Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / NHRA's newest phenom: Jordan DaCosta
Transcript
- 0:00Break Fix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all
- 0:05over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors,
- 0:09designers, and everything in between.
- 0:11Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder to.
- 0:16How did they get that job or become that person?
- 0:19The road to Success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
- 0:27We return to the world of drag racing with Jordan DaCosta, an 18-year-old drag
- 0:31racing phenom from Bradenton, Florida with an unwavering passion for Motorsport.
- 0:36Currently piloting a nitrous powered s. 10 Jordan competes in major Florida
- 0:40national events showcasing his exceptional talent and determination on the track.
- 0:45His journey doesn't stop there.
- 0:47Jordan recently announced a future in the NHRA as a professional
- 0:51driver with the prestigious Bishops Motor Sports Pro sportsman team.
- 0:55That's right.
- 0:56And joining me tonight is returning guest two time NHRA Drag racing and champion
- 1:01Megan Meyer, who you might remember from our panel episode earlier this spring.
- 1:05So welcome back to the show, Megan.
- 1:06Thank you.
- 1:07And with that, let's welcome Jordan to break fix.
- 1:09Hello everyone.
- 1:10How are you guys?
- 1:11All right, Jordan, it's tradition on this show that everybody starts out with a
- 1:15superhero origin story, but in this case, we're at the origin of your origin story.
- 1:20So tell us about the who, what, when and where of you, how did
- 1:24you get involved in Motorsport?
- 1:25Did you come from a racing family?
- 1:27What drew you in?
- 1:27You've only been doing this for about two seasons now?
- 1:30Yeah, I'm on my second season now.
- 1:31We just ended here in Florida 'cause it's actually different than the NHRA.
- 1:36But it started out I was pretty young.
- 1:38Used to go drag racing with my dad.
- 1:40He raced a stick shift car.
- 1:42We lived in, uh, long Island, New York, so we'd have to travel
- 1:44four hours to go to every race.
- 1:46I remember, you know, when I was little, painting the underbody of
- 1:49the car, cutting out the front end, putting a tube front end in it.
- 1:53Every winter we would switch the turbo, do twin turbo, set up single turbo.
- 1:58And then we made the move to Florida and we just so happened to be able
- 2:02to find a property five minutes away from Bradenton Motorsports Park.
- 2:06I got my first square body, S 10.
- 2:09I started doing test and tune events every single Thursday.
- 2:12To really just learn and it, it was a ten second truck, I felt ready to start doing
- 2:18events there at Bradenton, we were able to find another S 10 that was faster.
- 2:23I could do like a nine 50 index in it and then still progress as
- 2:27I grew as a driver and learn more.
- 2:29So I started doing that, and then I didn't really take it as serious.
- 2:33I just did it as a hobby and then.
- 2:35All of a sudden I met Mr. West Buck at Drug Illustrated and he gave me a lot
- 2:40of great advice and so did Kevin Canto, which is now one of my business managers,
- 2:45and helps me a lot today with everything.
- 2:48And I started getting sponsors about a season I. After starting,
- 2:53you know, you brought me back to the Fast and Furious Vin Diesel.
- 2:56You owe me a ten second car.
- 2:58You know, that kind of thing.
- 2:59It sounds like your transition from making it a hobby to a profession was
- 3:03pretty quick, and it sounds like you had a plan underneath of you, and you've
- 3:07got some people helping you along.
- 3:09So what were some of the challenges to getting to this point?
- 3:11Now you're signing with the team, and we're gonna talk about
- 3:14that more as we go along here.
- 3:15What did you discover along the way?
- 3:17Is it as easy as people make it out to be, to get into Motorsport?
- 3:20Or have you faced with some issues?
- 3:22No, it's not easy at all.
- 3:24I'm sure Megan can agree with that.
- 3:26Doing it for so many years.
- 3:28I knew it wasn't going to be easy.
- 3:29I knew it was going to cost me a lot of time, and you know,
- 3:34I fully was dedicated to it.
- 3:36I still am.
- 3:37I'm a very driven person.
- 3:38I've always been a natural leader.
- 3:40I've always been hardworking.
- 3:41I've been working since I was 14, so I, I knew that if I.
- 3:45Kept going, even though I didn't see the results in the beginning right
- 3:49away, that I could get to this point.
- 3:51I'm a big vision person.
- 3:53I could vision myself 10 years from now and I'm big on that.
- 3:56And you know, just to get to where I am today, I never really thought
- 4:00it would've happened, but I've envisioned it a year ago today.
