Faith in the Fast Lane: NASCAR, Fatherhood, and Following Christ with Ray Wright

In this episode of Courageous Crossroads, Jeff Johnson sits down with Ray Wright, former LSU baseball champion and now the Pit Department Manager at Richard Childress Racing in NASCAR. Ray’s journey from SEC athletics to NASCAR leadership is marked by personal loss, a radical faith transformation, and an unwavering commitment to courage—on and off the track. A passionate follower of Christ, Ray shares candid reflections on failure, resilience, spiritual identity, and leading high-performance teams under pressure. With authenticity and strength, Ray reminds us that true courage is taking risks rooted in faith, owning your story, and walking boldly through the doors God opens.

Thank you for listening! We hope you feel inspired and encouraged by our conversation today. If you did, be sure to share this episode with others.

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See you in the next episode! Be blessed!

Full Transcript

Intro music: Welcome to Courageous by Crossroads. Apologetics, a look into what motivates us to step out in courage and the everyday bravery of men and women like you. In each episode, we hear a personal story of bravery centered around this question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And now your host founder of Crossroads Apologetics, Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: Hi folks. Welcome back to another edition of the Courageous Crossroads Podcast where we ask our guests the one question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? So you’re gonna find that answer from our next guest, Ray Wright, as well as. What it means to be in charge of a NASCAR pit crew. I bet there’s a lot of courage there.

And there certainly was. This interview, uh, was recommended to me by another guest, Sean Murphy, and he got ahold of me and he said, Jeff, you gotta talk to this guy Ray Wright. He is absolutely fantastic and I had an opportunity to touch base with Ray and um. Ask him some questions during this short interview and it was enriching and encouraging and I think you’re gonna find exactly the same.

So can’t wait for you to hear it. Here’s our next one up. Ray Wright, how are you today, sir? Doing good, man. Doing good. Thank you so much for taking time to visit with me today. It’s wonderful to meet you

Ray Wright: man. Absolutely. I’m glad to be doing this with you, buddy.

Jeff Johnson: How do you know Sean Murphy?

Ray Wright: Uh, working in nascar, Sean became really good friends with one of our drivers, Austin Dillon, and, uh, Austin is obviously a good friend of mine and.

And Austin, you know, he kind of, we go back ways and he was like, dude, I met this guy, Sean Murphy, you’d love him. And you know, then he gave me his background and Sean is definitely the man. There’s no doubt about that.

Jeff Johnson: So how often do you get to see Sean does work with nascar, is that correct?

Ray Wright: Yeah. Yeah, he’s done some team building stuff for us. He works with the Carolina Cowboys. He, you know, we try to keep him around as much as we can, you know?

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. Oh, that’s wonderful. Well, um, like I say, I’m grateful that you’re taking time out to visit with us on the podcast here. This is, uh, courageous Crossroads, and we’ll come down to the one question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? But I thought I’d take a few minutes to kinda get to know you beforehand, if that’s okay.

Ray Wright: Absolutely. 

Jeff Johnson: So tell, tell me and our listeners where you’re at right now. Where are you calling in from? 

Ray Wright: Calling in from work. Uh, I’m calling Richard Childress Racing, uh, in Welcome North Carolina. We work in nascar.

We’re one of, you know, a few big race teams in the sport. And, uh, you know, I work with the pit department. I manage the pit department. That’s all the pit stops that go on, um, you know, on the cup side, Xfinity side. So to where I’m at. 

Jeff Johnson: So I have a friend of mine, Sammy Smith here from Iowa. Are you familiar with Sammy Have you ever met him? The driver, right? Yes. Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: Yeah. I think he drives for, uh, Earnhardt, right? 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, I think that’s right. My wife and, um, Sammy’s mother are dear friends, and so it’s, it’s a little bit of a reversal of roles. You know, you’d think I’d be the one that’s watching NASCAR all the time. I watch a lot of Formula One, but I haven’t watched enough, enough nascar. But boy, Danielle is plopped down in front of the TV and she’s giving me all the details on them going round and round and round. So, uh. Where were you 

Ray Wright: born and raised, Ray? I was born in Charlotte Hall, Maryland. I grew up there, uh, you know, went to, I went to high school a little further away in, uh, upper Marlborough.

That was about an hour away from where I grew up. But, um, you know, stayed in Maryland most of my life. Then went, you know, on to college at Florida and LSU. 

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Florida and LSU. 

Ray Wright: I played, you know, I wanted to play big time college baseball outta high school and playing in Maryland just kind of didn’t offer that opportunity. I mean, the a CC back then wasn’t great. So my dad and I decided, you know, take the humble route. You know, try a, a big time junior college in the south. And see if that would yield any results, and it did yield some pretty good results. Um, assigned first with the University of Miami. 

Jeff Johnson: Okay. 

Ray Wright: Um, but the guy who recruited me, turtle Thomas, he uh, resigned.

Ray Wright: Turtle Thomas, yeah. Uh, pretty big in the, it was pretty big guy in the college, uh, baseball field. But then he resigned at Miami, went over to Louisiana State University and said, Hey man, I can get you a better scholarship over here. So, and at that time, this was 99, so LSU had just won in 91, 93, 96 and 97.

