From Daytona Dreams to HPDE Reality: Rory Gamble’s Motorsports Journey

What does it take to go from watching the Daytona 500 as a kid to driving your own BMW on track and becoming deeply involved in the motorsports community?

In this episode of Late To Grid, we sit down with Rory Gamble to discuss his motorsports journey, which began with one of the most memorable Daytona 500 finishes in NASCAR history. Rory shares how a childhood passion for racing evolved into rental karting, track days, HPDE events, and eventually owning and tracking a BMW M2 and E46.

We dive into the emotional side of racing, the importance of preparation before your first track day, the value of mentors and instructors, and how organizations like NASA and the broader motorsports community help newcomers succeed. Rory also shares lessons learned from his first experiences at Mid-Ohio, the challenges of getting started, and why grassroots racing remains one of the most welcoming areas of the motorsports industry.

Whether you're considering your first HPDE event, building a track car, exploring autocross, or simply love hearing stories about how people found their way into racing, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.

If you've ever wondered whether you should take your car to a track day, this conversation may be the push you need to get started.

🏁 Topics Covered:

• Motorsports journey and racing inspiration
• The 2007 Daytona 500 and becoming a racing fan
• Rental karting and early motorsports experiences
• Buying and tracking a BMW M2
• First HPDE experience at Mid-Ohio
• NASA HPDE programs and driver development
• Grassroots racing culture
• Building confidence behind the wheel
• Lessons for new track day drivers
• The importance of community in motorsports

Looking to get your car ready for the track? Atomic Autosports helps drivers maximize reliability, performance, and confidence whether you're heading to your first HPDE, autocross event, or endurance race. Contact us to learn how we can help support your motorsports journey.

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

0:28

All right, folks, I am literally in the Atomic Autosport studio because we are at the shop because Rory's, uh, E46 is here getting some work, and we thought it'd be a great opportunity to, uh, record a podcast episode. So Rory Gamble is here. It's great to have you in the well, in the office at the shop. I appreciate the opportunity. Yeah. How are you? I'm doing great, man. A little setup we had to do here because we're not in the usual podcast studio, but it was good kind of talking. Learn a little bit more about your background and what you got going on. First, I'd like to tell a listener how I met a guest if there's a good story. So we had a Rolex watch party down at track first, also housed with Macan Racing. And, uh, and you were there, I believe you were there to help outfit them with some, um, in ear pieces. Is that right? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Tim Wadsworth I've worked with him for, I don't know, close to four years now. Um, he's been a, you know, great individual help in terms of safety equipment. Um, and their shop there at McCann racing. They have several great mechanics and engineers there that help us with whatever we need. By um, Tim had sent me an email and said, hey, we're having this watch party. Um, we'd love to have you up, make some ear impressions for some of our mechanics for some earplugs. And I think even a couple of their drivers, I believe needed some done as well. Um, so we went up there and got those taken care of and watched the race and yeah, had some good food and some pizza and had a good time. Yeah, that was a great event. And, um, I, since we're talking about track first, folks, if you need anything safety related, Tim and Sally are your folks. Akron, Ohio. So they have a really cool showroom, but if you didn't know this seventy percent of their business is online. Really? Yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't believe that. Me neither. Um, but that's just how good they are. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, Tim's on his phone twenty four over seven. I could email him at midnight on a Sunday night, and he'll email me back with an answer to a question I have. Yes, yes, that makes sense. It's amazing how much he knows about everything. Well, that's he won't fit in this car and this seat will fit in that car and. Oh, you can't do this here. It's a good resource. So I'm glad he invited you to the event. Otherwise we wouldn't have met. Maybe some sometime down the road, but. Yeah, definitely a great time. Yeah. Well, I wanted to have you on to talk about a few different things. One is you've been in this sport for about four years. Um, and it all started with a two thousand and seven Daytona five hundred. Right. Watching it on a small TV. Absolutely. What was it about