- 4:04It's definitely a challenge, that's for sure.
- 4:06But I try to keep my head high and keep pushing and keep doing what I'm doing.
- 4:10I'm always evolving and learning and changing new
- 4:12things on the business side on.
- 4:14The mechanic side and everything in between.
- 4:16My whole program for our listeners out there who are keeping up with all the
- 4:20different personalities that we have on here, we recently had another young
- 4:24and up and coming driver who's working through carting to get to imsa and he
- 4:27talked about the struggle about balancing school at a young age with driving.
- 4:32Yeah.
- 4:32Here you are at 18.
- 4:33The last two years.
- 4:34Drag racing now into NHRA.
- 4:36How are you striking a balance between school and work?
- 4:39Yeah, so this year I actually switched to online.
- 4:42It just worked out better because of my schedule here in Florida.
- 4:45You know, I'm, I go to races from Wednesday or Thursday
- 4:49all the way to Sunday.
- 4:50I was always out of school when I was in 11th grade.
- 4:53You know, this year I did online and I was able to actually finish my whole
- 4:57year's worth of work before my season even started here in Florida in two months.
- 5:02So I've been done since September and I've been fully focused on
- 5:07the business side during the day.
- 5:09And then I have a job at night where I work in my dad's shop
- 5:13and then racing on the weekends.
- 5:14So I've been fully into this, you know, for about a year now,
- 5:18like just totally dedicated to building my name and progressing
- 5:22as a driver and business person.
- 5:24I wanna go back to what you just said about visioning leadership,
- 5:27the business side of racing.
- 5:28'cause I know firsthand that it is.
- 5:30So important to really work on the business side of it.
- 5:34Not all racers realize that you do need to treat your career like
- 5:37it's a business and not just, Hey, I wanna go drive a race car.
- 5:41'cause it's fun.
- 5:41So when you're not behind the wheel and now that you're, you're done with
- 5:45school, can you tell us more about.
- 5:47What you are doing on the business side, and then also what you do
- 5:50to stay sharp for racing, for your driving and, and especially now
- 5:54that you're gonna be stepping up.
- 5:55Yeah, so my day to day I like to send about a hundred to 150 emails a day to
- 6:03companies, preferably COOs, CFOs, you know, people, um, on the marketing side
- 6:08of, you know, the bigger companies.
- 6:09Now that I need a larger amount of funding, I'm finding myself needing
- 6:13to find those bigger companies.
- 6:15Not so much the local ones anymore.
- 6:17So I, I send up the one 50 a day and I actually find those companies based off
- 6:22of, I'll be driving around and I just see this company, I think about it, I'll
- 6:26write it in my notes and that's how I go.
- 6:28I watch nascar.
- 6:29I watch F1.
- 6:30I see who's sponsoring other sports.
- 6:31And also a big thing I think you've also talked about on your social
- 6:35media is you don't really want the companies that are already in the sport,
- 6:39you want the ones that are outside.
- 6:41'cause those are the ones.
- 6:42That have the funding, that have the pockets to be able to help you
- 6:46and to even just bring them into the sport and just doing that, you
- 6:50bring a new fan into the sport.
- 6:51So that's also our goal too, to bring new fans in.
- 6:54So that's something I've been focusing on my day to day, and it's a lot of fun.
- 6:58You get a lot more, no answers than not even knows.
- 7:02But you know, out of a hundred maybe you'll get three people that answer you.
- 7:06You can get some meetings set up.
- 7:07I've had some good meetings so far, so it's pretty exciting.
- 7:10The opportunity is definitely what excites me the most.
- 7:13Thinking about, you know, what the potential could be with X company.
- 7:17Yeah, yeah.
- 7:18Well, and sharing that vision is so important.
- 7:19And going back to what you said.
- 7:21I like to tell racers like, it's like imagine you have a a pizza or like a pie.
- 7:26If you're going after a company that already is sponsoring people
- 7:30in motorsports, you're just taking a smaller piece of that pie instead
- 7:34of bringing a whole nother dish to the table exactly like what you said.
- 7:39So I'm so glad that you understand that.
- 7:41And even the fact you had mentioned you might get more, no responses
- 7:44than nos, but just that experience.
- 7:47Of that repetition of sending them out, learning what to say, you know,
- 7:51I'm, I'm sure you're changing it every time because you're learning
- 7:54what works and what doesn't work.
- 7:55And even just the fact that like if you do get a no, that's still like a
- 7:59step in the right direction because it does help you learn those losses
- 8:03help you get closer to your win.
