Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / The MaxSpeed Difference: How Two Friends Turned a Trackside Conversation into a Thriving HPDE Community
Transcript
- 0:00Grand Touring Motorsports started as a social group of car enthusiasts,
- 0:04but we've expanded into all sorts of motorsports disciplines, and we
- 0:08want to share our stories with you.
- 0:10Years of racing, wrenching, and motorsports experience brings
- 0:13together a top notch collection of knowledge and information
- 0:17through our podcast, Brake Fix.
- 0:22Hey everybody, Crew Chief Eric here.
- 0:24I wanted to give you a heads up before we head into this episode that we did have
- 0:29some technical issues with the audio.
- 0:31We've done our best to make corrections so that it's easier to listen to,
- 0:35but unfortunately, you know, there's always challenges with internet
- 0:38connection, the different systems that people are using, the audio quality.
- 0:42So please, by all means, sit back and enjoy this episode.
- 0:47The content in it is amazing, but our apologies for the quality right up front.
- 0:52Smaller run groups, less traffic, more quality track time.
- 0:56Experience the MaxSpeed difference.
- 0:59MaxSpeed Track Days delivers on those elements with great southeastern
- 1:02venues, stellar customer service.
- 1:05as well as the curriculum and coaching to enhance anyone's
- 1:08high speed driving skills.
- 1:09That's right, Brad.
- 1:10And with us tonight is Phil Engels, president and CEO of Max Speed Trackdays,
- 1:15along with his co founder, Brendan Blake, to explain how their program works.
- 1:19And as always, I'm
- 1:21your host, Brad, and I'm Eric.
- 1:23So let's roll.
- 1:24Welcome to the show.
- 1:25Phil and Brendan.
- 1:26Hey guys.
- 1:27So let's get into it.
- 1:28Tell us all about max speed, the who, the what, the where, the when people
- 1:32want to know what it's all about.
- 1:34So how did you guys get started?
- 1:35Where'd the name come from?
- 1:36Well, the name came well after the concept, put it to you that way.
- 1:41In 2017, I had an injury and Brendan Blake is a physical therapist.
- 1:47He owns a couple of practices here in North Georgia.
- 1:49And ended up in his physical therapy office.
- 1:52Having him work on my knee and I'm sitting there on the table.
- 1:55He's working on things and he's got all these pictures of cars on
- 1:59racetracks and way back in my youth.
- 2:01I've not been on something with a motor and wheels since I was a child, but I
- 2:05used to race motorcycles late teens, early twenties, and then I got into a
- 2:09law enforcement career and that's not conducive to support a racing career.
- 2:12So anyway, long story short, I ended up on his table.
- 2:15I'm looking at all these cars and racetracks in his office.
- 2:18And I said, Hey, Doc, is this you?
- 2:20And he said, yeah, I said, do you race?
- 2:21He says, no, I just do track days.
- 2:24And I kind of vaguely remember doing some track days when I was
- 2:27younger after I got out of racing.
- 2:29I was like, okay, we got to talk.
- 2:31Next thing you know, he invites me to a track day.
- 2:34He says, look, me and my buddy's gonna be at a track, I think it
- 2:36was a week away or two weeks away.
- 2:38He said, come on out, it's at Road Atlanta, hang out, tell me what you think.
- 2:42I showed up, and of course, having been in racing and involved in motorsports
- 2:47back in the day, as soon as I showed up at the racetrack and the community and the
- 2:50sights, the sounds, the smells, the fuel, the burning rubber, all of that stuff.
- 2:56I go back home and my wife says, Hey, how was it?
- 2:59What'd you think?
- 3:01I said, shook my head.
- 3:02I said, I'm screwed.
- 3:04I'm going to have to buy a Miata and build a track.
- 3:06Like most good wives.
- 3:08She rolls her eyes at me.
- 3:10And just says, okay, baby, whatever.
- 3:13And walks away.
- 3:14This is November of 2017.
- 3:16Come Christmas.
- 3:17She buys me a helmet and racing gloves.
- 3:20And he says, Hey, why don't you be happy?
- 3:22Go do what you got to do by January of 2018.
- 3:25I had a Miata by March or April of 2018.
- 3:29I went to my first track night in America at AM.
- 3:33I've just dove in headfirst.
- 3:35I went and did a few more track days.
- 3:36And then that summer, July or August 2018, I'm at Road Atlanta doing a track day.
- 3:41Brendan is there with me, and he's up a group.
- 3:45He's, he's an intermediate or something.
- 3:47I'm an assistant instructor that morning.
- 3:50A couple sessions, the instructor cut me loose, so.
- 3:52That afternoon, the organizer allowed Brendan to pump down
- 3:56in the novice, because we have basically identically prepared.
- 3:59We just chased each other around the track.
- 4:03It was probably the most fun I'd ever had.
- 4:05And then that afternoon, we're sitting there in the paddock, feet propped up.
- 4:09He said, what are you gonna do when you retire?
- 4:11And I said, I have no idea.
- 4:13And was legitimately thinking about starting a septic tank pumping company.
- 4:18But you know what the joke is that right on that one.
- 4:21So.
- 4:22Anyway, he looks at me and he says, you ought to start a track day company.
- 4:26And I made the move.
- 4:27My wife did.
- 4:27I rolled my eyes and I laughed and I was like, okay, whatever.
- 4:30But I could not get the idea out of my head.
- 4:33So
- 4:33I see that much like Brad, Brendan is probably the same.
- 4:37Silent partner in this and in a lot of cases,
- 4:40I've been itching to tell like my version of the story.
- 4:43I'm just waiting for just a break.
- 4:46Well,
- 4:46I
- 4:47figured I'd
- 4:47give you
- 4:47that break.
- 4:48So let's
- 4:49hear
- 4:49it.
- 4:50So the way that the story goes is we're sitting, we're talking about the track
- 4:54day and he mentions a septic idea.
- 4:57And then I just had to take it and say, Phil, that's a crappy idea.
- 5:01I mean, how's the next day?
- 5:04So if you're passionate about something, you're rolling customer service,
- 5:08organized events to where the person feels like they get a lot of bang for
- 5:11their buck, and you appreciate the people who are spending money with
- 5:15you, it's going to be a home run.
- 5:17If we focus on trying to incorporate what some of the driving schools
- 5:21teach us, Trying to incorporate it into an HPD event, then it only
- 5:26makes sense to try and bring up a quality, like, company out of this.
- 5:30It can't grow into a space just to offer some more people time on track.
- 5:34And the idea just birthed out, and it's been on fire.
- 5:39Wrote a business plan, put it all together, had an idea of how many
- 5:41track days we'd do in year one, two.
- 5:43Three and so technically this was a concept two and a half years ago.
- 5:48So I started doing some research and did some due diligence and, and, and just, you
- 5:53know, looking at what all was involved.
- 5:54Is it viable?
- 5:55Can I make it happen?
- 5:57Running a track date company supplement.
- 5:59my retirement income was longer.
