Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Intro.
[00:00:06] Mark Boudreau: You're listening to the Motorsport Prospects Podcast.
Hey, it's Mark from Motorsport Prospects and welcome to the Motorsport Prospects podcast. This is where we dive into the world of motorsport with the people who live and breathe it. From driver coaches and sponsorship experts to team owners, pro drivers and more.
You'll hear real stories, practical advice and insights you can actually use, whether you're just starting out or already chasing success on the track.
Now, I've been asked quite often why I started Motorsport Prospects, and it's pretty simple. I founded Motorsport Prospects and the Verified by Motorsport Prospects designation after hearing the same question time and again from drivers, aspiring drivers, their families and advisors. And the question was always the same and it was very simple, but as I always say, very complex. Who can I trust?
A lot of people are trying to find reliable guidance, but they have a hard time figuring out who they can trust. So that's basically why I created Motorsport Prospects to help them make informed decisions. The professionals I feature on this podcast represent that trust.
If you work with drivers or racing teams, be building trust is one of the most important things you can do. So I found that over the years, you know, as I've talked to different motorsport professionals and work with them, it's pretty clear that you need to be clear about what you offer, you need to follow through on your promises and you need to genuinely care about your clients goals, which makes all the difference. So I kind of condensed a lot of this information that I've learned from dealing with these professionals and into a white paper that I call the Three Essentials for Motorsport Business Owners.
It's a. It's basically a free white paper which shares simple ways to strengthen relationships, attract the right clients and grow your motorsport business. Naturally, you'll find a link to it in the show notes or you can get it@motorsport prospects.com now let's get started. Today's guest is Chris by. Chris got his professional racing license in 1977 and has competed in everything from single seaters to Porsche sports cars. In 2021, he launched fell Motorsports to support Canadian motorsports and give drivers a place to hone their skills and move on to the global motorsport platform.
Welcome to the podcast, Chris. Thanks a lot for being on the show.
[00:02:31] Chris Bye: Hey Mark, thanks for having me.
Excited to chat for a bit.
[00:02:36] Mark Boudreau: So you know I talk about extensive experience of which you do have.
So the question I always like to ask my guests is based on your experience and expertise as a motorsport professional, what would be the one most important piece of advice you can offer a current or Aspiring race driver.
[00:02:57] Chris Bye: That's a pretty big question.
You know, I'll go back to the early days growing up racing in the 80s and 90s in Canada, you know, which was, you know, really the mecca of motorsports. I mean we're producing, as everyone knows, so many high levels successful drivers back then for a small country. We got noticed literally around the world.
And it was so different back then. I think, you know, back when I went and got my racing license in 1977, you really had, if you wanted to be, you know, a racing driver or go on track, you really had two options. You go to the driving school, you get your license and then you either chose choose open wheel or sedan or closed wheel racing and you start down that path. And nowadays it's so different with, with you know, Champ car and you know, all of these lucky dog and all these series and there's so many days available for the various track car clubs like the Porsche Club, the Corvette Club, Ferrari Club. There's, there's a number of ways you can get track time and I think, I think in a way that's muddied the waters a little bit when it comes to somebody that wants to be a professional racing driver because there's so many options out there and you know, it can get super confusing. I think, you know, back in the 80s and 90s, you know, a couple things that the new drivers, you know, I think need to remember, number one, it was before the Internet. I know there's a lot of current drivers that mean that want to say there was a world before the Internet.
So since we didn't have the Internet, we also didn't have social media and, and not at every racetrack, not every single person standing beside you did not have a high def video camera in their hand like they do now. Right. So, you know, there's so much more exposure which is, I think the Internet and social media has been a great tool and it's given drivers global exposure. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's a great tool and it's given international drivers, racing drivers international exposure. There's so much noise out there and to really separate yourself from, from the rest of the crowd, I think is, is a challenge. And when, you know, when we were racing in, you know, in the 80s and 90s, you focused 100% on upping your game in the race car. You know, we also didn't have data, which we do now, so everything was done with, you know, the seat of the pants feel and tire temps and you know, adjusting suspension, adjustings, adjustments based on tire temps. Now the data is, you know, so much more in depth.