- 8:05And, and you're definitely well known within the drag racing world
- 8:09because you do stand out because.
- 8:10Not very many racers in our world are putting in the work that you
- 8:15do to get your name out there.
- 8:16Thank you.
- 8:17So that's why when I heard from Chris Bishop that you're gonna be joining
- 8:20the team, it's like, oh, that's a no brainer, because you've just been doing
- 8:23so much work to get your name out there.
- 8:26Congratulations.
- 8:27Thank you on that and I'm very excited to follow you.
- 8:30So I do wanna talk about how have you seen the sport change since you first
- 8:35started and the fact that you have raced, you went from New York to Florida,
- 8:39have you seen it change very much?
- 8:41And then also where do you think it's going in the future?
- 8:44I've seen it change a good amount.
- 8:46You know, it's more focused on the social media now, not so much.
- 8:50As what it used to be years ago and just driving.
- 8:52There's so much more marketing partners needed nowadays because
- 8:56everything just has rising in price.
- 8:59Even you see in nascar, they have new sponsors every single weekend.
- 9:03Sometimes you see that on drag cars too.
- 9:06It's just evolved so much in the past couple of years that
- 9:10we are bound to change with it.
- 9:12So let's switch gears here a little bit.
- 9:14Let's talk a little bit more about the finesse of drag racing, because you
- 9:18hear different opinions about it, right?
- 9:19In terms of motor sporting, some really awesome things going on, like
- 9:22we talked about on the panel with Megan, you know, gender parity and you
- 9:25know, a lot of young people in drag racing, which is absolutely awesome.
- 9:28But there's a lot of talk around, you mentioned Formula one is super popular,
- 9:32even sports card endurance racing.
- 9:33And you know, you take this turn like this and your entry speed and your exit
- 9:36cornering and how much did you try?
- 9:38And there's all these nuances to, let's say, road racing.
- 9:40And I think a lot of that is lost in translation with drag racing.
- 9:44'cause it, it's such a short run.
- 9:45Yeah.
- 9:45But it's so powerful of a run in that short amount of time.
- 9:49So what I wanted to do was kind of highlight how it is for you right now.
- 9:53'cause you're in the middle of it.
- 9:54If you talk to.
- 9:55Legendary drivers.
- 9:56If you talk to retired drivers, you know the old saying, the
- 9:59older we get, the faster we were.
- 10:00And again, some of this stuff is lost in translation.
- 10:03So can you kind of walk us through the day in the life of a young drag racer?
- 10:07What's it like for you?
- 10:08What's it like being at the starting line and all that adrenaline and the.
- 10:11Car prep and everything that goes into it.
- 10:13Yeah, I, I'm an overthinker and I, in the mornings, like on any
- 10:17race day, so like Thursday, you know, you have your qualifying.
- 10:20Friday I have your qualifying.
- 10:21Then sometimes, in my case it's elimination Saturday
- 10:24and goes into Sunday as well.
- 10:26I like to get there early.
- 10:27I'm always first, I love the trailer organized.
- 10:30I like to have all my merch set up.
- 10:32I'll go in early before my parents and my other part-time
- 10:36help comes in and helps me.
- 10:38So I'll come early set up.
- 10:40I like to sit in the car in the lanes a lot earlier than most do because
- 10:45I like to just sit in the silence and kind of think about my run and
- 10:49what I wanna focus on in that run.
- 10:51See where I need to improve.
- 10:53Let go of the button different.
- 10:54Try something, you know, new.
- 10:56Like right now, we just did a lot of changes to my car, so I had to
- 10:59learn how to drive on a radio tire, which is a lot harder than slicks.
- 11:04A lot more times in a radio car, you'll smoke the tires
- 11:07than in the slicks that I had.
- 11:10So I had to learn how to go through tire shake wheeling too.
- 11:13Like I had to learn how to pedal it differently and shift at a different
- 11:17rate and be used to a higher wheel speed with those radials.
- 11:20So there's definitely a lot involved in driving a drag car.
- 11:24It's not about just holding it and you know, going straight,
- 11:26especially for me, there's.
- 11:27You know, I have nitrous, so I'm watching, you know, after my burnout,
- 11:31my nitrous pressure, and I have to purge it down to a certain number, and
- 11:35there's buttons you gotta hit in between all of that and things that you gotta
- 11:38make sure are going right to be able to go down the track as safe as possible.
- 11:43Up until this point, you've been working with your dad, prepping your
- 11:45own truck, and you are the master of your domain and you're very.
- 11:49Sensitive to the car you, like you said, you gotta purge
- 11:52it down, you gotta do this.
