Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: 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 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 why I started Motorsport Prospects. And the reason that I found in Motorsport Prospects and the Verified by Motorsport Prospects designation was because I kept hearing, and I keep hearing the same question time and again from drivers, aspiring drivers, their families and advisors. And that question is always, who can I trust?
Many people struggle to find reliable guidance with trustworthy professionals, so I created most of our prospects to help them make informed decisions. The professionals I feature on this podcast represent that trust. So if you work with drivers or racing teams, building trust is one of the most important things you can do. Over the years, I found that being clear about what you offer, following through in your promises, and genuinely caring about your clients goals makes all the difference. And so I put together some practical advice and a free white paper called the three Essentials for Motorsport Business Owners which shares simple ways to strengthen relationships, track the right clients and grow your motorsport business. Naturally, you can find it in the show notes of this podcast or@motorsport prospects.com so with that being said, let's get started.
My guest today is Mike Morini. Mike is team President of HMD Motorsports, responsible for the everyday business operations of the company as the team continues to grow and be successful. He also runs RTD Media and Management, a division of RaceTech Development Group, which provides all kinds of media services for the motorsport industry, from driver and team promotion to social media management and business development.
His team can have you covered from A to Z.
So welcome to the most weird prospects. Mike, great to have you on the show.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Thank you for having me. It's always been, always been something. I see emails come through and see the, see the podcast. So it's good to, good to finally be on it.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's great. And, and I think you have, you can have some great insight which is always related to my one and. Well actually I lie. I do have two questions but the main question is always based on your experience and expertise as a motorsport professional, what would be the one most important piece of advice you could offer a current or aspiring race driver?
[00:02:53] Speaker A: I mean driver, motorsports industry member, anybody really is Just to get out there and. And meet people.
Never say no. If you have an opportunity to go to the track, if you can break even going to the track, eventually you can make money by going to the track. So I think that was the biggest thing that. How I got started was in 20.
Before that, I was in karting. But in 2003, I went to my first Indy 500. I've never missed an Indy 500 since then, and I was just a fan at that time. And I said.
I was sitting next to my now wife. I said, I'm gonna. I'm gonna work in this. I'm gonna work at this Indy 500 deal. I don't even know what it is, but I'm gonna work in it. And, you know, from that point forward, I kind of. I had my own karting team, and I met a few drivers, and I got connected with Dan Weldon, and Dan connected me to a few people.
And now I, you know, I can. I have Roger Penske's phone number. I can text him. I have, you know, other people's names and numbers that I never thought I'd be. I'd be associated with, but it's more just because I was able to get out to the track. Once you get out there, people see you, they remember you.
Maybe the first year, they don't. They don't know who you are. But when you get to year two, year three, you become a, you know, a face in the paddock, and then you get put in, you know, specific positions. Once you. Once you succeed, then you. Then you're. Now you're. You're in the industry. And.
Yeah, that's the. I mean, the biggest thing of advice, whether it's a driver or. Or somebody who wants to be a lead engineer or anybody, is just to get out there and meet the people. Right.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: The power of networking.
And, you know, and I always say the same thing. The digital stuff, what we're doing is great. Zoom calls are great, but it doesn't replace actually meeting people, shaking their hands, looking them in the eye, and introducing yourself.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. I mean, it's.
Anybody can plan for a zoom call. Right. You know, I knew this for a week. I knew I was going to be speaking with you. I could have all my answers lined up on a piece of paper, but when it's real life and in person, handshake, making eye contact, like you said, it's hard to fake that. So.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: It's just. And I think it's also, at that point in time, you See the real emotion if somebody's always, if somebody's, you know, shaking your hand but always look in a different direction because there's another, you know, another somebody else that's maybe more important over that, over there, you can kind of get a sense of that and you get a maybe, maybe you're not the, the primary reason they're there. But yeah, obviously in person. In person is the best thing. And always if you're in person, you could be asked to do something or be involved in something. If you're just on a, on a digital platform like this, it's just, I mean, we could talk about doing something in the future, but it's not now.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, good point. Now tell me a little bit about RTD and how that works.