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: I’ll go to, uh, LSU, so, 

Jeff Johnson: wow. So you’re not a, you’re not a fly by night baseball player. Then you had some real bonafides. 

Ray Wright: Yeah, we had a pretty good career, thank God. Um. I got to play at LSU. We won a national championship my first year in 2000 and, um, you know, then had my senior year in oh one then didn’t have a great senior year, didn’t have as good a senior year as I did junior year, but, uh, played some dependent league baseball and then, you know, delayed the inevitable as long as I could and got a real job, you know.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. Well, I, um. Yeah, so my alma mater is the University of Iowa. This podcast isn’t about me, Ray, but I’m already feeling bad about myself because you’re an athlete. You’re involved in nascar. I’m already a little bit jealous, so I gotta talk to the Lord about those things already. But no, I graduated from the University of Iowa and I’ve got a dear friend of mine. Who is, um, an ole miss, fifth generation, fifth or sixth generation Ole Miss, and he is so immersed in all of their sports. And of course they’ve had a baseball team that’s had some acclaim, but that SEC athletics is a whole different animal. Ray. Yeah, so down at LSU Wow. 

Ray Wright: Yeah, it was, uh, I love the SEC tell your buddy, you know, at Ole Miss, the only reason they’ve had their success is because Mike Bianca was an LSU guy before he went to Ole Miss. So Okay. 

Jeff Johnson: He’ll probably say yes and I appreciate that very much. Yeah. Then he’ll say, Hotty. Totty. Yeah. 

Ray Wright: Yeah,

Jeff Johnson: right. Yeah. Wow. Okay, Ray, so how did you end up where you’re at now in your current career? 

Ray Wright: So picking up, you know, um, got done with LSU in oh one, like I said, played some independent league baseball.

Um, played for a couple years. Then my brother passed away unexpectedly, so I went home. Um, did that, wanted to get right back to baseball as quick as possible. Turned out to be a horrible idea. Um, but I wanted to just get, I wanted to get away from my family and just kind of get away from, uh, reality. Yeah.

And so I went back to play baseball. Wasn’t really in a good head space. Uh, I got, uh, released from the team in Pennsylvania, so I was kind of forced to go back home. Forced to kind of grow up. Um, started some strength and conditioning. Businesses or business. And uh, then I kind of started I Jesus Christ.

And I don’t know if this is a Christian podcast, so It is. Yeah. Okay. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, yeah, please. 

Ray Wright: Um, so, you know, I grew up Catholic. I’m gonna just connect these dots real quick. I grew up Catholic. Sure. My mom took us to church every, every week. I learned some really good discipline from the Catholic church, which I think you need discipline for sure.

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: Um, and then in high school for baseball, I went to Riverdale Baptist. Uh, they had a great baseball program, um, and learned about the Baptist and I learned, um. Man, I learned about the Holy Spirit. I think more. Mm-hmm. I don’t, I’m not, I just wasn’t a deep Catholic, you know what I’m saying? Mm-hmm. I got a surface level at the discipline.

That’s the first thing I called. Then when I went to the, and you said 

Jeff Johnson: you were raised Catholic. That’s from your upbringing. That’s what you had. Did that follow you to college? 

Ray Wright: So I’ll tell you this. So going to the Baptist High School, it, I began to encounter the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Um. I never, I never understood the Holy Spirit until I got to the Baptist school.

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: So, and I’m a free thinker man. Like, I don’t, if I’m wrong, I’m wrong and I’m not gonna be set on too many things. So I started to think, you know, maybe I’m not getting everything outta the Catholic church that I’m, that I should be getting, you know. And the only person I was worrying about there was my mom because, you know, you hate to disappoint your mom.

Right? Right. So I, uh, I began to pray a little different. And so this takes me all the way up and I always, I was never a, a big time follower. I always, Jesus Christ was always on my mind. 

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: But. I just wasn’t strong enough and I didn’t wanna battle urges that I had. Like if I had, if I saw some good looking girls at LSU, it was a no brainer.

You know what I’m saying? Right. Um, so, but then, you know, once my brother passed away and the passion came out like right at the same time, um, passion was a big part of, uh, me kind of finding identity in Christ. Uh, there’s a part. That movie where the actor who portrays Christ, uh, gosh, I’ve spent the day with a guy and I forgot his name.

Uh, John Visel. 

Jeff Johnson: Oh, wow. Yeah. You spent time with him? Yes. Visel. Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: Yeah. Unbelievable guy. That’s a whole nother story, but, um, he’s looking at the screen. He said, uh, when the world hated you, they hated me first. So I was like, so when I just saw that, I’m like, what am I afraid of here? You know, like I, I pride myself on being masculine, man, but like, I’m not, you know, uhhuh.

So, and this all started hitting in about oh 4, 0 5. I think I might be getting my times mixed up, but, so then I was like, okay, enough of the, um. Half-hearted walk with Christ, we’re gonna dig in. So I started digging in my job. You know, my business was getting pretty good. I noticed that I was, every time I went out to try to meet people, it was the same people from my local high that I went to high school with.