- 6:02About a month in L.
- 6:04S.
- 6:04C.
- 6:05Was formed.
- 6:05I've out that you're very close guests of the show.
- 6:10You'r Peters from H.
- 6:12P.
- 6:12D.
- 6:12E.
- 6:13J a little bit of credit fo this madness.
- 6:17I was gonna end of this thing.
- 6:19I won't It's to experience every type of track day that's out there.
- 6:24I just passed ideas off of him.
- 6:26I'm like, Hey, what do you like about this group?
- 6:28What do you not like about that group?
- 6:30What makes you tick when you're on track?
- 6:31Not just with Dave, but with, I tapped as many people as I could.
- 6:34I spent a lot of time with the Ron Z of discovery parts in his trailer
- 6:39at Rhode Atlanta, at NASA events and at other race events, his brain and
- 6:44figuring out how can we make, The very best track day company, period.
- 6:49The best one that we can make.
- 6:50How can we do that?
- 6:51We held our first event in August of 2019.
- 6:55Within
- 6:55one year, we were on the track.
- 6:57And we held our January event this year at Roebling Road.
- 7:01It just kind of exploded from there.
- 7:03There was a lot of buzz in the community, social media took off.
- 7:06Just last weekend, we hosted at Carolina Motorsports Park and
- 7:10we sold out our first event.
- 7:12Congratulations!
- 7:13That's four events in for MaxSpeed and our first sold out event.
- 7:17And based on what I'm seeing coming up April, we go back to Carolina
- 7:22Motorsports Park in mid April.
- 7:23It looks like it'll be sold out as well.
- 7:24The name came from, I didn't want it to be a name, one of our names, anybody's name.
- 7:29I just wanted it to be something that immediately when you heard the name, there
- 7:32was no doubt about what was going on.
- 7:34There was no such thing as maxretrackdays.
- 7:36com.
- 7:36So I thought I was lucky in landing that.
- 7:39That's the genesis.
- 7:41It's always funny that company names are often decided by what domain is available
- 7:47compared to the names that we're used to here in the DMV max speed is going
- 7:51to be new to a lot of our listeners and a lot of the people tuning in here for
- 7:54the first time, you guys are probably one of the newest, if not the newest
- 7:59HPDE facilitator on the East coast.
- 8:02So what have you guys learned from the other groups you've been to?
- 8:06And how did you turn that into quote unquote, the max speed difference?
- 8:09As Brennan was saying, the, the customer service aspect, we do a
- 8:13few things differently than other groups and you know, I know one
- 8:16of the things that we do that I'm serious about is we limit attendance.
- 8:20You can only have comfortably X amount of cars on any given track, and people feel
- 8:25comfortable, make passing easy, don't have a whole lot of trains holding people
- 8:30up because everybody's there to go fast.
- 8:32Everybody wants to try to put down a good lap and, and see what they can do.
- 8:35And you can't do it in traffic.
- 8:36So number one, we limit attendance.
- 8:38We simply just, we will not oversell a run group.
- 8:41That's the smaller run groups, less traffic, more quality track time deal.
- 8:45That's what you get when you come with us.
- 8:46The customer service and hospitality aspect is the best
- 8:49we can provide at all levels.
- 8:51What I call touch points.
- 8:52Any interaction that somebody has with MaxSpeedTrackDays, whether it's how
- 8:56quickly and how professionally an email gets answered, or what happens from the
- 9:00moment that they show up at the track to go to driver check in, how they're
- 9:04greeted, how well we're organized.
- 9:06That's I will say we're actually just a family business.
- 9:09It's me, my wife, him, his wife, his daughter, behind the table,
- 9:14taking care of our customers.
- 9:15And we're going to treat our customers the very best we can.
- 9:19One of the things that I loved when I first started going to track days,
- 9:22And the thing I noticed when I went to visit and hung out is he had friends
- 9:27that were driving, but there were plenty of people that weren't driving that
- 9:29were just hanging out and everybody shooting the breeze, having a good time
- 9:32talking about cars, walking around the paddock, that community and camaraderie
- 9:36that is naturally interwoven into the car hobby and or racing or or
- 9:42all of that in general is, Is great.
- 9:45So, since it's a social hobby, we wanted to foster that at our events.
- 9:48If you go to most events, there's all these little clicks around the paddock.
- 9:53There's these little groups.
- 9:54They get together as a Mustang club over there.
- 9:56There's a Corvette club over there.
- 9:58There's some Porsche guys over there or whatever.
- 10:00We just got groups of friends.
- 10:02What we wanted to do was bring all of those people together into 1 place.
- 10:06So, in all of our events, We have a hospitality.
- 10:09It does a couple of things for us as organizers to if anybody has an issue,
- 10:14they don't handle it in the paddock.
- 10:15They bring it to us.
- 10:16We will then deal with it.
- 10:18He he or I will go handle the situation or send 1 of our instructors to
- 10:23handle the situation, but we want all the contact to come through us.
- 10:26So we give them a central place to do that.
- 10:28You make that place inviting and it has a woman's touch on it.
- 10:32My wife is the 1 kind of decorates in there, but we literally roll out.
- 10:36Open up tables have bun double burner coffee pot going for morning drivers
- 10:41meeting with pastries out and, uh, snacks and refreshments all day long.
- 10:45And that's just where we want people to come.
- 10:46And that's tends to be what happens.
- 10:48Everybody comes there and hangs out and shoots the breeze between their sessions.
- 10:51So, that's 1 of the things where another thing that we do different and, uh, and
- 10:56then Saturday evening, we have a social.
- 10:58So we just got a couple of big coolers of beer and invite
- 11:02everybody into and it's all it is.
- 11:04It's complimentary.
- 11:05That's part of the maximum difference.
- 11:06Nobody pays for snacks and pastries and coffee and waters and coats and whatever.
- 11:10It's all part of the experience and why you come to us
- 11:14while you guys are down in Georgia.
- 11:16Does that make road Atlanta your home track?
- 11:19What do you call home
- 11:21is in our backyard?
- 11:22And I mean, literally right now.
- 11:24If there were cars running on the track, we could open up our
- 11:26shop door and you could hear him.
- 11:28So our garage club is located less than a mile from road.
- 11:32And of course, he's probably got more laps there simply because he lives
- 11:36right around the corner as well.
- 11:37We got our start at road because if you're a brand new track day
- 11:40company, and you don't have any money.
- 11:43You go where you can afford,
- 11:44you go where you can afford to put on an event.
- 11:46And, uh, so we, we went there.
- 11:49That was our first one, not a moneymaker, but a good proof of concept.
- 11:53We kind of knew going in, we weren't going to make any money off this.
- 11:55And then it's, it's just, you know, let's see if we can make
- 11:57it happen and do it safely and have everybody have a good time.
- 12:00And so that was a great proof of concept.
- 12:03We like to think that any track that we go to is going to be
- 12:06our home track for the weekend.
- 12:07We like to invite our friends and track day family to the event.
- 12:11Just like you didn't invite your friends and family into your home.
