(Tom O’Gorman is a multi-time SCCA® Solo® and pro racing champion who, during the early days of his professional racing career, helped launch the SCCA Track Night in America® Driven by Tire Rack program – a program that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. For Tom, what began as a simple ask by SCCA’s now-Vice President of Experiential Programs Heyward Wagner turned into a multi-year adventure that he never saw coming. What follows is Tom’s story of those early days.)
I was asked to help with Track Night in America after three years of instructing with the SCCA Starting Line school. Heyward Wagner brought me on board specifically to help with Track Night’s Novice program, which had a radical new approach: motorsports for recreation with no in-car instructors. This was common in Europe at the time, but unheard of in the U.S.
We went to Atlanta Motorsports Park for the first event in 2015; Heyward Wagner, Jon Krolewicz, Teddie Alexandrova, several others, and myself were there to operate the first event. We flew into Atlanta the night prior to the first event and met in the hotel lobby the morning of the event where Heyward shared the following: "It's taken everything I've got to make this program happen; I kinda know what we're going to do, but I don't really know what we're gonna do."
We proceeded to schedule out the Track Night in America schedule, driver's meetings, debriefs, and overall event flow for four or five hours that morning. After lunch in Dawsonville, GA, we arrived at Atlanta Motorsports Park – no equipment, no trailers, just our plan.
Amazingly, the overall structure of Track Night events remains almost unchanged to this day.
I spent two years operating events from New England to the Midwest, Texas to Florida, and the energy from the Novice group in particular was infectious. Instead of teaching participants two hours of lines, flags, car control, rules, and the like, we let them experience a racetrack at their own speed. We pointed out the important safety rules, supervised the group to hold them accountable, and let them have fun. We quickly found that the Novice groups were among the better behaved that we had seen at any track day.
My experience prior to Track Night was working at an indoor go kart track. I took a lot of the mentality from the kart track to Track Night – supervise and hold accountable, but let people have fun. Not everyone comes to a racetrack to become a pro driver. Sometimes, driving for recreation is exactly what someone is looking for. As long as someone is safe and aware, and the group considers themselves part of the same team, you can create magic at a track event.
My favorite memories were "established" race car drivers coming to me during a Track Night and telling me how high quality our track time was – with enthusiasts on a weeknight!
The biggest thing you can watch out for to ensure quality track time is drivers not being aware. For example, I used to supervise the first three sessions of every event: one Advanced group, one Intermediate, and one Novice, 20 minutes each. The Advanced group drivers didn't get much slack; you signed up for Advanced, let's act like it. Intermediate got more grace, but also felt more like high school than kindergarten; some drivers pushed limits, others were less prepared than they realized. The Novice group was always a dream; putting a group of drivers together to experience some of their first motorsports memories is truly dopamine in a bottle. Sometimes they needed correction, but they always wanted to learn.
Track Night in America is the program that brought motorsports for recreation to the United States. Prior to Track Night, there were barriers to entry that our motorsports community built without regard to having fun with cars. Track Night became the perfect outlet quickly, might I add, where you could enjoy a part of your day with your car on a racetrack. And, most importantly, we didn't ask much of you. We want to say ‘yes’ until we have to say ‘no.’
Try a Track Night in America Driven by Tire Rack event for yourself! Head to Track Night’s website to discover what Track Night is all about, then find an event near you!
Photo by Perry Bennett
