So you kick ass in GT4, just won your heat race at the local kart track, and you figure you've got what it takes to be a professional race car driver. Now for the bad news. You're not a member of the Lucky Sperm Club, which means you're not loaded and/or your last name isn't Andretti. Do you have a hope in hell of making a career out of racing?
The odds are stacked against you, big-time. "There are tons of great, great drivers who've never made it just because this sport is so financially driven," says Atlantic Championship standout Jonathan Bomarito. But if you've got three things going for you, you might-might, if the stars line up properly-succeed where thousands of wannabes have failed.
First, you need talent. Unless you've got superior car control, you'll be tagged as OSB material. Skip Barber Racing School parlance for "other sports beckon." Second, you need to be crazy persistent, whether badgering car owners for rides or keeping your head up after getting spanked on the track. But most of all, you need a plan. Not MapQuest-style directions, but a big-picture road map that shows you the way from Point A to Point B.
Your mileage may vary, of course. But here are the routes that four top drivers took through the racing wilderness to the Promised Land.
Grassroots Hero
Racer Art Photographic
Randy Pobst is proof positive that you can make a living driving race cars even if you don't graduate from a formula car school before going through puberty. A seemingly ageless 51, Pobst has spent the past 20 years as one of America's top hired guns. But he didn't run his first race-a shopping center autocross in a Datsun 510-until he was 19, and he didn't go road racing until he was nearly 28.
"I was poor," he explained. "My father was a military man, and I was lazy and irresponsible, and racing takes money-a lot of money. Either your daddy has it, or you go out and earn it, or you've got friends who give it to you."
Pobst started working as an instructor in ride-and-drive programs, first teaching college students and later car salesmen, to earn the cash he needed to go racing. With his income-and his wife's help-he started running in SCCA Solo competition in sport compact cars that he prepared himself. Winning six national championships was good for the ego, but not so good for the wallet.
"I took the next important step in my career when I ran out of money," he says. "That forced me to find somebody who was willing to hire me, not because I was bringing sponsorship and not because I was a friend of the family, but because I was fast enough to win races."
Pobst's first paying gig was driving for T.C. Kline, with whom he had a long and fruitful association in sedan racing before moving on to factory deals with Porsche, Audi, and Mazda in World Challenge and the American Le Mans Series. Pobst was fast, brought cars home in one piece and played well with others. But early on, he also learned the importance of networking. As he says, "You have to be there, at the races, meeting people."
Case in point: In 1998, Pobst bought his own ticket to Watkins Glen. As he was walking around the paddock, a crewman with Alex Job's powerful Porsche GT team told him, "Hey, Randy, we might need another driver. So hang around." Job decided to run a second 911 in the six-hour endurance race just in case the team's Number One car broke; Pobst was hired to drive it. The plan called for him to retire a few hours into the race. But halfway through the enduro, Pobst was leading by three laps. Not only did he end up winning the race, but Job eventually gave him a full-time ride.
Endurance racing, Pobst says, is an aspiring sports car driver's best friend. "I would definitely start in karts, if I could, but later on, when you're working as a school instructor or private coach, you want to hook up with somebody with money who needs a co-driver for an endurance series. That's the best path to a professional driving opportunity."