- 12:13Brendan having a lot more track experience than Phil has.
- 12:18Do you have a favorite track?
- 12:20Is there a track that, you know, you would go to time and time again, and
- 12:23let's expand on that a little bit.
- 12:25Is there a bucket list track that you want to go to?
- 12:27I have a question.
- 12:28With Road Atlanta being right here, there's a character to Road
- 12:33Atlanta that's just purely exciting.
- 12:35Every time you drive there, you're learning something new.
- 12:37Every time you go, you're trying to accomplish something different.
- 12:41And there's a smile that's just a little bit extra whenever
- 12:43you've spent some time there.
- 12:45Every track that I've gone to, it's now a challenge to try to improve our times.
- 12:50And I'm sure that we're going to talk about the Apex Pro
- 12:52here in just a little bit.
- 12:54Every track that You and I want to talk to you.
- 12:56There's some drooling that goes on.
- 12:58There's something exciting about every corner.
- 13:00There's something exciting about trying to learn something new.
- 13:03At Road Atlanta, it's just exceptional.
- 13:05It's funny, having been
- 13:06on motorcycles at Road Atlanta when I was younger, and I talked to people that,
- 13:10like, say, is there a bucket list track?
- 13:13Or one that's their destination track.
- 13:14They went from there and they always talk about it was kind of scary, all
- 13:17the elevation and there's all this concrete and to me, I don't even
- 13:21think about that because that's been the place that I've been on more
- 13:24than any other track in my life.
- 13:26I love it.
- 13:26I mean, everything about that track makes me happy.
- 13:29Like he said, we're competitive.
- 13:31Imagine that people would go to the track and their cars are competitive.
- 13:34Purposely as we built them over the past, or as I built mine and he's built,
- 13:38he has them going, we've kept them as close as possible mechanically so that
- 13:43when we put them on the track, we're testing who who's, who's better that day.
- 13:47Yeah.
- 13:48So basically if you're slow that day, it's on you.
- 13:51It's not on the car.
- 13:52So
- 13:54it's always the car's fault.
- 13:56Always, always, you know, you had slightly stupid
- 13:59tires.
- 14:00Yeah, he's always a little more tread than the other guy, right?
- 14:02Maybe slower rolling resistance and all that, but you know, it's really
- 14:06funny that everybody we've talked to so far that's from the South or from the
- 14:09Southeast, you know, the bucket list tracks they talk about much to your
- 14:13point about Road Atlanta being a bucket list for folks like us and we have gone
- 14:16down there and we hope to return soon.
- 14:18We always get the I really want to go to Watkins Glen and we're
- 14:21like, Dude, I've been to walk in stud like a thousand times.
- 14:24It's not that big of a
- 14:25deal.
- 14:26Because you're naive when you start a track day company, you think you're
- 14:28going to get a whole lot of track time.
- 14:30No, you're going to give a whole lot of people track time.
- 14:33Honestly, our events Sunday afternoon, when people start packing up, and
- 14:37then generally we get a couple of good sessions on Sunday afternoon.
- 14:40That's kind of about it.
- 14:41So we have to visit other people's events.
- 14:44The things I told him early on, as I said, I would love for us to
- 14:46be in a place at some point where we can pack up the trailers and
- 14:50just take our cars to Laguna Seca.
- 14:52I mean, make two week trip out of it and go drive out there.
- 14:55There's there's so many tracks.
- 14:56There's one up the Pacific Northwest.
- 14:57I want to drive and of course.
- 14:59Oh, yeah.
- 14:59And
- 15:01that's always a surprising 1.
- 15:03I'm like.
- 15:04Georgia to V.
- 15:05I.
- 15:05R.
- 15:05Is it really that far?
- 15:07I mean, it's not that
- 15:08far.
- 15:08Um, I don't just want to drive there.
- 15:10I want to host there.
- 15:11So, yeah,
- 15:12but you know, going back to your point about hosting though, it's
- 15:15kind of like the old saying, right?
- 15:16The most miserable person at any party is the guy that's throwing it.
- 15:20Something to be said about that.
- 15:21Yeah.
- 15:22I wanted to talk about your footprint.
- 15:23So we've have heard a couple of the names of the tracks.
- 15:27That you guys go, but like how far north do you go?
- 15:30How far west?
- 15:31How far south do you do anything in Florida?
- 15:33What's max speed footprint for track days?
- 15:35It's growing . Right now we've only hosted at Rowland Road and CMP.
- 15:40Literally received the contract today for Road Atlanta, and I have.
- 15:46And we're waiting dates and contracts from Barber Motorsports Park and National
- 15:51Corvette Museum Motorsports Park.
- 15:53There was a lot of interest at this last event because we had the racing
- 15:57for ALS driver Scott Lloyd there.
- 15:59He likes to run at the hour a lot and apparently a lot of people that
- 16:02know him like to run at the hour.
- 16:03So everybody says, Yeah, that's on the radar.
- 16:08I hadn't reached out to him yet because I've been, I mean, literally, we got
- 16:10back, we just unloaded my trailer this evening before starting this podcast.
- 16:14So just got the car out of the trailer and back in the shop today.
- 16:17I'm overwhelmed and excited and happy that we have, uh.
- 16:21So
- 16:23we talked about, you know, where you guys came from and humble
- 16:26beginnings and all this and things are still have that new car smell.
- 16:29So let's talk about your guys D.
- 16:31E.
- 16:31program and expectations that a new patron of max speed would expect
- 16:37when they get there or even veterans from other organizations coming in.
- 16:41What's it like at a max speed event?
- 16:45We've learned from every event we put on.
- 16:47Like I said early on, I will listen to anybody who has something to
- 16:50tell me it has to do with the driver education industry, period.
- 16:54I don't care who they are, what piece of input they have, I'll listen.
- 16:57But we've learned through going to events, hosting events, and then some of
- 17:02the connections in the industry, we've completely revamped our DE program from
- 17:07what it was two and a half years ago.
- 17:08Our DE program starts early with students receiving the Max Speed Novice Playbook.
- 17:13And this is 2 to 3 weeks before an event.
- 17:16The novice playbook, it's a short study guide.
- 17:17It's just a few pages long, but it helps them prepare before they arrive at the
- 17:21track and includes a knowledge check that they have to complete and turn in when
- 17:27they come to their 1st classroom session.
- 17:29It covers everything from vehicle, and safety flags, corner stations, safe
- 17:34passing and point buys as well as a little bit about the tire contact patch.
- 17:39And how that changes the inputs to the vehicle and writing that
- 17:43and I didn't do it by myself.
- 17:44I bounced that off of several people that I got connected with
- 17:48through the instructor summit.
- 17:491 of them drew reigns over an apex probe.
- 17:52Very helpful in helping me craft the novice playbook and the goal is.
- 17:57To improve safety for everybody at the track when you think about showing up at
- 18:01a racetrack going through a half hour, 40 minute classroom session and now you're
- 18:06strapping into a car with an instructor to go however fast your car can go.
