I wrote this many years ago, but thought about sharing it today, just for fun (although there might be a few “lessons” included).
I was fortunate to meet Michael Sleighmacher a couple of years ago. Sleighmacher has been Santa Claus’s driver coach for almost two decades now. I caught up with him by phone as he was going over some last minute preparations with Santa.
RB: Michael, can you tell us what the most important skill a sleigh driver like Santa needs to focus on?
MS: Well, that was a good choice of words, Ross. Focus. Sleigh driving is all about focus — looking where you want go. Of course, looking way ahead to avoid chimneys, airplanes, trees, and high-rise buildings is critical. But Santa’s main visual skill is focusing on where he’s going to land. I work with him all year, doing all sorts of sports vision therapy exercises. You’d think that with the glasses he wears he’d have poor vision, but that’s not the case. He used to use Jacques Villeneuve as a role model — as you know, Jacques wore glasses, but that didn’t stop him from winning. Santa is the same. He spends a lot of time doing exercises like Lazy 8s and Focus Stretches — we got those from your Ultimate Speed Secrets book — every day of the year. Between those exercises, lots of practice sessions up here in the North Pole, and me reminding him over the radio to look ahead and where he wants to go, he does great.
RB: You mentioned a radio. Do you talk to Santa while he’s flying the sleigh?
MS: I sure do! It makes for a very long night — much like being a spotter for the Daytona 24 Hour race! I keep my comments to a minimum, but I use a few key words and phrases to keep him focused. Over the years we’ve developed a great working relationship — I can pretty much tell when he needs a few words to get him focused on the right things, and when he just needs a little encouragement.
RB: How much does Santa do in terms of tuning the handling of the sleigh?
MS: Oh, it’s non-stop. Different air temperatures affect the aerodynamic downforce levels, so he’s constantly making changes to the front and rear wings — you know, this is one place where aerodynamic adjustments are allowed during an event. Then, depending on whether he’s landing on a snow-covered roof in Canada, a dry tiled roof in Mexico, or no roof at all in some of the less fortunate countries, Santa will make adjustments to the front or rear anti-roll bars. Of course, he has to adapt his driving to suit all those different conditions, too — whether he turns into a corner with a quick, crisp turn of the reins or with a slower and more gradual turn-in; how and when he releases the brakes entering a turn; when and how hard he gets on the throttle reins. He’s learned to be very adaptable, and it’s an area on which I work with him a lot.
RB: I have to think that Santa is good at maintaining his mental focus. I mean, that’s one long event he’s in! How does he do that?
MS: I think Santa is just like any performance or race driver. It’s not that he doesn’t lose his concentration every now and then. It’s that he’s really good at regaining it. He’s developed a trigger to regain his focus — “milk and cookies” is what he uses. If he finds that his mind begins to wander a bit, he says “milk and cookies” to himself, and that brings him back into the moment and re-focuses him on the task at hand — which to Santa, at that moment in time, is all about delivering toys and snacking on milk and cookies. It’s a great strategy!
RB: Michael, I know you’re super busy preparing Santa for the big night so I’ll let you get back to work. Do you have anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
MS: Yes, I’ll pass on something that Santa always says when he’s watching racing on TV — you know, he rarely misses a single race during the year, whether it’s F1, Indy cars, IMSA, Le Mans, NASCAR, World of Outlaws, drag racing, Moto GP, whatever. He’s a racing fanatic! I’ve heard him say this many times: “There are good boy and girl drivers, and there are the ones that have been bad over the course of the year. But the good boys and girls seem to win more often than the bad ones do.” I think that’s a great message for your readers who are racers to keep in mind. And maybe, just maybe, Santa will bring the good boy and girl drivers a new set of tires.
RB: Thanks Michael. And please pass on a message to Santa for all of us: Tell him to have fun!
MS: Ho, ho, I’ll pass that on to him.
P.S. – Last week, my friend and fellow coach Peter Krause and I had a conversation about “the joy of racing.” And we recorded it, just for fun. So, if you’re bored over the holidays, listen in at…