watching those final laps that said, I got to get into this somehow. You know, you look at the some of the greatest Daytona five hundred in history and you look at the finish of that, the flashbulbs, that close finish, one of the closest finishes in history. I don't know what it was about it. You know, obviously in the closing laps, we had no idea that it was going to be the way it was at the end with Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick. But I'll never forget, you know, I'm probably, I don't know, two foot tall. I felt like I was looking up at the sky, um, looking up at the TV, one of those small with the wood wood trim. Yeah. Chris and my father, um, he goes, pick a car and I'm like the red one, you know, and of course, one of the only red cars on track at the time was, you know, Dale Earnhardt Junior. So, um, you know, I know there's a lot of bandwagon fans out there, but, um, that was, that was my story of why I was, you know, a big Dale junior fan growing up. And just, just one of those deals where it, it was just this most magical experience watching it for the first time. And we ended up going to a few races later, later that year. So. Oh man, that's great. Yeah. Um, was there anything about being at an event or a race that even cemented it more that. All right, I want to be involved with this. I can't think of any moment in specific, um, you know, as a child, you know, everything. So you're so elastic and everything's so emotional. Um, I'll never forget the first one of the first races I went to up at Michigan, um, which is actually this weekend, um, I believe it was either two thousand and seven August or two thousand and eight August. Um, I Dale jr fan and you know, he's running up front and it's close to the end of the race and we're on a big restart. And Kyle Busch, God rest his soul, um, puts him in the wall or so I thought. Yeah. You know, you don't have a great perspective from the grandstands of course. And I'll never forget my parents don't make fun of me this day that I left crying. Oh, you know, and it just the emotions of that, the highs and the lows. I think maybe that's what, what attached me to racing, just the emotional part of it. Even even as a feeble minded, you know, seven or eight year old. Right. And you did some rental carts. at some point in your life. Uh, again, what was the impression there? Again, it was just part of the part of the process of. All right, I'm still liking this. Yeah. I mean, my, my family, they they've always supported me even to this day, you know, as far as whatever I wanted to do with my life. Um, you know, and being a huge race fan growing up, it was kind of one of those deals where if we went to Daytona or we went to Orlando or, you know, even we go to Kentucky to see family, you know, if there's a rental car place, we're going to, we're going to hang out there for a few hours and have a good time and, and go from there. But, um, they put me in every sport they could think of growing up. And I would say, just to be honest with you, I was, I would say slightly below average at most of them. You know, I was not really great at anything. So I just always gravitated toward racing because I felt like that was that was my thing. Yeah. You know, I felt like, you know, being light because I was a child. I could look at the rental kart lap times. Oh, top of the board. I must be pretty good at this. But, you know, back then, you know, I didn't understand that, you know, weight and things like that play a huge factor into it. But yeah, so you think back, what made you take your first step to get a car on track and what kind of car was it? My first car, uh, that I put on an actual real racetrack. Um, I purchased a twenty seventeen BMW m2 six speed. Um, I bought it, ironically enough, from a divorce attorney who was getting divorced. So he had realized that if he did not get rid of this car, um, before all the legal proceedings of his divorce, that, um, he was going to either lose the car or maybe some financial aspect of it. So I got that for a pretty good deal. I bought it in Columbus in, I believe, twenty twenty one. And then of course, just pat upgrades, um, brake fluid change and decided to sign up for a PCA event at Mid-Ohio the next year. Okay, let's talk about that first event. Yeah. Coming in. Uh, nerves, anxiety. What made the day a little bit easier for you? Was it some research before the event or finding a partner or someone you could kind of hang out with at the event? Yeah. I mean, NASA, National Autosport Association, they have such a great program there. Um, I can't thank, you know, everybody there enough. Jay Andrews, um, Joey Pollack, uh, Derek Mortland, all those individuals from the classroom time to just out in the paddock. Um, they were a great resource that weekend. But you know, to answer your question more specifically, when it came down to preparation, I think