- 18:10It's overwhelming.
- 18:11There's a lot of information, a lot of new terms that they have to learn.
- 18:15And so sending them that information 2 weeks early and
- 18:18give them something to study.
- 18:19It brings them in well prepared and we found this out because I've
- 18:22totally revamped curriculum was just unveiled last weekend at CMV.
- 18:27And I had great feedback from instructors and students about the program.
- 18:31So that's where we begin with us.
- 18:33Like I said, it's heavily influenced and draws upon decades of knowledge brought
- 18:37together from the instructor summit and their new, it was just released the HB
- 18:42curriculum about a month ago, I guess.
- 18:44As soon as it was released, I started completely rewriting our knowledge group.
- 18:49Part of my law enforcement career, I've been teaching multiple
- 18:51disciplines since the mid 90s.
- 18:53Whether it's firearms, defensive tactics, driving, EVOC, emergency
- 18:57vehicle operations courses.
- 18:58So, I've been teaching adult students most of my adult life.
- 19:03Teaching driving is just a, you know, it's just a new lesson plan.
- 19:06Since you guys are owner operator, does that mean you're also the classroom
- 19:10instructors, as well as the CIs?
- 19:12Currently the classroom instructor, and I guess you would call me the CI as well.
- 19:17As a coordinator of our instructor cadre, I introduce the students to them.
- 19:20At that time, I do an e introduction between the students and
- 19:25instructors, the novice playbook.
- 19:27That way they can talk to their instructor for a couple weeks before they show up
- 19:30at the track, kind of get to know them.
- 19:32If there's personality conflicts that come out, we can get ahead of that and reassign
- 19:36somebody before they come to the track.
- 19:38One reason I act as our chief instructor and instructional instructor right now
- 19:41is because we haven't found somebody that can commit to our schedule yet.
- 19:44If I can find somebody that can commit to the MaxSpeed schedule, we can wrap their
- 19:48head around the whole customer service aspect that we're trying to provide.
- 19:52If it's the right person, then I will gladly give up that duty to somebody else
- 19:57that's been doing HP instruction longer.
- 19:59So I can go out and make the rounds through the paddock and be face
- 20:02to face with our customers more.
- 20:04Absolutely.
- 20:05You say you can have a sold out event and you limit the amount of
- 20:10people on track and the different run groups and everything.
- 20:12How many students do you usually have?
- 20:14And what's the student to instructor ratio?
- 20:1610 to 15 students is where I cap it at.
- 20:19And that's determined.
- 20:21A, on how many instructors I'm going to have, because for most DE groups,
- 20:25that's probably the hardest thing is to make sure that they can get a good
- 20:28cadre of instructors that will come to their events on a regular basis.
- 20:32We have a 1 to 1 student instructor ratio and generally 3 to 5 additional
- 20:37instructors that are just surplus.
- 20:40And so having a surplus is great because you inevitably need 1 that has to give
- 20:45somebody a check ride to advance or, or come to you and say, hey, this guy
- 20:49in that car did something super stupid in this turn or on that straight away.
- 20:54And then we have to go have that talk with somebody then to confirm
- 20:57whether or not it was safe or unsafe.
- 21:00We'll put an instruction to receive and then deal with whatever happens
- 21:04after that, whether it's a run group demotion or what have you.
- 21:07That's, you know, always a touchy subject, but.
- 21:09It has happened in our events and at the end of the weekend, the person
- 21:13that got demoted was actually thanking us for giving him an instructor
- 21:17and making his weekend more fun.
- 21:19So if we can accomplish that demoting somebody, then
- 21:23we're pretty happy about it.
- 21:24And he became a safer driver.
- 21:26Yes, absolutely.
- 21:29That's going to lead me into my next question about the progression model.
- 21:32You know, a novice student comes out.
- 21:35How do they progress through the different run groups?
- 21:38Up to ultimately advance and maybe even becoming an instructor themselves.
- 21:41We only run three run groups and that allows us to give everybody access
- 21:46to a lot more track time than most of the DE organizations out there.
- 21:51Well, the novice group that we have includes both novice solo and novice
- 21:54students that go out in the same group.
- 21:56We have an intermediate and advanced group.
- 21:58So with our three run groups.
- 22:00I'm currently working on putting together an intermediate and an advanced playbook
- 22:04as well, so that drivers coming in have something to manage their expectations.
- 22:09What is expected of them to advance from novice to intermediate?
- 22:13And then from intermediate to advanced, it all focuses around awareness and safety
- 22:19and individual driver technique and skill.
- 22:21But the awareness is the biggest differentiating factor between
- 22:25which run group you're going to be in, in your management of traffic.
- 22:28Just me jumping in here, Phil, I think 1 of the keys here is that we're very
- 22:31careful with who we actually allow into the different wrong groups.
- 22:35So it starts with your selection process and just really vetting
- 22:38them and just making sure that they belong in the right group.
- 22:42So that makes it easier.
- 22:43And then we have several of the instructors that we trust that
- 22:46will go and do a check off flight and that's then say, yes, they can
- 22:51agree like to go on to the next one.
- 22:53You talked earlier about limiting the size of the run groups and of the event itself.
- 22:58Do you figure that size out by the ratio of cars per mile?
- 23:02Do you have some other way of determining or do you just have a
- 23:04fixed number and say, hey, We want 20 novices and we're happy with 20.
- 23:08How do you keep your run
- 23:09group small?
- 23:10It does go somewhat by the length of the track and also the configuration.
- 23:14So at Roebling road, which is 1.
- 23:1754 miles or something, we want that to 30 people per run group, period,
- 23:21novices, medium, and experienced.
- 23:22At CMP, we were at 35 per run group of being 2.
- 23:2624 mile track.
- 23:27At DIR, we might allow as many as 40.
- 23:30You know, I don't think I would put any more than that on any track anywhere.
- 23:34That would be my limit.
- 23:35But it is based on track length and configuration.
- 23:37you have some tracks at amp.
- 23:39Atlanta Motorsports Park.
- 23:40It's a great track.
- 23:41You can't put more than 30 people on there.
- 23:43It's just too technical.
- 23:44There's not enough long passing zones.
- 23:47And so we would limit that to 30 people as well.
- 23:49Gotcha.
- 23:50So in addition to that, you've got the coaches peppered throughout
- 23:54the three different run groups.
- 23:55They can run wherever they like.
- 23:56Yeah, our instructors can run in any group that they want to, but I've yet
- 24:01to have an instructor hold up traffic.
- 24:03Yeah, I'm going to have an instructor, you know, somebody come over and go, Hey,
- 24:07that instructor was holding me up all.
- 24:08Yeah, I guess this question goes back to earlier about, you
- 24:12know, students and instructors.
- 24:13Is there anything right now that we should know about with respect
- 24:16to this post code would world any special rules or anything like that?
- 24:20We don't enforce rules any stricter than whatever region or state
- 24:25or county that we're hosting in.
