To Be the Best

W A S H I N G T O N, July 27 -- What does it take to be the best? As Lance Armstrong heads into Paris, set to win his third-straight Tour de France bicycle race, we'll look at other people who represent the best in their game, from professional athletes to musicians to chefs — even a six-time pizza-making title-holder. They all dominate their fields, but what do they have that others do not? Tonight on Nightline, we'll ask what it's like to be best — and have everyone else gunning for you.

Christine Brennan, Sports Columnist: "The word fail is probably not even in the vocabulary. The word fail has never been uttered by these people. We bring it up later. Did you think you were going to fail? Did you ever think, what if I don't make this? And more often than not, the greatest of all athletes look at you, kind of like, 'Fail?' It's almost like I just asked a question in a foreign language. 'What do you mean fail?'"

Waheed Aswim, seven-time Champion of Domino's World Fastest Pizza Maker Contest: "I'm hungry. I like winning. I'm very ambitious. I'm very passionate about what I do. I love making pizza. That's why I do it. So I go there and I mentally prepare myself, that I am the best, I am the greatest, you know. I have won the contest more than anybody in the Domino's Pizza history, not only in Domino's, but I'm the best pizza maker in the pizza industry. So I believe in that. I tell it to myself and I believe in it. And I go there, and I get results."

Made 14 perfect pizzas in 2 minutes and 35 seconds at this year's competition

Mario Andretti, race car champ: "Well, to be number one is just that. Imagine how many people you have to be better of to be number one if you want to be the best at that particular time. Obviously, it's quite an enormous task because, again, you're going up against people that have met, maybe, very much similar goals and similar aspirations, and you have to be one better. You have to be better than all of them. That's why it's so tough. That's why so few people really, really, ultimately realize their goals. But, again, a very important aspect of all of this is to be able to just accept nothing less than that."