Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Intro.
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 often been asked why I started Motorsport Prospects. I founded Motorsport Prospects in the Verified by Motorsport Prospects designation after hearing the same question time and again from drivers, aspiring drivers, their families and advisors. And that question was always, who can I trust? Who can I trust out there with my son or daughter's career? Who can I trust with. With my. With my money?
Many people have struggled to find reliable guidance, so I created Motorsport Prospects to help them make informed decisions. The professionals I feature on this podcast represent that trust and professionalism.
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've found that being clear about what you offer, following through on your promises, and genuinely caring about your clients goals makes all the difference. I put together some practical advice in a free white paper I call the Three Essentials for Motorsport Business Owners, which share simple ways to strengthen relationships, attract the right clients and grow your motorsport business. Naturally, you can find it in the show notes or@motorsport prospects.com so let's get started.
My guest today is Scott Goodyear. Scott is the FIA Race Director for the F3 and FR Americas and F4 US Championships since 2019.
In 2019 and 2020, he was also the Indy 500 spotter for the McLaren IndyCar team and Fernando Alonso, and was a longtime color analyst for ABC SPNS, Indy 500 and IndyCar Series broadcasts. He was the first racing driver to be inducted into the Canadian Motorsport hall of fame in 2002, and he finished second in the closest finish in Indy 500 history in 1992, a race I very well remember.
Welcome to Motorsport Prospects Podcast, Scott. Thanks so much for being on the show.
[00:02:37] Scott Goodyear: Enjoyed joining you. I've heard about the show and anxious to have a chat.
[00:02:43] Mark Boudreau: Great.
So, like I said, very simple. I have one question and everybody finds it's a simple question and yet perhaps not that simple.
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?
[00:03:07] Scott Goodyear: Probably because I lived it. Never give up.
And you talk about being in a In a race car or in a go kart or something of that nature.
And doesn't matter if you're doing the Indy 500. And so many things go on with it throughout the race that are unexpected or maybe set you back. You never give up. Or 24 hours of Daytona, 24 hours of Le Mans, there's going to be so many highs and lows.
You never give up because you never know where you'll be the end of it. Probably 1992 race that you just mentioned at the Indianapolis 500 probably should have given up on that many times throughout that day. And you end up turning around and having a shot at possibly winning it at the end. So you wouldn't have thought that with what we went through that day. So never give up. And I say that Mark, because it's the same thing. Off the track there will be so many highs and lows.
Off the racetrack there'll be many times. And I lived it because I was born and raised in Toronto trying to sell sponsorship for something that wasn't really that much in Canada at that point in time, or Toronto trying to sell something to either drive in Europe or drive in the States to try to make a career.
Probably should have given up numerous times because you just felt like you weren't getting anywhere. So both on and off the track, never give up.
[00:04:23] Mark Boudreau: And that's great advice. And, and I think people underestimate the amount of work involved, not just in the car, but outside the car.
So I, I think that, I think that's, it's, it's, it's frustrating because you're going to hear no more than you're going to hear, yes, certainly outside the car.
So yeah, it makes sense. And it's easy to say never give up, but there must be times where it just becomes a bit of, you know, a bit of a grind.
[00:04:55] Scott Goodyear: It really is, you know, for my stance.
Born and raised in Toronto, family was in the evolved in the motorcycle snowmobile industry.
My dad was a, A racer himself back in the old days at the c E grounds, you know, and late models and that sort of stuff. Had a super modified that he used to go to Oswego in. And we're talking things back then with three quarter face helmets and, and no goggles. I mean we're talking way back then when he did that stuff from when I look at the pictures of it. And I got involved in karting because he was going around selling parts and products to go kart tracks, including the Goodwood cart track, which is outside of Toronto, which is still going today, which is a track I started on. And he'd go during the week in the summer and invariably would say to me, oh, do you want to go drive a go kart? You know, so they'd, they'd go to the rental cart, I jump in it, put a helmet on, they pull the cor and I'd go out there and run the thing out of gas. And so that's sort of how I started in it. And you know, as a young driver, young lad, I mean, all you're thinking about is driving on the racetrack. As I started to get involved in carting and we, we ran carts from Jacksonville, Florida, Atwater, California to New York State, you know, all coming out of Toronto, I was fortunate to race for the Margay factory in North America out of St. Louis, Missouri.
You know, carting and all through that stuff. Mark, you are just thinking about driving the go kart and driving, going fast. There's no thought process in your mind as a young driver, even as a teenager about sponsorship, about looking for money because you know, this is all doable by the family to be able to pay for the karting. But there becomes a turning point at some point in time and it's all basically family wealth derivative of when the opportunity is going to be in front of you that you need to find commercial sponsorship.
So for me, my dad was supporting me in karting.
He was a roundy round guy, took me to the Daytona 500 all the time or to stock car races and like I said, he was a stock car guy. We go to Pine Crest Raceway, which is no longer going there around Highway 7 in Toronto, went to Barry Speedway, that sort of stuff later in life.
But I had to basically beg him to go to the John Powell Racing School at Mostport park, which is Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. And I remember that was the day back in that era where Jill Villeneuve was making his name with Ferrari in a red car. I was getting out of my go kart and I remember sliding into that form of the Ford car that day was a red Lola and, but it was red. So to my mind I was sliding inside a Ferrari. You know, it's just like it does all this really cool stuff and then, you know, I still remember it today. And I owned and operated a driving school in my career before I got my career really going. So I understood about that sort of stuff and what I'm doing now, it's the same sort of thing. But you know, sliding inside that cockpit, putting the six way safety Harness on and they tighten it up and then you push the button and you start the car and you feel the vibrations you've never felt before going through your body. You're in a race car. I mean that's all you think about is driving. The reality of it is that this is a business.