- 24:28And it's changed from county to county, but our overall.
- 24:32Recommendation is that our attendees assess their own level
- 24:35level risk, follow CDC guidelines.
- 24:38We provide these guidelines with our information packets prior to the
- 24:41events and any venue specific guidance on COVID is relayed with our final
- 24:46pre event email to our customers.
- 24:48We do and have since we did our first COVID affected event, I guess we kind
- 24:53of got lucky because we only had one event on the books in 2020 and it
- 24:58was in August and it was at in June.
- 25:01The governor here kind of opened up the state and local places to do what you
- 25:06think is right in your particular county.
- 25:08We were able to get through that pretty unscathed and host an
- 25:11event in August at road and road.
- 25:13We did have sanitizing stations in various places.
- 25:17So we put out hand sanitizer and instead of like, in our 1st event,
- 25:21when we had coffee and pastries, we actually went and got donuts
- 25:24from Dr donuts and they were fresh.
- 25:26Everything was prepackaged, um, and it has continued to stay
- 25:29prepackaged for multiple reasons.
- 25:31We found that it was easier that way too, but it's safer and cleaner, you
- 25:35know, we'd also like food that people can start with this prepackaged.
- 25:39Hand sanitizing, recommending masks, if you can't maintain social distance,
- 25:44if you're indoors, especially as far as the instructors and students, they
- 25:47can determine what, what level of risk you have with a full face helmet on
- 25:50sitting next next to somebody in a car.
- 25:52So, we don't do lead follow and I just wouldn't do it just based on
- 25:57my experience with what I said, the instructor summit and knowing and
- 26:01bouncing ideas off so many instructors, especially some that were forced to
- 26:04do lead follow in some organizations.
- 26:07And then they come back from it and they realize, well, that student
- 26:11didn't quite get as much quality information and coaching as he could
- 26:15have if he'd had a new structure in the car and could affect safety and
- 26:19it's not something that we want to do.
- 26:21We want it.
- 26:21We want to get as possible.
- 26:22So we're going to do in car and I think we're getting really
- 26:24close to having enough vaccine in this country for everybody.
- 26:27So hopefully it will be behind us by summertime and we can all go back to
- 26:32enjoying our hobby the way we used to.
- 26:33We talked about instructing a little bit and the DE program so far, you
- 26:37know, both Brad and I are coaches.
- 26:39We've gone through a multitude of different certification
- 26:41processes, et cetera.
- 26:43So we're always interested and we're always asking on the behalf of all of
- 26:46our friends that are coaches, what's it like to coach with max speed?
- 26:50What are you looking for in a coach?
- 26:52What are the requirements to come to you guys for the first time and say,
- 26:55Hey, I've been to road Atlanta 10 times.
- 26:57Can I come coach for you?
- 26:58What's involved in that process?
- 27:00Like I said earlier, I got invited to go to the instructor summit.
- 27:03I drove around the expo, or actually he introduced me to Eric Meyer and then,
- 27:08you know, that community is once you get in there, and I actually went to the
- 27:12instructor summit in December of 2019 here at Atlanta and a whole lot of the
- 27:19other principles of different companies here in the Southeast as well as.
- 27:24Awesome instructors with some that I've known from coming up through the
- 27:27DE ranks myself, and then I really wrap my arms around the instructor
- 27:32summit and the information they provide because I'm kind of like a sponge.
- 27:35I'll, I'll, I'll learn anything from anywhere.
- 27:38So, as part of that process, Brendan and I have both started our MSF Level
- 27:431 goal to become MSF Level 2 certified.
- 27:46And then ultimately, I'm working with the Scott Elkins right now about
- 27:50getting max speed certified to run our own MSF Level 2 instructor curriculum
- 27:56course so that we can bring people from novice to intermediate to advanced
- 27:59and then straight on into instructing should they desire to do that.
- 28:02Everything's based on information brought down from the instructor summit.
- 28:05As far as people coming to instruct with us.
- 28:07If they got an instructor certification from another Organization, if it's
- 28:12PCA or BMW, or NASA, SCCA, whatever, if they've got something like that
- 28:18from another organization, we'll allow them to instruct for us.
- 28:22I know some people that don't have instructor certification
- 28:25that are competitive racers and have competition licenses.
- 28:29that are probably better at relaying that information to
- 28:32some of the instructors, I know.
- 28:33So we do have some competitive racers that also assist with our instruction.
- 28:36Very cool.
- 28:37Well, that's good to know.
- 28:37And it's always nice to have reciprocity because a lot of us
- 28:41as coaches do invest time in going through these certification processes.
- 28:44So we want to make sure that they're accepted in other places.
- 28:47And obviously, you know, nationally recognized programs like NASA and
- 28:50SCCA, they carry a lot of weight, you know, along with Uh, all the
- 28:54other ones that are out there.
- 28:54So that's good to know.
- 28:55I'm happy to know that you guys are welcoming us with open arms.
- 29:00So if I'm ready to come out to a track day and I want to come drive
- 29:03with max speed, how do I do that?
- 29:05Where do I find you all?
- 29:06How do I find your calendar?
- 29:08Obviously HPD junkie.
- 29:09I'm sure.
- 29:10Well, are there other places, your website and things like that?
- 29:13And then how do I register?
- 29:15I would say the best way to find us is by visiting our website, speedtrackdays.
- 29:19com.
- 29:20If you go there, the very first thing you'll see on the homepage
- 29:23is a register for events button.
- 29:25Click it, it drops you down to our events calendar.
- 29:28Once you're there, each event has a description, how much it's
- 29:32going to cost, where it's going to be, the date, time, etc.
- 29:35And once you click register here, that takes you to clubregistration.
- 29:39net, which is who we use for our registration platform.
- 29:42We also list events on motorsports.
- 29:45They allow, of course, the calendar listing, even if you don't use
- 29:47their registration services.
- 29:48So we're, and then HPDEjump.
- 29:51com has virtually every track in North America.
- 29:53So I'm just there as well.
- 29:55So you mentioned you've got three run groups.
- 29:58So what does that equate to for average session length?
- 30:01What's the average weekend or day cost?
- 30:04And then I guess the dollars per session, dollars per track time.
- 30:09How's that all play out?
- 30:10At all of our events, our current full weekend events.
- 30:14We're supposed to have access to six hours of track time over the weekend.
- 30:17It's a lot of track.
- 30:18Most, most people don't hang out for the second half of Sunday.
- 30:21But yeah, so everybody gets six 30 minute run sessions or
- 30:25run group sessions per day.
- 30:26They're spaced out with three run groups for, so you run for 30 minutes, you get
- 30:30an hour to chill out and relax, and then you're back on the track for 30 minutes.
- 30:34Total cost for our most recent event at CMP was $450, and
- 30:38uh, that's a full weekend.
- 30:39That equals a per session price of 37 50 or a buck 25 a minute, which we
- 30:45kind of think is pretty great value for our customers tracking dollars.
- 30:49I think that's the most accurate breakdown we've ever gotten on the show.
