High School Racing Is REAL?! The Future of Grassroots Motorsports

What sport did you letter in during high school… and why wasn’t it racing? 😄

In this episode, Bill sits down with Jonathan Eckelberg to talk about one of the most promising “future of grassroots racing” stories out there: the High School Racing Association (HSRA). It's a program that helps high school students get involved in local short track racing, build real-world skills, and (in some schools) earn official recognition like letters and jackets.

Jonathan’s racing roots run deep; he grew up at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway watching his dad race, jumped into the Hornet division as soon as he was old enough, and went on to race for 17 seasons, including years in pro late models (with some legendary post-race Pabst stories along the way). Eventually, life priorities changed and he hung up the helmet...right as he stepped into a new role that keeps him in the sport: HSRA Series Director.

From there, the conversation gets into what HSRA really is and why it matters:

•  Why racing can be a perfect fit for students who don’t connect with traditional stick-and-ball sports 
•  How HSRA mixes hands-on automotive work with STEM, marketing, communication, and teamwork
•  Why tracks are getting involved (and why it’s urgent as the average pit/stand age climbs) 
•  How HSRA reaches schools through auto programs, tech ed, and athletics/activity directors
•  The biggest barriers for new families (cost, tools, storage, truck/trailer) and how the program helps connect them with resources and mentors 
•  What “success” looks like when HSRA students graduate out and move up into other divisions 

Jonathan also shares what he’s most proud of: watching brand-new families enter motorsports for the first time, then build confidence, community, and a pathway that can stick with them for life.

Learn more about HSRA here: https://highschoolracing.org/
 

Question for you: If your high school offered racing as a sport, would you have joined as a driver, crew, media/marketing, or sponsor-hunter? 

Want faster laps and fewer headaches at the track? Atomic Autosports helps grassroots racers go from “I hope this works” to “I know this works.” 

From alignment and suspension tuning to track-day prep, Atomic Autosports is here to help you drive smarter, safer, and quicker. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start progressing, learn more at atomicautosports.http://www.atomicautosports.comcom

If you’re serious about getting faster, start at AtomicAutosports.com where you can find guides, information, and even connect with us to make sure that your motorsports journey stays on track. 

You know me as the host of Late To Grid, but my biggest shift wasn't on the track, it was leaving corporate life to own a Rad Air location. It gave me the freedom to turn my passion for cars into a career and actually get to the track more often. Ready to own your future? Visit radairfranchise.com and let’s get you living life in the fast lane.

Thanks for listening and taking an interest in growing grassroots racing.  The Late To Grid podcast shares the stories and inspiration that help listeners along their motorsports journey. 

Find all episodes on the Atomic Autosports website.

