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1NASCAR Technical Institute prepares graduates to work as entry-level automotive service technicians. Graduates who take NASCAR-specific electives also may have job opportunities in racing-related industries. Of those 2019 graduates who took electives, approximately 20% found racing-related opportunities. NASCAR Tech’s overall employment rate for 2019 was 84%. 2NASCAR Tech cannot guarantee employment or salary. 3Some programs may require longer than one year to complete. Fifteen weeks do not include time required to complete a qualifying prerequisite program such as NASCAR Tech’s 48-week Automotive Technology & NASCAR Engines I & II program. 4Figure is for 2021. Financial aid, scholarships and grants are available to those who qualify. Awards vary due to specific conditions, criteria and state. For program outcome information and other disclosures, visit www.uti.edu/disclosures. Privacy policy can be found at www.uti.edu/privacy-policy.
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How to run a racetrack:

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/g...ml#post9438999

 

Professors of Precision

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emailBy Nicholas Lish | August 26, 2021 10:00 AM ET
Presented by: Radford Racing School The Dodge//SRT Charger’s rear tires are wailing, there seems to be enough counter-steer for the oversteer, and yet the famed Radford Racing School skid car finally decides to whip fully around. You sit quietly as the dust settles, searching for answers to the questions bouncing through your mind. Was that too much steering input or not enough? What about the throttle? Then, before you contemplate too deeply, you hear a voice: “Where were your eyes looking?” your instructor asks.

And at that moment, you snicker because that seemingly simple question makes you realize the absolute importance of looking where you want the car to go.

A racing instructor’s driving pedigree is a crucial factor at a racing school. It’s essential for them to command the very competencies they are trying to teach. In addition, an effective instructor has the ability to share detailed information and to spur its absorption within a limited timetable.

“Big mistakes are easy to see, but experienced instructors can see even the small details that might be a little tougher to spot,” says Radford Racing School’s chief instructor Danny Bullock.
Chief instructor Danny Bullock took his first racing class at the age of 14. He began his career with the school in 1998 and has been an Instructor since 2000.

With 144 years of high-performance driving instruction experience among the full-time team, Radford Racing School boasts the ability to shorten the timeline for a driver to gain needed experience and knowledge, no matter which course they choose.

“We have seen everything at this point – from teens to pro drivers,” Bullock continues. “With the depth of experience we have, we are able to see mistakes much quicker. The faster you see a problem, the faster you can correct it.”

The team is continually evolving and adapting its methodologies to meet the needs of aspiring drivers. It’s a commitment that offers students the best possible outcome from their Radford Racing School experience.

“We tell drivers they won’t completely master the techniques we teach in the time they are here, but the foundation will be solid and sets them up for success as they move forward.” The school encourages progressive classes to continue the mastery – from one-day to multiple-day courses, and on to higher-level, advanced training.



Founded in 1968, Radford Racing School is the largest purpose-built driver training facility of its kind in North America and the Official High Performance Driving School of Dodge//SRT. At the heart of the 450-acre racing facility in Chandler, Ariz., is a 1.6-mile, 15-turn track, along with three additional road courses and an NHRA drag strip. Whether you’re a pro driver or never turned a wheel on a track, the Radford Racing School offers a world-class experience.

 

Jack Sawyer04/27/2020

Tales from the Track from Hawk's youngest team member - Part II

The next day after wrenching on my brakes and talking about cars with fellow car enthusiasts, we had a small meeting and hit the track for a pace lap. After going around the track at a moderate speed and talking with other drivers about what are some good reference points to look out for on the track. I had an idea of what line I would like to try for my first practice sessions.

In my first practice session, I took things easy, focusing on braking points and finding a better ideal line for my car. With my car being front wheel drive, the ideal line at Gingerman involved trail braking (to rotate the car), and hitting a late apex. Once I started to perfect my ideal line, I started carrying more speed out of corners, and I started banging through the gears. In this session I set a pretty slow lap time of 2:10.084.

I knew I wasn’t going to be the fastest one out there, but a 2:10 at Gingerman really puts it into perspective how important it is to get a ton of seat time to shake down a car. After my first session, I was able to make some adjustments to the car. I added added more negative camber on my front suspension and reduced my tire pressure by 2 psi on all four corners. Before I knew it, it was time for my second practice session. I quickly put my gloves and my helmet back on and drove to the paddock.



