Thanks Paul! Good stuff!
This made me think of an idea; Motorsport themed Taco truck.
Fast Taco: coming to a track near you!
Yeah the marketing side, services, stuff that is not wrench related probably has tons of opportunities.
I’d be a crap mechanic but I’m good at talking and writing, for example!
This is because she loves you and knows that you race so dirty she’s gonna need to defend you someday.
I’m still laughing 
My experience working in Motorsports:
I always knew I wanted to find a way to work in Motorsports in some capacity. Started racing karts when I was 5, so it was second-nature to be at the track, however an aptitude for engineering never really took off.
When I was 15 I did a summer program at a local TV station and loved it. From there, I went to school for media production and worked in live sports throughout college and found a fondness to other sports outside of racing. Of course, this didn’t deter from wanting to work in motorsports still, however my options in NY were pretty limiting.
After Karting for almost 20 years of my life, I had to finally put it aside and pursue a real career.
2018 moved to Charlotte, started working for the World of Outlaws, then went to NASCAR in 19, then in 2021 moved to Indianapolis and worked with Chip Ganassi Racing doing social media ( a job I had very little experience in) winning the INDYCAR Championship with Alex Palou, and now in 2022 moved to a Motorsports Marketing agency working with Drivers and Manufactures, one of which is Will Power and got to know him and his family very well and experience his second Championship. Things can work out if your’e persistent enough but it is surely a grind.
All the time though I’ve had to put karting and racing on my own aside which has been tough. Working in Motorsports takes a lot of time and especially your weekends, which are so valuable. Now at 29, I’m just getting back to the point of making enough money and managing my time that I’m beginning to ease my way back into karting and getting out on the track.
Thanks for sharing, Will! That’s a great example of finding a talent and pursuing a career in motorsports outside of the cockpit.
Regarding work getting in the way of our own racing, I guess that’s why there’s so many of us racing 40+, after we’ve managed to establish ourselves professionally somewhat.
Yeah, it’s certianly not easy once your out on your own trying to just makes ends meet, let alone even entertain the idea of spending thousands on racing. Probably why the number of senior drivers drop off from age 25-35. Some are more fortunate than others and can continue their own racing aspirations, but it’s just one of those things in life that you have to put aside for a period of time to get everything else situated.
There is a lot to unpack in this topic.
First off Dom, you brought up the College Application thing. What sets you apart from the other applicants? To answer this first, I think its about teamwork. Multiple people working toward a common goal. Racing literally embodies this concept. It does not matter whether you are the driver or part of the support staff. Everybody’s goal is to win on race day. All of the Team Principles’ first priority is to have the best Staff available to achieve that goal.
Second question is how to you become a part of that team? I think from the above posts and personal witnesses is that you have to be present. You have to find a way to put yourself in front of the people making the decisions to hire workers for their team. How do you do that? It’s not as hard as one might think. The simplest way is to volunteer. Whether it is Karting or any other form of Motorsports, you can start by volunteering as support staff for the events. Corner Workers, Tech Inspection, Timing and Scoring or Safety Staff. These are all vital roles to put on events. Just by being present, you will have the opportunity to interact with the drivers, crew and principles. Let your intentions be known. As you meet people, ask if there are any entry level positions available. Don’t get hung up on the crappy pay. It will always be crappy at the bottom. Put in the work!!! Learn as much as you can and always be willing to take on more. Then learn more about your new role. Rinse and Repeat!..and Repeat!..and Repeat! If you take is seriously and bring your passion for the sport with you, reward will follow.
Maybe you don’t know what part of the Team you fit in to. It doesn’t matter. You can literally start with sweeping the floors. You will get to see what everybody is doing throughout the entire process. If something sparks your interest, ask questions to the people working on it. Trust me, they want to share their successes with others. Offer to help them in some way. It will lead to new opportunities.
Now, the practical concerns. If you are a Driver. Do not expect to find enough time to Race and Work in Motorsport. As mentioned, most events take place on the same weekends that you want to race. How do you make a Small Fortune in Racing? Start with a Large One!
If you want to be a Driver, then find another career path that allows you the income and time off to pursue your passion. I suggest something not it the Retail Marketplace. Crappy Hours, less weekends off.