And that wasn’t what I wanted to do. So I got online. Christian Cafe, Jeff, this was before it was okay to meet people online, you know what I’m saying? Like nowadays it’s okay. Back then they could have been a legit serial killer. You know what I’m saying? Right. So, uh, met a girl who lived in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Um, obviously physical attraction, you know, pictures, 

Jeff Johnson: uhhuh uh

Ray Wright: then we met up and said, okay, this is gonna be my wife. We talked for about three months. Okay. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. 

Ray Wright: Uh, talked for about three months, then we got married. Everybody thought we were stupid. 

Jeff Johnson: That’s quick. 

Ray Wright: But I got April 22nd will be my 19 year anniversary coming up.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. Wow. Uh, 

Ray Wright: so I, all that to say, to come back to your question 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. 

Ray Wright: I, how’d I get involved with racing? I met my wife. I loved the North Carolina area. Moved to Winston-Salem using my background to get a job at a local high school called Forsyth Country Day School. Austin Dillon and t Dillon were students at.

They were in my strength and conditioning class. They really loved the workouts. And Austin talked to his dad, Mike Dylan, and remember the Dylans are, uh, Richard Childers to their grandfather. 

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: Mike was the son-in-law, so Mike said, Hey man, my boys like your workouts. You know, let me see some of the stuff you do.

Then he offered me a job to come over to RCR and train the pit crews. So came over, trained the pit crews, wanted to learn more about the pit crew because you know, I grew up on a baseball field really, and watched what the guys were doing. I said, well man, I can do that. So I started putting the tires on the car.

So by the end of my first year at RCR, I was on a pit crew. I did about eight years. Now I’m, you know, all the gray hair. You see it pretty good. Yep. I out of the pig, that’s a young man’s game. So now I’m managing depart, the department here at RCR and it all started with a little sophomore kid, Austin Dillon.

Jeff Johnson: Isn’t that amazing? 

Ray Wright: That’s amazing. A hundred percent amazing, man. The power of prayer. I’ll tell you. I got a job, I got great opportunity at the high school, but you know, and I don’t know if it’s a false dream or if it’s, if it’s a old deal, you know, men like to provide and um 

Jeff Johnson: mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: I just wasn’t gonna be able to provide.

Um, with what I was doing at the high school. So, man, I’m a hustler, you know, and I was beating the streets, man, trying to find out, trying to get a job, use any contact I got. And this came out of the blue man. Out of the blue, fell right in my lap. And, uh, I say it’s surprised prayer man. Like, and it sounds 

Jeff Johnson: like it couldn’t have suited you.

Any more better. Yeah. I mean, right in your wheelhouse. 

Ray Wright: Right in my wheelhouse, dude. And it’s just been probably the biggest blessing outside of having kids and all that stuff. For sure. Um, you know what, what happened here at RCR? 

Jeff Johnson: Wow. Okay. I’m gonna ask you the question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve done here in a little bit.

But before we do that, a couple more questions. How do you define courage, Ray? 

Ray Wright: Oh man, I define courage as taking, uh, I’m gonna be pretty honest, like taking risks, man, like taking risks that you don’t know what the outcomes are gonna be. Going in with the attitude that you might fail. I. And you might succeed.

It’s 50 50. And I just see too many people who don’t do things because they’re, they’re afraid to fail. 

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: And that is, you know, I’m trying to get my sons out of that mentality. Um, just going into it and taking a risk, taking a step, having the faith. You know, faith is courageous, you know, like real faith.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. 

Ray Wright: I question sometimes if I have that ballsy, courageous faith. 

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: Um, so that’s exactly where I, how I define courage is just taking risks without having any idea what the outcome’s gonna be. 

Jeff Johnson: So who represents courage to you then? With that being the definition, who do you have either in your life, or maybe it’s a historical figure or somebody, but who do, who represents courage to you?

Ray Wright: Well, in my life right now is the guy who got me hooked up with you, man. Sean Murphy. I mean, everything. Mm-hmm. The stories I’ve heard from him, look, and Sean’s look. Sean’s not a big guy. Like if I, if Sean cut me off on the road and I didn’t know who he was, I’d. I can beat that guy up,

but, but then find out who, Sean, and this is a, a warning road rage for all the listeners. Like, don’t do it. You know, like, right. 

Jeff Johnson: Uh, 

Ray Wright: Sean Murphy. He’s like an Allstar team. Six guy Allstar, 

Jeff Johnson: right. 

Ray Wright: Of team six. And, uh, the circumstances that they had to go into to help people, they were liberating people. They, he had no idea what he was going into most of the time.

Yeah. And so that to me is, uh, the epitome of courage. Um. And obviously man, I mean, how can you, how can you talk about courage and not talk about Jesus Christ like? 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. 

Ray Wright: I mean, his whole life, uh, everything he did, I mean, from coming to earth to the life he, the life he lived, um, practically being homeless, reclining at Simon, the lepers house.

Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Johnson: Like, 

Ray Wright: uh, how he died looking at pon his Pilate and saying, you don’t have any power over me. You know, when the Romans were brutal people, man, just brutal. He knew what he, I mean, that’s why he was sweating blood in the garden of Gethsemane. Like he knew what was ahead of him and he didn’t. He had one prayer, one last ditch.

Hey, is there any way this cup can pass from me? No. Okay. Rolled up his sleeves and just got the job done. I mean, you can’t talk about. Courage and not talk about who the man, uh, take out the God part for a second. The man Jesus Christ was ’cause he had to physically endure that pain. Mm-hmm. Um, and all through the Bible, like I, I’m on a high with David.

I just got done watching, uh, the House of David from on Amazon, which they did a, I thought they did an awesome job with that. 

Jeff Johnson: I saw that as well. I thought that was very good. Yeah, I agree with you. Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: And I mean, you never know what you’re gonna get, right. With the, uh, 

Jeff Johnson: yeah. With 

Ray Wright: the stories, but man, they hit it outta the park.

Mm-hmm. And they, mm-hmm. I mean, and that’s who we are in God, man. That’s who, that’s, that is who we come from. Those are our ancestors. You know, from a spiritual stance, uh, standpoint. Joshua Moses, all these guys were super courageous people. Mm-hmm. Moses stepping up to lead the Israelites outta Egypt, you can’t.

It’s a book of courage, man. 

Jeff Johnson: It totally is. Well, Sean is, Sean’s got a. Strong faith testimony as you well know. And he, when he sent me the text and recommended you, um, I could tell that guy holds you in high regard. And so I paid very close attention to it. And the little video that I got of you, Ray, um, you know, you weren’t speaking to me, it was just a video that he had pulled and sent to me.

Um, but your faith is strong and it really jumped. Off of the screen and I was, and I was blown away by it. You said earlier on, you made a decision coming from Catholicism to Ba Baptist Theology. Yeah. You said that you finally, you know, you, you made a decision. Was it really that simple or what is I want to ask you, why is your face so strong, Ray?

Because it really comes off. 

Ray Wright: Yeah. It’s wonderful. Um. Dude, I appreciate that big time. Yeah, I definitely appreciate Sean. You know, I guess if, if you’re a good dude to Sean, then you’re doing pretty good. But, um, I think I’m gonna go back to how I answered a previous question is how many times I’ve already failed.

Trying to follow Christ and how and how he was always there. Yeah. You know, when you fail people in real life, after a while they’re done with you, man. Like, you know, you hear it all the time, man, I gave you two, two or three strikes and you just keep doing the same thing. I’m done with you. You’re fired.

You know, whatever. That’s not the, that’s not Jesus Christ. Like if that’s how. Scare tactics will never work when you try to get somebody to follow Jesus Christ. Once you realize that you have failed trying to live a spiritual life, you have failed. You have failed, you have failed, and Christ, you always feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.

How can you? How can you continue to turn your back on the only unconditional love that you’ll probably ever have in your life? So it was an easy decision after it occurred to me. How is Christ still here? 

Jeff Johnson: After everything I’ve done right. 

Ray Wright: I continually turn my back. He’s blessed my life. Even today, I have everything I want.

I’ve got a great family, got a great wife. Still very attracted to my wife. I’m still very interested in my wife and what she’s doing. 

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: And I still make mistakes, man. Big time mistakes. And it’s like. I’m a guy that can see my mistakes and I get pissed off about my mistakes. So I feel like even then the Holy Spirit is always there when I, it’s never not been there.

Right. So that to me is an easy, it’s an easy decision man. And all through high school, I felt. Mm-hmm. A pool that I would go against a lot of times. 

Outro Music: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: You get worried, man. Is that, is that voice or is that pool always gonna be there? I can’t answer that question, but it was for me. You know, 

Jeff Johnson: CS Lewis says, um, he says that no man knows how bad he is until he tries really, really hard to be good.

And, and I have tested that postulate Ray and I, I love the Lord. Yeah. And I can’t, and I can’t do it. You know what I mean? That old, that old song, what is it? It says, um, uh, you know, his heart, my heart’s prone to wander. You know what I mean? Yeah. And, um, prone to leave the God I love. So I totally hear what you’re saying.

I know. I need a savior for sure. And the, and the amazing thing is I got one. So do you? Yeah. Yeah. So, wow. Yeah, man. Okay. So tell me a little bit more detail about what you do at RCR. Like what does that job look like? And then I’m gonna ask you the big question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

Ray Wright: Yeah. Um, I manage to pivot crew, so I developed the rosters. I recruit guys. To come in it. We have, right now we have two cup cars, uh, the three and the eight. Um, and I’ll just put together rosters, manage ’em throughout the season, and that’s kind of a tall task. Um, you know, you have young guys, they’re making a lot of money.

Um, and keeping these guys from in order, from February to November, we got one of the longest seasons in sports. Mm-hmm. Keeping them healthy, keeping ’em motivated. Uh, every Saturday and Sunday they have to show up. They got a race, we practice, uh, Monday through Thursday. They get, we get, they get about one day off.