doing a lot of research beforehand was so, so important. You know, I would imagine I spent, you know, at least an hour a day on my phone looking at Google. You know, what, what do I need to do to be successful this weekend? Um, in terms of, from a mechanical standpoint, and then of course, from a driving standpoint, um, you know, that may include more simulator time, iRacing, R factor, or even just fun video games. Just have fun with it. Yeah. So I think that was important to make sure that weekend went well, but I sure learned a lot even that first weekend. Yeah. So all the prep then that's an important part. The prep. Um, you know, you talked to someone that paints houses or even paints cars. It's all about the prep work and that's what makes the final product so well. So you put a lot of prep into your first event at Mid-Ohio. Can you remember anything from that day that you said, okay, I learned something I need to implement next time? Or maybe even something you forgot. That first event? Yeah, I would say probably one of the most important things was fuel. Um, you know, I had no clue that, you know, you're out there going full bore at a track like Mid-Ohio with that big long backstretch that my car was going to burn, you know, just a gas five times the amount of fuel that it would when I'm driving on the street. Yeah. And, you know, you're you're out there, you're laser focused on, you know, just, just driving in general, all the aspects of that, of course. And low fuel. I'm like, I just fueled this thing up. Like, what do you mean low fuel? Um, so that was probably one of the more important things that I had to think about in terms of either the next session or even the next event, right. How did you first get connected with NASA? Um, to be honest with you, I, it's not something I can quite recall. Um, maybe an advertisement on Facebook. Um, I didn't really know anybody in the racing industry. You know, I've kind of, I've had great resources ever since, you know, I've had a great circle of people around me, whether it be friends, family or individuals in the industry like yourself. Um, but probably just looking into it, trying to find a good way to get on track. Um, but certainly after that PCA event that I, I do remember seeing that on Facebook, um, I was like, how, how can I get back on track, you know, looking more into that and researching that? And do you still have the M2? I do not, I got rid of it. Oh, you know, with the XM cars it's I bought it with twenty eight thousand miles on it and it was in great condition, and I take great care of my cars. Usually, unless it's an older car, it's like a not, you know, something more common, some something kind of older, higher mileage. I'm not going to take great care of it. But I took really good care of that car. But it got to a point to where I ended up with seventy thousand miles on it after four years. And with those cars, I'm sure, you know, it's kind of like I either need to get rid of it or keep it forever. Yeah. Because it was at that point, you know, six or seven years old with seventy thousand miles. It's like, you know, it's still depreciated a lot now, but you know, somebody will find good use out of it for a long period of time. Oh for sure. Did you replace it with anything? I replaced it with my spec E46. Oh great. So I got rid of that and, uh, ended up using the funds for that to purchase my forty six. All right. Why the E46 platform? So that's a long story that I will condense. Um, my first car was a two thousand and one three thirty CI. We paid three thousand dollars for it, and by we, I mean my parents. So I was very, very fortunate for them to be able to do that for me. Um, that car is a money pit. Um, I believe, I think towards the end of its um life in my possession, um we realized that it didn't have a blown head gasket, but it had some sort of warped head gasket. We were chasing this coolant leak for years. I had that car for ended up having five or six years total. Um, we probably had probably another four, four or five thousand into it just in repairs. So, you know, it came to me that, you know, this is not going to be very financially viable, you know, for me. Um, so I need to figure out how to work on them, right? So I ended up doing a lot of work on that vehicle. And then I found another one five hundred bucks. Reynoldsburg needs, uh, center support bearing. I'm like, what could go wrong for five hundred bucks? Sure. So I bought it, replaced the center support bearing it was higher mileage. Um, but that car was like, you know, I've got seven hundred bucks in the car tax title, the center support bearing everything. If it breaks, it breaks, I'll fix it. And if I don't fix it, I don't fix it. So I learned a lot more from that vehicle as well. Um, you know, I had a little bit more leeway with that car so that if I did, you know, mess something up pretty big time, it