponsor, and event organizer and expressed so much gratitude with so much sincerity as tears streamed down his face. He thanked everyone. He thanked his wife, his team, everbody. At the time, I wondered why he was so emotional, it almost seemed strange. "It's just a championship," I said to myself in my head, "I wouldn't be crying." Looking back on it, I realize it wasn't just a championship for Paul, it was a dream that had come to fruition and at that moment he was seeing it all come together before his eyes. He was accepting a trophy that wasn't just for winning a championship, he was accepting a trophy that stood for not just one season of racing, but a life time dream of being a champion.
I realize now, that in order to be a champion like Paul, you have to not only want to be champion, you have to want it more than anything else, you have to want it so much that stops becoming a 'want' and becomes your dream. I can say, without conviction, that Paul Brown truely made an impact on me in that moment and changed the way I thought about succeeding not only in racing, but in life.
RIP Paul
Unfortunately, I never got the chance to share the track with him again, as I moved into the Grand-Am series and Paul was a World Challenge kind of guy. From the sidelines, I watched him dominate World Challenge GTS in 2011, winning something like 5 races and capturing the championship. I was working with another World Challenge team at the 2011 Petit World Challenge weekend, and I found myself at the end of season banquet held at Chateau Elan at the close of the weekend. I sat, ate finger foods and drank wine with my team and watched as presenters rattled off their witty jokes and one-liners. I sat and watched as drivers, team owners and others went to the podium and accepted their awards graciously and made speeches. ...Then Paul came up to accept his award for the 2011 GTS Championship and it wasn't an ordinary acceptance speech. You know how every once in a while, you'll see someone go in front of a group of people and just let it out? Paul went up to that podium, and as near as I can remember, didn't get but two or three words out before you could see him choke up and start to hold back the tears. He didn't do a very good job of hiding it either. He stood up there in front of nearly every SCCA competitor, team owner, crew member, sponsor, and event organizer and expressed so much gratitude with so much sincerity as tears streamed down his face. He thanked everyone. He thanked his wife, his team, everbody. At the time, I wondered why he was so emotional, it almost seemed strange. "It's just a championship," I said to myself in my head, "I wouldn't be crying." Looking back on it, I realize it wasn't just a championship for Paul, it was a dream that had come to fruition and at that moment he was seeing it all come together before his eyes. He was accepting a trophy that wasn't just for winning a championship, he was accepting a trophy that stood for not just one season of racing, but a life time dream of being a champion.
I realize now, that in order to be a champion like Paul, you have to not only want to be champion, you have to want it more than anything else, you have to want it so much that stops becoming a 'want' and becomes your dream. I can say, without conviction, that Paul Brown truely made an impact on me in that moment and changed the way I thought about succeeding not only in racing, but in life.
RIP Paul