We all lined up from fastest to slowest from previous session. My instructor pointed to me to the P12 spot in the paddock and we chatted a little bit about my plan for the second session. Essentially, my goal for the next session was to get in some clean air, find a rhythm and use that rhythm to create some momentum and build my confidence.

In my second session run on my 4th lap, I ran into some issues. I was coming out of turn three in third gear, I short shifted into fourth gear before entering turn four. I was pushing hard through turn four, then I hear a loud POP. My heart drops in my stomach. What the heck just happened?!

I shift back into third gear and slowly make my way around turn 5 and 6 (double apex, pretty awesome series of turns), then try to get back on the power, and nothing. At this point it was obvious to me that a coupler had popped off, causing a large boost leak. I slowly made my way around the rest of the track, and returned to the paddock. The hose between the hot side of my turbo housing and the hot side of the intercooler weren’t connected, and I was missing a hose clamp. Since I didn’t bring any extra hose clamps, I asked around the paddock to see if anyone brought any spares, but no luck. I hopped into my friend’s S2000, ran to Autozone and bought multiple 2 ¾ inch hose clamps. I quickly put everything together before my next session, and got back out onto the track for my first-time attack session.

Besides the hose clamp catastrophe, my Fiesta felt really good, and I was becoming more and more confident with my car. The DTC 60/30 brake pad set up definitely helped give me a great initial bite and modulation in the corners at Gingerman. The changes I made after my first session helped balance the car. When I was on the limit, I could make small changes to help the car pitch and roll in-and-out of corners.



On Saturday evening we had our first Time Trial session. I pushed the car even harder, and the coupler popped again. But, I got my best lap time yet, a 2:02.065. Thankfully, I’d bought multiple hose clamps, I got under the car and put everything back together again, but this time I wrapped the aluminum coupler in some sticky skateboard grip tape to help matte the rubber tube to the coupler. On Sunday morning I went on some back roads to test the coupler. 2nd gear pull, check! 3rd gear pull, check! 4th gear pull, POP! At that moment, I knew exactly what I should have done initially. I needed to turn down the boost.

After turning down the boost, my car had no issues. In the track sprint section I ran a 1:06.128. Then in my next two Time Trial sessions I ran a 2:00.679 and a 1:59.116! I broke 2 minutes! That left me with the weirdest feeling.

I was faster in an underpowered car?

The car felt more forgiving and responsive when I reduced the boost. I knew I wasn’t going as fast in the straights, but it didn’t feel like I was going faster in the corners either. After looking at the data, it was all because I was more confident in my car to brake later and get on the power earlier. Less horsepower also equals less wheel spin in a front wheel drive car.

Going from a 2:10.084 to a 1:59.116 felt like a huge accomplishment, but it also pushes me to one day go back to Gingerman and focus on the spots where I lost a lot of time.

This was my experience at my first ever track day. The first day was super stressful, but I still loved it. Fair warning if you love driving like I do, you may get hooked (and/or catch the track bug). At the end of the day, it’s worth it to me. If you are reading this in prep for your first track day have fun, don’t be nervous, and definitely ask questions if you have some (my instructor was awesome, shoutout to John Hunter)! Or, if you already caught the bug I’ll see you out there on the track!

​A little about me.

I am a 21 year old, University of Akron college student. In the past two years, I have worked for Hawk as first a Test Engineer Intern, and now and as a Sale and Marketing Engineering Rep Intern at our headquarters in Solon, OH.

 

https://racer.com/2021/09/12/road-am...d13d-274228613

Road America: Know the Track with Neil Langberg
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Neil Langberg (Ferrari of South Bay) offers an in-depth look at one of the critical and biggest braking zones at Road America, Canada Corner, also known as Turn 12. Requiring great precision to get the braking point right, drivers must decelerate over 160 kph as quickly as possible. Also notable as one of the most significant passing zones on the circuit, Canada Corner will certainly be the scene of some great racing action this weekend.