Excuse me. So we didn't have those distractions and I think that the drivers back then focused on again, one, the craft in the race car being as fast as possible, getting as much track time as possible and then secondly, developing high level relationships in the sport of teams and team owners that could help you move your way along. It was super important.
And nowadays, you know, when I look at, I look at a number of the young drivers, not all of them, but I believe that there's way too much focus on social media and there's way too much, hey, look at me.
And then you go out in the racetrack and you're finishing, you know, somewhere in the top 15.
[00:06:15] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:06:16] Chris Bye: You know, you, I think in this game, you know, and my day to day job at Fel, we serve the automotive industry, manufacturers and various types of PR and marketing and training initiatives. So we hire professional drivers and I've said from the beginning that the drivers with the most amount of credentials have the least amount of ego and I think it's important to be humble.
And if you look at the, at the drivers at the top and you know, that's one of the reasons we started FEL Motorsports in 2021. The main reason was Covid crushed our parent company. We're in the event business and you know, we went from 794 live event days in one year collectively to 19 overnight.
[00:06:59] Mark Boudreau: Wow.
[00:07:00] Chris Bye: Somebody said to me, did you guys slow down a little? And my response is no. We hit the wall at 250 miles an hour, wide open. There's no slowing down at all. Covid hit. We got crushed. Friday 13th March 2020, we got a call from every single client, cease and desist all activities immediately. So I had 20 people to try and figure out how to keep together.
So we decided to. I've been thinking about doing something in motorsports for a long time. Fellow has sponsored the former 1600 championship. We sponsored Michael Adams, we helped Matt garwood inform the 1200. I mean we were really involved.
Been a long time partner and sponsor with our friends at FAF Motorsports, you know, relationship we're super proud of. I'm leaving this afternoon for, for Daytona, for the Roar, to hang out with those guys a bit, some other guys. So I thought, you know, where, where if there's an aspiring racing driver, where's the next Zach Robuchon coming from? Where is the path now that Canadian GT3 Porsche cup is gone? Like where's the path and when I sat back and looked at it it was really a dog's breakfast. It was just this mishmasha and a purpose, don't get me wrong. And there, there's great grassroots series that are fun to race up but they're not preparing anyone for the professional world of sports car racing or be or, or open wheel racing.
So that was our main goal of starting FEL Motorsports. And, and you know when I look at some of the drivers that we've, we've gone through that have come out of, out of either our sports car championship which we're currently have parked our successful teams, a lot of them have moved on to IMSA which we're, which we're very proud of.
Sports car racing is incredibly expensive as you're well aware, you know and TCR car is in the range of 300000 now and the Cooper is the same, they're all up there but you know Marco Signoretti was our first GT4 champion. He went on to Europe with Multimatic. He did have a relationship with Multimatic but the what he learned with us in Canada I think was a big help.
Jonathan Woolridge went up from radical champion to a bunch of G to LMP3 rides. Jake Cowden went from our radical championship to a full time ride in SRO in GT4 car. Jimmy Demichalka is the same.
Austin Riley won a radical championship, our initial one and then went to the U.S. i won the championship there. We have Megan and Ron Tomlinson father and daughter team at IMSA.
Justin DiBenedetto running VP challenge in a Porsche. Anthony Martella hall of fame rising star, someone we're super proud of, Dean Baker. Baker Racing is our former GTCR champion now full time effort with two cars in IMSA.
Kenny Reedman, our current reigning 2025 and 2024 radical champion just signed a deal with Baker Racing to drive the TCR car He's been driving LMP3 car. Zach Vanier, somebody that we're super proud of. Yeah, you look at what Zach has accomplished, you know and I'll just a quick backstory about how I met Zach. I was at a club race at CTMP and he spent a long long time in my career in, in forming 1600. So I'm a big Formula 1600 fan. So I went up the corner nine to watch the start of the 1600 race and I got chatting to someone beside me and he pointed out car number and said that's my boy. So it's Greg Vanier. It was Zach's dad. Oh wow.
We, after the race I wanted to meet Zach so walked over to, to Britain West Motorsports that David Klubine runs.
They do an excellent job, multi time championship team. So I walked over and met Zach and just chatted. He had no idea who I was or what I did. We just chatted, chatted about the race car and whatnot.