- 11:53If it doesn't sound right, it's not running right.
- 11:54We gotta tear it down.
- 11:55But now you're signing up with a team where the car will probably be provided.
- 11:59How is that gonna be different for you?
- 12:01What's that transition like going from driver mechanic to just pro driver?
- 12:06Oh, I've definitely thought about this.
- 12:08It's definitely gonna be weird.
- 12:10Definitely gonna, you know, want to get my hands dirty in the pits and
- 12:13help the team as much as possible.
- 12:14But it's definitely gonna be nice knowing that.
- 12:17They have so much knowledge in their class range.
- 12:20The whole team just, they know what they're doing and I have full trust in
- 12:24them in the tuning side and everything.
- 12:27Even their coaching, they're gonna be coaching me a ton because it's a total
- 12:30new avenue and class I'm going in.
- 12:33I'm gonna be driving three different classes for them in my first race.
- 12:37So it's definitely gonna be a huge learning curve for me.
- 12:40I'm excited to be able to go there and I have to fly in 'cause they're
- 12:43actually in Minnesota, so I have to fly in a day early and then fly out a
- 12:48day after because I still want to help them, you know, bring everything back
- 12:51and go to their headquarters as well.
- 12:53Other disciplines of motorsport, even the roundy round stuff.
- 12:56Road racing especially, there are practice days.
- 12:59Do you get that opportunity in drag racing?
- 13:01Do you get to practice with the cars before?
- 13:03Yeah, so my divisional races I'm doing with them I think are
- 13:06Friday races, are practice days.
- 13:08But because it's an NHRA divisional race, I actually have
- 13:13to relicense in all of their cars.
- 13:15So I'm actually flying up there for a week, the beginning of
- 13:18next month to meet the team.
- 13:20'cause I haven't even met them.
- 13:21I haven't been to their shop or anything, meet them, start to learn
- 13:25how to drive the cars and license.
- 13:26Three different cars so that I'm prepped and ready to go for my first race and
- 13:30not have to worry about licensing on that Friday test day in three classes and try
- 13:35to, you know, scrim that in the schedule.
- 13:36Are you nervous?
- 13:37I am nervous.
- 13:38I've never traveled to a drag race and just raced by myself.
- 13:42I've always had, you know, my dad with me and my parents there, so it's
- 13:46definitely gonna be different, but.
- 13:47I'm also a very independent person.
- 13:50I'm very excited.
- 13:51I'm definitely counting down the days until I get there.
- 13:53I can speak from Chris's experience because that's how we run our program,
- 13:58is we provide the cars, the team, and we just have the drivers fly in and show up.
- 14:03I have worked closely with Chris before in the past, and I know
- 14:06he has trained multiple drivers, so he knows what he's doing.
- 14:09He is a professional, so it's like the best team, I think, out of all
- 14:13the NHRA that you could race with.
- 14:15And yeah, it, it is.
- 14:16So important that you do come in early and like you get to know the team, get
- 14:21to know their setup, learn how they organize their stuff, like what you
- 14:24had mentioned, even just going to their headquarters because sometimes we do
- 14:27get drivers that go through our program and they don't put in that extra effort.
- 14:31They end up being the ones that stay with us for the shortest amount of time.
- 14:35You could tell, like they just don't have that much passion and drive for it.
- 14:39Clearly you do.
- 14:40So I feel like you're gonna be very successful with Chris and his team.
- 14:44Thank you.
- 14:44So, yeah.
- 14:45Yeah, you're welcome.
- 14:46So what do you think will be the most challenging moment?
- 14:49For you going from radials in a drag truck to Super Street?
- 14:54I'd say just driving a car, it's totally different than a truck.
- 14:58And I've actually thought about it a lot 'cause I've, you know, sat in drag
- 15:02cars before, like friends of mine.
- 15:04But it's a total different view and I'm a shorter driver, so we're
- 15:08definitely gonna have to adjust the seat and do a lot of adjustments.
- 15:11But you sit a lot lower.
- 15:12My truck is pretty low, but it's.
- 15:14Still a lot different, you know, than a normal car.
- 15:16So I think that's gonna be a big adjustment for me.
- 15:19And then also, I didn't announce this yet, but I guess I will hear, I'm gonna be
- 15:23driving their super comp dragster as well.
- 15:25I've never even drove a dragster, never been around a dragster.
- 15:28I've always wanted to.
- 15:30So that's gonna be a whole new adjustment as well, and I'm really excited for
- 15:34that opportunity with them as well.
- 15:36So I'm gonna ask you again, are you nervous?