And I quickly learned that because my dad was helping me move, move through the ranks of karting and won a lot of stuff North America wide. But the problem is it's all funded by money. And so how I got my first Formula Ford 1600 race car which was $19,500 at the time. I still remember it because I had him co sign a loan for me at the Canadian Imperial bank of Commerce for $20,000.
[00:08:36] Mark Boudreau: Wow.
[00:08:37] Scott Goodyear: And then so I wanted to go racing. So I bought this race car. He helped me fund running it. I ran it with Colin Hine Racing out of Ottawa, Canada.
And that was decades ago obviously, but there was the introduction to it's a business. So I had a loan. Fortunate to win the Canadian Formula Ford title the first year and the pro championship and stuff in the States and.
And at the end of the year had an offer from Crosley who was car manufacturer, I was racing their car out of England to give me a free updated car the next year. So I was able to turn around and sell that car that I had and you know, to be able to start to pay back loans and all that sort of stuff. But that was my first introduction that this is a business. I was working three different jobs, my dad's business at that point in time I was doing driving school programs. I was just working 24, 7 to be able to make money to run the car and ended up winning the Formula Ford Championship and the Formula Ford race at the Montreal Grand Prix three years in a row. 80, 81, 82. So won all that sort of stuff. Was now almost $100,000 in debt myself.
And at that same point in time and needed a lot more money to get to Forma Atlantic at that point in time and didn't have it. So with Colin Hine I started the Canadian School of motor racing in 1983. And so we had six Formula Ford cars, went to BMW, had an association with BMW at that point in time. Still remember the individual's name. Wayne Jeffries was there, he was the marketing manager. And so Colin and I started a school. I started to pay back debts and 83 and 84 and then. But that was my first foray into that. This is no longer just driving a Car or a go kart fast. This is a business side of it. So I, you know, I went and took a public speaking course because I knew that I need to go in front of sponsors and all that sort of stuff. But the interesting side of this is that I was now on, you know, back then, you know, wasn't the Internet. We're going through a telephone book and I was looking at companies. So I'd come home from school and I'd be on the phone calling companies and trying to make, you know, pitches to everything. And, and this is. Well before, Obviously, you're doing PowerPoint presentations and what have you. So I go to grand and Toy, put packages together, because I'd be getting all the materials, the folders and all that sort of stuff, and you'd be calling up ready to make stuff. I bet you. I don't know if I probably had 80 or 100 phone calls over a year to people just saying, oh, we're thinking about it, we'll call you back. Or they wouldn't call. Or I'm calling from 416 area code, and I'd be calling into the States and they'd go, oh, what are you racing? Okay, and where's four area code? Oh, it's Toronto, Canada. Oh, you need to talk to our Canadian subsidiary because you're in Canada. Well, I'm not racing in Canada because we don't have those races in Canada. I'm trying to race in the States and it was never working. But I will tell you a story that I. And I can't remember the. The owner's name, but the first place I was able to walk into was Hakim Optical, the eyeglass company, Right. Which is flourishing there. So I go in there and the office is upstairs above one of the stores. Think off of Davenport if I can rec. Call. And I know I get all ready and I don't own a suit jacket or anything like that. You know, I've got a sweater on and you know, you've got your little brother leather case that you've got all your portfolios you put together from grand and Toy and going in there. And I look back on it now. I mean, it was crazy what you're sort of doing. I remember getting in there, walking in there and waiting for the individual to come. My armpits are sweating and it's just like I've never done this before, right?
What I'm doing, all I know is I want to go drive a race car. And so I get in there and you know, there's just, just, just the owner and I turn around, have a conversation with him at a little board table room and then have this conversation going on for a little while. I can't even remember the whole thing about. All I know is that everybody told me that you have to ask for the sale. So I get through whatever spiel I did and just say, so what do you think? Would you like to sponsor me? And he was such a polite gentleman and he looked at me and he goes, oh well thank you, but no, no, I don't want to sponsor you. And here's the key part that I'm getting to right now. He says, I just wanted to meet you.
I've never had somebody or call into our company to my secretary three times a week that wanted to come in for a meeting. I've never had be that persistent. So I just wanted to come in and see you and say hello. I don't need anything about motor racing, but I think you're going to be successful at anything that you ever do. So thank you. I walked out of there and got in the subway to come back home completely deflated. And you just said a second. Well, you hear no more than you hear a yes.
[00:13:16] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:13:17] Scott Goodyear: And, and but that was my first Rory into that this needs to be funded by money because motorsports eats money. And and I just continued going, you know and like I said when you asked me the term never give up, it doesn't matter if it's on the track or off the track. And the amount of times that I heard no for being on the phone call or not even getting through to people or talking, calling the states because I was now trying to race a former Atlantic car which was in the states that came up to Canada once at Canadian Tire Motorsport park in the series.
The Americans didn't want to hear about it because I was in Canada. They weren't going to support Canadian. So fast forward a little bit.
I get back into motor racing at the end of 84, which is a bit of a story there and with calling a hind racing and then I have the opportunity in 85 and 86 to now be at a team in the states and I'm now calling from Houston, Texas, 713 area code and calling people down there. There was no question about where you are, where your location is or if they're going to sponsor you. It was a lot easier being in the states which was absolutely crazy. And but there again it's selling and whether what I do now with, with the F4 US and the FR America's Championship. And we also run an entry level coming out of carts into cars. The Leger JFC with our three tiers.
We work as much on making them sure they understand it's about what you do off the track is what you do on the track right now.