And then I think that was in 19. And then in 2020 I just purchased a brand new Audi TCR car and Covet hit. So Steve Border, Lottie team manager at FAF Motorsports called me and Chris had decided that they weren't going to cross the border. The borders were closed. I don't know whose decision it was but you know, during COVID it was a, it was, everything was pretty messy.
I'm so parked some races. So Canadian Touring Car Championship announced that they're going to do a six race championship over three weekends.
So Steve called me and said, hey, why don't we wrap your, wrap the TCR car and go out and chase championship with ctcc. And he had a driver in mind, a Canadian driver. So I said yeah, for sure, let's do that. But I said how about we give this kid Zach Banier a shot? And Steve's like, it's your car. So I'm like, okay, let's give him a shot. So we did.
Zach had the full IMSA team, pretty amazing pulling up Shannonville and won every race.
And then the next year Steve put zach in a McLaren GT14 car in our series. He won the champion, he won that championship. And then the next year he went to Porsche Sprint cup in the US won that championship and then two more in the last two years. 24, 25, he's been a front runner, race winner. I think he finished third in the championship this year, but picked by Porsche Motorsports North America to represent them in the global Porsche Will Jr's shot in Europe. He didn't get the seat but he got invited. So you know, Zach's a prime example and Zach's very, Zach's super humble on social media. He does some social media posts, he has a following but he focuses more on relationships with teams and with team owners and with sponsors and people that can help him. And I think that with some drivers it's gotten jaded with, in my opinion. And again this is, these are just my opinions with too much focus on social media. Go win championships. Go, you know, go and, and you know, be a front runner wherever you go.
I think that's, I think that's super important.
[00:12:44] Mark Boudreau: Yeah, yeah, I know, I agree. And it's interesting because, you know, you talk about. That's the power of networking and I've often mentioned that, where I'll see a young driver who's, you know, they're not in a debrief, they're not getting ready for a session, and so they're sitting there and they're on their phones and I always say, you know, nine times out of ten, you're, you're a support race.
So zip up your race suit and go and walk around and introduce yourself and shake some hands and look into people's eyes and just say, you know, I'm a race driver and just wanted to say hi. People will, if they have the time, want to talk about motorsport, but that's an, you know, it's almost an art form to just introduce yourself. But social media in some ways says it's easy to post something, but it's a lot more difficult for some people to physically go and introduce themselves. And it's so critical. Zach Vanier is a perfect example of when you, you know, you meet and you talk to people, something might not necessarily happen immediately, it might not happen that year, but I have plenty of examples of drivers who have politely introduced themselves as Ross Bentley calls it polite persistence and has kept those contacts going. And then all of a sudden an opportunity comes up and because they've been polite but persistent, they get that opportunity. So, yeah, I agree. Networking is such a crucial and, you know, look, it's not just about motorsport. It's a crucial skill, whatever you plan on doing. And you don't know, maybe your motorsport career might not go the way you want it to go, but the people that you met, these are all, you know, these are all people that are very accomplished, very competitive and, you know, and often those contacts might lead to something outside the race car that could, you know, could be potentially important for your future. So, yeah, I agree. I think the networking is really important. Checking your ego at the door, at the digital door. Yeah, I can, I think some, for some people, they perhaps want to be a TikTok star more than a race car driver. But, yeah, I think that is actually fairly legit advice is. I don't think. I think ego is, look, dry. All race car drivers have an ego.
You know, it's part of the game, but you have to, you have to know when to use it and when not to, I suppose, yeah.
[00:15:22] Chris Bye: 100. I'll give you a prime example.
So recently we have a young karting girl, her name's Ella Martin, and she is going to be running with Auto Eclectic Motorsports in a Formula 1200, which I'm super proud, super happy she made that decision. I started racing in Formula V back then, forming 1200 now, and cars have little to zero horsepower, like 65 horsepower. But they teach you great racecraft drafting if you give a lot of good habits. Anybody I raced against in Formula B and moved on was very successful in anything they sat in. Scott Maxwell, Stephen Adams, Mike Weetz's.