Mondays will be light, you know, ’cause we just got back from the track. But, um, just keeping this ship going, uh, there is a lot of, um. Help that I, you know, working with the engineers, uh, to get any kind of advantage that we can get. Uh, just basically managing the pit stops every way possible. So you’re 

Jeff Johnson: filling out the roster.

Are you also giving assignments? I wouldn’t even know what I’m talking about Ray, so don’t make fun of me. But some guys, some guys filling the gas tank, some guy’s putting on the front left tire, some guy’s putting on the new strut. 

Ray Wright: Yeah, no, you’re right. That’s part of filling out the roster. You’re a hundred percent right.

It’s finding positions for ’em. Like we get a lot of guys outta college, you know, former college athletes, and we just gotta body type ’em and say, okay, you’re gonna jack the car, you’re gonna put the tires on, you’re gonna use the air gun and you’re gonna pull the old tires off and, you know, um, secure the new tires of the car.

Or, you know, four different positions. 

Jeff Johnson: What makes a good pit crew? What? 

Ray Wright: Pit? Pit crew. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. What do you I think 

Ray Wright: the first, the first thing I think is time together, man. Time together. I’ve got my three pit crews, one of the best ones on Pit Road, and they’ve been together for like six years. 

Jeff Johnson: Wow. 

Ray Wright: Having everybody pulling in the same direction.

It’s, it’s very team oriented stuff. But keeping guys together is the biggest thing, and it’s the most overlooked aspect when you look at different parts of management, um, and how they react to bad pit stops, you know, changing guys in and out. Uh, you can’t do that all the time, man. You know, if you got a guy who’s been struggling for a while, yeah, it’s probably time to sub ’em up.

But keeping guys together for the longest is, is the best way to do it. 

Jeff Johnson: I would imagine a good pit stop versus a bad pit stop is a matter of a second or two, 

Ray Wright: a lot less 

Jeff Johnson: serious. 

Ray Wright: Oh, yeah. Yeah, man. I mean, it is. It can come down to tents. All right. 10th of a second. They did a nine one. We did a nine flat. We beat ’em out of pit.

We beat ’em out. We beat ’em out on pit road. You know, I mean, it is, it’s tense. Wow. 

Jeff Johnson: Wow. Yeah. So the, the, the pressure there is intense. So you gotta keep these guys not only in physical shape, you gotta keep ’em positive of attitude. You gotta keep ’em motivated. 

Ray Wright: Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. Man. This is more mental old cliche with sports, but it is more mental than it is anything else.

If you got the physical ability to do, a lot of people have the physical ability to do it, but it’s the mental, uh, courage to um, to when you go to Darlington, we just got back from Darlington. That’s a big pit stop race. You’re gonna do about 10 pit stops, man. You know, if you had the first three, you sucked.

Still got, still got six, seven stops to go. Man, we need you to stay in the game. 

Jeff Johnson: Are you a, are you a hand on the shoulder? Hey, we’ll get ’em next time. Let’s go. Or are you a man? My grandmother could change that tire faster than you. 

Ray Wright: So I, I carried tires on a pit crew for eight years. And these aren’t high school guys, or not college guys.

These are men who are married, who have kids who gotta pay mortgages. Like they know when they screw up, you know, they don’t need me right over their shoulder saying, why’d you miss that hang? Why’d you miss the jack peg? You know? Mm-hmm. They know why they screwed up and I gotta help ’em, you know, I gotta help ’em do it better next time.

Um, do I jump on these guys? I do. Um, when it’s warranted, when we need it, when I feel like we’re getting lackadaisical and lazy. But if the effort’s there, man, I’m, I’m a happy guy, you know, but I, I feel like if we’re floating a little bit and, uh, we’re not taking things seriously, then it’s time to. You know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna have an aggressive conversation.

Jeff Johnson: You got a, you got an impressive job. And to hold it, you must be an impressive guy. Ray. I mean, it sounds like you’re coaching leadership at the apex of what leadership is really about. ’cause you really have to get, keep ’em in the game and Yeah. In a, in an individual race, you know? Yeah. Ah, okay. Um, Ray Wright, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

The most 

Ray Wright: courageous thing I’ve ever done is I always, always, when needed I take risks, man. All right. Look, I left the University of Miami. Went to Louisiana State University, people would say that’s a very big risk. That’s a dummy. I’m gonna tell you, my parents were very unhappy with that decision. 

Jeff Johnson: Hmm. 

Ray Wright: I’m 46. I’ll fast forward to today. I’m 46 and my boys were thinking about, they were on the, on the line between doing Juujitsu. I said, Hey, let’s go do juujitsu, man. I’m with you now. You know, we’re, we just started, we’re about, uh. About three months into it we’re, we got our first competition coming up in June.

We’re jumping in, we’re gonna do it. Uh, before that, as I was getting old, I figured I needed to stay in shape. So I started doing strongman, amateur strongman stuff. Um, jumping into nascar, knowing nothing about nascar. Um, saying this could be a career and coming into NASCAR in 2008, this was before athletes came into the sport.

I was not very wanted by a lot of people in this race shop and then now today full of athletes. Um. Courage is never, is turning down an opportunity, never turning down an opportunity that is courageous. No matter I could have fell on my face, don’t care. I played pro ball in the independent leagues, fell on my face.