was no big deal. Um, and then I couldn't stop. I bought, I ended up a few years later, um, saved a little bit more money. You know, I'm eighteen, nineteen at the time. I bought another one. Oh my gosh. And then another one and then another one and then another one. Were you keeping all these? Um, I never had all of them at the same time. All right. Um, for a while I was kind of flipping them. Um, you know, even if I was breaking even on them, that was great because I had a car that if I was breaking even on it after a year or two, it's like I was driving a free car. Yeah. You know, and there were a couple I'd make a thousand bucks on, but, um, you know, I'd keep it, fix it, get rid of it, you know, any anything we needed to do with it, but ended up total. I've had seven three thirty six. So when I, I got more into racing, got more involved and I ended up putting myself in a better position financially that we could do some racing. Um, I realized what better car to race than an E46? You know a lot about them. I know a lot about them. You know, why do something I don't I don't know a lot about because at the time, you know, I didn't have a lot of seat time. So why why work on a car I don't know a lot about when I, I know a lot about the E46 and I can focus on the driving aspect of things. Um, instead of learning about the car. Yeah, I was a good position. And there's a, there's another point there that just popped in my mind too. One of the things we're always looking for is a smoother track day, a smoother race. And when you don't have to figure out why the car is not running well or figure out how to fix something that makes that day a little bit more smooth. And so that's exactly what you accomplished. I don't you probably didn't think about it that way. Maybe you did, but you knew so much about the platform that, hey, if something goes wrong, I know how to fix it. Right? I know I, you know, I know where the parts are. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I can think of a perfect example. Uh, the first time I drove an E46 on track, um, all of a sudden it's pegged overheating. And I'm like, I bet you five bucks the expansion take blew up. You know, I've had that happen probably six or seven times. You know, it's a very common failure, as you know, a lot of people know. But is that what happened? Yeah. Yep. Did you have a spare? No. Did your day end? Yep. End of the day. It was the last session, so it really didn't matter. But it was like halfway through the session, so no big deal. But, um, easy fix, cheap fix. No big deal. Now you carry an extra one with you, right? Absolutely. Two. Yeah. Keep two with you. You never know. Yeah. Uh, so when you when you got the E46 was the. It was the intention spec E46 with NASA. Yeah. I mean, the BMW Car Club of America. Um, they also host E46 races. And where we're at geographically, their schedule doesn't make a lot of sense for me. Um, and they also don't have the resources in terms of, you know, attaining a competition license very easily. Um, in fact, I've heard it's been a little bit more difficult for some of the club racers to get approved for the CC a, um, even with some prior experience. So they really vet their drivers really well to make sure that everything is as safe as possible. So gotcha. And you haven't raced this one yet? Nope. Not yet. All right. And your first. So you're heading up to Gingerman. Yes. And is that a race? Yes. All right. Yeah. That'll be the first weekend with her. Excellent. Um, and if folks listening, you know, the the car here is here just getting a couple of things fabricated welded onto it, um, to help move the project along just a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciate you having me up here today. And. Oh, yeah. Beautiful. It's a beautiful day here in Northern Ohio. Um, but it's just kind of one of those situations where I don't know how to weld. Um, I'm glad that you guys have the resources available to, to do that for me and provide that service and make sure that the car is going to be nice and safe and mechanically sound before we put our on track here in a couple of weeks. Oh, yeah. So you'll need a NASA inspection. Yes. Right. You can do that at the track. Yeah. Okay. All right. Very good. Yeah. The car has no injectors in it right now, so. Oh, really? Yeah. Just a shipping delay with with some from a a reputable online vendor. Yeah. Um, but no big deal. But. Oh actually they arrived today. So a day late and a dollar short. So. Oh that is, that's good to hear that they're showing up. But you know, that's one thing that um we were helping a customer out, an atomic customer out this week trying to get him some brake pads. And uh, the first set we ordered over a week ago, and we still don't have them yet. So in a panic, I ordered two more sets from two different suppliers on Wednesday. Both were promised on Thursday, paid extra for the shipping only once that showed up. Wow. So he's on track today. Good. Thank goodness he put him in last night. But, uh. Yeah. How frustrating. Um, you know, we joke around. Uh, my friend and I have a joke called. We're in the sport of procrastinating. You know, you wait till the end to do stuff, but even even prepared drivers, you know, there's something you think of last minute. I need this, I need this, and when there's a delay, that's super frustrating. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's probably one of the more difficult parts of the racing that I'm doing with the E46. Is that that not necessarily the supply chain issues, but, you know, ordering, you know, I've, I think about building a car the past two years. It's been this big project for me, I think of at least two or three hundred parts that have received in the mail, you know, and making sure that I've got a checklist of what needs done before this part arrives. Or, you know, if I do this and then this part shows up, I can't do this. And that part of it can be very difficult. Yeah. Are you doing the build at home? Yeah. Oh, that makes that makes it a little easier. Yeah. I think it does make it a little easier, uh, depending on the space you have. Um, I've tried to put myself in a better position every every year I've been able to find a new shop that I can work out of with a little bit more width. Um, that's allowed me a little bit more room to work with, but um, using some quick jacks, I don't, I don't have a lift. So that certainly makes things a little bit more difficult. And then there's always that anxiety of being up under the car for long periods of time and things, you know, by yourself. You're just the safety aspect of it. I will tell you, I have full access to a shop and I do all my work on quick jacks. Really? Yeah. I was just talking about this morning. I had to replace a transmission in the rx7 last season. I did it on my back, and, uh, you know, the things on my stomach and. But to me, it's a little bit easier than you know, because sometimes the car doesn't run right. Like I mentioned, I had the transmission out. Well, there's enough space that we can still get it done. So, um, and I don't know if it would have been any easier because doing it by myself, I don't know if it would have been any easier to have it on a transmission. Jack on a lift. Um, so don't worry. Maybe just the weight of the transmission. Yeah, it comes down. It's like, jeez, yeah, sixty, seventy, eighty pounds or more. And, and it bought me, uh, for hours. But anyways, so you're, I think you're having quick jacks. Great. Way to go. Yeah, yeah. Gives you, gives you just enough clearance, enough room to, to do what you need to do. So let's talk about your season this year. We talked about gingerman. What. And I know everything's going to go really well there. You're just going to put the car in the trailer and it's already ready to go for the next event. What's the rest of the season look like for you? Yeah. So I plan on running the rest of the schedule. Um, Gingerman. And then the preliminary schedule had Pitt race, uh, for July. Um, but, you know, unfortunately, with everything that's happened with that facility, we're back at Gingerman, so it's still a great facility up at Gingerman. You know, I like variety in our schedule, but, um, I'm sure there'll be more next year variety because, you know, with contract negotiations and things with pit race, um, you know, kind of put everybody in a bind. Um, but we'll do gingerman in June here in a few weeks, and then we'll do gingerman in July and then we're back at Mid-Ohio in August. Um, I believe I'm still looking at some budget things. I'm not sure if I'll make it out to Chicago for Audubon Country Club. Um, but we fully anticipate on being down at the National Corvette Museum for, for that race in October and the banquet. Oh, yeah, that'd be great. That's where the championship is. Absolutely. Yeah. That's great. So will you be have enough races to be a contender for championship? I'm not sure. Uh probably not. I, I know there's probably three or four other gentlemen, um, that are in the series this year that have accumulated quite a bit of points. Yeah. Um, but our goal is just to get the car where we need it to be for this year. Get more seat time, of course, is so important for me at this point in my career. Um, and then next year we're going for it. Awesome. I love that. Absolutely. Well, you will see that there's a big smile on Rory's face right now. Talking about next year already. Do you use anything for data data acquisition? Yeah. I mean we love using some of the AIM systems. Um, that's something I still need to install next week before gingerman, of course, but, um, just being able to analyze that data so, so crucial. Um, and of course, we're hearing more and more about that how important it is to, after either each session or