Short backstory. Grew up around the SCCA. As a kid, was just wondering around tracks exploring and watching everything going on around me. Got older, worked as a volunteer for Tech on the scale line and later checking specs on various rules. Funny how the best cheaters were later inspectors. Although, I did not take the path my brother who did the same later went to work for a Driver at his shop working on high end cars. Later he moved on to a Race Team Shop doing prep work for the Driver’s Cars. Then picked up a job for a National Series Team as Crew. I picked up a job on the same team for a Race as well by association. Another guy on the Team from our area that grew up around the track continued his career working with several Teams through the years until becoming a distributor for a performance shock/strut company and funding his own racing experience. Its all in what you want and what you are willing to sacrifice along the way. I ran into him recently at the Runoffs this year at VIR and the topic of how to get started in motorsports came up. We both agreed that it came down to just getting yourself out there and asking for the opportunity. Don’t be afraid to be poor for a while and put in the effort.
I ended up getting into karting, specifically, by chance. My older brother has been a lifelong racer, he invited me to tag along when he decided to go karting with his friend (October 2013). We went to the Nassau Coliseum when the Long Island Karting Association still existed. At the drivers’ meeting, the President was asking to see if anyone would be interested in being a corner marshal for the day, so I volunteered since I had nothing better to do. Don’t remember much else specifically about that day other than being cut a $100 check, to my surprise. So it was pretty easy for 16-year old me to come back to the next event. 2014 had me rotating through some different positions: corner marshal, registration, scoring, and eventually starter. So it was really good experience all-around, definitely wouldn’t be as versatile of an official as I am without doing that at LIKA.
I won’t make this too much longer, but my break into regional events was cold-calling the F-Series promoter and asking to work for him. I even pitched my own tent in the paddock, just to save myself a few bucks 
From there on, it was mostly meeting the right people at the right time. Met the owner of Oakland Valley Race Park on the first weekend I went to F-Series. When I was the full-time starter of the series in 2016, he asked me to come to his track from time-to-time. Also met the promoter of Rok Cup USA at an F-Series event in 2017, which was my ticket into national events.
By the time I started to fall in love with racing, my family was in some serious financial hardship. I figured working at events was the best way to pursue my love of the sport and it’s paid off in ways I never could’ve dreamed ten years ago. I got to work at a MotoGP and a Formula 1 event this year. I have a few other discussions going on for the future, which I’m really excited for!
Thanks, Justin! A chance encounter can lead to a career! You saw an opportunity, took it, and then made it a career.
I’ll bet you made yourself indispensable to Marco and ultimately, Tim, and from there, it’s grown.
Good luck and I suspect we will be seeing you well beyond our karting races.
[quote=“Justin Dittrich, post:28, topic:10067, username:jd896”] my break into regional events was cold-calling the F-Series promoter and asking to work for him
[/quote]
^ This is the way, get involved. Network. Develop skills.
And do not be afraid to make mistakes and even fail. Most successful people will tell you they learn more from their mistakes than from their successes.
Your big truck needed another truck to get it out, I am guessing.
It’s unbelievable how easy it is by just asking/cold-calling. I reached out to Scott Elkins (Formula E race director) on LinkedIn to ask if I could shadow him at the NYC ePrix back in 2019 and he gave me some exclusive access to the paddock, track, and FIA areas. Will never forget that day!
When I stopped doing f-series, feeling bad about quitting , I asked Marco if he ever needed any help to give me a holler. He called me up and I worked a corner at a gear up race. At the end he offered me some $, which I declined, having assumed this was all volunteer stuff.
If I were a younger person looking for some skrilla that would have gotten my attention (getting paid to flag and be a part of the raceday).
When not racing im a part time mechanic/ coach, I also have my local ipk resleer and i usualy go after school and assemble new kart and get payed about 250 per kart, on summer i work in the rental part of my home track, If i count all of this up ( its really hard work) i have school from 8 to 4 and after that i study eat dinner and about 6 i go to track and come home about 9 and thats 2 days a week totas to about 1500 per month
For folks who live in the us, there was a job opening for racing instructor in speedvegas. I got selected but i gotta go to the us first. Saving my money to go there.
Anyway… i wanna ask is there someone here own a racing team in gokart yet? I just started back coaching again these past 2 years. And trying to make my own racing team here.