Okay, what’s next? Um, and it’s, that’s how, that to me is the definition of courage also. And, um, having the faith that. Just like Christ says, what are you worried about, man? Like the birds have nests. Mm-hmm. The flowers look at them, they’re not worried. Um, and that’s how we, it’s, it’s a little different, but it’s not because, you know, we, we live in such a financially complicated world where we have to provide.

Mm-hmm. You know, it’s, it’s pretty tough, but courageous things, man, I think the courageous, they, you have to be doing courageous things your entire life. Or I feel like that’s, that’s in our identity from how God created us in his image, man. Like if you don’t, what sparked you, keeping you going. And courage is definitely one of, courage is a huge word.

For followers of Christ, followers of God, and living through that faith provides the courage for you. So I might not have one. I think I got a bunch of small stories of courage, you know? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I never ran into a, um, you know, guys in September 11th man run into that building. I mean, what more courageous act is there than that?

Mm-hmm. Adopting a child courage. Um, you know, I, I don’t have anything like that, but I do have a series of small events in my life where I could have not been courageous and my life could have been altered drastically if I didn’t have the courage to take those steps. 

Jeff Johnson: Well, I hear it. I hear it loud and clear.

Ray, that’s a wonderful way to answer. And the what’s inspiring about that is that I feel like I can ask anybody on the planet what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And not only that, I can ask them, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done this week? You know what I mean? Yeah.

Because it’s all, it’s all relative, and what you’re talking about is you’re marking out a life filled with courage where you’re walking through those open doors. I love how you put it that way. Why do you think God sent you here? 

Jeff Johnson: I. Oh man. I think God sent me here to this. This is a tough one not to sound self or righteous on me today, but, uh, I am, if people really know me, they know I’m not a self-righteous person, um, to advance the kingdom and to advance the kingdom.

That the way the Holy Spirit has spoke to me. 

Jeff Johnson: Amen. And, 

Ray Wright: and I don’t know if that lines up with mainstream thoughts. Because I try to remind men, okay, and this is slippery slope, but you know, if you say a curse word and there’s a pastor around, guys are like, I’m sorry, I, I didn’t mean to say that. I’m sorry, pastor.

Okay. But Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, try to kill a man. Christ. Okay. Right, 

Jeff Johnson: right. 

Ray Wright: I feel like there’s a little bit of disconnect and I’m, you know. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. I like the way you put that. Yes. 

Ray Wright: We can’t, Paul, when, when God chose Saul, all he did was change his name and he redirected his, uh, passion. Saul was going to kill Christians.

Christ knocked him off the horse. Changed his name from Saul to Paul and said, Nope, you’re not gonna kill Christians. You’re gonna create Christians, but use your same energy, use your same passion. You’re gonna be shipwrecked, you’re gonna be starving, you’re gonna get whipped, you’re gonna get be put in jail.

I need all the ballsy part of your life. We’re not changing that. 

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: Just gonna change your direction. That’s all he did. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. 

Ray Wright: He, God needed Paul to be the man that he was. Some dudes feel like when you start following Christ, he snips your ball sack. He doesn’t. Right. You know, we need all the traits of a man, right?

And, uh, so why am I here? Why did God put me here? I believe to advance the kingdom through a lot of masculine stuff, man. 

Jeff Johnson: I absolutely love that Ray. When, when, when the Bible talks about David’s mighty man. Yeah. It talks about how these guys were financially destitute. They were a bunch of derelicts. A bunch of dingalings, and these were the guys that were jumping into the pit to go one-on-one with a lion on a snowy day.

I mean, yeah, bravery, brave kind of stuff. And the other thing is, I’m curious to know what your mind is about this. You, you’re the original article. You’re the only Ray Wright that God ever made in all of human existence, and I get to talk to you today and our audience gets to listen to you today. I see so many people wanting to have the same haircut, wear the same shoes, drive the same car, do the, have the same job, all that kind of stuff.

And it’s, it’s so counter. To the uniqueness that we were made in Christ. Do you know what I mean? Do you feel the same way, Ray? 

Ray Wright: A hundred percent, man. A hundred percent. It’s a peace, right? I mean, to me that’s a peace that only God can give you, man. Like not keeping up with the Joneses and being secure in your own skin, being happy with who you are, being happy with what you got.

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: That is a piece that I think only comes from the Holy Spirit. Yeah. I totally agree with you, man. And it’s, you know, I’ve got teenage kids and like, that’s, that’s a tough hill to climb with them, man. It’s like, you know, I drive a, a Suburban, a 2007 Suburban and you know, we got another used, uh, 2011 Yukon.

It’s like, you know, kids are like, when are we getting a new car? Man? We need a new car. It’s like, no, we’re gonna ride the wheels off this thing. Like, I don’t. You know, I’m more worried about payments than I am looking Cool. Yeah. 

Jeff Johnson: Just trying to assimilate. And I, you know, not to flatter you, Ray, but I wouldn’t mind being Ray Wright.

