Could Have Won. I Was Saving the Engine – Racing Driver T-Shirt

The pace was there. You just chose not to use it. Out of respect. For the crank, the bearings, and the frankly terrifying invoice from the last rebuild.

Mechanical sympathy, they call it. Short-shifting, lifting early, a gentle few hundred revs below where it gets expensive. The fact that half the grid drove past you is neither here nor there. You were thinking about the championship. Or the overdraft. Mostly the overdraft.

Say it with a knowing nod and a pat on the bonnet, as if you and the engine have an understanding. You do. It's called your bank balance.

Part of the Could Have Won series: the excuses every racer has used at least once. Collect the set. You'll need them all eventually.