Transcript

0:19

What sport did you let her in in high school? I bet it wasn't racing. And did you know kids are lettering in racing? That's what we're talking about this week. Let's throw the green flag on this episode. Welcome back to the Atomic Autosport Studio. I've got Jonathan Ekberg in the studio with me, and I'm really excited about this episode because we're going to be talking a little bit about racing youth involvement in our sports, and I will probably talk about a little bit. How are you doing, Jonathan? No connection between the high school racing and the beer, different topics. Um, but doing well. Thanks so much for, for having me on the show today. Yeah. Thanks for taking some time out of your, your day. Uh, so Jonathan is, uh, you know, he's based in Wisconsin. He's in Michigan today doing some, some motorsports work. So he's able to step away from meetings to record this with us. And Jonathan, I always like to tell listeners how I meet guests if there's an interesting story there. So you and I met in December. We were waiting in the lobby of the hotel we were staying at during PRI, waiting for the shuttle bus. And we were waiting and waiting and waiting. And I saw your, I saw your logo on your on your pullover. So I was like, well, tell me about high school racing. So I'm glad that we got connected then and stayed in touch and we got this scheduled. Something good came out of the drastically delayed shuttle. Oh for sure. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to tell listeners before we get started about your podcast, okay, pour another round. Yeah, uh, listeners, check that out with this. Check out this podcast, talk about craft brews and breweries. It's a good listen, but I gotta tell you, the picture of your studio. I got a little jealous. There was a Pabst Blue Ribbon sitting there, I think a bottle of whiskey. I saw a Coors Light. You know, all I have is a water bottle here. You gotta get yourself a beer fridge. My beer fridge is always greatly stocked in the studio. Yeah, and I love that you had paps. I know we're going to hit on that a little bit later, but I guess before we get too far into it, what's the connection to have a a podcast about beer? Yeah. So my, my background is in the travel and tourism industry. I worked for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism for, uh, going on a decade and, uh, you know, like to, uh, like to like to drink beer and kind of, uh, it was, it was born out of Covid really in looking for a creative outlet to continue to be creative and share stories and, and, and breweries around the world have an interesting story to share. And so my co-host and I started for another round back in January of twenty twenty one already. And we're one hundred and fifty seven episodes down the road now and have talked to breweries and a number of distilleries too, from literally around the world, from Australia to Belgium to Ireland to all around the United States. And, and, you know, craft beer is so much about community just as much as it is about the delicious beverage that we're drinking. And so there's always just an interesting story to share there and to tell, tell our listeners and tell that community about, about what's behind what's in their glass. Oh that's great. So I'll remind the listeners, check out the show notes for a link to the podcast. So, Jonathan, you were about a week old probably, and you were at the racetrack. So not only is it in your blood, you didn't have a choice. You ended up at the racetrack. So your dad was racing, your uncle was racing. Tell us about those young, young times, the young days where you were just at the track. Yeah. My dad started racing at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, Wisconsin, a couple of years before I was born. So he was racing when I was born. I believe he raced like the night I was born or the next day. I wasn't there that day, but have heard many stories about him leaving the hospital to go race and and and you know, the rest is history. From there, I was at the track. Uh, you know, from a couple of weeks old, a week or two old and, and grew up right at the racetrack, being in the grandstands every single week. I have a younger sister that's a couple years younger than me too. And, and we were, we were at the track. That's what we did in the summer. Every Saturday night was we were at Lacrosse Speedway watching dad cheering him on. And I could not wait to be old enough to go into the pits to, to, first of all, help on the race car. You know, we would help during the week in the shop and, uh, do what we could and, you know, push the brake pedal for to bleed the brakes and, you know, just tasks like that, that we could, we could help with. And so as soon as I was able to get in the pits and help my dad, I was there. And then as soon as I turned sixteen, I was in a four cylinder race car and racing the Hornet Division out at La Crosse Speedway, and my sister followed suit a couple years later and I ended up racing seventeen years, about ten of those in pro late models alongside my dad for a few of those. So it it runs deep in my veins and through and in my blood. I breathe racing and local short track racing. Yeah. It was. Was there an expectation that you would get into racing? Was it something you had to ask for or did it just, hey, it's time you're racing. I think it was. I think it was more of an unspoken, uh, I don't know, expectation or, you know, we all just were on the same page of as soon as we're old enough, that's, that's what we're doing. And we wanted to, um, and it just was kind of that, that unspoken, uh, communication amongst the family. Um, you know, my, both, my mom has always been really involved in the race team as well. And, and I couldn't wait to be a part of that