[00:14:47] Mark Boudreau: Tell me a little bit about, about those series and you know, what they, what a driver should know about the series, how it's structured and where it races.
[00:15:01] Scott Goodyear: You know, we have three tiers much like other racing series do here in, in North America. And the entry level coming out of CART into our Leger JFC, which is really our junior category. The next level up is F4US, which F4US is FIA series around the world that is sanctioned by FIA. The next step up is our F3 class. Basically it's called FRS because it's called Formula Regional Americas and there's Formula Regional Americas form in the regional Brazil. So all that is regional racing, as they call it in the, in the country of what you're running in.
And the neat thing for me, because I own and operated a school with Colin Hine at Shannonville Motorsport park with the form of the Fords and the BMW association, as I mentioned, I enjoy the teaching side of it. So my mom was a teacher, my sister was a teacher, my daughter's a teacher, you know, and I guess I'm not going to say that I'm a teacher, but I stand in front and obviously pass along information to students, the drivers, if you will, and also the parents, because I hold parent meetings.
I've learned enough on this. When I got involved back in 2019, obviously I had driven for such a long period of time.
Got involved in television with ABC and ESPN for 17 years, doing television for all the IndyCar stuff in the Indy 500 and various other stuff like the IROC series, etc. And in 18, when NBC came along and bought the rights to the Indy 500 and the IndyCar series, I'm an ABC SPN guy, so obviously I'm out the door. So out of the four or five things that became available later that year, I looked at this and this was something that I thought I could have a lot of influence in because of my past knowledge and understanding of driving the series and doing what these drivers are doing now, coming out of carts and getting into cars and working their way through. Also own and operating a driving school, etc. And also from the media side of it. So, you know, and really feel like you're putting back into the sport, if you will.
[00:17:03] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:17:05] Scott Goodyear: It's still been a learning experience to me because just like I was in my younger days, although I was attached to motorsport obviously a little bit. It's not only the drivers, Mark, that need help, it's the parents. It's the parents that need the help to understand where they're going, what they're doing and they're finding out. It's. It's a passion for them because it's their son or daughter that's racing. It was the same thing for my son Michael.
Three, three kids. My youngest son, Michael got involved in karting and was very successful at it. And then oddly enough, the first car I got him to put him into in 2016 when it came into this country was an F4 car because the car, because it was safe. It was a monocoque car. It wasn't a formula Ford with a, with a tube frame chassis, if you will. I want something that was, you know, built like an F1 car, but obviously smaller because that's what our series is, F4, F3, F2, F1. So I have no attachment to the series at that point in time because I came in later to run it. But I believed in the car.
He's a big guy, six one, very athletic, you know, so I wanted him to have something around him that was very strong in case there was an accident and not a tube frame chassis. So I got him and got involved in, in F4 back in 16.
Few years later, here I am running the series. So it was sort of interesting story there.
The whole thing with that is that everything that you do on the racetrack is so important. More so today, how you are presenting yourself and how you have the optics of how you are viewed because of social media. When I was racing, I mean, you know, there might be something on television for the big races. There wasn't anything in television for me racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport park. Mostborn at the time, you know, there was the Dan Proud foots in the Toronto sun walking up and you know, doing the interviews and all that at the end of it for newspaper. And so everything else is basically live today on television or on streaming. So the aspects of what we explained to our young drivers today, it's as important as what you do off the track or maybe more important what you off the track today.
Not only at the racetrack, Mark, but in your daily life.
[00:19:16] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:19:16] Scott Goodyear: I mean if somebody catches you doing something that's not correct and you end up being on somebody's social media, that's there forever. You know, there's been a Lot of careers, it doesn't matter. Just doesn't have to talk about motorsports, any sports careers and television careers. It doesn't matter for people doing things that you know are not acceptable. So that's the biggest thing. I think that we try to push in all our off track activity because we hold sponsorship seminars with our group and media seminars, social media seminars, fitness seminars, training facility, all those sorts of things. And so that's the difference that I see that's in the, in the business today. But for, for us to be able to go back or for me to be able to go back and then put this into a program that we do all the information for on track driving and for off track driving. I feel like I'm getting something back to the sport which is, which is
[00:20:07] Mark Boudreau: enjoyable and that's interesting that you mentioned. So it's just not showing up, hopping in the car, qualifying and racing the series. Offer these seminars as you were mentioning, so that you're looking at a lot of those important off track aspects of the, of the business.
[00:20:25] Scott Goodyear: Very much so.
You know, just the first one we did a couple of years ago, we had somebody come in and do some speaking on sponsorship, also information about physical fitness. The company called here in Indianapolis is called pitfit, which I know them very well, I put my son through there, know, know the ownership group they're involved in in IndyCar and also in Indie Next and Indie Lights. You know, you need to be physically fit, which is the other side of that. We try to make the driver slash parents understand that that's one of the aspects of the whole package that you need to be able to do. So we took them on that. We had a company come in JRI shocks, which our programming and start talking about setup with race cars because that's super important because race car has to go fast. I mean as a driver you almost want to be a little bit lazy because you want the car to do all the work and because you have to overdrive the car to make it go fast, sooner or later you're going to make a mistake. So you know, and I learned that from Rick Mears because when I first went to Indy, the Indy 500, I got a chance to talk to him and I remember he said to me one time, he goes, you know, basically I'm a little bit of a lazy person. I'd love it if the car can do all the work it does. Two things he says, I don't have to go and put myself to the extreme. But he said, but then again, at the end of the race, if I'm physically fit and better ready to go off and have to go and do this last 10 or 20 laps super hard because I've had a chance to reserve myself from what I've done, then I think overall I'm a smarter driver. I'm making the car do all the work because the car is going to have to be the one that needs to go fast. So, you know, so just the stuff about making the car better on the racetrack so the driver doesn't have to extend the car which then leads to accidents.
