So You Wanna Work in Racing, Do Ya?

[E1pix]

Blackhawk Farms Raceway
Rockton, Illinois, USA
Sunday June 1, 1975


A Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) National race was at Blackhawk “today.”


My Dad joined the Club a few days ago with a Family membership, so I called the SCCA Regional office in Milwaukee to see if they had a reporter covering it for their monthly publication “The Drift.”


If memory serves, the guy laughed and said “We’ve *never* had one,” to which I very likely replied, “Well, if I totally suck at it there’s no obligation to publish anything at all.”


If wanting a foot in the door badly enough, the Nothing to Lose approach works in business nearly every single time.


That June 1 a half-century ago, today, was what I’ve always considered the start of my career, at 14; only ever in the Arts, over several genres, entirely self-taught — though with the support and advice of untold, invaluable mentors and friends. I have never had a typical “employer” since.


I could go on with a thousand pages of project stories and details and successes and failures on my 50th Anniversary, but this thread is instead dedicated to those who made it all happen from the start — when it was everything.


I invite others to share their similar career origins on this thread; those who helped, the best or worst times, whatever you want to say… and especially if racing played a part in your career path.




Understandably more boring than drying paint to most — and with dire apologies despite the coupon below for a free pillow — here’s a chronological list of those who facilitated my “firsts” over my personal, formative years…


— Dad for the races, Mom for the English
— Jeff for the idea of photographing races
— Bill Schley for trusting a kid reporter
— Gordon Smiley for a ton of journo insights after he’d also done the very same thing for his SCCA Region at 14, and his devout eagerness to write for my magazine
— Fast Eddie Miller, for almost all my life, Gary Passon, Carl Liebich, Paul Newman, Marty Loft, Bobby Rahal, Chris Economaki, Carl Haas, Alan Anderson, Bruce Nesbitt, Jim Meixner, Road America, Road Atlanta, Brainerd International Raceway, State Fair Park Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and all SCCA, FIA, and USAC>CART corner workers riding my ass so I didn’t get killed before or during high school
— Dominic & Margee Rossetto, friends through today, first race car and helmet livery, and Gofer crew as mostly a distractor
— Herm Johnson, plus Ken and Cathy Ziebell, for endless and invaluable sign and pinstriping advice and tools
— Rick Jeffers, Craig Orlove, Dean Champeau, and Paul Fleckenstein for supporting my Eric’s Race Reports magazine, and dragging me to my first GP in 1976
— Scott & Ed Rubenzer, #2 and 3 hand-painted livery jobs, and 48 years of friendship with the former
— Sandy, without whom there’s nothing
— Tony Sanfilippo at Concours Motors
— Steve Anderson for the untold hundreds of Datsuns I pinstriped as a new Denver transplant when 19
— John Barker for a decade of race cars I lettered, striped, and painted, and for a whole lot more work
— Bob Schader for everything; friendship, trust, advice, karting sponsorship, decades of work, free legal advice, and a venue to win our “IMSA Best Appearing Team” award
— Kip Fuller, Pearl’s Restaurant, Petrologic, Brad Linkus, SwissAuto, Robby Mott and Ribtect, Scott Pruett, and IMI Motorsports for karting help
— Chris Kneifel, Patti Wilson, Scott Overbey, and Kurt Wilson for one great month
— Bob, Diane, and Buddy Lazier for too much to list
— Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm, and his brother Tom
— Thousands of other clients from six continents after the above formative years
— Friends who know who they are


My Heartfelt Thanks to All.




Pillow Coupon Link:
This one comment scripted above was wholeheartedly disingenuous, if not shamelessly fabricated

[BLS]

Eric, hope to meet you some day - congrats on 50 years, quite an accomplishment in anyone's book!

Regards, Barry

[Purple Frog]

When you worked with Schader in IMSA was it when he was in the Dodge Daytonas?

[E1pix]

Thanks Barry, I hope we can!


Thanks Mike.

Don’t know of a Daytona, but from memory, the cars I did:
1980: March 79A FA, 4th at Runoffs, Bob’s second year, FF only in 1979
1981: March 80A (ex-Phipps) at pro Long Beach, Autoresearch pro FSV full series
1982: Lola T590 S2, Van Diemen 82V (Club S/V, ie, FC, 2nd at Runoffs behind McKenna)
1983: Van Diemen 83F (two, FF), 83V (two, converted F2000 in pro FSV)
1984: Sparton FF and F/SV
1985: Moved to CA, Swift DB2 S2, won Runoffs
1992: Spice Camel Lights with Tom Hessert
1993: New Spice (93AX?) with Bob Earl, Price Cobb (Best Appearing Award car)
1994: Roof cut off, with Jeremy Dale, reworked as WSC car, + GTO Olds for Brassfield and Hoerr
1995: Dale severely injured Road Atlanta, team moved to CART with Blundell

The only cars I did not do were the Spartons in 1984.

[Purple Frog]

In '94 and '95 we were working for the same folks. Brix racing. I crewed for Jeremy. Actually was the first one to him at Road Atlanta (Ran across the track from pit lane).

[E1pix]

That had to be awful. We almost went to that race, but instead watched Live from Denver — and could not believe anyone survived, especially Fabrizio.

We did, though, attend all three days of the Daytona test in ‘94, including a “vibrant” team outing Sunday night with comrade since 1982 Tom Lynam, newer friend Tom Hoke (who both went on to RuSport under Jeremy and longtime friend Steve Wulff), Bill Mullins, Buddy Donnelly, and a few others I never got to know.

We also attended the Road Atlanta race in ‘94, but missed the 333SP practicing with no mufflers, sadly arriving *just after*. You might remember the ‘93-liveried, safari “fan hat” I painted for Harry, a riot.

Harry and Marianne were both great. We’d routinely chat for hours about his early and Can-Am days, then he’d check the time and say “I gotta go sell more phones.”

We also spent three if not four days in Utah with them and Harrison in I think 2007, and Eddie Cheever, Christian, Max Papis, and sometimes Scott Pruett. It was my wife’s first race after a medical disaster in 2005, they all couldn’t have been nicer — and we’re appreciative for life.