- 30:52So thank you for that.
- 30:54I was like, that's also the lengthiest amount of track
- 30:57time for a weekend as well.
- 30:58That is very true.
- 30:59Six hours is a lot of track time.
- 31:01It's definitely the longest we've heard.
- 31:02It's part of, it's on our website
- 31:04too, all of these things that we put out into the public space, whether it's
- 31:07through social media or on our website or whatever, our goal is to provide
- 31:11the very best track time and driver education in the HPD industry, period.
- 31:15And we're young and new, but that is our goal.
- 31:18Every day.
- 31:19Brendan is invaluable as an advisor in a business mind.
- 31:24The fact that we started 2.
- 31:255 years ago, and we've only run 4 events.
- 31:28I'm always looking three years down the road.
- 31:30Where do we position ourselves in the market so that we can give our service?
- 31:35We like thinking we provide a service and we're privileged to be able to do it.
- 31:39So bring these people together, give them a good safe environment
- 31:42to go out and enjoy the racetrack.
- 31:43And then on top of that, encourage that camaraderie and that friendliness in the
- 31:47paddock and in the hospitality pavilion.
- 31:49We like seeing smiling faces at our events.
- 31:52And we just want to keep bringing that to the public.
- 31:55So you've got smiling faces on the other side of a laptop on your website,
- 31:59getting ready to register for either CMP, Roeblood Road or Road Atlanta,
- 32:03which is what I've heard so far.
- 32:05So what comes next?
- 32:07Are we doing tech?
- 32:08You talked about the playbook, doing some e learning type stuff
- 32:11up front, which is really cool.
- 32:13How do we get from, I click the button and put in my credit card
- 32:16number to my first session out on track, what happens in between?
- 32:19We don't inspect.
- 32:21Our participants cars for a couple of reasons, but mainly that
- 32:25responsibility is left to them or a mechanic of their choosing.
- 32:27They must sign off on our tech form and waiver certifying that they have
- 32:31inspected all the items we list on our tech form and waiver, making sure
- 32:35that they're safe and to assure their vehicles safe for high speed driving.
- 32:39It just goes back to in the past, it's better to put that onus of
- 32:42responsibility on the customer.
- 32:44For me to say, I don't know what every single vehicle on the planet requires, you
- 32:48know, where, where the, where this is on that, or what that is on a different car.
- 32:53They bring us the tech form.
- 32:54They say, yep, it's ready to go.
- 32:55And if it breaks, it's on, we let them go with that.
- 32:58It also allows us to not spend an hour Every morning, the cars, so it's a, it's
- 33:05a time saver, which allows us to put the 6 hours of time on in the weekend.
- 33:10As long as they sign off and run.
- 33:12That's right.
- 33:13And I know 1 thing is for certain.
- 33:14If you are leaking blinker fluid, you have a problem.
- 33:18Oh, absolutely.
- 33:20You know, we talked about the registration process.
- 33:21We talked about tech and things like that, you know, safety is paramount.
- 33:25It's something that it's the front of everybody's mind, but it's also the thing
- 33:28that keeps most people from coming out to events like this and the other thing is
- 33:32usually, well, I don't have the right car.
- 33:34Well, you know, many people have said, run what you brung and
- 33:38you're going to have a blast.
- 33:39So we can just kind of discount that from the word go, but it's
- 33:42always the other side of it is.
- 33:43Well, I can run what I brung, but I need to make sure I'm
- 33:46covered in some shape or form.
- 33:48If something suddenly happens, like this is my daily driver, I can't
- 33:51afford to wreck it, you know, whatever.
- 33:53And then suddenly a few years back, the idea of track insurance was born,
- 33:58you know, thanks to folks like Lockton and Haggerty and so on down the line.
- 34:01So we want to get your opinion as an organizer about.
- 34:05How you feel about track insurance?
- 34:07Do you recommend it?
- 34:08And if you do, is it part of your registration process or do you have a
- 34:12recommended track insurance partner that you tell people that they should look
- 34:15into before coming to a max speed event?
- 34:18I think it all starts with the attitude of the organizers for safety.
- 34:24I think it comes down to the quality of the instructors and the mindset that
- 34:28you have with your instructors for the students, for the classroom sessions.
- 34:32So there's an overall kind of an atmosphere or a mood that
- 34:36comes down from the top down.
- 34:38And I think one of the most critical things that we put an emphasis on that
- 34:42maybe we didn't see with some of the other groups that we've like participated
- 34:45in is how do you deal with issues?
- 34:48How do you deal with problems?
- 34:49If there is a driver in a particular run group that's causing issues
- 34:52and problems, what is the best way to deal with that situation?
- 34:55And we take it seriously because we want quality.
- 34:58We want everyone else to have fun.
- 35:00And there's a way that you can solve issues without causing a major issue.
- 35:04And I think it's the way that it gets dealt with.
- 35:06Being as new as we are, we don't
- 35:07have any partners per se.
- 35:10We have, the way that I look at it, the way that we look at it is that we
- 35:13recommend that each attendee research the market based on the vehicle's
- 35:16value and what level of financial risk they're comfortable with before
- 35:19they put their vehicle on the track.
- 35:20You know, that's just solid advice.
- 35:23He and I both drive 20 year old Miatas and if I total it, I will
- 35:27drag it back from one of the trailer.
- 35:28I'll buy a new tub next week and I'll put all my goodies on it
- 35:31and I'll go back to the track.
- 35:32I had the GT3 probably doesn't feel the same way.
- 35:35You know, they might want to come out and get track insurance.
- 35:38Uh, we make it known that it's available.
- 35:41To our customers, but we don't require it.
- 35:43We don't recommend a particular provider.
- 35:46We do at least give them the idea that this is available.
- 35:49If you're concerned about your track.
- 35:51The other thing you pointed out at the beginning of that question was.
- 35:54Safety, I think a lot of people don't recognize how safe it
- 35:58actually is part of a track day.
- 36:01And explore its limits and your, your limits as a driver, if you're going
- 36:05to do that, do it on track where, you know, if you lose it, there's,
- 36:09you know, sand pits and tire barriers and things designed to keep you safe.
- 36:14Should you happen to have it off plus the fact that the road of safety
- 36:17achieved by everybody going in the same direction under the same rules.
- 36:24It is truly safer on track because of the gear we use, the training we have,
- 36:29the environment itself, then these folks that are running around on the
- 36:33major highways at triple digit speeds, weaving in and out of cars, there's a
- 36:36higher probability of something happening on the street in a fluke occurrence
- 36:41that somebody is not paying attention.
- 36:42They're not situationally aware, all these kinds of things.
- 36:44I mean, we could wax both ways.
- 36:45Poetic about this for probably an entire another episode.
- 36:48Although I think we've already done that before.
- 36:50So the idea there is, is to remind people again, that in a lot of motor sports and
- 36:55all the disciplines that we've talked about on this show, HPDE, along with a lot
- 37:00of others is some of the safest out there.