I get the emails from RTD pretty much daily.
And just for people listening, what does RTD do and how is that important for a race driver?
[00:05:47] Speaker A: Yeah, so when I was growing up, I guess I'm not grown up yet, but when I was growing up, I had a karting team and karting, it's really, really difficult to make money. And I had a 53 foot feather light trailer going to all these events. And in fact we were. David Malucas was racing with a different team at that time, so we raced against him. He couldn't afford to race with us at that time, but at least that's what his dad says.
But yeah, so I had a little, I started this little side business. It was kind of like a side hustle, you know, just writing press releases, maybe charging $75 a release or $100 a release. I started building my contact base, especially when I was going to the track. Anybody that I met, I would, I would learn everything I could about them. I'd add them to my, you know, my contact list. I'd reach out following the weekend, say, hey, it's, you know, it was nice to meet you. And it was literally a little bit of side money to, to live, I think on. When I had a carding team, we were living off of credit card points, honestly because we would spend a hundred thousand dollars, $200,000 a month on credit card, but I had customers that would catch back up. And then I was using the points to buy groceries and stuff like that. It was kind of a unique time for me and growing up and then kind of grew from there. In 2011, I started a carding team.
We had, I was working with Dan Weldon at the time and we were, we were actually had plans to have a Huge, you know, a huge carding program rivaling some of the, the factory teams over in Europe.
Obviously that didn't, didn't continue on after the accident in Las Vegas. But you know, in my heart that was something that I wanted to continue to do. So I just did it with a lot less money. And I kind of kept growing, kept growing. And then the carding industry kind of everybody was starting to undercut everybody. So I said, you know what, I'm out. I sold truck trailer, all the inventory and everything in 30 days. And it was probably one of the most stressful times of my life because it was a complete almost career change. Right. And I'm just going to focus on my little media business. I have, you know, 20 clients now we're doing press releases for and kind of started to grow that. And then Covid hit and we were doing some stuff for FRP Formula Race promotion series and I contacted somebody and, or somebody contacted me, sorry and said, hey, I want to go take photos for you. Okay, well how much do you want to get paid? And he said, I'll just do it for free. I'm like, okay, well yeah, that's awesome. So, and then eventually that, that person now is a full time employee. He's been a full time employee since2020, mid, late 2020. He kind of runs our videography photography department. But we've grown RTD into nine full time employees. Typically anywhere between 14 and 17 employees or not employees, but workers on a, on a weekend. I mean this weekend in Sebring we have, I think we have four videographers. Last weekend in Arlington we had six people.
So anything from, you know, graphic design, social media, marketing, decks, website management, you name it, we kind of, we kind of do it. But it's also, it's a, it's a second form of income for me to go to the track. Obviously I'm going to the track with HMD Motorsports, but because I'm going there, I have the opportunity to meet all these drivers that are coming into HMD or maybe moving up the ladder, maybe not into this program, but I have an opportunity to maybe use or they have an opportunity to utilize me as a rtd as a, as a, as a media service. So it's, it kind of goes hand in hand.
It's almost. You feel like sometimes you're taking two customers at the same time and with two different programs and maybe you are. But I've always learned that to go to the track in motorsports and make a living in motorsports, you need to go to the track and get paid twice. So this is my.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely. You said something really important. And I think for those listening, it's really critical that they do this. You know, you mentioned how you would take note of the people that you met and then you would follow up with them. And I've always recommended. And, and honestly I, you know, I sometimes don't even do it myself.
Write down, you know, people there, they, you know, they call them customer relation and management systems, but at the end of the day, just write down who it is that you met, what they do, get their contact information and follow up and just say it was great meeting you.