journey and that story. And we, my family raced for thirty five years, uh, total. And before we retired out in twenty twenty two and, and would not trade those years for anything. We got to spend probably more days and more nights, uh, all completely together as a family than, than most families do, and competing in something that we all really loved and enjoyed. A true family affair. That's awesome. Definitely was. So what's the Hornet division? What kind of cars are those, uh, four cylinder cars? Uh, and still exists at Lacrosse Speedway. And it's, it's grown and, you know, dwindled and grown and dwindled, you know, over the years. But it was, uh, it was a relatively new division, I think when, when I started racing. But the, we had, we had enough cars that we raced, I think two or three feature races a week. So there was a, you know, a faster feature and a slower feature and just the amount of cars that it was, it was made to be an entry level division. And so it's all four cylinder cars and still still hugely popular at lacrosse. Yeah. So Cavaliers neons right. Exactly. Yep. What kind of car did you have. What was yours. Oh I knew that question was coming. And I was trying to remember what it was that I started racing it. Um, I'm sure it'll come to me in, like, ten minutes, but, uh. Yeah. Something four cylinder. Yeah, exactly. I saw a picture. Uh, so I saw a picture of Pabst Blue Ribbon on the side of your car. So was that one of the pro stocks? Yes. Yep. Um, Pabst sponsored my dad for a number of years when he was racing late models. And then when he, he decided to hang up his helmet. Uh, Pabst jumped over to my car, so I had Pabst Blue Ribbon on my late model for, for a handful of years. And, uh, and there was, there was many a pbrs enjoyed after the races on Saturday nights. Oh my gosh, that's my go to beer. So I guess I have a question for you. Have you been able to. Have you been able to secure a ninety nine pack? I have not. Uh, no, but I do know people who have. Um, they really, but have not. Uh, have not gotten one myself. Uh, I haven't looked too hard, but man, that that would be a cool. Uh, cool thing. So, folks, I know we're going down the rabbit hole of something we don't normally talk about, but Pabst Blue Ribbon has a ninety nine pack of beer. They usually come out with it once a year. It's a great thing on social media. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's cool that you have that connection at the Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee, uh, in a couple of weeks to hosting an event there. Um, again, I mentioned being really involved in the travel and tourism industry. And so at a tourism conference, in a couple of weeks, we'll be hanging out at the Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee. Uh, I don't think I've ever been to Milwaukee, so I'm gonna have to make a trip there at some point and check. Everywhere. So definitely do. Yes. Maybe. Maybe I won't leave. That's great. So what finally led to you hanging up the racing gloves, so to speak? Yeah, it. So twenty twenty two was our last full, full season as as a race team. And it you know, I had kids. My sister wanted to start a family. I wasn't living in the area anymore. I was living a couple hours away. And it just, um, you know, families were growing and other priorities were, were taking precedent. And so it just made sense. It was time we had a really successful and fun last couple of seasons and decided it was, it was time to, to maybe step away. Uh, we had had three cars for the last, you know, the last ten to twelve years of, um, of our, our race team. And so the shop was feeling a little empty after those were all gone. And, and it the timing actually worked out really well too, because that was actually the twenty twenty two was the year I was brought on as the series director for Hsra. So my first season as series director, I was racing and also trying to manage the division. And it was a lot even. And then there was less tracks involved too. So there was only a handful of tracks. So it the timing worked well and allowed me to kind of move into a different role in the racing industry and, and ensure that HSR could be successful. Oh that's great. After seventeen years of racing, what what's the highlight? What are you most proud of? Yeah, it, I was really good at second for a really long time. Uh, ran a finished second quite often. And it was one of our last nights, uh, of our final season. I ended up in victory lane. So that is, I love going back and just watching the highlight reel from that race And, and both me and my teammate ran really well that night. And it, it was, it was just a it was a great way to go out. Sounds like it. Congratulations. Thank you. Uh, before we go into the high school racing, uh, part of your life now, are there some, I guess, attributes or lessons that you learned during racing that you apply to your professional life, to your career? Yeah. There's a lot that you can really learn from racing and being, you know, being a part of something bigger than that's, that's just you. And you know, we know that there's the tensions can flare in racing and it's a, it's a highly competitive sport. But at the end of the day, we're all one big happy family, you know, in most cases. And that's certainly something that that I enjoyed about growing up at the racetrack at La Crosse Speedway is, is we're one big family. And at the end of the day, yeah, we might, you know, not be happy with one another after a certain race. But we get over it and we move on. And, and it's, it's just such a collaborative community that that, that, you know, showing that you don't, you don't have to agree with everyone. You don't have to always be happy with everyone. But to be able to, to kind of put that aside and move