You know, the marketing seminars, the social media seminars. The person that leads our PR program spent 15 years in NASCAR and oversees all of, all of our stuff. I mean, so we have built a wealth of knowledge around there.
The, our chief scrutineer on our car for our tech team that oversees all the cars was with Ron Fellow's team, with the Corvettes, for the factory team, the going Le Mans and to Daytona 24 hour Mike Adkins. I mean, I've pulled in people that have a wealth of knowledge that we're running this series as a top notch professional series which goes through all three ladders. And you know, it's just the wealth of knowledge that we have, not only from myself, but from a PR marketing standpoint, from a tech side. I mean, we try to make sure that we're preparing these young drivers that when they come out of carts and, and into cars that they're understanding that this is serious stuff. You know, go karts can be, you know, a little bit of smorgage board of those guys bumping into each other and all that sort of stuff. Not in race cars. I mean, race cars, you're responsible for yourself, but you're also responsible for everybody else that's on the racetrack.
[00:23:17] Mark Boudreau: Right?
[00:23:18] Scott Goodyear: And if you do something that's irresponsible, it can have big consequences.
And they need to understand that, you know, because. And the other side of it too, and I talk about physical fitness. I mean these Carters are doing, you know, a 7 or 8 minute qualifying race, a 10 or 12 minute maximum heat race or final, if you will, in a go kart that weighs 300 or 325 pounds. You're now getting into a race car and we have 30 minute races and the race car weighs four, depending on the class, 14, 15, 1700 pounds. It's got downforce on it, so it's physically harder to drive. You have to make sure that you don't have any mistakes along the way because one of the biggest things I say to all the drivers coming in, what they need to learn out of karting is spatial awareness. Sounds like a weird term, but I mean, you're driving a small little go kart that you can see the wheels when you're sitting in the cockpit. You get into a car, you now sliding into the cockpit and you can see the front tires a little bit like that. You got the mirrors in the back. And invariably what they do in karting is that they pass somebody and they forget how that you still got 7ft of race car behind you and they're used to a go kart and they'll start to slide over the car in front of them. Ended up clipping the wing of the car they just passed. Common, always common, you know, so, I mean, it's much about an occasional process as anything. And. And for me, what I've done for all the racetracks that we go to, you know, and especially the JFC, the junior stuff, the F4 and also the FR and the FR class that we run, you know, we're running eight weekends. We run 21 races a year in that classification.
So a ton of track time. But I do driver's notes for every event that we go to for all three classes, usually 12, 14 pages of driver's notes. And I've written it as a first person and putting myself into the cockpit and explaining to the young drivers what to do. Sliding into the cockpit as soon as they come out of the pit lane onto the racetrack. Everything about the racetrack itself, the surface, giving them information in that along with the pictures about what to watch out for, and even simple things about coming into pit lane, three distinctive lanes and pit lane, the high speed lane, the transfer lane to get into your pit box and the pit box itself. They come out of carting. A lot of times they'll just come in and wander down pit lane, which makes it dangerous because there's cars coming in and out. I mean, it's just all the basics of training, of getting into a car that I can put together that I've done from years of driving into the driver's notes.
Two meetings every weekend, every racetrack we go to doing PowerPoint presentations.
And everything that we do each and every weekend is about teaching and about making sure that drivers are learning something that's going to help them progress through their career, whether it's the on track or whether it's the off track. And the neat thing for us, our meetings are all combined together for our JFC, our F4 and FR. So the JFC driver already knows the routine to come back the next year because he's been in the meetings, he's continuing to learn, they're start, they're going back to continuously the same tracks. I mean, it's progression that makes you better all the way through.
And, and for me, you know, one of the coolest things is that, you know, the drivers are coming out of karting and you know, I remembered it because I did it, I just did it with my son. You come out of a cart and then you get to our racetracks that we go to. You know, there's a lot of cars on the racetrack running. There's a lot of different series there. I mean, you go to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which is called road and Road America track, four miles in length.
You know, our series, we own and operate racing series through all the stuff that we own, whether it's the SVRA Vintage series, the Trans Am series, TA2IGT, all the formula series, we own all these different series. So we're very busy on race weekends. We can have 6, 700 race cars on the racetrack or in the facility on the weekend. So there's a lot of cars, trucks, trailers, fans, movements. We have car shows every weekend that generally have three or 400 cars. There's a lot of people.
And what I'm saying to you is that you are now getting into a big event instead of a smaller half mile go kart track with trucks and trailers, with pickups, and now there's tractor trailers, hospitality, you know that you have to think about that. And I, I realize that there's as much of the nervousness of going to a big track, a big event with lots of spectators, color, warmth, movement of people than you would see at a local go kart track.
[00:27:45] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:27:45] Scott Goodyear: And so it's, it's the information of getting them prepared both, like I say, both on and off the racetrack.
[00:27:51] Mark Boudreau: And so for those listening, how would they find out more about the three series? Where would they go?
[00:27:57] Scott Goodyear: Yeah, for us it's lichejfcchampionship.com and f4us championship.com framerica championship.com and we're all, we operate, our company's called Racing America.
We have been purchased recently by a company called Velocity in New York, which is a hedge fund company which has given us a lot of the wherewithal to continue building and getting bigger and better.
So I'm excited about that for everything that we do.
