Me personally, I race best when I'm under pressure, like qualifying bad and having to race your way thru the field....that usually happens to me more often than qualifying good, I just hardly ever hit it right qualifying for some reason but by time feature rolls around im almost always in the race for the win or right there and I think that's what counts most....you have to be there on the last lap to be able to be in any position to win the race! I don't think alot of people think about that when on the track, for whatever reason.
I usually smoke a cigarette while waiting for the class before me to go out, it really calms me down a little and I can be relaxed when we start the race no matter where I'm starting, its more tense for me starting on the front row honestly....you never know what the people behind you are gonna do and it can be nerve racking when you're leading a race and have no Idea if the guy behind you is on your bumper waiting for a mistake or is 5 karts back not able to run you down.