You never know where that might end up, it might go nowhere, but it could end up in being something significant.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: Yeah. And today, technology, it's so easy, right? You, you'd leave, you talk to somebody, you leave the conversation. You walk around the back of the trailer, you open your iPhone or your Android and you open the notes and you just say, Joe Smith met at Barber Motorsports Park. This is what we talked about. And, and take a photo. I always take a photo of their business cards. Cause I always lose them. So I take a photo of them and then, you know, Monday, Tuesday, get back to the, to the office or back to your computer and, or even that night in the hotel, just say it was a pleasure to meet you today. If you have anything that comes up, just let me know. And, and honestly, 95% of those people always respond back and say, hey, it was great to have the connection. Look forward to, you know, seeing at the track in the future.
The other thing too is like, if you, if you find out something about someone, like for example, if I go to meet somebody at the track and walk, we end up at the same, you know, restaurant. And I see the guy's drinking a Corona. You know, I just write down that he, he likes Corona. So next time I see him, I'm like, hey, let's go get a beer. I know you like Corona. And, and they're like, well, how'd you know that? And then kind of just learn everything
[00:11:05] Speaker B: you can about somebody that, yeah, that's actually great advice. Now maybe tell me a little bit about what you do with HMD and, and your work with drivers.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Yeah, so in 2019, I started with HMD. It was, it was BN racing at the time, but then we, it was a kind of a two car USF 2000 Pro, 2000 Indy Next program.
And then I went to the, I went to Toronto. Kind of looked out for some business for, for Henry and Diva as they were, they weren't able to go to those, go to that race and a couple other races that year. Road America I believe.
And I just came up with like a little bit of a plan or a little bit of an idea of what I thought was going on and kind of showed them.
They're like, okay, well why don't you work for another 30 days and tell us more. So 30 days turned into 60 turned into 90, and it's been seven or eight, eight years now. But yeah, we expanded to up into a 10 car program in indie next at one point. Obviously now the series has some constraints and we're only allowed to run four under the HMD banner. So we've, we've partnered with AJ Floyd Racing and Cusick Motorsports in an alliance program. So yeah, each of those programs have two cars, but we're helping them get, you know, get off the ground and running.
As for the eight drivers combined, we, I do most of the, the business side of it. So the driver contracts, the, the, the reaching out to the drivers, all the, all the, I would say the financial side. So the money in, money out. So all the engine leases, all the tire, tire leases and stuff like that. We do have a, we do have a Jody who works in the office next to me, but she takes care of all the tire ordering, all the fuel ordering. She's basically like a second, a set of eyes that looks over everything. She's actually, she was actually an RTD employee and she's also now David Malucas's personal assistant at the event. So it's kind of, we mix. It's a lot of people working together.
Obviously for somebody to hire one person, it's going to be, you know, X amount of dollars. But if we can split that one person over two or three different programs or two or three different jobs, that person can make a little bit more money. But it costs, it's, it's a little bit less or more affordable for each and every person that's using that person.
And that's the same thing that we do with the RTD program is like when we go to the track and we send four videographers, we're typically working for 10, 12, 15 people.
So the, the one company's not paying for all the expenses of one videographer to be there. It's kind of split between four or five people and it's more affordable and then people kind of jump on board. So.
But you know, at HMD we've kind of expanded into the business Side of it, there's a. We have a paint booth now. We have a fab shop. We have a decal room. Each of those businesses have their. Have a full time employee in them. We also have a decal installer. So everything from trailer wraps, car wraps, we do everything in house.
Everything that we were doing outside, we brought inside as much as possible. I don't think we outsource much. Even carbon fiber repair, now we're bringing inside. But everything that. All the services that we offer, we offered everybody else. So we print all the decals for AJ Foyt Racing. We painted their timing stands. We did some stuff for McLaren. I think we wrapped a Top fuel don, one of Tony Schumacher's team's cars. And I know a couple weeks ago we did two, two trailers.