You know, there's so much wealth out there of information on those websites that we have it can tell you about Buyer's Guide. You can click on there and see the Buyer's Guide. It takes you all the way through in all three classes about the class itself, about what we do and our demographics and everything of that nature. That's super helpful because like I said, we realize and we built this up and letting the people know that what you're doing off the track is important, you know, and I think, Mark, I mean, I, I tell the story all the time. I mean, I got through my three years of Formula Ford wanting all the championships and the, and the Montreal Grand Prix. I mean, I mistakenly thought that if I was going to go off and win the race at the Montreal Grand Prix, that you would get noticed by somebody to take me up to the next level to get into a Form Atlantic car. Well, I did that three years in a row, winning the Grand Prix races, the Montreal and the, the championships, and won the pro championship in the states and all this sort of stuff. Nobody's calling you. It doesn't happen like that. I mean, it's very seldom. You need to be proactive and understand that it consumes money. And then. So I was out, like I said, In 83, halfway through 84.
My team owner back then and also my school partner had a F2000 car running in the Canadian Tire Series that time become available 10 days before the race at the Tro Viera Grand Prix because the driver could no longer make it. And Colin called me up and said, do you want to go drive this car? And I go call, I've been out of a car, we're running the school series, blah, blah, blah. And he said, you got nothing to lose, go do it. So I went there, qualified 14th, ended up winning the race, which is odd as it was because, you know, just because I hadn't been in a car for so long, I did test at Shannonville Motorsport park in the car. But the neat story about that is I had really no money to go and pay for the weekend itself. The car was available for free. I needed tires and what have you, you know. Who paid my tire bill that weekend?
[00:30:20] Mark Boudreau: Who?
[00:30:21] Scott Goodyear: Tony Tracy. Paul. Tracy's father.
[00:30:23] Mark Boudreau: Really?
[00:30:25] Scott Goodyear: Yeah, because. Because Paul. Paul. I had, I worked with Paul in karting and doing some instructing with karting. And Paul came through my school, the Canadian School of Motor Racing at Shannonville, and then and that year. And so through all this conversation, you know, Tony had heard about that. I was trying to get this done. So he, he was one of the many people that helped me get to the race at Tro Vieir in the fall of 84. And we ended up winning that F2000 race. So my point about that and where I'm leading to this next, I'm at Mostport park the next weekend for the big Labor Day weekend race. And I'm not raising anything, you know, not a whole lot going on. End up sitting underneath a hospitality tent with a bunch of people. And there's an individual there that ended up having a conversation with one day again the second day. And his name was Steven Caldwell and Steven T shirt on, shorts and Docker shoes and all sort of stuff. Very laid back.
And I was telling my story how I just did this race. Boy, it'd be nice to be able to go that need to find sponsorship money. And he hands me his card, no company name on it or anything like that. And he said, just, just give me a call next week or so and maybe come down and chat. I'd love to hear more what you're doing. I find it very interesting.
So I. I call obviously next week at the secretary. Hi, asked a call. Okay, why don't you come in, like on the Thursday, I go down there and not knowing the company name or anything like that, and not knowing really what to expect, I pull up in front of it and it's Waste Coast Sanitation.
So Stephen owns Wastecoast Sanitation, which is like down here in the states. The big BFI sends out probably 30, 40 big garbage trucks every night in downtown Toronto. You know, the big ones that go and pick up the big containers and all that sort of stuff. Massive company.
And he was one that very quietly helped me behind the scenes to go ahead. And he said, well, are you seeing teams? How do you sell yourself? And I said, well, really don't have the money. I need to go to racetracks and present myself and hand out, you know, my business card. All the sorts of things that I know how to do. And he said to me, here's what you're going to do. He said, I want you to go to whatever racetrack you need to do. Get on a airplane, rental car, hotels, whatever it is. I want you to. Then when your Visa bill comes in, come and see me and I'm going to pay your Visa bill for you.
And I remember it distinctively. I mean, I walked in the first time, you know, it was sort of weird because I don't know him all that well at that point in time. He became a very, very good friend.
And I'm walking in there with like $930, the first time, you know, because I went everywhere and he. I remember him looking at it and looking over his glasses and looking at me, and he goes, well. And I'm thinking, wow, this is it. I just spent way too much money. He looked at me and he goes, you're not going enough racetracks because this bill's not big enough. You need to be doing a lot more. So. And he was my guidance counselor, if you will. And Stephen became a very good friend.
But my point about it is, it was a chance meeting.
[00:33:22] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:33:23] Scott Goodyear: Because I was at a racetrack, and I was sitting there. The other side of what I'm going to say to you, to you and to your audience, is that. And I always say that you're always on and you are always portraying yourself and representing yourself, and you're racing in your series on that weekend. Also, I'm walking over from the paddock area over to turn eight to watch cars, and a golf cart comes up behind me, and I can hear it coming through the grass, and it slows down and stops. And a guy pulls beside me, and he was a very loud Texan man with a big, big hat on and cowboy boots. And he goes, boy, where are you going? I said, I'm going over turn eight to watch Carson. He goes, that's a long ways. Hop on my car. I'm going there, too. So we go over there, we're driving along, having a conversation, tell him a little bit about my story, and then come back, he drops me off, and then that's the end of it.