Anyone who moved on. If you can go fast in a Formula V, you can go fast in anything, in my opinion. Anyway, I got a phone call. Scott Goodyear and I are good friends and Scott is the race director for F4 and FR in the US so Scott called me a few weeks ago and we're just chatting and.
But our grandkids primarily.
But he said to me, do you know a young, a young driver named Ella Martin? And I said, I know I hadn't met Ella at that time.
It was before our open house.
So I said, yeah, why?
Pardon me.
So Ella and her dad Glenn went to the PIR show in, in Indianapolis, PRI show in Indianapolis and Scott had a booth there.
So she went and introduced herself and she floated by a few times. I think there's some other drivers. There was definitely other drivers there, but I didn't see anything. And maybe it's there, but I didn't see anything on social media. But she went by and, and talked to Scott more than once during the couple of days that they're there. Scott does like a combine type thing with this F4 program at Firebir in January. It's next weekend.
So he said, you know, I had somebody drop out and I've got a space available and it's for kids coming from carding. And I think after meeting Ella, I think I'd like to invite her. Do you think she'd be interested?
So I reached out to her dad and said, here's an opportunity. It's no cost, it's fully funded. You got to get yourself to Phoenix, a great opportunity. And to spend two or three days with Scott Goodyear, I mean, it's a massive. He's got so much experience and credentials.
So a prime example. So her and her dad are flying down to Phoenix next week and she's spending two or three days in a, in a, in an F4 car simply because she went over and, and shook Scott's hand, basically. Right.
And it's so much more important. Another thing that I really believe in is, you know, not just going and saying hi, we used to, you know, we take our helmets to the racetrack at Daytona. My first Rolex to age myself which we already have. My first Rolex I was working for Heinrath in 1978 and i5 in between then either you know, working or driving.
And again I'm headed down today for the Roar next week.
There's a bunch of Canadians so we're going down to cheer them on.
But anyway, you know, back in those days we didn't just kind of immerse yourself into a team and you know I look at a guy like Spencer Pompelli, an amazing career and, and you know he's, he's good friends with Daniel, with Carlos D. Caseta from Allegra and I know one year he sat in the box on the box and called strategy for the team. Didn't get off the box for 24 hours. Team wins the, wins the Rolex. The next year Spencer's in the car.
So drivers that and Vanier is another one that helped put up the awning that help lane Kiwi for you know what, drivers don't like doing it, neither does anyone doing it.
[00:18:57] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:18:58] Chris Bye: It's not fun. So pitch in and help a team. You know, prime example, Kenny Reedman last year got asked by Baker Racing to go and help them out. He started holding a fireball. Kenny's a multi champ time superbike, Canadian superbike champion, track record holder at CTMP on a superbike or former track record holder, two time radical champion. You know he's standing in pit lane holding a fire bottle. That was his job.
[00:19:23] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:19:23] Chris Bye: But he was also helping set up the tent and set up the kiwi floor and dropping the trailer and staying late at night helping work on the car.
And this year Kenny is in the car driving as a teammate with Dean Baker, the team principal. Yeah, no, those things matter. Those relationships cultivate them, help out. That's what it.
I think that when I look at social media and you know someone's got 19,000 followers. Yeah, well 18,999 of them you've never met.
Right. How can they help you develop to your point, build relationships, go to the racetrack, say hello. It's just, you know, and, and I like Ross's comment, you know, you know, be pursuit, polite, persistency just like, but be there and if you're, you're out of sight, out of mind, you know and I think back to our day to day business. You know, we'll be active at the, at the auto shows. The reason we go to the auto shows Is because we see clients. It's. It's an opportunity to see current and. And prospective clients three or four times a year. So outside. Oh to mind. But then when they see. And we've had clients say, you guys are always here. We go to LA every year to the auto show. Haven't gone in the last couple years since COVID But, you know, we do that. We do the big us shows and it matters. It's nothing more than shake hands, hi, how are you? You know, and spend a few minutes chatting. You never know when an opportunity is going to come up.
[00:20:43] Mark Boudreau: Absolutely.
[00:20:44] Chris Bye: Yeah.
Some of my biggest opportunities came up completely unexpected.
[00:20:49] Mark Boudreau: Yeah. You know, it's funny. I have on my desk a quote from Ross Braun. And it's luck is preparation, waiting for an opportunity.