- 15:38I'm nervous.
- 15:39I'm nervous.
- 15:40Excited.
- 15:41Yeah.
- 15:41Well, that's awesome.
- 15:42Super accomplished.
- 15:43So much fun.
- 15:43It is very intimidating.
- 15:46At first, I remember the first time that I made passes in my super comp, we brought
- 15:51our super comp dragster to Frank Colley.
- 15:54So I got to license there and because my dad knows nothing
- 15:57about Super comp Dragsters, right?
- 15:59He like, he can do top alcohol dragster, you know, with his
- 16:01eyes closed in his sleep.
- 16:03But don't ask him to do anything with bracket racing 'cause he
- 16:06does not know how to do it.
- 16:07He does not care.
- 16:08So we actually, yeah, we had to learn from someone else and it took
- 16:11us a long time to figure it out.
- 16:13So it will be much easier for you going with a team that knows what they're doing.
- 16:17Yeah.
- 16:17And they can tell you exactly what to do.
- 16:20Yeah.
- 16:20When to do it.
- 16:21But that's awesome.
- 16:22Congratulations.
- 16:22Yeah.
- 16:23Super comp is so much fun.
- 16:24Thank you.
- 16:24I wish I could still do it, but we sold my card and so I, I can't
- 16:27anymore, but you know, maybe one day.
- 16:29I'll buy another dragster.
- 16:30Yeah.
- 16:31I wanna go back to your past and talk a little bit more about the truck.
- 16:34So do you have a certain race that stands out that's the most
- 16:37memorable one that you have?
- 16:39And what made it so special for you?
- 16:41I would say, you know, it's a series, so it's the Drag Illustrated winner series.
- 16:46That whole series just changed my whole perspective as a driver,
- 16:51a team owner, and an influencer.
- 16:54So that race.
- 16:55I was able to bring in my title sponsor, which is a local store,
- 17:00Bradenton performance supply.
- 17:01They're five minutes down the road from the track, so we were able to
- 17:04get them as a vendor spot and I was able to actually park next to them.
- 17:08So just the marketing was amazing, that whole series that we were able
- 17:12to be next to each other, you know, having their name on the side of
- 17:14the car and you know, their little storefront, you know, at the track there.
- 17:18I was able to actually park on the pro mod side, and I was the only index car on that
- 17:23side, so I got to be next to Kai Kelly.
- 17:26I was across from Stevie Fast Jackson.
- 17:28I was next to Erica Enders, Antron Brown, you know, all the big names
- 17:32and the stars, and you know, they actually came up, talked to me,
- 17:35gave me advice, and, you know.
- 17:36Telling me I have a cool setup and all that cool stuff.
- 17:39So it definitely inspired me and to see the humbleness from all the other drivers.
- 17:43But another thing that kind of stood out to me was I started making these hats
- 17:47that say JDR for Jordan DeCosta Racing, and I sold out of them every single race.
- 17:53So then what I started doing, because I realized there was traction from
- 17:57it, I started making sweatshirts and shirts and selling that.
- 18:01And then I also made a marketing table for.
- 18:04All of my sponsors that may have business cards or like a lot of my other brand
- 18:08deals like Dream Giveaway or Racers Club, we have coupon codes and stuff like that.
- 18:13And I saw a big progress from that.
- 18:16It definitely opened my eyes to, and also even because I'm not one of the stars
- 18:21of that series, you know, I'm not in a pro mod, believe it or not, I had people
- 18:25asking for autographs and stuff and it felt, you know, really cool and it.
- 18:28Just pushed me to, you know, wanna work harder and want to do more
- 18:32to get to where I want to be like the other drivers surrounding me.
- 18:35Well, Megan, you'll recall, you and Erica, when we were on the panel together,
- 18:39shared a sentiment about how the highs are extremely high in drag racing,
- 18:43but the lows can be very, very low.
- 18:45So Jordan, you know, you talked about some of the good things, those lows
- 18:48teach you a lot in life in general, but especially in Motorsport.
- 18:52So what's one of the most catastrophic things that have happened that
- 18:55you've learned from, or failures that you've grown from, from
- 18:58your time in Motorsport so far?
- 18:59You know, there's a lot of failures all the time.
- 19:01I mean, finishing my second season off, obviously this season was a lot better
- 19:05than my first, my first, I went without any round winds or anything, and my
- 19:10goal for my second season was just.
- 19:12To get a round win, not even an event win.
- 19:15I didn't care.