- 37:03And the skills that you learn at a DE are second to none.
- 37:07They're not like anything you would have.
- 37:09Learn in driver's ed or anything like that.
- 37:11And I think it, it pays people dividends to come and learn what a car can really
- 37:16do and learn to not be afraid of it.
- 37:19It's a tool.
- 37:21It's not an appliance, right?
- 37:22That's always my big thing.
- 37:24And you need to learn how to.
- 37:25to use that tool appropriately and DE is the right place to do it.
- 37:29Have you thought about with max speed doing some sort of tie in
- 37:34with street survival and with like teenage defensive driving and kind
- 37:38of using that as a way to curate and bring people up into the HPDE hobby?
- 37:45I have.
- 37:45I've actually spoken with Ron Z.
- 37:47He's on the board at Atlanta Motorsports Park.
- 37:50Atlanta Motorsports Park has a very good teenage driving course
- 37:53that they put on at their facility.
- 37:55And it is something that we've discussed that Max Speed might eventually
- 37:59sponsor something like that at Atlanta Motorsports Park for just that purpose.
- 38:03Hasn't come to fruition yet as we've been busy getting the ball rolling
- 38:07and getting our name out there and getting a customer base that, I mean,
- 38:10obviously we keep selling out events.
- 38:12It'll allow us the flexibility to spend resources elsewhere on things
- 38:17like that that aren't necessarily.
- 38:18They're not going to make your money back for the day, but they're going to
- 38:20help you give back to young drivers and.
- 38:24And honestly, anybody that comes to an HPD, not only are they going to learn
- 38:28great skills, I believe they're going to leave a safer driver on the street.
- 38:33Because once you have driven your car at speed on a racetrack, there's
- 38:37no way you can duplicate any of that on mountain road or anything
- 38:40with the level of safety involved.
- 38:42And I find a lot of people that leave HPDs.
- 38:44They talk about, you know, I can't even speak on the street anymore.
- 38:47Let's talk about other services that MaxSpeed offers that our
- 38:52listeners may not be familiar with.
- 38:53Those that are already comfortable with DEs, you know, have an
- 38:56idea of what they should expect.
- 38:58What's something else that really stands out about MaxSpeed?
- 39:01One of the things early on, like I said, I Raines, who was one of the founders
- 39:07of the KX Pro, a digital driving coach.
- 39:10Through that relationship and bouncing ideas off of him about what
- 39:14he thought the HPVE industry needed.
- 39:17What could he help us bring to the market?
- 39:19We became retailer for or dealer rather for Apex Pro.
- 39:23Brendan and I use it all the time to compare our own data because
- 39:27we're in such similar cars.
- 39:29If 1 of us has a session and, you know, we're 3 or 4 pence faster than the other
- 39:331, we will sit down in the paddock and take out our phones and we will literally
- 39:38overlay data and look at who was, you know, okay, you carried X amounts
- 39:42of speed for this corner versus me.
- 39:44What am I doing?
- 39:44So, we use that to help us become better drivers and then
- 39:47we share it with our customers.
- 39:49And once you get out of the novice ranks and you're really, you know, you're
- 39:52an intermediate or advanced driver and you're trying to shave tenths of a second,
- 39:56you need something to help you do that.
- 39:58Some sort of driver aid.
- 39:59And I just really like the Apex Pro platform.
- 40:01So, uh, we carry that.
- 40:03We carry a lot of products to support the platform.
- 40:05We have hosted Data and Donuts event here in our Max Speed Garage Club.
- 40:09We invited people in that didn't even use an Apex Pro.
- 40:13Using any into, so whatever they use to, to gather data racers and.
- 40:18HPD folks, it didn't matter what data platform they used, data is the same.
- 40:23It's just how you gather it and then how it's represented back to you.
- 40:26You can use a laptop or computer, or can you do it on your phone or an iPad?
- 40:30Screen we put up, we show them a speed trace, we explain to them
- 40:33what's going on at the top and the bottom of the speed trace.
- 40:36How you can actually look at a speed trace and say, Oh, I know what racetrack
- 40:40that is, based on the speed trace.
- 40:42Because you know where your high points and your low points are.
- 40:44Like I said, very heavily involved with the Apex Pro.
- 40:47And helping drivers use better their driving skills.
- 40:52So several times you've mentioned the garage club.
- 40:54Then I also noticed by looking at your website, there's something
- 40:57known as the max rewards program.
- 40:59Do you want to unpack both of those for us?
- 41:01The many things that we do, you know, encompasses the difference.
- 41:06Is our max rewards program.
- 41:07We understand that people have a choice and where they spend their dollar.
- 41:12There's a lot of providers out here.
- 41:13And honestly, the biggest thing now is good viable dates.
- 41:17At racetracks, we need more asphalt.
- 41:20We came up with a, a loyalty program basically.
- 41:23So, the max rewards program gives our customers 10 percent cash back
- 41:27on every dollar they spend with us.
- 41:29So they spend money with us when they accumulate a 1000 points.
- 41:33We send them a 100.
- 41:35Max Rewards Visa gift cards and just to choose here at CMP last weekend
- 41:40during our drivers meeting, we gave out three and some of those points
- 41:45that's not just on the next can earn points by buying an apex pro through
- 41:49our website or buying accessories or any track day purchases for HPV or any
- 41:54purchases made through our website.
- 41:56Our customers can accumulate max rewards points.
- 41:59That's our max rewards.
- 42:00And the garage club, the garage club, I think that was his fault.
- 42:05This, this whole thing was his fault because he's the one that swayed me
- 42:09away from having a septic tank company, you know, clean up crap right now.
- 42:15So, uh, but basically he lives in a neighborhood where they won't allow you
- 42:19to park your race car in the driveway.
- 42:22And.
- 42:23He had his race car and, or his race car, his HP or he's, he's parked in the
- 42:28storage place over here around the corner.
- 42:30His tools were all in the garage.
- 42:32So the garage started a place for us to get our cars, tools, go karts,
- 42:37golf carts, and other things out of our lives garages and we rented a,
- 42:42it's about 1800 square foot shop.
- 42:44It's a one mile from the front entrance of road Atlanta.
- 42:48We moved our tools and our cars in and started meeting on the weekends
- 42:51to work on our track day cars.
- 42:53Then as often happens, we decided to have a lift because we're old and I
- 42:58don't want to crawl underneath my car.
- 42:59So we bought a lift and we installed a lift since we both have full time jobs and
- 43:04we weren't using the place much, except on the weekends, we thought, you know, we
- 43:06got to put some buddies to do this too.
- 43:08And so we invited them over and.
- 43:10And essentially our buddies and track day friends and stuff like that
- 43:14joined the club or started using them.
- 43:16And so we, we just kind of split the room amongst ourselves.
- 43:19And well, we didn't at 1st, it was can we do this?
- 43:22Is it legal?
- 43:23More research due diligence insurance?
- 43:25Uh, how do we take care of that?
- 43:27What kind of liabilities involved got all those pieces
- 43:30of the puzzle figured out and.
