Get to Know TJM: Horses or Horsepower?

May is a big month for racing of all kinds. For horse racing fans, there’s the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Motorsports fans can enjoy the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix.

Our office sits in the heart of the Horse Capital of the World™, and the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing is just a few miles down the road. So we asked our staff which they preferred: Horsepower or Horse Power?

Courtney Cole

 Horsepower for sure! While real horses are pretty and cool to watch race, I am way more of a car girl. I am an adrenaline junkie and fast cars are way more fun in my opinion. I am not the biggest fan of watching cars go left for hours though. Watching street races or riding around doing pulls in fast cars is a good time to me! All of my cars have turbos, and I know a few people with cars that probably shouldn’t be street legal, haha.

 Justin MacDonald

I like the kind of horses that stop because I’ve taken my foot off the gas and applied to the brake. The other horses have a mind of their own, and that makes me uncomfortable.

I HAVE learned to appreciate and even enjoy riding horses though. There is quite a funny story of me (who had never ridden a horse) telling my wife (who has experience riding horses) that “you just gotta show it who is in charge.”  To which she replied, “Ok, why don’t you show me?” 

And that horse VERY MUCH showed me who was in charge. That was the first time my wife and that particular group of friends had ever seen me rattled.  I honestly did not know horses could go that fast, or would work so hard to throw a rider off. Now I know. 

Nick Fitchpatrick

It's horsepower for me! I've recently become a huge NASCAR fan after getting to attend the 2024 Daytona 500. My dad has been trying to get me to watch for years and getting to go in person to feel the roar of the engines, smell the burnt rubber, and watch cars fly by at 200 miles per hour just inches apart, it all finally made sense. I was hooked.

Since then, I’ve watched almost every race (only missed one!), been to three more in person, and even got to visit headquarters for Hendrick Motorsports and 23XI Racing, where I got to meet and take a pic with owner Denny Hamlin! I’m looking forward to going back to Daytona this August and again in February 2026! 

Rick Cundiff

I do have an appreciation for just about any kind of fine machinery, including cars. I’m not big on, as Courtney put it so well, “watching cars go left for hours.” (Sorry, Nick.) But I do enjoy Formula 1 and long-distance races such as Italy’s 1000-mile Mille Miglia.

Having said that, as a native son of Kentucky, I have to go with pure horse power. There’s just something about watching magnificent animals moving at speeds up to 40 miles an hour or more -- with all four legs off the ground at some points -- that inspires my sense of wonder. It’s an elegance that no Ferrari, NASCAR racer or Indy car can match.

I’m old enough to have watched Secretariat win the Triple Crown, setting records in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes that still stand today. Simply breathtaking. Is it any wonder that every one of the 20 horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby was one of his direct descendants?

Shannon Moore

I love both race styles. I've never personally been to a horse race, but I've been to several vehicle races. 

I'd imagine the thrill experienced at the vehicle race track is similar to the horse track. You feel the vehicle's power reverberate in your chest cavity when you're on the track. I'd imagine that the horses running on their track cause a vibration in the ground like no other. The biggest bummer for me about the horse race is how quick it is. The drag races for vehicles are super fast, but there are other styles of races that are longer. 

I dunno.  I still don't think I have a preference one over the other.