[00:20:57] Chris Bye: 100, 100. And. And don't sit in the corner, you know, don't sit. Don't sit on the sidelines waiting for someone to come to you, you know, get out, knock on doors, you know, and it's.
You're going to face a lot of rejection. And sometimes that gets old, but you got to keep a, you know, keep a smile on your face and keep, you know, keep at it. And. And while you're doing that, you know, I think, I think you also need to keep active.
It's not.
I. I think, you know, the young drivers today need to understand that the people in the industry that matter and that can help them know.
So, you know, if you're. If you're all over social media and, you know, you're saying, rah, rah, how great you are and you want to be a Formula One driver, but your results are, you know, the top 15 people will look. I know I do. Yeah. If someone's like all over social media, okay, I'm gonna dig in and see what their credentials are, you know, or did you go and win a championship because there's three other cars. So people call me to instruct at fel. You know, we do winter driving programs. You do lunch. I asked them two questions. How many podiums have you had and how many cars were in your class each week? Each of those podiums think back to the pro 1600 days.
My wife found a qualifying sheet we did during a renovation at our house, and there are 54 cars standing starts.
[00:22:20] Mark Boudreau: Wow.
[00:22:21] Chris Bye: It was total chaos. So in 95, the first race at most board, then CTMP now a qualified third, I think, anyway, led a bunch of the races, finished second, went to Montreal two weeks later, same car, everything would change. Gearing, went prepared, qualified 17th I was seven tenths off pole. I was 17th. Wow, that is soul crushing. But, man, it teaches you some lessons.
[00:22:48] Mark Boudreau: Absolutely.
[00:22:49] Chris Bye: You know, it's like, it's so. I, I'll never forget getting out of the car, just being completely deflated, like, and sitting on the grid, I can't even see the front row. And we're at Montreal at the F1 race, I'm like, are you kidding me?
But that's, that's the way it was back then with, you know, so many cars. So again, I think don't lose focus of being fast in the race car and pay attention. And you made a comment earlier about take advice from where it comes and pay attention of where the advice is coming from. And one thing I tell young drivers as they leave FEL Motorsports and they want to go on, it's just remember when you go to F4 or FR or, or a US radical team, whenever you go to a team and ask them for advice on what you're doing, they are selling you something.
You are a customer to them. They want to sell you a seat and the race team, and that's not a bad thing. But remember that. And when I talk to teams about staying in Canada and racing in the only FIA sanctioned series in the country, which is our Amazon Radical Cup Canada championship, when I'm talking about it, I am selling you something.
But I honestly believe if you stay in Canada, you know, we've had Alex Tagliani join us this year. He's running a full season. We're super excited about that.
[00:24:08] Mark Boudreau: Oh, cool.
[00:24:09] Chris Bye: Alex ran two races with us last year. Finished second in both races.
If you want to hone your craft. And it's not only Alex, there's Brady Clapham, there's Kenny Reedman, there's, you know, Jonathan Woolrich comes out and does some races. I mean, if you, why not spend Canadian dollars and stay in Canada and race in a super competitive series and, and wait until you're at the front consistently and then. And then move on. But if you're not at the front, it's like hockey. If, if, you know, if your kid's not good at double A, you don't move. He doesn't get to move up to aaa.
[00:24:44] Mark Boudreau: Exactly.
[00:24:45] Chris Bye: So if you're not fast in a go kart or in a, you know, start with 1200, start with Formula 1600, go out and win a Formula 1600 race in Ontario, go out and run with the guys at the front. There's a group of six or eight cars and they're super fast. And you know, people I know dumb drive well, they don't have wings and they don't have slicks and blah, blah. But it also, it teaches you great car control, teaches your racecraft. It's way less expensive than going to the US and getting your parents to spend hundreds of thousands of US dollars and then either running out of money or just getting sick of it.
[00:25:17] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:25:17] Chris Bye: And then to bring a Canadian sponsor to the US or get money in Canada and take it to Europe, you know, is that doing your sponsor any good? I don't know. Maybe. But probably not if they're a Canadian company and then you get to race at.