We redid all five of our trailers. So that room is. That room is doing really well. The paint booth. We just got up and running at the end or middle of last year, but it was exceeded expectations in six months. And this year we made some goals for that. So we challenged the full. The painter that we have. We hired him from, from Las Vegas. He was doing like graffiti artwork, but now he's full time. And we challenged him to kind of bring in some more business. So once we get to a certain point, he can make a, he can make a commission or a percentage on top of that. Same with, the same with the Fab Shop. I mean, we have TJ Speed, which is three USF pro cars, and then we have Intersport Racing, which is the LMP2 car in the shop. And we rent space to them, but they utilize all of our services as well. Decal, paint and fabrication. So while we're, while they're paying rent to be in here, they don't have an electricity bill. They don't have to go buy toilet paper for the bathrooms. I mean, that's all handled.
And then, and then we give them. If they're in the shop, they get a discount on all the other services that we provide. So using them as word of mouth advertising to sell stuff outside of, outside of hmd.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Very entrepreneurial. And motorsport always is, you know, you have no choice, really.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Yeah. If you. Yeah, I mean, it's always. And it's, it's so. It changes so fast that it's. It. I mean, you always. You have to be fluid in everything you do. I mean, the decal room right now we have two printers, a plotter and a laminator.
And I bet you if we could double that room, if we could double the Equipment and double the people, we could triple the business. But we're just like, we're almost, we're almost to that point where I'm going to approach Henry and say, hey, look, we need to take a set of stairs and upstairs there's a second level there. We put two more printers and another person and I think we can, I think we can run that room 24 hours a day. So it's, it's going good.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: And where's HMD based out of?
[00:16:19] Speaker A: Brownsburg. We're about Brownsburg, Indiana. We're about 15 minutes from the speedway, 15 minutes from the airport.
We took over a marsh grocery store that was actually closed down for seven years. The building sat empty.
Renovated the building, so it was about a year and a half, two year renovation project. But it's, it's about 75,000 square feet. We got a 2,500 square foot gym with a steam room and showers for the drivers to use. We have a simulator room. We've got a nice lobby with a show car. So it's, it's a, it's a nice place to come and work every day. Wow.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Yeah, it sounds great. So where can people get details or contact you for RTD?
[00:16:58] Speaker A: Yeah, no problem. It's just rtd-media.com is our, is our website. Okay. My email address is mikertd-media.com I live on my computer and my phone, so 16, 18 hours a day. So if you don't get a response within an hour, it's probably because I'm sleeping. But also every time I get on a plane I log on to WI Fi. So I'm, I'm a guy who doesn't like to have unread emails and a long to do list. So.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: Perfect. And I'll obviously post the links to rtd. I'll post the links to HMD as well. Okay, so final question now.
What is your favorite all time racetrack, whether current or historical?
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Man, that's a tough question because it changed last week.
Arlington.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Oh really?
[00:17:50] Speaker A: Pretty cool. I mean it was that. I mean, I know the driver said it was great, but even, even for us, I mean, 15 minute walk to the hotel, the racing was awesome.
I mean that was great. I love Barber Motorsports Park, I love Road America And I love St. Louis the Oval. So. Okay, it's hard to pick one, but yeah, Arlington is definitely close to the top or at the top now. It was such a cool race.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I've heard nothing but positive things. They said it was it. It's basically a next level IndyCar race. You know, they've really upped the game.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I almost, I mean the next street race is Detroit. I almost feel bad for them because they're coming after what was like I almost called it like a festival. And now you're going to, to, to a race. So if ever a street race of St. Pete, Arlington, Detroit, if they could all be that way, I mean it would take, it would take IndyCar to the next level as well. I mean it was, it was so cool.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Always bigger in Texas, as I say.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Well, I really appreciate the time, Mike. I like you. You are always plugged in. So it's great that you took the time to chat. Like I said, I'll put all the links to RTD and HMD and Mike's email address in the show notes so anybody wanting to get a hold of him as far as if they have any media requirements, all that'll be there.
Yeah, great. Thanks so much, Mike. And that's pretty much 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, news racers can use, visit motorsportprospects.com.