after every race, not necessarily from a driving aspect. We all know that that's so important, but from a mechanical aspect, you know, sometimes you can look in that data and think, well, that doesn't make sense. You know, why is the brake pressure showing this? Mhm. Um, and being able to diagnose and figure out why that, that data doesn't make sense in terms of, you know, how you're actually driving and, uh, you know, producing that lap. Yeah. I don't know if you know or not, but, uh, AME just released a mobile app. Really? Yeah, so I've downloaded it. It's basically a ray studio on your phone. Um, I downloaded it. I haven't connected it yet to my car. I kind of want to do it before I leave today so that I have the weekend to kind of see what it is. But I made a note when I saw it yesterday. I said, I gotta have em on to, to talk about this because, um, you know, we were even talking earlier about getting the surface connected to it and there's some difficulty there, but think about as long as you, as long as it connects at the track, you can, you don't have to pull out the laptop and look at it. Maybe there's some data points you could look at right on your phone. Yeah, which would be really cool. Just yeah, I mean that, that sounds great. I'll definitely look into that probably as soon as we're done here. Yeah. Um, you know, just even lugging around all these cables and things can be kind of tricky in terms of, you know, from a packing standpoint. Oh, yeah, that'd be good. I know there's times I've been in my trailer when it's parked here at the shop and I'm trying, you know, I got cables trying to squeeze in, connect up just to download some data. And if we could do it wirelessly through the phone. That'd be pretty cool. Even get an iPad or something. It may even be more convenient, especially if you have video attached to it. Yeah for sure. Let's talk about some of the best racing advice you received, and I want to find out how you got this from Ryan Truex. And I know you have some NASCAR connections we're going to talk about with some sponsorship. But he said brake less, gas more. Yeah, yeah. I was, um, we were actually down in North Carolina in probably would have been twenty fifteen, twenty fourteen somewhere around there. Um, and of course down there just north of Charlotte, Mooresville, where all the NASCAR shops are, they have back then it was considered go pro Motorplex and now it's Trackhouse Motorplex, of course. Um, we were down there just doing rental cars and you know, back then Ryan was running a lot of NASCAR. You know, back then it was Xfinity and Nationwide Series. And I saw him and you know, I recognized him, you know, fifteen, sixteen and I'm like, you know, there's Ryan. Hey, Ryan, you know, do you have any advice for me? You know, I'm looking at the leaderboards. You go in the little shop there and he's right above me. I'm like, geez, I know he's a professional, but that's quite a bit faster, you know? And I said, do you have any advice for me? And I part of it, I think was serious. And the other part was a little sarcastic. He said, um, more gas, less brake. And I'm like, hmm, that's obvious, you know, but I think in a way he did mean it very seriously, um, to where, you know, you really want to focus on making sure you're not over slowing the corners, making sure you're getting out of that corner properly. Um, and I, I applied it still wasn't as fast as he was, um, with the amount of experience and knowledge that he has, but that's probably some of the best advice I've had from a, from a baseline, uh, small picture level. Wow, what a cool encounter down there. Yeah. And did you, what were you doing in North Carolina? Uh, we were down. We went, uh, every year, Um, down at Petty's Garage, which is the shop that I don't, I don't know if he actually still technically owns it, but Richard Petty, um, they own a shop called Petty's Garage and they every year they have a petty fest where they have all sorts of stuff from their museum. They'll have superbirds, um, all this Mopar stuff. And we get, they get individuals from all over the country that come to random in North Carolina just for that. Um, so we went down there for that and then of course the Coke six hundred. Oh. All right. So hey, what a great experience. Do you think about that advice when you're on track now? Um, maybe not as much. Um, I think, you know, as my, my racing career has developed, I've gotten a little bit more specific about, you know, how I attack a corner, attack a race or a practice session. Um, you know, from a big picture standpoint, maybe that's, that's important to look at. But, you know, I'm trying to focus more now on the specifics. Um, you know, end of breaking, you know, the course layout itself, uh, whether tire pressures that the real specific things is something I've been focusing on the past couple of years. All right. I want to dive into