You’re not scared. Right?

Tom Roberts is a driver coach, an aerobatic pilot, a racer, a Buddhist, a former dentist, and a student of fear at the wheel.

His new book, From Fear to Flow: Transform Your Ego and Uncover the Life You Were Meant to Live, unpacks the relationship between fear and peak human performance.

(Spoiler: It’s complicated.)

FUN FACT: For the last decade, Tom and INTC co-host Ross Bentley have taken a small group of driving students to the Nürburgring—probably the single most intimidating race track on earth.

What can you learn about fear and flow from crashing at Spa, coaching drivers at the world’s largest road course, doing charity dental work in Tibet, and helping Nepalese lamas build a monastery?

An awful lot, as it turns out. And we talked about all of it.

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TIMESTAMPS:

03:10 – Tom and Ross and the Ring Trips

05:39 – Getting Into Racing and Flying

11:15 – Flow State vs. Ego and Fear

26:34 – Parenting and Roots

28:26 – Fighting Ego at the Ring

32:51 – Anxiety and Flow

52:14 – What to Do About It? (and Fun)

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CHECK OUT TOM’S BOOK:

https://amplifypublishinggroup.com/product/nonfiction/health-medicine-and-wellness/mental-health/from-fear-to-flow/

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This episode was produced by Sam Smith.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at BFGoodrich for supporting the show!

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ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel.

New episodes every other Tuesday.