I wouldn’t mind being Sean Murphy. I wouldn’t mind being, you know, a handful of other guys. But I’m just, I’m, I suck at it. I’m not good at it. What I’m fantastic at is being Jeff Johnson. I’m so good at that. Yeah. And that’s what I want to do. And so I don’t, I, I, I guess. Uh, by your definition, I’m good at that.

I, or it takes courage for me to be good at that, you know, by not succumbing to all this other stuff. Um, 

Ray Wright: agree, man. And Jeff Johnson is a really cool name. You know what I’m saying? I mean, that’s a, that’s a good name, man. 

Jeff Johnson: Yes.

I always tell people around here when I go to a doctor’s office or a dentist’s office or something like that, and they’re looking up, what’s your name? I say, Jeff Johnson. I tell ’em, look, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Jeff Johnson, but keep looking. You’ll find I’m in there somewhere. So, um, what would your wife say is courageous about you?

Would she say you’re a courageous person, Ray? 

Ray Wright: Yeah, man. And I, I, I like that question too because, you know, I think your spouse and your kids know who you really are, right? Yeah. You know, you can think who you are all day, but it’s who your, your spouse and your kids think you are. And, you know, my wife gave me a good compliment accidentally, uh

uh, uh, a while ago. She said, you know what? I feel protected by you because if something happened, I knew that you’ll do whatever. Everything you can do to try to provide for us in this family, even if it doesn’t work. She’s like, I know you’re gonna keep going until, uh, you do it. And um, so that, that to me, that was one of the, you know, kindest things I’ve had said to me that I really cared about, obviously, ’cause it’s from my wife and that’s who, you know, that’s my goal.

Um, I’m not saying I’m gonna succeed every time, but I’m definitely gonna try to outwork everybody. To get what I need to get. And so I do appreciate that. I, I do think that’s a form of, uh, courage, um, to, you know, it goes back to what I was saying earlier. I think that’s a form of taking risk and trying to work to get what you need.

Jeff Johnson: Do you feel like our world is, I. Is full up of courage or it’s lacking courage. I mean, I, um, the theologian, John Stot said, we’re supposed to read the daily newspaper in one hand with the Bible in the other hand so that we can discern it and so that we can understand. And I’m, and I, and I do think that all men of faith have courage and uh, I’m just wondering, do you feel like courage is in abundance in our society today?

Or is it lacking? Does it need to be cultivated or what do you think about that? I. 

Ray Wright: I think some groups of people are overflowing with courage. Now, if I agree with, with what their story is or not, that doesn’t matter. Um, but I think certain groups have a lot of courage and I think I’m gonna speak to my group.

Um, you know, it was the, the man, the man following Christ Group is sometimes. It’s okay to have more courage against mainstream teachings. Um, what do I mean by that? Um. You know, questioning some things, you know, on how we do things. Making, making, focusing on, on making people focus on a works related relationship with Christ.

We should speak against that. You know what I’m saying? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We should be, we should be pretty vocal about that because that’s gonna drive people away from the church. I wish we would have more, um. I hope this doesn’t come across wrong, but I hope, I wish we would have more, uh, men teachings, more women teachings.

I think it’s hard to teach both men and women at the same time, um, because we all have our different struggles, you know? Mm-hmm. Is there anything wrong with all coming together? No, but men need to learn more about men, and we need more realness, Jeff. All right. Like, yeah. That’s where courage comes in. The courage for a pastor to stand up in front of his church and say, I don’t have a perfect marriage.

Okay. Sometimes I don’t like my wife. Right. That would do so much for men because I think we’re so used to hearing a pastor, Sam would say, I love my wife. We’d, we’ve had a great marriage for 50 years. 

Jeff Johnson: Right. We never 

Ray Wright: fought. You know, that’s not real. Right. No real. We can smell it from a mile away. Yeah. And we need real in the church, so we need to be more courageous with being real.

Jeff Johnson: I totally agree with you, Ray. I Yes. The whole, well, not to get into the nuance of the marriage thing, but the whole purpose of the covenant presupposes the fact that we’re gonna fall out in love with each other. Yeah. And, and there’s the courage that comes from faith. It’s the standing there with your wife and saying, I know I might not like you very much right now, but I’m not going anywhere.

Ray Wright: Exactly, dude. Exactly. 

Jeff Johnson: Perfect. And it would, and it would be good if there were other people that did that. And yeah. And I heard other people say before that Jesus didn’t come to start a church, you know, he didn’t come to start an organization, he came to raise dead people, you know, back to life again. And so we, we need to focus on what the main thing is.

So I, I’m in agreement with you, Ray. I think that’s fantastic. And if you’re giving that to your pit crews and to your family and to other people around you. Glory. How wonderful do they, do you, do you openly share your faith with your pit crew? Does that come into play or what do you Oh, yeah. 

Ray Wright: Yeah. I mean, you know, I, I’ve been here 17 years now, man.

So they’ve seen the very best of Ray Wright and they’ve seen the very worst array. Right. And I own it. And like I said, you gotta be real, man. Yeah. These guys, they’ll spot a phony from a mile away and, uh. Everybody in our pit department, man, we use grace when dealing with other people and, and, but I, there’s no way I could be here so long and not have any face stuff come through, man.

