Careers in Motorsports?

[mattbatson]

Had a conversation last week with someone who currently lives in central florida. This person is heavily involved with the SCCA...auto-x's on a national level, announces at events, etc...and is making the move into road racing. This person is married and her husband probably makes enough to support the both of them.

But, this person works in finance for a large corporation. She apparently does not really enjoy her job.

Anyways, she had an opportunity recently to take a position with the Nissan motorsports department in the area of product development.
Problem is, this position is in TN and I think the option of her leaving FL and her husband finding a different job is...well, not an option.

She described this job as her "dream" job...

Now, this got me thinking...
Here I am, leaving NC for FL in a few weeks and considering trying to re-start up my Home Inspection / General Contractor business.

Kind of at a cross roads. All the research/soul searching I have done points to finding out what you like to do and are good at, then search for a career in that area.

I'm sure others here have gone through the same experience. Or had similar thoughts.

Has anyone else here considered finding a job in motorsports?

I guess all here know the key to true happiness is to really love what you do and do what you love.
Racing professionally is probably everyones dream...but then realism sets in :P

When I heard about this job, I thought it sounded pretty cool. The funny thing is, this person offered the job doesnt necessarily have extensive experience or expertise in motorsports....no more then you or me.

So, I figured with some extensive searching, it may be possible to find a job like this....?

[pgipson]

That sort of thing would be an intriguing career change wouldn't it. Locally, PIR had a job open last year as an "events coordinator". One part of the job was working with the various org that rent the track (scca, vara, pca, etc). As I get nearer to the big "R" I am wondering if maybe some sort of part time deal with a team, or a track might be possible and how one would get positioned for that.

I recall a conversation I had 15 yrs ago in one of the delta Crown rooms in ATL. The guy I was talking to contracted for show car drivers. Basically, you took your own truck, and towed nascar show cars to things like sponsor stores, shopping centers, car shows, etc (never to the race). You got a salary + mileage + a % of souvinier sales. They gave you the trailer and show car and a schedule of where to be when.

There's probably all sorts of jobs that open up. is there something like monster.com for the motorsports world?

[Bill Miller]

I remember back in '87, we were at the Indy car race @ Pocono. On of the Indy Lights teams was canvasing the infield asking if there was anyone that would be interested in trying out for a job on the team. IIRC, pay was somewhere around $400/week, plus expenses. That works out to ~$20k/year, which in 1987 dollars was not horrible money. I had just gotten married, or I would have been all over it!

[mattbatson]

One of the idea's tossing about in my head was opening up a track day business like Carguys.

I really have to do more research on this, but it sure seems like a great way to make a living.

I go to Carguys website and you can see they are extremely popular. Despite the fact that they hold many events per year, they seem to pretty much completely book up for every event. If you do the numbers, they arent doing too bad. (depends on track rental amounts, insurance, ambulance/medics, etc..)

Now, this could mean that the market will hold another track day business....or....it could mean that Carguys is simply a top notch enterprise that keeps people coming back for more.

I told my wife if I was considering this route, that I would need to go and do some market research...along with researching various track day events

There are also a couple of ways to improve upon the track day experience for the driver.... I have some interesting ideas for this....

Of course, organizing such events would be a full time job. And I would imagine two or three years before even seeing much of a profit.


There may also be a ceiling for profit. You can only hold so many events every year...

Unless you got so big you were holding events all over the U.S....then there may be no limit to your yearly take.

[pgipson]

One of the idea's tossing about in my head was opening up a track day business like Carguys...

I really have to do more research on this, but it sure seems like a great way to make a living.[/b]

We had a guy out here try that. His web site (if it's still up) was az seat time. It's an expensive undertaking, what with insurance and track rental and paid (in some fashion) instructors and workers. If you don't have a ton of cars I'm not sure how the numbers work. And if you do, the logistics get hard. I look at all the nasa francises and wonder if they would make any money if not for all the "free" labor.

[mattbatson]

yes, there would certainly be quite a bit of overhead per event.
And then if no one shows, then your stuck with the bill.
Yep, finding instructors and workers has got to be difficult/hit or miss.

like a lot of things, it may be very attractive in concept, but in reality it is never quite as rosy.

What do ya think about building/owning my own racetrack ?

I would make it a country club-like setting (like VIR)...

Of course, I would design the track myself. I would have to go around the country, driving at all of the best tracks (in the name of research), and then take the best pieces of the best tracks and incorporate it into my track. Lots of elevation changes, and lots of high speed, blind, "oh s*#t" type corners...make it really spectator friendly...

And I would advertise to bring in the local public...keep the gate fees low...make the money at the concession (which by the way would have "good" food in addition to the regular crap)

and a HUGE concrete paddock with plenty of hookups...and really nice restroom/shower facilities



Of course, do we really need another track <_< ?

