In this week’s episode of Speed Secrets Podcast, I am joined by driving enthusiast Michele Graaff. We discuss the misperception that everyone in motorsport is an adrenaline junkie, and the importance of learning, progression, and self-improvement. She shares her experience in HPDE as a woman, and how to make our sport more inclusive and inviting to all. We also compare “hard skills” and “soft skills.”
Michele’s Speed Secret: Take up your space.
Michele is 46 (late bloomer!), a graduate program coordinator at UW, and lives in Seattle. She drove 2 HPDE days during 2012-2015, and got back into it last year, 2019! She started her journey at her first skills day in a borrowed Porsche 964. Then went to her own car, a 2007 MINI Cooper S; she now drives a 2013 MINI Cooper GP2 (factory-made track oriented version).
Michele’s rule has always been "I'm the most important mod" and says she would never get crazy about upgrades until she outdrove the car. But, in a compromise, she decided to upgrade her car (slightly) from one MINI to another, and bought the GP2. His name is Pecos Bill and they have a lot of fun together.
Michele’s Secret Goals: 1. Learning: soak up as much as she can because the brain is the best tool no matter the car or track. 2. Drive more tracks. 3. Try to race. She loves the idea of pushing herself in that environment to see what she could do. She’s a self-proclaimed “extroverted introvert,” but quietly competitive, mostly with herself. But she finds she drives harder on lapping days when she’s trying to "catch" someone.
In her own words: Being a single woman without a ton of resources has been a challenge to my goals, but I'm doing my best! It's unusual if another woman is at a track day--and I'm always happy when I'm not the only one. I've built up a track box, know how to prep, and think ahead to who I could call if my car breaks. And I always buy track insurance. :) And I've met the most incredibly smart and helpful people, some who I count as friends now. Just so much good input (and some not-so-good advice, as well. haha).
On this week’s episode of Speed Secrets Podcast, Bryce Kliewer joins me as we go in depth about the lessons learned from racing that apply to business – and vice versa. We also touch on how autocross teaches car control, and compare autocross to time trials to road racing!
Bryce’s speed secret: No one wins a championship alone.
Bryce’s ran the Analytics and Business Intelligence at Coldwater Creek, helping to double the size of the business up to a $1b retailer, through catalog, web sales and the opening of over 350 retail locations. He was the VP of Client Analytics and Operations at Datalogix (a small ad-tech company looking to improve how data is used to make advertising more effective) before it was acquired by Oracle. He now is the VP Enterprise Project Management Office at Oracle as part of the Oracle Data Cloud.
Bryce started out getting his feet wet with local autocross driving a Subaru WRX bugeye wagon, winning multiple local class championships in STX and several top 5 season PAX driver awards. He switched to something rear-wheel drive and acquired a pretty haggard 2003 BMW 330 which he used to win multiple Rocky Mountain SCCA STX class championships and BMW CCA class championships, as well as winning the SCCA Mountain Match Tour Club Shootout. Bryce eventually found his way to the racetrack and over time gutted and caged the BMW 330 for time trials through NASA (built and sponsored by SCR Performance out of Loveland, CO). He used this car to set track records in multiple classes (TTD, TTC, TT5) over the past several seasons at various tracks (Circuit of the Americas, Thunderhill Raceway, High Plains Raceway, Hallet Motorsport, Utah Motorsport Complex, Pueblo Motorsports Park, Motorsports Park Hastings, Pikes Peak International Raceway, La Junta Raceway (some more prestigious than others...)). This culminated in winning the NASA TTC West Coast championships in 2017 (uncontested) and the 2018 NASA National Championships in TT5 at COTA.
On this week’s episode of Speed Secrets Podcast, Mark Boudreau joins me to discuss the business of motorsport and the importance of being flexible with one’s career – doesn’t matter if it’s pro racing, autocross, rallycross, track days, indoor karting, etc. We also detail common errors that drivers make, and he explains how his law background helps him play devil’s advocate for drivers, asking the tough questions.
Mark’s Speed Secret: Perseverance – never give up and always keep improving.
CEO & Publisher Motorsport Prospects
Inspired by the exploits of fellow Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, Mark became an early fan of F1 from 1980 on. Never interested in actually racing, it was the business of motorsport that always held a fascination, which led to the eventual informal foundation of Motorsport Prospects in 2018. Based directly on the feedback he received from families of young drivers at the beginning of their motorsport careers they observed that there was no real “one stop shop” for motorsport career-related information and resources that they could consult. With a background in law and an alumnus of Western University’s Faculty of Law, Mark applies the same concept of due diligence used in the legal field to the research he conducts both for the Motorsport Prospects Directory and for individual clients. He is passionate in ensuring that all drivers, their family and advisors have the information they need to make an informed motorsport-related decision.
Check out Mark below:
MotorsportProspects.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motorsportprospects/
Twitter: @motorsportprosp
Mentioned: NoMoneyMotorsports.com
On this week’s episode of Speed Secrets Podcast, I sit down with Eric Kaul to discuss why the social aspect and community of our sport are so important, the High Performance Driving & Racing Enthusiasts community, and the balance between inclusiveness and exclusivity. We also talk about the impact of fitness and nutrition on performance.
Eric’s Speed Secret: Get your fitness and nutrition under control.
Eric Kaul knows just about everyone and if he doesn’t - it’s only a matter of time. He is "Mr. Community" and genuinely loves bringing high performance driving enthusiasts together both in the paddock and into social media. Eric is the co-founder and driving force behind the HPDRE community groups on Facebook (High Performance Driving and Racing Enthusiasts), resides outside Boston, MA and has been an active instructor with several HPDE organizations in the Northeast corner of the US. He works in the retail telecom industry and many drivers, racers, driving organizations and racing businesses in the motorsports community are his wireless clients.
Check out Eric below:
Eric’s phone number: 508-834-3311
HPDRE on Facebook
@BetterCallKaul
#KaulMe
#HPDRE
On this week’s episode of Speed Secrets Podcast, Stefan Rzadzinski joins me to discuss how he got into and competed in the Race of Champions against Sebastian Vettel, Juan Montoya, Tom Kristensen, Pieter Solberg, Kurt and Kyle Busch, David Couthard, Alexnader Rossi, and James Hinchcliffe. We also get into limits – how to sense your car’s limits, and how to trust yourself to test those limits. Do you wonder when to focus on improving your car’s setup versus when to focus on your own driving? We explore that, too!
Stefan’s Speed Secret: Keep believing and don’t give up.
Stefan Rzadzinski is a 27-year-old driver born in Edmonton and based in British Columbia. Stefan grew up in karting and went on to compete in formula cars - including the Road to Indy ladder, NASCAR Canada, Nissan Micra Cup, LMP3, and GT3 cars. Stefan had the opportunity to race in Asia for the Hankook factory team, ATLAS BX Racing, and most recently in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY supporting Formula E. Stefan is also a partner in Catalyst Driver Development with other Western Canadian drivers Scott Hargrove and Remo Ruscitti. They provide coaching, support, and service for their team that runs on the Italkart brand.
Check out Stefan, below:
Web: http://www.rzadracing.com
Instagram: @rzadracing
Twitter: @rzadracing
Facebook: Facebook.com/rzadracing