 

SAFEisFAST: Get a Grip: How to drive at the limit

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emailBy Industry | November 26, 2021 2:05 PM ET

It’s a race engineer’s worst nightmare, the driver comes into the pits and says, “No grip.”

In the latest video from SAFEisFAST.com, the online resource for young racers, five top drivers explain grip, why you lose it — and how you get it back.


Along the way they also cover aero grip vs. mechanical grip, adjustments you can make to the car to get more grip — as well as adjustments you can make to your driving that can also gain grip.

A race car is only held to the track by four very small tire contact patches.
The more you maximize them, the faster you’ll go.

 

So, you want to be a pro driver. How much will you earn?

Richard Dole/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | January 1, 2022 5:52 AM ET

A message to aspiring professional drivers from a prominent driver manager: “If you want to be a race car driver, don’t do it for money!”

That piece of advice was offered among the various calls I recently made to managers, team owners, and even a few drivers who know the financial landscape they play within each season.

One of the most frequent questions I get from the parents of talented sons and daughters is whether a sizable investment into karting, the Road to Indy, the Road to Sebring, or something similar could result in their kids eventually earning real salaries as professional drivers. Thanks to some help from the folks who hire or place pro drivers, we have some interesting answers that might prove insightful or amusing for the moms and dads with important decisions to make.

Before we get to the NTT IndyCar Series, let’s focus first on IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and its five classes, with three that pair pros with amateurs (GT Daytona, LMP2, and LMP3) and two that are havens for pro drivers in factory or high-level independent programs (DPi and GTD Pro).

Speaking under the condition that their names would be withheld, we’ll open with the bottom category in IMSA which boasts the biggest car counts, and thus, the most paying seats for pros to chase.

“In GTD, there are always going to be outliers, but I’ve seen $80,000 on the low end to $225,000,” one team owner said. “The average is in the middle, more in the $150,000-160,000 range.”

Another contributor said: “Not many are over $250,000. There are some bigger rates for maybe two or three of the pros with ambassador roles for a manufacturer, so that might take them to $325,000, maybe $350,000.”

On the topic of GTD salary outliers, one person who negotiates driver salaries in the class said, “I’ve heard the top is $400,000 to $450,000 with a guy that’s really valuable to their team.”

IMSA’s GTD category makes use of production-based race cars built to GT3 regulations and sold by various auto manufacturers — Acura, Audi, BMW, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc. — for Pro-Am competition. In a new twist that starts in 2022, IMSA has retired its all-pro GT Le Mans class, which conformed to different GTE regulations, and replaced it with GTD Pro. It will use the same GT3 cars found in GTD, but features factory teams, privateers, and continues the all-pro driver construct that GTLM offered.
IMSA’s Pro-Am GTD class offers a relatively high number of opportunities for pros to get paid – albeit at relatively low rates in most cases. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Where this use of identical GT3 cars in both Pro-Pro and Pro-Am classes gets interesting is in the salary department. During GTLM’s strongest years from 2014-19, pros in the big factory GT teams were IMSA’s top earners. With the comparative downgrade from the exquisite GTLM cars to less exotic GT3/GTD machinery, that’s no longer the case in many — but not all — instances.

“It’s still factory racing with GTD Pro, but I don’t foresee many of the drivers making the same amount,” said one negotiator. “Do I think some of the best-known drivers have taken a haircut? Probably not, but they bring a lot to their manufacturers with promotions they do away from the racetrack. But in general, we’re talking $350,000 to $400,000 — about $100 to $150 grand higher than a pro in GTD.”

Another person said, “GTLM drivers were the leading salary guys, but now it’s DPi. And LMDh is going to change that again.”

In LMP3, and frankly every class and series on the planet, there are outliers who make less or more than the majority of the paid drivers. For the grand season opener at Daytona where some higher-profile drivers might be added to the 24-hour roster, receiving a check for “$20,000, maybe up to $25,000” was suggested as a solid payday. Spanning the entire seven-race LMP3 calendar, one knowledgeable person says pros are looking at earning $10,000 to $12,000 per race, and another moved the range up to $10,000 to $15,000, which still doesn’t seem like much for the skills and risks involved. Among the outliers, a very small percentage of pros in LMP3 are known to be close to or slightly over $200,000 for a season, according to someone with intimate knowledge of the rates being paid.