[pgipson]

sounds like race car heaven. we always need more tracks

[Tristan Smith]

Another thing to take into consideration is whether or not this job will still allow you to race. Many motorsport jobs entail working the weekends. That may not allow you to have to time to actually race.

In the late 90&#39;s I was offered a job by CART to be the television liason (handling ABC at the time). The problem (aside from the fact that I would have to live in Detroit and my wife&#39;s job is in Atlanta) was that I would be working almost every weekend from February to October. It essentially meant that I wouldn&#39;t have been able to race.
Then there was the job offered by Speed TV (then Speedvision) when they were first starting up. Now that one could have been a good fit, but it was a new channel, with no track record, and at the start of the niche channels on tv. So I turned that down for the security of my current job (dear god, almost 22 years at CNN!).

[gsbaker]

Working in motorsports may not be the dream job many think it is--even at the pinnacle.

10-15 years ago I was sitting up front on a transatlantic flight. Most everyone was in a good mood, one exception being the guy who lunged through the cabin door at the last minute and flopped down in the seat next to me. Disheveled, grumpy and apparently exhausted, he quickly fell asleep without saying a word.

Eventually he awakened and began reading F1 material. Not just fan magazines but drawings, sketches and documents on team letterhead. Mountains of the stuff.

I&#39;m not the nosy type, but after an hour of silence I couldn&#39;t stand it anymore and finally asked, "So, are you a fan of racing?" He looked at me like I had a third eye in the middle of my forehead.

Long story short, he worked with the engine program of the XYZ F1 team. He said it was exciting when he started, and was still interesting, but had become grueling. "I haven&#39;t seen my family in three weeks and it will be another ten days before I do--unless the Brazil testing schedule changes, which it probably will. I travel so much my body clock has been off for two years, my head is always in a fog and more than once I&#39;ve reset my watch to the right time but the wrong day. The pay is good, but it&#39;s only there until a motor grenades in front of 40 million viewers.

[long pause]

Do you want my job?"

Or words to that effect.

[Rabbit07]

One of my responsiblilities at my job is to handle our Motorsports Work. I have been doing this since 2004 and love it (Most of the time!) I handle everything from complete car builds to at track support and testing. I can tell you that the travel can really take it&#39;s toll. I have been that guy that Greg Baker had mentioned. It also does take away from some of my own racing from time to time. This year particularly. If you get involved be prepared for some of the longest days you&#39;ll ever work. The reward is great, I wouldn&#39;t trade it for anything, but sometimes you need a break.

[mattbatson]

Yes, I can see how a support or tech type job for a team/company will require lots of travel.
Unfortunately, I dont think that will work for me.

For one, my wife will not allow it



I think one thing I can take away from all this is that there are many different types of jobs that most people, myself included, didnt know existed.

So, I will continue my search and see what pops up. You never know...

One thing I know for sure. There is the "safe" side of us that says...go get a regular job that is steady, reliable, pays health insurance, etc....

This safe side likes to put the kind of thoughts into our head that restrict us to a safe job...Thoughts like..."I dont know anything about this", or "There is too much chance at failure", or "This is simply too big for my britches"...
You get the point.

For once in my life, I&#39;m going to try to do something that I truly love.

I will probably get a regular job until I figure this out.

I do think, ultimately, owning a track of my own design would be my dream job.

But, I need to talk to some track bulders/owners first and get the scoop

Of course there is risk. And organizing the whole thing will be a logistical nightmare. Even the stuff I can think of is overwhelming, and I&#39;m sure that I dont know the half of it...

[RacerBill]

Matt: Kind of been there to some extent.

For years I worked 40 hrs a week for IBM. Towards the end of that career, I worked with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the United States Auto Club, setting up the first electronic timing and scoring systems for the Indy 500. Soon after that started, I took a pre-retirement leave of absence from IBM, and ventured off to start a contracting and consulting business. That left me with a lot of free time to work test days at the Speedway and when the IRL was formed, become part of the group of officials that traveled to all the races.

Bottom line, the consulting work I did was enough to keep my head above water. But both the racing and the consulting kept me on the road. Not excessive, but enough to be tough. Worst thing was when I would pull out my suitcase to pack, my cat would jump into it. Don&#39;t know if she was trying to go along, or trying to keep me from packing.

But I can say I have had experiences that very few racers, fans or participants, have even dreamed about.
I used to pull out onto the Brickyard and take a lap every once in a while, kind of like Paul Newman in Winning.

This year, I worked the IRL race at Mid-Ohio and got to see many old friends. Kind of nice when their director of racing, and others still remembered me and stopped to say hello.

So, here I am in my senior years, wondering what I will be doing in retirement. Here&#39;s my dream job. My son is an auto mechanic in California, and would love to set up his own shop some day. If I could get him to move here to Ohio, and open a business (he has the smarts and skills to do that), and set off a corner of the shop for me - he would do the bread and butter work and I could work on race cars all day long.

If you have a good plan, it can work. Don&#39;t let the dream die. Got to get back to the grinding wheel!