- 43:31And the Maxpeed Garage Club was formed.
- 43:33So right now, it's just a few of our friends and us and
- 43:36we basically split the rent.
- 43:38But as soon as I retire from the feds and devote 100 percent of my time to this
- 43:43endeavor, the Maxpeed Garage Club will be exploding, expanding, put it that way.
- 43:49We'll be looking for other spaces and offer vehicle storage,
- 43:53full service mechanic work.
- 43:55As well as the opportunity for people that want to do self service mechanic
- 43:59work to be able to utilize a lift and tools and such that will have
- 44:03that's going to grow as soon as I can.
- 44:05Give it 100 percent of
- 44:05my time.
- 44:06We stage out of here as well.
- 44:08When we do a track day at like Rhode Atlanta, um, you know, there's a lounge
- 44:13area here that has an air conditioner and a heater and a refrigerator and
- 44:17it's just a comfortable place with several couches just to, uh, just to
- 44:20spend some time like between runs at
- 44:23when we're, when we're not, when we're not hosting, if we're spending, if we're
- 44:27going to something, you go to somebody's track day, in August and it's 100
- 44:32outside, you can sit around the paddock in some shade or pull off the track.
- 44:36We drive one mile down the street, pull into our garage, hop out, go
- 44:40into the air conditioned lounge.
- 44:42Have a nice cold water, compare data, sit around for an hour and 20 minutes.
- 44:46And then we jump in our cars, put our hands and helmets on and we're
- 44:49driving right back to the restaurant.
- 44:51Nice.
- 44:52It's pretty convenient for that.
- 44:54So Phil and Brendan, as we wrap up the segment here, you know, we always want to
- 44:57give people the opportunity to thank their sponsors, shout out to different people.
- 45:01So now's your chance.
- 45:03We don't have any actual sponsors.
- 45:06We are open to have some, if anybody wants to come, you know, do some or
- 45:09something, we'd be down for that.
- 45:11We have a lot of great mutual agreements and like mutual promotion
- 45:14agreements and, and mutual promotion things in place with people.
- 45:18You mentioned him earlier in the, in the show, and we are friends.
- 45:21Dave Peters from HPE Junkie.
- 45:23Like I said, he, he lists virtually every track day in North America, but he has
- 45:27been a huge resource in helping us get MaxFeed launched as far as the format
- 45:32that we put out and, and the whole.
- 45:35Touchpoint feel that you get if you come to a max speed event,
- 45:38Dave's been part of helping us craft that and put that in place.
- 45:42Andrew rains at apex pro once again, invaluable resource when we were
- 45:46just when this was just a concept.
- 45:49And, uh, of course, we, we are an apex pro dealer through that relationship.
- 45:52So racing for ALS, Scott Lloyd, he was at our most recent event, and we actually
- 45:58have a friend, a personal friend who has a shop right here across from us.
- 46:02Who's wife recently got a very, uh, ALS diagnosis.
- 46:06So having them there, having her there, it's been a great relationship.
- 46:10And so we want to help raise awareness.
- 46:12So,
- 46:12you know,
- 46:13shout out to Racing for ALS and them.
- 46:14Carl and Sylvia Metz run Toby Anna's Guardian Angel Rescue,
- 46:18a 501c3 that rescues dogs all through the Carolinas and Georgia.
- 46:22They've just been really good friends.
- 46:22He's helped promote us a ton.
- 46:24He knows.
- 46:25He's been doing this hobby for 30 years and racing champ car and lemons.
- 46:29And you can get it.
- 46:30So they run that rescue.
- 46:31And as part of it, we do a touring lap segment where we
- 46:35raise money for their charity.
- 46:37And he's got a multi thousand dollar bill every month.
- 46:39So, so we do what we can to help them out.
- 46:42Last but not least, Anika Carter of Anika's Racing.
- 46:44She was big on social media for us early on to help get the word out.
- 46:48Ron Zagdorf.
- 46:50Discovery Parts, Ethan Jew, Violence Racing in Savannah, Georgia, and
- 46:54Michael Gallagher is the president of Power Dynamics Consulting and a
- 46:59NASA racer who runs late model stuff.
- 47:01He and his wife, who owns Violent HD, were huge in promoting us around
- 47:06Roebling, which, like you said earlier, we don't really have a home track,
- 47:09but we have been there three times.
- 47:11We love hosting there and those people down in that region
- 47:14have helped us tremendously.
- 47:16So shout out to all of those people.
- 47:18We appreciate your help.
- 47:19So Brendan and Phil, I got to commend you guys for jumping into this market,
- 47:24you know, stick, sticking your necks out there and, and trying something
- 47:27new and Setting yourselves up for retirement in this world of HPD.
- 47:30It's a very rewarding one.
- 47:32It's very educational one.
- 47:33I think you guys are on the right track.
- 47:35You're doing all the right things, checking all the right boxes, and we wish
- 47:38you the best of luck in this endeavor.
- 47:40And we want to see where you are next season and the
- 47:42season after that, and so on.
- 47:44And we'll see you guys.
- 47:44We're looking forward to coming and joining one of your
- 47:46events here in the near future.
- 47:47So we'll be keeping an eye on your schedule.
- 47:49And for those of you that are listening, if you want more information
- 47:53on max speed track days, remember to visit max speed track days.
- 47:57com or follow them on Facebook and Instagram at max speed track days.
- 48:02Or if you want to get ahold of Phil and Brendan use their online contact
- 48:06us form on their website as a special note for all of our listeners.
- 48:12Anyone that subscribes to the Mac Speed newsletter, those folks are
- 48:16automatically entered to win a free track weekend, 100 visa gift card or
- 48:23other merchandise, swag, et cetera, just for following Mac Speeds progress
- 48:29along the way on this epic journey that they've taken on in the HBDE world.
- 48:34So I can't thank you guys enough for coming on the show, sharing your story,
- 48:38getting people to know you better.
- 48:39And again, we wish you the best of luck.
- 48:41Eric, Brad, we want to thank you for giving us the opportunity, helping
- 48:45us spread the word about Maxpeed.
- 48:46And we would love to chat more, say a year, 18 months down the road and see,
- 48:51see where that vision is taking us.
- 48:53We want to see you guys at VIR.
- 48:56Hundred percent.
- 48:58I want to see us at the hour as well.
- 49:05That's right.
- 49:06Listeners.
- 49:06If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our Patreon for
- 49:10a follow on pit stop, mini sowed.
- 49:14So check that out on www.
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- 49:21scenes content from this episode and more.
- 49:25If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about GTM,
- 49:28be sure to check us out on www.
- 49:32gtmotorsports.
- 49:32org.
- 49:33You can also find us on Motorsports.
- 49:36Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, You can call
- 49:40or text us at 202 630 1770, or send us an email at crewchief at gtmotorsports.
- 49:48org.
- 49:48We'd love to hear from you.
- 49:50Hey everybody, Crew Chief Eric here.
- 49:53We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted
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