And then about two months later, I get a phone call from a mechanic that I worked with who's now working for this individual. His name is Tom Mitchell in Houston, Texas. And he said, I'm down here. And he said, I think that you have met the owner of who I'm working for. Because we started to have a conversation. And I said, you know, I'm at this time going. And I said to him, I don't really know who you're talking about. I said, this was Colin I was talking to. And I said, really don't know who you're. What you're talking about. And he gets on the phone, he goes, boy, hello. And all this stuff that came back. And I'm thinking like that. And he goes, I, you know, I know I talk to you, and I understand that you got special talents and that you need to come down here and just sort of see that. I get on an airplane, I go down there, helmet bag and all that sort of stuff, and visit with him for just a little while and that was in the fall of October, late October, early November of 84. And he said no guarantees but if you want to come back you can work on cars. I'll put you to work. We got some stuff in the garage yet, you know C sports racers, old formula Fords, a sports 2000 racer, what have you. So I after Christmas I go down there and take my car, move down there and you know starting to work on cars where he had no old train Sam car. I'm running a mortgage board of cars but I'm working on cars because he's got a little business going on the side. He was an oil trader so he had ample funding, had his own jet and all that sort of stuff and but this was something he was doing for his nephew. Had this little team going and the end result I end up being at the right place at the right time. Get down there. We ended up buying a sports 2000 car.
Got to race at Mid Ohio Road America. All these tracks I'd never been to before because we're racing all these different series at the end of the year he said, said we're going pretty good. He said what would you like to do if we could have a car next year? Oh, I go I would love to race the former Atlantic this is for 1986. I would love a former Atlantic because that's a stepping ground to get to Indy cars and all that. She says well let's order some. We ordered two former Atlantic cars Jenning Motors and that sort of stuff and we went former Atlantic racing and won the North American form Atlantic championship won the Atlantic race at the Montreal Grand Prix and thought we were really going really really well and we were won the championship and then we ordered Ars cars which was American racing series at the time. It's now called Indy Lights now called Indy Next right it's the next stepping stone. So we ordered a couple of those cars, put all our former Atlantic cars for sale. I'm in the shop and I mean life is great. I'm training in Houston Texas living there and doing all that sort of stuff and, and you know we walk in and have a meeting every, every week with him about what's going on and walked in one morning because he's in the office trading at 3:34 o' clock in the morning and Auntie Lou was his secretary. Walk in there on Monday morning Colin and I to, to have a meeting and and this is Colin Stewart not the Colin Hine that race where but there was a Colin Stewart, that was wrenching mechanicking for Colin Hine at the time, and then transferred down there and walked in, Auntie Lou says, good luck. And we went, what? She goes, he is hopping mad. And I'm going, what's wrong? She said, oh, you haven't heard? I said, no. And he goes, well, be careful because he's super mad. His wife had served him divorce papers.
[00:37:38] Mark Boudreau: Oh, geez.
[00:37:39] Scott Goodyear: The week before.
So we walk in there going, whoo. And he was not very happy and all that sort of stuff. But here's my point that I'm getting to. He turns around, he goes, everything's up for sale. I've canceled the indie lights cars, Ars cars back then and we're closing everything down so you guys can go and clean the shop up. So I go from winning the North American former Atlantic championship to think I'm going indie lights racing to going back and getting everything sold in the race shop. And then I drove home in the back of my Volkswagen Golf in 1984 over Thanksgiving weekend, loaded up, couldn't see out the back window, came home, got back to Toronto, not having a clue about what I was going to do. Wow, not a clue. And all the way down the series. So then entered into going back to work and doing a lot of training, driver training, and then also getting involved in the Porsche series a little bit. Back up there, having a great support system with me back up there, Rob Tanner, who's been involved in motor racing for a long time, Jack Christie, my good friend at that, that was helping me at that time, Bill Metcalfe, I mean, all these people coming around, rallying around, just trying to find rides and do something. And that sort of kept me piecemealing a little bit until 1988, winning the Rothams Porsche Turbo cup series, getting noticed by Audi, Audi and Porsche in Germany, and then continue to do some racing in the States.
Ran GTO for Roush at Daytona. I mean, just never having a complete guidance. And it wasn't until, honestly, getting through the 88 Porsche championship, getting into 89, getting an opportunity, being at the right place at the right time. 88 Championship took me to the invitational Porsche Turbo cup race at the Le Mans 24 hour race the next year in 1989.
And over there, they took the top champions from around the world. Porsche provided all the cars. We raced at 10:30 in the morning and Saturday morning and with like 30 other drivers from around the world and staying at a big chateau that Porsche Canada had for all their customers and clients and came down one morning after being outside for a run for breakfast.
And then big long table, those big places that they always are, look down the table and I'm thinking, my gosh, that looks like Jim O', Donnell, founder and president of McKinsey Financial Corporation.
So you know, I would never. And he was already involved in IndyCar with Ludic Heimrath Jr and I knew of the team and all that sort of stuff. And I'm not one to go up and pillage people, sponsors or anything of that nature. So I thought that was cool. I mean this breakfast room must have big long tables being served in the big chateau though. We're in like 30 or 40 people, right. So anyways, I see he always had a, a traveling person with him, guard if you will, or what have you. And so he gets up and he walks out and maybe I'll see him at the track and say hello or what have you. Had walked out the door, he had seen me down the end of the table, come back around, I got a tap on my shoulder and I, I'm startled. So I stand up and he goes, hi. Because Jim was very soft spoken. Hi. You probably don't know who I am right away I'm thinking like, dude, I know exactly who you are. And he name is Jim Odonne. Goes to the whole spiel. We have an IndyCar team. We're.
We're trying to run two cars at two of our big markets this year and one of them being in Toronto and the other one being at Road America in, in Wisconsin for our Chicago market.
Would you be interested in maybe running an Indy car for us occasionally? I mean, I'm almost jumping out of my skin. Right. Really? So and so, yeah. So he, we. He gives me information and then I. And there again. Hamp. I'm explaining this because you'd never know when you have to be on or what's going on or being part of. You know, Alanzer Jr. Always said about the Indy 500, you got to be in it to win it. So my point is that you got to be at a racetrack and being engaged and being out in front of people to be able to have some sense of maybe some connection. So he gives me all the information. I'm just staying there an extra week because I was doing other stuff over there at Porsche. I came back and called the Monday morning at like 9:01. When I got back, I still remember the lady's name, his personal secretary and his name, her name was Deborah Kemp. So I called up and I said hello and I thought it was going to be one of these deals where now you know, okay, we'll get back to you, what have you. She said, oh yes, he's waiting for your call.