on at the end of the day and, and be the bigger person is something that, that you can really learn through competing and racing. That's great advice. So how did you first get involved in the high School Racing Association? Yeah. So Hsra was started in twenty twenty between La Crosse Speedway and Madison International Speedway, both in Wisconsin. And it was just started by those track promoters. Both track promoters that I knew very well. And they were they saw a need to to get young people into the sport before it was too late. And so they started the High School Racing Association division at their two tracks and found. After those first couple of years as. As more tracks wanted to get involved. They wanted to see the division grow. They couldn't do it themselves. And so they had approached me. They knew it was going to be my last race season, actually competing in racing, racing myself, and wanted to know if I would be interested in in coming in as a director of the Hsra and, and kind of taking the reins and growing it as, as big as I wanted to and as big as I could, and talking to other tracks, promoting the sport. Excuse me, working with those high school students to make sure that they had a positive experience at the racetrack. And so that was twenty twenty two, you said. Yep. Twenty twenty two was my first season as, uh, as the director. And so, and since then, we've grown to more tracks. We're at, uh, you know, we've, we're at nine racetracks in four different states this coming race season in twenty twenty six, and I have a team of track directors. HSR track directors at all of the tracks to help be my eyes and ears, and be the boots on the ground to make sure that these, these students and these parents and these teams have a resource. Um, live and in person because I can only be one place at once. Um, and it can't be at, you know, nine race tracks every single week. So, um, and this division doesn't race every single week. They race up to six times a year. So it's, uh, we try to keep it really approachable to, to attract those, those students that, that maybe don't know anything about racing or they want to try something for the first time. They didn't grow up in it. And we've seen a lot of that, a lot of those families coming into the sport brand new and fresh. So, um, it's been just a super rewarding experience. What do you think is attracting them to the sport? They get to drive a race car. Um, you know, that's a big one. But it you know, not all students want to. Want to throw a ball, want to, you know, hit a bat. They want to they want to be competitive in something, but maybe aren't either their skill set or their interests. Don't don't lie in those traditional sports. And so auto racing really can attract those students that have, you know, a, have an interest in cars or automotive or, or motorsports, but also students that maybe want to want to do something with their hands. They want to advance their skills in different areas. Auto racing well, while providing a hands on automotive component also provides, you know, Stem education and communication and marketing skills. And there's, it's such a wide array of skill sets that can be broadened and, and enhanced through racing that it, that it just really attracts a lot of students with a lot of different interests that whether they do other sports or not. And we, you know, we all know that that auto racing is, tends to often is a, is, as my story has alluded to, is a family focused activity and sport. And I think there's a lot of families looking for something like that, something that they can do together. They can compete and, and be a part of something all together all summer long. Sure. So you're going on four seasons with with you, as you know, heavily engaged, leading the organization in those seasons. Have you seen some significant growth where somebody left that racing division and moved on to something even bigger and better and had success there? Yeah, we really have. We've had high school students go on to, to, you know, graduate out of hsra and go on to not only race other. So we're in all six cylinder division. We six cylinder cars. So go on to race other six cylinder divisions, but also go on to race Midwest trucks and go on to race late models at other tracks or sportsman classes, hobby stocks, whatever it is and and see success there. We, you know, early on, one of our top running Hsra students, I think my first season jumped into a late model the next year and was rookie of the year. And so it's cool to see. And that's what we want. We want to keep those students into into auto racing, into motor into motorsports and keep them, keep them a part of our community for a long, long time. And so when we see those students that are, are aging out of the high school racing association, but continuing to compete in other classes, that's that's a feather in our cap. We love that. Oh, sure. And you mentioned nine tracks now, right? Correct. Yep. Nine tracks this season. Um, we've, um, so we, we added Michigan for the very first time. So we've been, we started in Wisconsin, have grown to a couple tracks in Minnesota, Illinois. And now for the very first time, we'll have, we're jumping head first with three race tracks in Michigan this season. Oh man, that's that's awesome. So why do you think there's the growth behind this. Why would a track want to start working with you. It's our future. It's you know, the these high school students are the future of racing and, and, and tracks are recognizing that many tracks are recognizing that that our current racing base, our current fan base, base, fan base, they're, they're aging, they're, they're getting older. And we need to find a way now before it's, it's far too late to attract these younger generations into