- 19:15I just wanted to win a round because bracket racing and index racing is very
- 19:20hard and I had to learn how to finish line drive and you know, do all that
- 19:23critical stuff of the driving side.
- 19:25And just as much as getting my car dialed, we had the hardest time getting it dialed.
- 19:30We've had issues.
- 19:31We had to change transmissions, we changed drive shaft rear
- 19:34end, we changed nitrous systems.
- 19:36We had issues where the car would just shut off.
- 19:38So.
- 19:39That low felt very low, like I couldn't escape out of it.
- 19:42And then the next season came and now I have 10 career round wins
- 19:46and one event win in just a season.
- 19:49It went from really low and you know, not giving up, but still feeling bad about it
- 19:54to going into the next season, trying to be positive, and then doing pretty well.
- 19:58So I'm happy with this.
- 20:00Last season.
- 20:00That brings up another good point.
- 20:02You're rubbing shoulders with some big names and you're making your way.
- 20:05You're just starting out.
- 20:06So when you look over the history of drag racing and NHRA and you're talking
- 20:10to these people and listening to their advice, what do you think separates
- 20:13a good drag racer from a great one?
- 20:15The good ones are great drivers, but the great ones are great drivers.
- 20:21Business people, marketers, and they could do just about anything, not
- 20:26just the driving 'cause the driving is great, but we're also, like Wes
- 20:30Buck says a lot, you know, with Drug Illustrated, we're characters.
- 20:33We're the stars of the show.
- 20:34We need to kind of show that off.
- 20:36And now that everything has evolved in the past couple of years with social
- 20:40media, we need to follow that trend.
- 20:42Let's start vlogging.
- 20:44Let's start a podcast.
- 20:45You know, let's evolve with the sport.
- 20:47So the great ones evolve.
- 20:49The good ones just.
- 20:50Stay driving.
- 20:51That's really good advice.
- 20:52And is it so true?
- 20:53And I share that online too as well.
- 20:56'cause you kind of see the ones that just, they stay stuck in their ways and then
- 21:00over the years they just kind of fade off and then new talent like you come in.
- 21:05So speaking of Wes, what has been some advice that Wes has given you
- 21:10or Kevin that you could pass on to those aspiring drag racers who
- 21:15want to follow in your footsteps?
- 21:18When I first started out, when they saw my car and there was no sponsors,
- 21:22it was just a plain black truck.
- 21:24And they were like, you need to start, you're young, you are business hungry, and
- 21:29we think you could be a potential star.
- 21:32And they started off telling me, you know, try to find the local guys.
- 21:36So I started off finding local companies and.
- 21:39I'm lucky enough to have about 10 local companies that are on
- 21:43the car and have been helping me and helping me in the future.
- 21:47One of them is actually a local restaurant that sponsors the Drag
- 21:51Illustrated Winter Series food for us.
- 21:53So I met him from them and he's actually sponsoring my
- 21:572025 season in my truck here.
- 21:59And then he's also sponsoring my 25 season with Bishops Motorsports.
- 22:03So I was able to bring him into the NHRA side and he's.
- 22:07Such a fan and it's just so exciting.
- 22:09But also, Kevin, now that we're looking for, you know, those
- 22:13bigger corporate ones, he helps me with a lot of my wording.
- 22:15So he's like definitely the punctual guy, uh, that helps me spruce things up a bit.
- 22:20He's always telling me I'm going too low on my packages.
- 22:23He wants me to go higher in price, but they just really support me and, you
- 22:27know, every step of the way they've.
- 22:28Always had my back no matter what.
- 22:31They've always introduced me, and that's another thing, just networking.
- 22:35You know, if I never met them, I honestly do not know what I'd be doing
- 22:39today without them kind of pushing me forward or giving me that contact.
- 22:44Talking to everybody is a must.
- 22:46So the local companies that you are bringing on, what is it that
- 22:50you are giving to them in value in exchange for, you know, the exposure
- 22:55that you're offering for 'em?
- 22:56Yeah, well of course you start off with placement on the car and then,
- 22:59you know, some of my other deals are.
- 23:01More so I guess ambassadorships, you promote them on social media.
- 23:05Another perk of, you know, having them local is I offer when they go to car
- 23:09shows to be featured in the car shows with them to go to all their brand events
- 23:14and stuff like that and kind of speak out and do a lot of community engagement,
- 23:18which helps a lot with their sales.
- 23:20And I also try to help a lot of my companies that I'm with try
- 23:23to get into the track as a vendor depending on, you know, what
- 23:26business they have for instance.
- 23:28A local company we have here is Steel supplements.