How about Wednesday at 11 o' clock here at the office in downtown Toronto? So I go down there, have a great lunch with him, tells me the plans about what have you. So 1989 now I'm now doing IndyCar races at Toronto and Road America because I was at the right place at the right time.
[00:42:31] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:42:32] Scott Goodyear: And, and I've been my point about earlier about being on the phone calling people, selling, selling, selling. And a lot of that I got from being on the phone selling yourself and talking to people and being in front of people. But the other side of it too is that you need to be engaged each and every week and going. That's what I tell our drivers. Now they're racing with us either in JFC, F4 and Frank on our race weekends. We own Trans Am, we own svra. You need to be walking around the paddock and going to the Trans Am teams and saying, hi, this is who I am, here's my card. Bit of old fashioned stuff and what have you. And meeting the managers because it may not happen that weekend. That manager might be down the road doing something else for a different series or a different team. Two years down the road, you'd never know.
And that you come and visit with him or you're doing really well, the phone might ring, you just really never know what might happen.
So you've got to be fully engaged with it. And when I say never give up, you need to eat. You know, you asked me that question beginning of the show. The other side of it is you need to eat, breathe and sleep the business you're in. Eat, sleep and breathe racing. Absolutely, yeah. And so that interned and got me a couple of rides with that. I ended up full time in 1990. And 1990 was a decision factor because in 89, because of my work with the Audi Porsche team, because I got on with them in 89 with a team with Han Stuke and walter roll in one car that was a tall drivers over, you know, 6263. And then Hurley Haywood and I in the, in the, what I called the shorter car. So with the Audi all wheel drive Quattros, remember those cars way back when the.
[00:44:08] Mark Boudreau: Oh yeah.
[00:44:08] Scott Goodyear: So I mean what a, what a terrific opportunity. So I did the endurance races with them and then I was getting offered a contract the next year by Audi to go full time.
I had that coming to me. And then also the possibility of going IndyCar full time. My love for IndyCar was obviously that's where I ended up getting into. But I mean, you've had to ask me a couple years ahead of time when I was driving home in my Golf packed to everything, I couldn't see out the back window not knowing what I was doing in life.
So like I said, you never give up. And it's a contacts that you meet along the way, the people that pick up and pick up the phone and keep a roster, keep information of people that you know. I learned this from on stuck about just writing notes almost like a diary because you can't remember everything.
And not only about your car setup and cars like that, but people along the way, I guess how people write books, I guess, or something of that nature. But yeah, you, you eat, breathe and sleep it, engaged in it. And you know, with it with the young kids today that we have in the series, I mean there's so much information available for, for them out there right now, you know, not only about driving race cars, car setup, you know, I tell the drivers, I give them all the information at the second, generally second race event that I do of the year. I go out and buy 50 stopwatches, mechanical, old fashioned stopwatches that you and I would know about. Okay, the kids today, the stopwatches are on their phone.
[00:45:37] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:45:38] Scott Goodyear: And about mental imaging and mental lapse. And I hand them all out the second, second driver's meeting. And I said, you know, when the staff's all handing these, these stopwatches out in boxes, the kids are looking at them and looking at this. A lot of them look at it and then look to the driver next to them. And I can see they're just going, what is this thing? What is this? Like they have no idea what it is. My whole point is that all the stuff that I've learned in the past, I want them to go back to their trailer, their motor home, the hotel at night and start to do mental laps. I want them to close their eyes and I usually give them away at say mid Ohio. And I go, you know, you come through. We call it Thunder Alley. Turns 9, 10, 11. And you're coming up to start finish line. I want you to have your eyes closed. Come through the little carousel, coming onto the front stretch. Envision yourself and click the stopwatch. I want you to do a complete lap all the way around, eyes are still closed. Come across the start and finish line, click the stopwatch and see how close you are to your lap time. You might be within a couple seconds, you might be within seven seconds. What I need you to do is to continue doing that, because now you're starting to slow the racetrack down. Your motions, your movements in the car, slowing everything down. So if you get down to you're within a second or something of that nature, now you can start to understand what the car is doing. And then you come back and speak to the engineers about what the car does in all the four phases of the turn.
And understand that what you want out of the car needs to be relayed to the engineer so you can set the race car up for you. We're in this world Mark, where everybody looks at all the data and everything like that. And I learned this from Rick Mears. You know, you can look at all the data, but if you don't like driving the race car, it doesn't suit you. Your teammate might be going a half a second faster because the car suits him and you can't drive. What's the team is giving you. Setup is given to you. You need that relationship with the engineer to tune the car to what you like. And then we turn around, hand out. It's called Tune to Win by Carol Smith. The book's been around forever. It's probably in its 5th or 6th edition, and every time it comes available on Amazon, I check it all the time. They'll get 40 copies in you go back two weeks later, there'll be like 12 left. The book is still selling today, and it's on Pegasus Sports because Pegasus Automotive racing equipment and also on Amazon. And it talks about the basics, the basics of turning around and understanding what a race car does. And that's the other thing that we pass along that I share to them because the I tell the drivers, you guys are like orchestra leaders, because everything you do with the car, with the steering wheel, the gas pedal, the brake pedal, affects what you do, how the car grips the road. And a lot of times I haven't stand up on driver's meeting. I go, stand up, look down, put your two feet together. And I said, that space right there, if you're two feet together times four, is called the contact patch area, which connects you with the road. You're in this big race car with wings under tray and everything like that. But the only thing that connects you with the road that you're in charge of is the tires touching the road and that contact patch area. So everything that you do with the steering wheel, the brake pedal, the gas pedal, and what have you affects the contact patch area because you are affecting what the. What your. The motions that are affecting the car. And I say that because, you know, you've got your tire and you've got your sidewalls, you've got your slip angle. And if you go ahead and release, do something quickly with a steering wheel, a brake pedal, the gas pedal slip angle comes out of the tire, the car starts to slide and you've lost the car and you're slowing down, maybe you're going to go off the track, maybe you're going to hit something. So what I explained, next thing I explained to them is that pretend your buddies hold your arms, you step up on top of a basketball, and then they let go of your arms. You're on top of this basketball, and we call it gimbaling around. You're on top of the basketball, trying to stand straight up, and the motion underneath you is all that moving around, that's the sidewall of your tire.