You know, Ron Fellows and I have this conversation regularly. The reason that I think that we both agree Canadian drivers are so dominant in the 80s and 90s is that we got to learn how to drive at a place like Mostport, like Canadian Tire Motorsport park and at La Suquimont Tremblanc, you know, two of the, you know, daunting racetracks. If you can go fast at ctmp, you can go fast anywhere.
[00:25:55] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:25:56] Chris Bye: And, and I think so why not stay and learn on these tracks in, in, in a homologated series where the car cars are even. There's a lot of, you know, technical checking going on and scrutineering and whatnot. But you know, again, I just think sometimes the kids leave too early and don't have success and then, and then they just, you know, unfortunately kind of fizzle out.
[00:26:17] Mark Boudreau: Yeah. Now you mentioned FEL Motorsports. Just briefly, maybe explain to those listening what it is and how they can find out more about it.
[00:26:28] Chris Bye: Yeah. So FEL Motorsports, you can visit FL Motorsports.com our website, our YouTube channel, FL Motorsports YouTube channel has all of our races housed there.
We've, we've done a bunch of TV races and live streaming. So we started again. We started when Covid crushed us. And you know, we've got 20 team members that, you know, we're kind of standing, standing looking at me, shell shocked, like, what's going to happen? During COVID we had no idea our entire business was shut down and I needed something to keep them busy. So, you know, Steve Bordelotti says that, you know, during a global pandemic, Chris decided to take several hundred thousand dollars and light it on fire, which is kind of the truth.
So we, we started the Sports Car Championship Canada. We got a TCR license from the folks at WSC. We got a GT4 license from the SRO and we, we ran the Sports Car Championship Canada presented by Michelin and Michelin's been an amazing partner of ours since the beginning.
And then we also started the M Zone Radical Cup Canada. With Radicals. We only run single class, the 1340 cars.
We had some of our bigger teams decide to, to move on to IMSA which is great. Last year at the Rolex weekend we had, we had 10 FEL alumni teams and drivers at the Rolex. 10 Canadians at, at the Rolex in decades. So we're super proud of that and that's what we started it for. Unfortunately you know some of the teams dec, the teams that could afford it went on to, to IMSA and some of the other teams that you know just couldn't afford it decided not to decided not to run.
It's super expensive.
You know the, the cars are, are astronomically expensive and the Canadian market just doesn't have enough teams to support it. So any rate we, we, we've parked the Sports Car Championship Canada. Not sure what's going to happen with that. But we're really focused on the M Zone Radical Cup. We just signed M Zone again for our title sponsor.
We will be racing at the new Toronto Markham. Toronto Markham which we're super excited about. We run a 10 race championship over 5 weekends.
The radical cars have a 1340 Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine.
Our track record held by Kenny Reedman at CTMP is a 19 979. So the cars are sub 120s. Not a ton of horsepower, not a ton of speed. But they do have aero so you know they're fast through the corners. They really help drivers develop, you know, develop a skill with aero. And we run Michelin slicks which are outstanding.
So yeah that's, we're the only FIA sanctioned series in Canada. We, we race in Ontario and Quebec because we have six FIA sanctioned tracks within six hours of each other.
People ask us why don't we go out west. A couple of reasons. We would love to go to Area 27. I think it's an amazing facility. Been there. They run a great radical program themselves.
But the track racetrack's not FIA sanctioned and I'm not sure if they plan to down the road or not but it's currently, it's currently not FIA sanctioned. And then 100% of our teams are from Ontario and Quebec. We can't ask with the cost of transport, we can't ask our teams to travel all the way out to B.C. and back.
If we could do containers something we'd love to go out there. It's just a matter of logistics.
But yeah, I mean our Radical Champions have all got gone on to other jobs and they've get noticed and I think it's homologated racing.
And another advantage I think that we bring is, you know, our race director is Ralph von Ingelbracken.
Peter Lockhart is our sporting director, also fel motorsport manager myself. I mean just between the three of us, I mean we have, you know, 100 and well over a century of motorsport experience at high levels. And we've seen it, you know, we've seen it from every angle. But I think one of the things that FL motorsports brings to the sport in Canada, you know I have been a driver, I've been a team owner. When I was in for me 1600 I always ran two cars, one car for myself and a customer car.
