Episode 4: Battle Tested

Repetition is the father of learning. Or so they told me. Boogie, my first Jeep and I spent so many nights together in Florida after doing mental gymnastics for NASCAR by day. We started to develop a complex. A hero and their Batmobile kinda complex. 2021 revealed to me that I would be alright if I put the work in. But no one tells you, how many reps is enough.

My Lyft Stats from 2020-2026. Stopped driving 2025.

In Episode 3, we discussed the battle ground that was and still remains, the State of Florida. 2020-2021 days doing Lyft, life was on All-Madden mode. Extremely difficult for a well read and gainfully employed 30-something year old man.

Yes, difficult. Because of the pandemic, mask protocol, vaccine hysteria, all the strange inconveniences but safety precautions installed into society, many traditional customers weren’t riding anymore. Those that were had no other means of transportation. What slowly began apparent to learn as I got more comfortable foraging for a couple dollars here or there; many customers didn’t have options on life. Things were dire. Yes, I was doing this to help pay off student debt 💸. Yes, there were easier side-hustles by this point in history. But friends, mentality is a mofo. At that stage in my life, my mentality was solely based on getting rid of my financial problems with the skills I’ve already developed through life, cause no one is coming to save my Black ass.

So I put in more reps. Did it affect me working for a major corporation like NASCAR/ IMSA? Yes and no. It positively affected my work. I began ultra focusing, becoming efficient with requests and managing my engineering team’s expectations. Sportscar racing was still in a weird lull until the middle of 2021. Active, people were paying attention, but I’ve seen this story at the race track enough times in the last 4 years prior, I kept my head down and kept doing what I knew to do for racing. But also, by this time in my career I was handling much more responsibility. Coming from previous trackside experience: results, efficiency and precision were the pillars I stood tall on.

But for Lyft, I was lackadaisical. I did it half heartedly at points during this time, only putting in extreme hours when I absolutely needed to. Part of the laziness was from the struggle to make $17 dollars an hour during the peak of the pandemic and your extra money to “fix” your life became solely about survival. No one wanted rides except those who had trouble on their minds. That took me on a deeper spiritual journey in the midst of my frustrations with my life. I kept getting characters in my car, people that were broken, lost, and 10 times angrier at the world than I could ever be.

Don’t forget to keep your car smelling good. Order yours today.

These customers only had $5-8 rides that they needed. Never actually going to far. Home to the convenience store. Rides home from work. Definitely the occasional airport run. But no matter where we would need to go, everyone wanted more than what they were paying for. “Hey Mr. Lyft Driver, do you mind pulling through the McDonalds drive thru so I can get my kids dinner before I drop them at their dads?” Of course I obliged. Never hurts to help people. And if they could, they would repay my kindness in tips. Loved that level of human decency and understanding that in this world, nothing is free. But the small favors started to grow in request. And Lyft wasn’t playing fair. I’m racking up crazy mileage, just to arrive at a destination that potentially could be 22 mins outside Orlando, and I’m not getting a dime for that commute time. Then, the fickleness of riders cancelling on Boogie and I was straight disrespectful. Part of me felt their racism, part of me felt their jealously, part of me could see the fear and heavy breathing coming from a methadone clinic patient at 6:44am, that needed to be on the other side of the beach in 15 mins. I had to get them to their drop off location safely then jet back to NASCAR HQ by 7:30am or else people would talk. I didn’t care what they said about me in the office, or what this junkie was uttering under her breath when she kept trying to pry how in the world I made enough money to afford this type of car and do Lyft.

Neither of us wanted to ride together, but we had to, because this is where the world is now. Nothing made sense, and the fact there was such an issue with crime, domestic violence and substance abuse all around me, but not directly to my face let me know quickly…

Boogie - South Beach, Miami 2021

David, you have now entered the Underworld.