Okay? So the sidewall of your tire, you're gimbaling around. Everything you do with your steering wheel, your brake pedal, and your gas pile is affecting the sidewall of the tire, which then affects the contact patch of the tire, which then affects what the grip that you have in the racetrack. The smoother you can be with the race car via the steering wheel and the gas pedal and the brake pedal, the more smoothness you have, the faster you're going to go, the more control you're going to have. The car is not going to slide. You're not going to take the tire off the car, you're not going to overheat the tire. All those sorts of things go with it. So, yeah, so from the start of the season to the end of the season, it's just a wealth of information going to all of them through driver's notes, through PowerPoint presentations, at driver's meetings, and then one on ones with the drivers. And you know, the thing is that our paddock's full of very experienced people.
A lot of teams have their own driver coaches. For me, just the wealth of information that we pass along and then how the drivers are more confident halfway through the year and by the end of the year, they're walking down the paddock with a strut to their step and very confident in their chin up. And, you know, they're very confident drivers. They become very confident people. And I mean, what we do is life lessons in sports, right? Good race weekends, bad race weekends, and doesn't matter. It's the same lesson for life. It' Same lesson for business.
And so, yeah, so we enjoy that. We do that side of it. And then, you know, the other one is the, the guidance counselor. I think that we are really to. To the parents too.
[00:50:52] Mark Boudreau: Right, Perfect. And I will post links to the series and, and actually that book as well on the. In the show notes.
My final question for you.
I think I might know the answer, but favorite racetrack, current or historical?
[00:51:13] Scott Goodyear: Well, there's two different categories and then there's a politically correct answer.
But as an event, let me just say.
And it could be almost tied between the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24 hour, because when I was with Porsche that year, we finished second in class, third overall.
Walking out on the extended gondola podium as it is, you know, over a victory over the.
Over a pit lane with all the crowd running in like it is an F1 was very moving. It was a very rememberable moment, if you will.
But really from an event perspective, it has to be the Indianapolis 500 with 300000 people there. You just can't. You can't believe what then I could go on, fill up another broadcast for you on what that's all about. So that has to be from an event perspective. I will tell you from racetracks and I've been a lot of them around the world.
Canadian Tire Motorsport park, you need no most port for many different functions. When I got the call from Audi to go over and do a test at Hockingheim with the Audi factory and the test driver that day was han stuck that I was going against.
I could not sleep from the moment I knew that I was going there, did not sleep on the plane, going over and then walking and going Hockingheim and all that sort of stuff. It was like, wow.
But you know what? The racetrack itself was simple because I raced at Mostport if you're driving at Mostport, and I also raced at Saint Jovit, Mount Tremblant if you can do tune turn two, turn four at Canadian Tire Motorsport park slash Mosport, that is. There will be no racetrack in the world that you'll have difficulty with. I guarantee that. That is absolutely the fact. And. And it doesn't matter. And the other stuff it does for you is high speed. And it helped me at places like Indianapolis where you need to be precision smooth and with the steering wheel and when you are precision smooth over turn two, turn four, turn eight at most port, it's great.
We came with our series there a couple of years ago, which I was working with Ron Fellows and Miles Brandt to get our series up there a couple of years ago. So we're now going back for the third year this year in, on the, in the September weekend. It now has become a favorite for everybody in our series. We take up our Trans Am drivers and our F4 and our FR Americas drivers. And I do a poll every year and send out this information.
Number one favorite track for all our drivers by far.
[00:53:50] Mark Boudreau: Great. And I will be there. I actually saw the F4s race, I think, the very first time at Boss Sport, the very, very early. So, yeah, I'll be there. I can't say anything against Moss. I love that track.
Scott, I really appreciate you taking the time and you really are the personification of a Ross Brawn quote that I have here stuck on my monitor. And the quote is luck is preparation and waiting for an opportunity.
I think that would summarize pretty much what your career has been. And, and yeah, it's, you know, I think the people listening, if you're new to the sport, if you're currently racing, you've been there a long time.
I think all those anecdotes, all those stories really illustrate that never give up that, that, that maximum. I think it's really important. So thanks so much for being on the podcast, Scott. I really appreciate it.
[00:54:49] Scott Goodyear: I appreciate, and I love what you're doing up there. So anytime. Glad to go version 2 or anything like that. Just thank you for what you do because the, the off track is the difficult side, the making sure that you're with the correct person.
I was fortunate in my world. As I mentioned, stand up people like Rob Tanner, Jack Christie, all the people that helped me along the way.
There's a lot of sponsor people out there today, so it's, it's difficult. It's like going off and buying a used car at the used car shop down, down the street. It's buyer beware.
[00:55:26] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
Well, 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.