auto racing, getting them in the stands, but also in the cars. And, you know, you can go to quite a few race tracks and you look around the pits and, and what's the, the median age They're older. So fifty plus is probably that median age in the pits at a lot of race tracks. And so we're, you know, the tracks that that we're working with have recognized that this is an immediate need. This is something we need to jump on board with and get high school students into racing, not only in the, in the stands, but also in our cars to to ensure that these tracks can be around for a long, long time. Um, there's, we've seen so many race tracks closing over the years and rarely are new ones opening. And so we're, if we want to keep these race tracks that are in existence operating for years and years to come, generations and generations to come, we need to attract those young, young students, those young kids, and get them interested in auto racing now, before it's too late. Right? How do these families hear about your program? Yeah we do. We do a ton of outreach in the off season, Especially as new race tracks. Come on. Um, so, you know, right now I've been working been communicating with a lot of Michigan high schools. And as soon as a race track decides they're going to have an SRE division. We're, we're doing outreach to schools really within kind of an hour radius of that race track, communicating with, with automotive programs. If there's an automotive or technical education, uh, curriculum at that school, but also connecting with athletics and activities directors. We've seen a number of high schools make auto racing through SRE a sport, uh, which has been been awesome. Um, we've had schools in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Illinois all, all make a sport so that they can continue to recognize their students. I want a letterman's jacket with a racing letter. Right. Exactly. How cool is that? Yeah. And, and, you know, Melrose-mindoro in Wisconsin was the first in the country to make auto racing a Sport. Uh, and we've had other schools follow suit. So it's, it's, you know, hitting those high schools from multiple perspectives from the automotive area, but also from the athletics and activities section because they, you know, a lot of high schools do want to see their students getting involved in more and more things. And, and if they, they have an opportunity to do something and to attract students to something that they're not, that they're not currently doing, um, they're, they're excited about that. I'm going to guess one objection that comes up is for a family is, well, we don't know how to work on cars. We don't have a place to store a car. We don't have a truck and trailer to get a car to the track. So how do you handle objections like that? Yeah, and that's certainly a big barrier to entry. Both cost and knowledge and, and access to resources are all huge barriers to entry. And the cost side, we can, we can help with a little bit as far as just trying to keep those costs down, um, minimizing the, the, um, pit fees and, and connecting drivers to resources to, to help with tools or with, you know, getting a cage in the car, whatever it is. Um, but when we do have a lot of students that reach out or parents that reach out in the off season and say, my kid wants to, wants to do hsra, they want to race. They want to race it at our local track this summer, but we don't know where to start. We don't know anything about racing. We've, um, you know, may or may not have been to the racetrack before. And so anything we can do to connect those families to veteran racers, to other high school teams, to, to businesses that were connected with, um, you know, auto body shops or, or scrap yards, you know, things like that, that can, can provide, um, either, you know, resource support or monetary support, we try and make those connections as much as we can because we do understand that, that those are big barriers and we want to get, We want to get them into the sport too. If they have an interest and. And even though they don't know anything about it right now. Um, that's that's a huge win when we get brand new, brand new students, brand new families, brand new fans interested. I love the fact that you are introducing them to local businesses, business leaders, other organizations, and even other racers because one of the things we talk about in the podcast from time to time is networking. You know, racing is not an individual sport. A lot of people look at it that way. And sure, you got one driver in many racing series, but there's so much more that goes into how a car gets on track. And for you to connect these folks and teach them that skill early in life, that's something that they're going to be using the rest of their life as they go. You know, if they decide to go on to college, if they go into the corporate world or the working world, they need those communication skills, those networking skills is there. Maybe one example where you saw that sort of networking happening and it resulted in something pretty cool. Yeah. Um, trying to think of a specific example, but there are so many of these, these students and their parents have recognized that, um, that they can develop some really strong partnerships and relationships with businesses in the community. And the vast majority of, of businesses in a, in a given community want to support high school students. If they have the opportunity to support a high school student and, and this is a way that they can, can visibly be supporting a high school student. You know, there's, there's many businesses that support high school athletics in various ways monetarily, but, but having their name on a high school racer's car, uh, is visible and, and shows that they're supporting the