Auto Racing: Starting a racing career, karting magazines, publicity consultants

Question
Hi Dan Liddy,

My name is Steve and I'm 16 years old and I'm currently living in Canada. I have been wanting to get into endurance racing since i was just a little kid. I've raced go karts on and off for the past year-year and a half but am unable to get into serious competition due to a lack of funding from myself (trying to work enough to sustain the money needed to run a kart by yourself and going to school isn't exactly easy!). I just got my drivers license learners permit and love the thrill of driving a big car just as much as going fast in a kart and realized that i truly want to try to complete my wish of becoming a professional racing driver. My question to you is, how do i start? How do i get the exposure i need with so little funding? I'm also looking to go to school for mechanical engineering as i believe that this will be of most value to me in the racing world, is this right?

Thanks a lot in advance,
Steve

Answer
Hi Steve:

Welcome to the crowd, I get a lot of letters from young people who want to become professional drivers, racers, crewmen and so forth.  Most of them are after the driving jobs.

You are on the right track with the Karting, be sure and join WKA for their group of benefits.  If you begin to do well in Kart racing , you'll start to get some of the exposure you need.

You need to start sending personal success stories to the Karting magazines, and maybe to the entry level car racing magazines.  Grass Roots Motorsports is one that comes to mind. The more successful professional racing drivers have thier own press agents, or publicity consultants.

The engineering degree is a major plus, I tell everyone that staying in school is the most important part of racing success. It certainly helps to understand what's happening around you while you're racing.  It also helps when working on your set-up to understand the principals involved in making a car handle.  Ryan Newmann in NASCAR is one successful engineer-driver I can think of, and there are many many more.

As to the funding, I have no pat answers. It's a problem for all racers, amateur and professional. Racing costs money, and a lot of it. Later on, your engineering degree will help you earn enough money to persue amateur racing. To become a pro you will need sponsorship.

Here's a good page to look at
>> http://www.auto-ware.com/shoptalk/sponsor.htm<<
, gives you a little understanding of the problem, but Google "racing sponsorship" for many more sites to look at. After you've read through a few, you'll begin to get an idea of what's required.

So 1) Keep karting 2) stay in school.  3) start promoting yourself in the media, and 4) keep working at it.

I wish you the very best luck !!

Dan Liddy
Saarasota, Florida