that a little bit more. So let's just say you're focusing in on breaking. Are you doing anything before you get to the track to learn like what you should be doing, or maybe a different breaking point? And then also, how do you know that what you're doing is resulting in a in the direction you want to go? I'm sure faster lap time. Is there something else you're looking for? Yeah. You know, to answer your question specifically from a driving aspect preparation for me, and I think a lot of the drivers probably feel the same. Of course, you know, simulators have become more and more and more and more important. Um, you know, not telling you anything you don't know. But, um, I like to use a hybrid between simulator work and then of course, just video on board video from any car I can find, you know, whether it's open wheel or regular street car or converted car with a cage, I think is really crucial to get a good variety of data, um, visually that you can look at and study. I just find that doing too much simulator work, I think can produce a lot of bad habits. Um, but then again, you know, watching too much film, I think doesn't really give you this full scope of, of what that actual experience looks like when you get to the track. Yeah. Um, and then, um, are you working on multiple things each time? Are you focusing on just one thing per session? Yeah. I, I need to continue to develop what that preparation looks like before I get to a new track. You know, when you get to track that you're familiar with like, like Mid-Ohio, I've probably probably have two or three hundred laps at at this point. Um, you know, you get to track your familiar with, even with the repave. Um, you want to know what's changed since you've been there last. So I'd like to look at weather trends, like how warm was it the last time I was there? You know what, I look at the set up sheet. I'm like, what tire pressures have I run? You know, previously with this weather? Um, have I changed anything on the car? Have they changed any pavement? You know, I know there's been some changes with China Beach there at Mid-Ohio, uh, recently. And then of course the repave recently as well. What's changed when we go to that racetrack? Um, but, you know, in terms of, you know, more specific preparation, I think it just comes down to looking at, you know, how, how we've changed over the course of, you know, several years. Right. So you mentioned looking back at data, where do you record that? How do you keep track of your notes from a session? Yeah, I like having a, I have a large binder and I like physical, physical stuff, you know, everything. So digital now, but I'm probably the last generation that still enjoys a lot of paper stuff. Um, so I've got a nice big binder that's labeled, um, just overall, you know, data, uh, tire pressures, um, you know, camber adjustments and things like that that obviously wouldn't apply to M2 with the stock suspension. Um, but with the spec spec car, even some of the rental cars that I've used, what does that look like? Just more physical stuff I think is really important. It's easier to lose. Um, but certainly having a nice safe place for all that stuff, whether it be, you know, in your head or physically is really important. Yeah. I'm a big fan of paper as well and, um, for a few reasons. One is, yes, you can carry it, you can look at it. I always say there's a certain romance with paper, but the digital, while it could be okay, could also have problems. You might not have internet connectivity, which might not impact what you have. What if you do a software update and things didn't transfer over on your phone? Right? That's that's never happened. Um, yeah. And I think it's nice just to be able to thumb through and look at things as opposed to something on a smaller screen as well. So I love the fact that you're using a binder. Yeah. Especially these summers here in the Midwest, they can get pretty warm. Mhm. Um, there's been several times I'll pull up my phone and I'm looking at a film from a session and phone overheating allowed to cool, you know, what am I supposed to. Yeah. I can't record the video on paper, you know, but I can look at, you know, my notes and try to allow it to cool down and things and go from there. But from a technological standpoint, there can be some of those challenges, like you mentioned, about updates and internet. You know, some of these tracks don't have the best service depending on your, you know, carrier. So that can be challenging as well. Right. So I asked the best racing advice you received if somebody came to you and said, Rory, I really enjoy seeing you on track. And how do I do this? What advice would you give to someone that's just getting started? Yeah, I think, you know, I, we talked earlier before we started about, you know, some of the advice that Shane and Gisbergen had given me back in Daytona, um, about just