student. And it's, it's, it's cool to see these students that, that even if they maybe, um, for, for lack of, of, of a better term. Don't. You know, maybe don't have a lot of, um, developed communication skills or marketing skills, but, but figuring that out along the way of, hey, this is important to my race team, this to, to work with businesses, work with organizations and, and see them going out there and talking with these businesses, communicating, um, talking with ones that are visiting the track. Um, there's been a number of times where a business or an organization has wanted, um, has contacted me and wanting to visit with high school racers at the track. And um, so when I can take them around and these students are more than happy to chat with them and show them their car and, and, and they get really excited about what it is that they're doing that when I can see that passion, even talking to a complete stranger to them, um, is really, really cool. Oh, yeah. I think it'd be really neat, uh, to connect a lot of different kids aside from driving, you know, you mentioned the body shops and things like that, but from a marketing and accounting perspective, are there ways for non racers to get involved in your program? Yeah. So that's that's kind of in development right now. We're as we start to work more hands on with high schools, specific high schools that want to really develop a motorsports program through Hsra, where we're trying to flush that out and find ways that we can can kind of have that full auto racing team at a school. And there's a, there's kids that are, are maybe in charge of the, the look of the car and, um, and designing the, the paint scheme and the, the lettering that's going on, ones that are out there collecting sponsorships, ones that are working on the cars, um, ones that are, are, you know, at the track repairing or changing tires, you know, whatever that they're wherever their interest lies. We're, we're actively trying to, to develop that piece of it. We've, we've done a good job of, of really getting a good amount of drivers involved in and interested and, and are seeing a lot of growth there. And having gone above fifty high school racers the last couple of seasons. And, and so now that's kind of that next step of the process is, is how do we get not only students interested in, in racing and driving these cars, but interested in, in all, everything else that goes into, into auto racing? Yeah, I think that's a great, uh, a great plan, a great idea just to help folks explore different career options, different ideas. All we, you know, it's so important that we support the youth and get them to where they want to be in life. Yeah. And, and, and they might find something that they're really good at or that they're really interested in through that process too. And, uh, you know, the motorsports industry is so, so vast that, you know, whether it's, uh, you know, working on accounting for, for a race team or doing PR or marketing or, or actually being hands on working on the cars. There's, there's so many different aspects to running a race team that. Any way we can expose these students to, to those different opportunities, whether they want to go into an automotive field or something, something else. Um, that's, that's what we really strive for. You mentioned marketing right there. Do you help coach? The drivers are in the program right now about how they should be interacting on social media, how they should be, you know, giving highlights from from this past weekend's race. Yeah. You know, we all know social media is great and also, uh, really awful at times. And so we do, we, we have a pretty strict code of conduct policy that I go over with all racers and their parents at the beginning of the season, which does speak to how they're, um, how they're interacting with other drivers, with officials, with fans, um, but also in the social media space and remaining positive and, and not, uh, not speaking in a way that that could be detrimental to, to themselves and to auto racing through Sara and teaching, trying to help teach these, these students that are, you know, they're, they're high school students. So they're still being educated and they're, um, you know, they're not yet to adulthood. And so trying to help, help teach them those skills to, of, you know, what you say matters and, and can have a, both a positive or a negative impact on, on the experiences and the opportunities that you get. Oh, absolutely. You know, and think about it too. I've seen it from time to time where someone will bash a track, right? The the race didn't go how they wanted to. They got dq'd and now they're, they're blowing up the track on on Facebook. And you know, that driver might not be invited back. The sponsors is part of that car might say, um, gosh, not how we want to be represented. So I think it's great that you're, you're, you know, coaching the kids a bit on how to act. And that's another life lesson, right? Exactly. Yep. And and they, you know, put in giving, exposing them to that and to what, what can happen with, you know, what their actions can cause to happen. Um, they don't know until they're, until they're told that or until they experience it. And so we, we try to coach them along the way to make sure it's, it's a positive experience for everyone, right? So nine tracks, they're all oval tracks. Any drag racing plans, any road racing plans. We've had a lot of conversations. There is some interest to to some road courses, road course tracks. Um, and, and drag racing or, you know, some spectator drag type stuff. And so we've had nothing that has, has been solidified or come to fruition yet, but there are a lot of conversations being had because yeah, we are, we are working with, with all oval tracks right