I'm a, you know, I'm a licensed mechanic so I did my own engineering and my own mechanical work and, and, and, and I've been a sponsor on 1600 cars and, and now we're a promoter. So I think we really bring a holistic view of the sport.
[00:30:44] Mark Boudreau: Okay.
[00:30:44] Chris Bye: And, and our motivation is truly to find the next Zach Robichon. And if you look at Zach, I mean I just have nothing but respect for Zach. He's quiet, he's, he's a super good guy but he is lightning fast in the race car and he's equipment and he's easy on equipment. You know, he won every Porsche GT3 cup race in Canada near the end of the series and then he went to the U. S anyone? Everyone he entered there. So it wasn't like a fluke. It's like Zach's super quick but Zach also is the guy that will, you know, help the team. He's always around James Hinchcliffe. I mean we're James's very first sponsor and Formula BMW with, with AIM Autosport way back at the beginning when former BMW came out, first came out, I want to say it was like oh five or zero four or somewhere around there. Right.
But you know, James obviously and has a great social media but James also is amazing out of the car and you know, participating with the cruise and he's just such a, he's just a genuinely amazingly nice guy, you know, fun to hang out with and he does an amazing job. He jumps in the race car, he's super fast, he's an Indy 500 pool sitter.
[00:31:50] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:31:50] Chris Bye: Like, you know, what else do you need to say? And I think James came into social media when it was really early and maybe wasn't quite as saturated but if you watch James get out of his IndyCar. When he was, when he was in IndyCar, he would fist pump every single crew member on the hot side of the wall and the cold side. Every time he got out of the car practice qualifying race, the first thing he would do is acknowledge all of the team. And James really understands that he's part of a team, you know, and I think that's, drivers need to, need to understand that as well. Especially endurance racing.
[00:32:25] Mark Boudreau: Yeah. And, and the thing with, with James Hinchcliffe is that his, he has a great social media presence. But what's most important, and that's advice for anybody on social media. He's authentic to who he is.
He is not anybody other than the person that you see on social media on when he does, he does F1 broadcasts, IndyCar broadcasts. He is that guy.
[00:32:53] Chris Bye: He 100% is that guy. I mean, James is just, you know, I think James is a, you know, I'm a parent and now a grandfather and you know, James is a product of his environment. I knew Papa Hinch, you know, not super well, but, but pretty well. And everyone misses him, but he was just an amazing guy and James mom just an amazing family. And, and James is just, again, he's just genuinely, he's just a genuine nice guy, like, and he's fun to hang out with and people want to be around him and people are attracted to that kind of, you know, that kind of, that kind of environment and the environment that he creates around him. But he's also very much a team player, you know, and I think in, in these times, you know, there's a sim racer that went on a podcast and took a shot at FAF and said they do nothing but chew up drivers and spit them out. And I'm like, if you want a career in sports car racing, why would you take a run at the most successful Canadian sports car team in history?
Yeah, it makes no sense, you know, and if you look at fafs alumni, you know, Matthew Gemini, Matt Campbell, you know, that's just, it goes on and on. Lawrence Van Vanth or it's, you know, Zach Robichon, Zach Vanier, the guys that have gone through the FAF program, 99 of them are, are making a living driving race cars. Right? And I think just one quick thing. I think when the kids look at everybody wants, they come on a go karts, they want to go formula car racing, they want to be. They want to go to Formula 1.
There are zero Canadians making a living driving open wheel cars, including James and I. I think the world of James. James is an Indy 500 pool sitter and he struggles to, to find a job in open world cars there. But there are probably a dozen Canadians. Kyle Marcilli. I mean, there's, there's a dozen Canadians that are making a living driving race cars. So I really think sports car, sports cars are the way to go. Parker Thompson, another great example.
[00:34:54] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:34:54] Chris Bye: Ron fellow said to me years ago, and he's right, he said the factories will buy speed.
If you're fast and you're a good guy in and out of the car, the factories will buy speed. And Parker Thompson's a prime example. Zach Robichon. You know, Vanier is getting opportunities.
I think it's, I think sports car racing is the way to go. And yeah, sure, maybe you're not making $6 million a year in F1, but, you know, the chances of getting one of the two open F1 seats each year are pretty slim. And do you have the pockets deep enough to keep that, you know, that rolling?