- 23:32They're also parent company is Omni Energy.
- 23:34For the past two years of the winter series, they've been the official
- 23:38energy drink of the winter series, so I gave that connection to them.
- 23:42So you also want to connect them to other things that can help grow their brand.
- 23:47Other than just a name on the car and posting social media stuff as well.
- 23:51All right, Megan, let's turn the table.
- 23:52What advice would you give Jordan?
- 23:54You are so far ahead of other races.
- 23:57That's what everybody says, but I, I could have it my way.
- 24:01I'd be a pro today.
- 24:03Tonight.
- 24:04Yeah.
- 24:04Well, it does take time, I gotta tell you that.
- 24:06Yeah.
- 24:06Yeah.
- 24:07So it took me three years.
- 24:10Of just training for top alcohol dragster before I even did a, a
- 24:16professional, you know, an HRRA.
- 24:17So it takes time, but you are learning so much that's gonna
- 24:20pay off so far down the road.
- 24:22'cause yeah, there's even racers that have been racing for 20, 30
- 24:25years that still haven't figured out, like the things you just said.
- 24:29The importance of networking is so key.
- 24:31So my advice for you is to just keep your head down.
- 24:36Just keep trying to grow your network.
- 24:38You never know who is watching you either at the track or online.
- 24:43There's so many times I have heard from brands where they won't wear
- 24:47their logo on their shirt or a polo when they go to a race because they
- 24:51don't want to be treated differently because people see, oh, you know,
- 24:55they're associated with this company.
- 24:58So they'll just wear, you know, a regular t-shirt and they'll just observe and
- 25:02see how drivers interact with fans.
- 25:05Or are they just sitting on the golf cart, you know, just on their phone
- 25:07the whole time, not talking to anyone?
- 25:09Do they have a clean pit space?
- 25:11Like do they take care of their car?
- 25:13I have heard multiple times from brands.
- 25:15Saying that they'll interact with someone like on Zoom or email or phone call, and
- 25:20it sounds like a great deal, sounds like someone they would wanna partner with.
- 25:24And then they go and see them at the Track incognito style and realize,
- 25:29oh, that's not actually the person that we want to represent our brand.
- 25:33So I feel like you're on that right path.
- 25:35Just stay professional in person and online.
- 25:39You never know what could haunt you one day.
- 25:42So just make sure you know, you're not posting anything negative or bad or saying
- 25:46anything bad about someone else out there.
- 25:48And just, you know, stay positive.
- 25:49Interact with every single person you meet at the track.
- 25:52Treat them all like royalty, no matter who they are.
- 25:55If it's a little kid or a old man or someone, you have no idea who they are.
- 25:59Yeah, because you never know.
- 26:00What they do or what connections they have that could help you in the future.
- 26:05Of course.
- 26:05Thank you.
- 26:06Racing is one of the places where the nice guys don't finish last.
- 26:09They usually come out ahead.
- 26:11That being said, dovetailing off of that, I will bestow some wisdom if I can.
- 26:16And to your point about bringing these new ideas to the paddock and
- 26:19the things you're doing to promote yourself, we had the opportunity to.
- 26:23Sit down and chat with Matt Marelli a couple years ago and he, you know,
- 26:26was friends with Ken Block and then he eventually took over the Mint 400 and
- 26:29a lot of other off-road events out west and I went to visit him at the Mint.
- 26:33You know, we got to chit-chatting.
- 26:34He was taking me around and I said, you know, Matt, this
- 26:36seems awful familiar to me.
- 26:38Like there's certain aspects of other motorsport at this event.
- 26:41And he goes, yeah.
- 26:42Because I went and checked them all out and then I took the best of
- 26:45that and brought it home with me.
- 26:46So I tell you the same thing is go check out other motor sport disciplines and
- 26:50learn from them what they're doing, how they're marketing, how they're
- 26:53getting their sponsors, and if you can take that back home with you in
- 26:56some way and that propels you, that'll give you a leg up on your competition.
- 27:00Yeah, for sure.
- 27:01Yeah.
- 27:01Yeah.
- 27:02And Matt's so good at marketing.
- 27:03The mint is on my bucket list.
- 27:05I wanna go there someday.
- 27:06It's an awesome event.
- 27:07I can't recommend it enough.
- 27:08Yeah.
- 27:09Alright, so Jordan, for you, what would you say to the next Jordan, so the
- 27:1410, 12, 15-year-old that's watching you, looking at you move up through
- 27:18the ranks, what would you say to them?
- 27:20Who wants to do what you're doing right now?