now, both asphalt and dirt, um, but have not, have not made that jump into, into those other types of race tracks yet. But, but the conversations and the interest are, the conversations are being had and the interest is there. Beautiful. So where's next? What states are you looking to get into? I know all of them, but which ones are which ones are more immediate? You know, we're we're getting really well established here in the Midwest. And Michigan was kind of that next, uh, natural fit. Um, the really involved racing community here in Michigan, a lot of tracks that are involved and interested in seeing the sport grow and thrive. And so continuing to kind of branch out from, from our Midwest base here and going into Iowa and Indiana and, um, and, you know, the Dakotas and just kind of continuing to kind of expand our footprint here in the Midwest and with the potential to, uh, to, to grow toward both coasts eventually. And I have two questions. First, we're going to talk about track promoters and track operators. Track owners, if they want high school racing association at their track. How do they get that rolling? Yeah. Reach out to me. High school racing org is where my contact information is. My name is John. I'm the series director. And, and, and you know, that's the initial step. We work with all three eighths mile tracks or smaller currently. Nothing larger than a three eighths mile, but both asphalt and dirt and, and, and we have some students that, that go and race both. They take the same car to both an asphalt track and a and a dirt track and try out both, which is cool to see. But yeah, reach out to me. Let's get the ball rolling. And a big part of of ensuring a track can be successful with the high school racing association is, is, is having a really strong partnership to promote it when we can use both of our audiences, both of our marketing channels and communication channels to say, hey, this exists. There's an all high school racing division. We, you're going to get more people interested and involved because until they know that it is there, they can't get involved. And so as much as we can, can shout it from the rooftops and say, hey, uh, do you have a high school student? Do you have, uh, friends that are interested in, in auto auto racing or, or might have an interest in coming out and trying their hand at, at racing? It's, uh, you know, we just continue to, to push it out there and promote it, especially as new tracks come on board so that people know that we exist. And what if a high school student is listening to this and saying, man, I want to do this. How did they they, of course they can connect with you, but how did they sort of start to build some momentum to make this happen at their local track? Yeah. So as, as I mentioned, we're in all six cylinder division. So, uh, you know, what's been a really good fit for us at, at tracks is tracks that, that have may have another six cylinder or similar division for, for veterans because it's, it's a natural stepping stone from the high school division. Now, we certainly have tracks that we work with that don't have that, and they've still continued to be successful. But if there are high school students out there that that are listening and are like, heck yeah, this sounds right up my alley. Something I want to do. Uh, talk to your local track about getting Sara at the track. Talk to your, your high school, your activities and athletics director, or if you have an automotive program that you're involved in or not involved in, uh, talk to them. Because when we have these, these cheerleaders and these ambassadors in these places that are, that want to see it succeed, we, you know, we, we, we're more powerful in numbers. And so when we have, you know, I can't do it all alone. And when we have others that are both at the track and at the schools and in the community talking about Sara and saying how cool it is that that we have an all high school racing division. We will just, you know, we'll all benefit from that. Yes, for sure. Uh, let's talk a little bit more about where you go and learn. So as you're developing in your career and you're growing the program, what are some of your go to resources for learning? Yeah. You know, looking at at what other similar divisions are doing, both from a, from a rules perspective, certainly, but also operational. And it, you know, for so many years, I was on the competitor side, uh, and hadn't making the jump to the officiating, the, the sanctioning body, the promotion side of racing was, was certainly a learning curve and something that I have, um, I've had to learn some things along the way of just how to, um, how to, how to be that, that strong footing to take the organisation forward. Um, understanding that, uh, not everyone is going to be happy with every decision that you make and, and really just leaning on other track promoters that I work with to, to guide me and mentor me and, you know, Chuck Deery from lacrosse Speedway and Greg McLaren's from Madison International Speedway. And, and both have been just amazing mentors to me over the last few years. And I knew them prior to knew them well. Prior to being brought on as Sara. But, but they've been, they've, they've, uh, provided me a lot of great, uh, support over the last few years and, and suggestions and advice. And, um, I know that they're always a phone call away and happy to answer questions. So, uh, really leaning on those track promoters that have, uh, that have seen some things and have been around a while and, and know kind of some of the things that, that work and how to communicate with competitors and, and have dealt with, um, engaging fans and, uh, have just a really strong network behind me. Just a couple more questions before we wrap up here. So, um, our