[00:35:27] Mark Boudreau: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're a pro race driver at the end of the day, which is, you know, the guy, the idea, the dream and the hope. So. Yeah. And I agree. And it's a glow and it's global. Right. You know, there's a lot of global opportunities.
Before I let you go, got to ask final question. This is always a fun one. I think I know the answer, but I'm gonna ask it anyways. Favorite racetrack, Current or historical?
[00:35:54] Chris Bye: Yeah, that's a good one. I've been fortunate to drive a lot of racetracks and, you know, if not racing, I, I might say I got invited. In 2017, I went to China and did a couple races in a GT3 Porsche at Zhuhai. And they had, they had three kinks that were fifth gear in a GT3. Absolutely flying. And I said to my teammate, I said, where's the nearest trauma center? And he looked at me very serious and said, don't crash.
I said, what? He goes, don't crash. So if it wasn't for that, Zuhai might have been my favorite track. It's super fun. And other than the, the torrential rain, we had, I have to say, my favorite track.
I love Road America. Super fun, Great, great, great racetrack. Proper, proper high speed track with some really killer corners.
But really, it has to be Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. If you, you know, I, I cut my teeth there.
I, I have so many friends that, that, you know, became rich and famous from learning to race at Canadian Tire Motorsport park.
And, and I believe, you know, Ron and I, as I said, have talked about this many times. If you can go fast at Canadian Tire Motorsport park, you can literally go fast anywhere.
A couple of IMSA drivers, current IMSA drivers, won the 24 hours of Nurburgring, came to a test day at Canadian Tire Motorsport park and got out of the car and said, this place should be illegal.
It's so fast. Yeah. Helio Castro Nevis had never been there. He drove the. He drove, I think they call it LMP2 car back then, the Penske prototypes. And he called Scott Goodyear and he goes, okay, now I get it. He had never been there. And he's like, this place is insane.
So to drive a fast car and to make it go fast, yeah, I think it has to be Canadian Tire Motorsport park and super excited about the new ownership group there. The previous owners did amazing, amazing things with the track and, and the, the, you know, the enhancement that, that they made. And now with, with Chris Pfaff and the group, Peter Thompson and the rest of the group there, really look forward to the Canadian International Auto show and seeing their announcement about what their plans are with the track. And I think they can take it to the next level. So, yeah, again, can you tell Motorsport Park's got to be my favorite.
[00:38:14] Mark Boudreau: Yeah, no, absolutely.
I'll be posting all the links to, like, fellow motorsports on the show notes as well, so that anybody is looking for more information how to get a hold of you guys, they'll be able to do that.
I just really want to thank you a lot, Chris, for being on the podcast. I know it's a busy time. You're off to the, to the, to the Rolex 24. Yeah, and, but no, it was great. And it's also nice to get a Canadian perspective.
You know, it is a global sport, but Canada, you know, I've always said Canada punches above their weight when it comes to motorsport.
[00:38:52] Chris Bye: And I think the current political situation, you know what, you know, we're, we're, as a company, we're staying in Canada. We're spending our money in Canada.
And I think some of the drivers, you know, should look at that as well and like, again, come out and come out and win a championship, even run 1600 and win the 1600 championship in Ontario or Quebec, and then you've done something and you will learn. You'll learn a lot. I can assure you that jumping directly out of go karts into a 1600 car, it's, you know, you might be, you might be quick, but man, it's, it's a tough field, so save some money or, you know, running a radical series.
You know, we love having new kids and I think it's super competitive. Just for any of the young drivers. Get into a series that has a high number of cars in your class that are homologated, so the cars are being checked. Race car in a series that's not being checked, it's like, okay, well, it's not. You're not really, you're not really learning a lot. You're having a good time. You might have fun, but you're not really learning a lot.
[00:39:54] Mark Boudreau: Perfect. All right, well, thanks so much. That's it for this week. This is Mark from Motorsport Prospects, reminding you to stay fast, stay focused and keep chasing that checkered flag.
Thanks for listening to the Motorsport Prospects podcast. For insights, advice and the latest news racers can use, visit motorsportprospects.com.