- 27:22Look down and never look up until you're where you want to be.
- 27:27I'm big on like a not giving up.
- 27:29I know that's what everybody says, but if you truly believe it and you vision
- 27:34it in your head, when you envision it in your head, it's going to happen.
- 27:38It could be the craziest idea of me in a top fuel car in two years, right?
- 27:43But if you believe it, it's going to happen.
- 27:46It doesn't matter how long it's going to take.
- 27:48It could take 10, 15, 5 years.
- 27:51It doesn't matter.
- 27:52So if you have the right vision for yourself and it's not a
- 27:55vision from somebody else, you could do anything you want.
- 27:58Such a coincidence that you said that because I am rereading this book,
- 28:02think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
- 28:04That's exactly what this book is all about, is about visioning
- 28:08and making it come to life.
- 28:10If you haven't read this.
- 28:11You should read this.
- 28:12I haven't.
- 28:13Okay, good.
- 28:13Yeah, so that's exactly it.
- 28:15Yeah.
- 28:15My SAT word for the day to summarize that is tenacity.
- 28:19That's what that all boils down to.
- 28:20Jordan, you made a reference there to keeping your eyes down, meaning
- 28:23looking down the strip, you have a lot of strip ahead of you still to come.
- 28:27Yes.
- 28:28You're on a fast track to becoming a professional driver and maybe your.
- 28:32Clinching your first NHRA championship somewhere here down the road, but
- 28:36what's your five, 10 year outlook?
- 28:38What's next for you?
- 28:39Is drag racing what you wanna do forever?
- 28:42Are there other disciplines of motorsport that you wanna explore?
- 28:44What are your goals?
- 28:45What are you keeping your eyes set on right now?
- 28:47I'm definitely trying to focus on joining this new team and, you know,
- 28:51making them happy, helping them grow as much as possible, as well as myself.
- 28:55I definitely see myself.
- 28:57Down the line, progressing with the team in class.
- 28:59So if that means moving up in dragsters or in cars, I would like to do that.
- 29:05And I definitely could see myself staying in the sport for a very long
- 29:10time because I do want to become a, a full-time pro driver and I definitely
- 29:15always want to stay in the sport, even if that was not to happen.
- 29:19But I know at the right vision it will, just as much as, you know,
- 29:22I want to drive, I want to be on the business side as well, so.
- 29:26Investing my time into a team I think is definitely worth so trying to
- 29:30help Bishop's Motorsports grow, not just for myself, but also for them.
- 29:34It's a big deal to me, so I'm excited for that as well.
- 29:38Well, Jordan, we've reached that part of the episode where we like to invite
- 29:41our guests to share any shout outs, promotions, thank yous, or anything
- 29:44else that we haven't covered thus far.
- 29:46My first race is June 8th in Minnesota at Brainerd International Raceway.
- 29:52We have title sponsor, poblanos Mexican Bar and Grill, so I wanna
- 29:56really thank them for coming on board for the 2025 season and I hope
- 30:00to make them proud of my new team.
- 30:01Proud.
- 30:02Known for his focus, grit, and dedication.
- 30:04Jordan has set out to make a name for himself in the professional racing
- 30:09world through hard work, passion, and perseverance and visioning.
- 30:13He's determined to turn his dream of becoming an NHRA professional
- 30:17into reality when not racing.
- 30:20Jordan is also seeking ways to connect with brands that align
- 30:23with his values and racing goals.
- 30:25His enthusiasm for motorsports and his entrepreneurial spirit
- 30:29are the core of his success.
- 30:31And he's always looking for ways to grow and improve, both
- 30:34personally and professionally.
- 30:36To learn more and keep up with Jordan's progress and hear about his first race,
- 30:40be sure to follow him on social media at Jordan DeCosta racing on Instagram.
- 30:45And with that, Jordan, I can't thank you enough for coming on the
- 30:48show and sharing the beginnings of your Road to Success story with us
- 30:52here on Break Fix and some of the.
- 30:53Exclusives that you dropped with us, we are rooting for you.
- 30:56We are gonna be watching you and we are wishing you the best of luck and hope
- 31:00to see you with an A HRA championship title under your belt one day.
- 31:03One day.
- 31:04Definitely.
- 31:04Thank you guys so much for having me.
- 31:06It was nice talking to you guys and the advice was really helpful.
- 31:09Yeah, and Megan, a pleasure as always.
- 31:11Thanks for coming back.
- 31:12Yeah, thank you for having me back, Eric.
- 31:14Glad to be on.
- 31:14Thank you guys.
- 31:20We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
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