It’s just not who I am and 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. You know. Have you, have, you have, you had to utilize, this might be a little bit more instant specific, but. I don’t ever know if I ask good questions, Ray. I don’t care. I’m gonna ask it anyway ’cause I’m the only Jeff Johnson that’s ever asked this question. So do you have, do you have instances at um, at work where you’ve had to employ courage in a real overt sort of way?

Like, man, I gotta keep it together right now. This is a little bit scary. This is a little bit tough. Have you had any situations like that? 

Jeff Johnson: Oh, oh yeah, man, that’s a great question for sure. But yeah, I mean, we’re just coming off. You have different situations, man, like I’m a manager and I have to, sometimes I have to terminate people’s contracts, and that’s a big.

It’s a huge deal, man. You’re taught you’re gonna affect somebody’s life. You’re gonna affect somebody’s family. You’re gonna affect somebody’s kids. Yeah. Um, and how they go home and how they’re viewed by their wife, how they’re viewed by their children, how they’re viewed by their parents. Um, you know, when you gotta go home and tell people that your loved ones, that you lost your job, like, you know, that’s coming from me.

And that I don’t take that lightly at all. And dude, I gotta make sure. As much as I can that I’m in check and that I’m seeing everything the right way. Um, but that’s one of the, one of the circumstances that most, when you ask that question, um, we gotta figure it out and we gotta be in touch with everything that’s going on as much as we can.

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

Ray Wright: But then you have guys who, you know, I have 30 men in my department. It’s a big department for us at RCR and I’ve got guys who are young, who aren’t married, who, who just got married, who have had divorces, um, who are trying to have kids, who can have kids who, you know, have a bunch of kids and everybody’s going through different, something different.

Everybody’s gonna have something going on, and you gotta take into account maybe my guy’s having a bad day, maybe he’s having a rough week, maybe you know, his wife is running around on him, you know? Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Johnson: Gotta, 

Ray Wright: everybody’s got a story and you gotta manage these stories. And if, if I didn’t have faith, man, I don’t know how I would be able to, you know, get through some of these situations.

For sure. 

Jeff Johnson: And it all takes courage. All takes courage. I, um. I’m gonna reach out to you again sometime, Ray, ’cause I want to, I think you got a part two in your A part three. So I’m gonna circle back. So just brace yourself. Either lose my phone number or block me or something like that because I’m gonna call you back.

But, so I’ll get you outta here on this question then. How would you encourage people to be courageous? How would you encourage people to dig down into who God made them to be? I mean. 

Ray Wright: Yeah, man, I, I just want you to know, and I want your listeners to know that, ’cause when I first started I said, I don’t know if this is a Christian podcast.

That was kind of my way of being appropriate, but saying, I kind of don’t care. Right. Like, because there’s no way I would answer these questions any different if I was on an atheist podcast. You know? They just wouldn’t have me on the show. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. 

Ray Wright: What I would do is. If you’ve heard a Bible story like you’ve heard about David and Goliath, go read the story.

Alright? Then you’re gonna read about a guy named Samuel who was a total badass in mm-hmm. As a prophet of God, like saw, didn’t do a job, so Samuel had to do it. You probably know what I’m talking about. I’ll spoiler. Um, you heard about a guy named Moses. Go read about Moses. Alright. You heard about a guy named Joshua.

Go read about Joshua. You don’t have to sit down at Gen at Genesis and read the revelation. Okay? That that boards me outta my mind just thinking about it. But read a story and the Holy Spirit is going to attach itself to you and you’re gonna wanna read about, okay. This guy Peter, he denied Christ. That’s what I know.

I’m gonna go read some more about him in the gospels. I’m gonna go read his book. Like that’s how it works. And so I think that’s how you grow in your courage, because you’re gonna read about these guys. David had an affair, okay? But he was still a God, a man after God’s own heart. That’s how the Bible works.

And you’re gonna realize that you’re not a big a piece of crap as you thought you were, because God uses these men and he still does today. You have every reason to be courageous, every reason. When you read the Bible and you learn all this 

Jeff Johnson: mm-hmm. Be inspired. That’s a great, that’s a great send off Ray.

That’s wonderful advice to people. That’s absolutely right. Um, Ray Wright, father, husband, athlete man, who walks through open doors that the Lord so generously opens and does it with faith and fortitude and, uh. Therefore, as a man of great courage, thank you so much for joining us today, Ray. It’s been a blessing.

Ray Wright: Jeff, thank you, bun. I appreciate all the questions and I appreciate what you’re doing with Courage. Man. I think you’ve, you’ve locked in on a word that men need to hear and men need to know that they have it. And what you’re doing is great. 

Jeff Johnson: Thank you for joining us today on Courageous. If you’d like to hear more about the work and ministry being done at Crossroads Apologetic.

Please visit our home on the web@crossroadsapologetics.org. Would you or someone you know like to be featured on Courageous? Send us an email at info@crossroadsapologetics.com or info@crossroadsapologetics.org telling us about the most courageous thing you’ve ever done.