six cylinder divisions popular. They, they are here in, in Wisconsin, um, for sure. Wisconsin and and Minnesota and Illinois as well. There's been, um, there's, there's quite a few like six shooter, six cylinder type divisions, uh, which seem to be, you know, for, I feel like for a really long time it was, it was the four cylinder cars. It was those hornet classes when, when those kind of more entry level classes were being brought in. And now there seems to be a lot more six cylinder opportunities. And so we, we do have those kind of next step opportunities that are, that are around for students to advance to if they want to stick to kind of the same type of car and potentially even keep the same car after they're done racing hsra and go on to another division with the veterans. Yeah, my wheels are moving here. I'm thinking about some tracks here in Ohio that I think it'd be really cool if we can get that program rolling. And, you know, coming from the automotive side of things, I mean, we want to be close to racing because it's in our blood. We enjoy it, of course, but if we can connect with some folks that maybe want to be future technicians, future managers within our organization, you know, a great place to meet is at the track, you know. Um, and we see that because they have the skill set, they have the knack that we want to bring into our organization. So folks listening, you know, if you're in a state where this organization doesn't run yet, you know, reach out, think about it, bring them in and let's grow racing. Let's, let's help our youth find their happiness in motorsports or a career that that makes them happy. Jonathan, is there anything that we haven't talked about that you wanted to cover? Yeah, I just encourage anyone that's listening that maybe hasn't heard of. Sara hasn't heard of the High School Racing Association. Check us out. High school racing dot org has our full schedule. Again, we're in for four states here in the Midwest, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and and now Michigan for the first time this year. And if if you're close to one of those tracks or, or traveling through or want to check out a new track. Come and see these kids race because it's really impressive. It's, it's I can't tell you the amount of times that I have heard from other drivers, from officials, from crews, from fans of, wow, these high school kids really put on a good show. But they're, they're they're positive about it. They're, they're clean racers. They're, you know, I've heard from people like, I wish some of our veteran drivers would look at these high school racers and, and, and take a page out of their book of how to act, how to treat people, how to how to race clean with, with one another. And they're, it's cool to see the, just the evolution of these high school racers from beginning of season to the end of the season of, you know, the beginning of the season when they're all a little bit, uh, leery or they're, they're new to potentially driving in general, not only racing, but just driving and, and, you know, kind of playing follow the leader a little bit too. Now, by the end of the season, there. They're all really running each other hard and strong and putting on just a really exciting show for the fans. Well, one thing you mentioned to me about these young drivers is the camaraderie in the pits and paddock. And if someone's having a mechanical issue or another sort of issue with how they're driving, they're helping one another. Sure, it's competitive, but there's this camaraderie, there's this kindness, this helpfulness that's happening in the pits and paddock, and that's got to be great to see as well. It's it's so cool it to see if a driver has an on track incident or they get a flat tire. You know, there's some type of issue with a car. To see multiple other teams swarming to that pit to get that student back on the track is, is just like gives me goosebumps. Even talking about it just gives me goosebumps because you don't always see that. And to see these, you know, the camaraderie amongst all of the high school racers and their parents and their teams and their families is just really heartwarming to see that they all want each other to succeed. Yeah, they all want to win the race. They want to, you know, beat one another out on the track. But but off the track, they're they're all, you know, again, one big happy family and want to want to make sure that everyone has fun, has a positive positive experience and is able to, to be competitive on the track. So it's time for the final question. I think back to your seventeen seasons of racing. Okay. Were you ever late to grid? I don't think so. I, uh, I was always really early. I feel like, um, I know that's not a great story, but, uh, I was, I was, I, I would have, like so much anxiety about being late to the track or being being late to the, to, to grid. And, uh, so I would be in the car far too early. Um, And, you know, gathering my thoughts. You know, giving a little prayer. Uh, just, just kind of getting focused and in the zone. Um, that I don't think I was ever late. I was probably far too early many times. Well, that's great life advice right there. Don't be on time. Be early. John, I want to say thanks so much for spending some time with us sharing not only your motorsports journey, but then also what you're doing to help grow our sports and getting high schoolers and the youth involved. Well, thanks, Bill. I really appreciate you having me on the show. And, and, uh, hopefully you can hear some hear from some people that, that want to know more or want to, uh, are interested in bringing HSR to their track or to their high school or, or getting, um, getting involved in actually racing in nsra. So really appreciate the time chatting about it.