In LMP2 — the top Pro-Am prototype class — most pros are reported to be within a $200,000 to $300,000 average, according to one person who drives in the class, and another who has signed a lot of pro drivers to LMP2 contracts.

And we’ve reached the end of IMSA with its manufacturer-rich DPi category, which transitions into the new hybrid LMDh class in 2023.

“You’re staring at $300,000, on the low, and $400,000 on the high in a lot of situations,” said one person who negotiates DPi contracts. “To do more than that, it’s going to be a pretty serious ‘name’ driver, somebody everyone’s chasing after hard, and that could take you out to $500,000.

The financial difference between racing a DPi for a factory and a privateer can be significant. Where one manufacturer set its base salary — before incentives — at $250,000, and another brand is known to have the same structure, albeit with a starting base of $350,000, driving for an independent team might not be the most lucrative proposition. One insider put the numbers of $130,000 and $150,000 out for two 2022 DPi contracts that were signed as an indicator of the pay gap some drivers accept in the hope of being recognized and hired by the factories in the future.

“And when LMDh gets here, the average salary is probably going up $200,000 to maybe $300,000 on what the best DPi drivers are getting now,” another person suggested.
There aren’t many secrets in the IndyCar paddock, but the salaries of the top drivers is one of the exceptions. Motorsport Images

Where most of the pros in IMSA knows what each other makes, IndyCar is a bastion of curiosity among team owners and drivers. “What do you think (Team X) is paying (Driver X)” is a question asked on a surprisingly regular basis, which speaks to the relative stability in IndyCar’s paddock.

By the numbers, IMSA has far more entries and job opportunities for pros to explore. IndyCar, with 24-26 full-time seats, and maybe 15 of those involving teams paying their drivers with no strings attached to bringing sponsorship, is a harder nut to crack, and with many of its leading drivers racing well into their 40s, vacancies with salaries attached are hard to land.

“There are three phases of contracts,” said one owner. “There’s the rookie contract, the journeyman, and then someone that’s a recognizable star, possibly a champion. For the rookies, probably coming in from Indy Lights, they’d get $250,000 to $300,000, and might even bring a sponsor and make some money off the deal. The journeyman is $800,000 to $1,000,000. And then at the top, there are about eight drivers who make over $2,000,000. Maybe one or two of them are over $3,000,000.”

Another negotiator thought the middle ground should be positioned slightly lower. “$500,000 up to $750,000 is where you’ll get most of them,” they said. “Then if you do well and get hired by a big team, I know one of them starts you off at $1,500,000 and you can build on that if you get some wins or a championship. And if you can win the Indy 500, that can easily add $1,000,000 to that salary.”

Do the math on that elite DPi driver’s income divided by their 10-race calendar, and we’re looking at approximately $50,000 per event. Take IndyCar’s 17-race season for the one or two top earners, and they’re receiving somewhere around $175,000 per race, all before taxes. Step down to the mid-tier IndyCar salary, and they’re on par with a leading DPi ace in the $45,000 to $50,000 range.

And for the IndyCar rookies on modest multi-year contracts, they are precariously close to what a pro in LMP3 will make per race at $17,500 or so.

Being a professional race car driver definitely pays more than most jobs, but with the risks involved, the healthy slice taken by the government, all of the expenses incurred with specialized training, nutrition, insurance, and more, only the upper echelon clear enough to be considered wealthy. Where the elite in Formula 1 and NASCAR fly to the races in their own jets, the best in IndyCar and IMSA rent them, or hope to get a travel invitation in the one belonging to their team owner.

Times were different when the CART IndyCar Series was at its peak and select salaries neared eight figures per year, but like the tobacco, alcohol and big-box store money that fueled the era, those kinds of contracts are long gone.

So if your son or daughter has the talent and receives the right breaks to get signed by a front-running team or auto manufacturer, your investment will be rewarded, but don’t be upset if it takes a while before they can buy you a house or car as a token of appreciation for the sacrifices you’ve made.

 

Another way to get into racing...if you've got what it takes!

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/p...ml#post9442439

 

Driving the track COTA

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/a...ml#post9443054

 

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/c...se-setups.html