"Lord, please don't let me screw up."
At NASA, the "Astronaut's Prayer" was originally created by the astronauts selected for the Mercury project, when the U.S. space program was in its infancy. It summarizes the thoughts, fears, concerns and wishes that run through the mind of every astronaut as the final countdown approaches and they prepare for lift-off. They are sitting on top of multiple billions of dollars worth of equipment, being asked to do a very dangerous job, with the eyes of the world watching them, and the knowledge that if they mess up something it would (at the very least) be a waste of years of effort and preparation (recognize any parallels to a FIRST competition here?
). The Astronaut's Prayer is real, and is an indicator that even with the best training, best practice, and best preparation possible, putting people in highly stressful situations will result in, well, stress. The best thing that you can do is recognize that it is there, that you are under stress, and try to use it to your advantage. In that respect, the Astronaut's Prayer is perfectly appropriate as the "FIRST Driver's Prayer" as well.
-dave