overall preparation. I know that's been the theme of our conversation the past few minutes, but researching what do you need mechanically from the car? What do you need from yourself? Um, from a driving standpoint. And then I think personally the most important thing is psychologically where are you at in your head? Are you ready for this step? Are you ready to put yourself on a race racetrack, you know, at speeds over one hundred mile an hour. Yeah. Are you are you comfortable with that? Does that scare you? If that scares you, you know, we need to take a step back and work our way up to that. Um, just the overall preparation, every aspect of every category you can think of prepare, prepare, prepare. I think that's the name of the game. That way you can show up, you know, on time. Yeah. Show up at the track when you need to be and be ready to go out there and do your thing. All right. Let's transition a little bit to the business side of your life. So you're a small business owner. How are you able to be here today? Yeah. And not at work. Yeah. Um. Very fortunate. I have a great team of four employees, um, that work with us at Norval's Hearing Aid Center. Um, they're holding down the fort there at the office today. Uh, we have an office in Zanesville and Cambridge, Ohio. Um, they're they're just manning the phones. Um, I don't take a lot of time off. Um, when I do, it's it's for racing, of course, whether it's attending or driving. Um, but they're they're taking care of business, making sure everything's running smooth so I can show back up Monday with a car better than it was before I left this weekend. And, and a easy, easy transition back to the next week. Yeah. Does owning a business, is it do you think it's easier to get on track and spend time away from from your career for a couple of days or owning a business? Make it harder. I think it's both. Um, I think from a goal standpoint, you know, unfortunately at this point in my life, my, the business is, is my main priority. You know, it's, it's, it's my life. Yeah, it's, it's my lifeline. You pay the bills. Yeah. How we can raise. Right. Um, so from a financial standpoint, I, I have to do what I have to do with the business. Um, and racing has to come second at this point. Um, I'd love there to be a day that racing can be first in the business can be second. Um, what that looks like, I don't know what that path looks like. Looks like, I don't know. Um, but I would say it's both, you know, getting away from the business can be a little bit challenging. Um, my team does a great job at making sure if I'm away, uh, they can handle probably ninety five percent of the problems that may come up. Um, which is great. Um, but sometimes that's not the case and we have to, I have to call me and, you know, it's no big deal. Hey, take care of this. You know, do that instead and. Okay. No problem. Done. Um, so that can be challenging. Whereas if I was working, you know, for somebody else, um, hey, I'm taking PTO, um, and. Hey, I'm off. Don't bother me. You know, it's a lot easier to do it that way. Um, but from the flip side of it, from a benefit standpoint, it is the pro is that I can take time off when I need to. Um, I would say on average I take off maybe ten days a year overall. Um, I'm fortunate that we're not open on weekends. So all my weekends are free, which is usually when there's some racing going on. Right? Um, so that, that always aligns pretty well. Um, the business to business relationships, I think can be really important for our company. You know, we talked earlier about the watch party we had up at track first in Akron. I'm working with Tim and Sally there and McCann racing. Um, you know, we look at those your impressions. Um that's something I've done a thousand times, you know, over the years. Um, so being able to provide similar services that all relate together has made it easier. Um, but from a, you know, financial and a work standpoint, it makes it challenging. Sure. So let's talk about that a little bit. Um, your hearing center, you, you make ear inserts for racers. Explain what that process is. If someone's interested, how do they get Ahold of you? Do they have to physically be there or is it something that can be done remotely? How does that work? Yeah. So definitely something that, um, we definitely want to do physically in person. Sure. Um, there are some new innovations that, that they do laser scanning of that ear. Um, it's very costly. It's not a good value for, for my company, um, or for the client or the patient, you know, depending on, you know, what's going on, of course, um, from a process standpoint, what that looks like is, you know, we have you come in and we do an otoscopic inspection, make sure there's no infections, diseases, deformities of the ear. Um, if there is, you know, we'll definitely get you somewhere where you need to be to get that taken care of first. Um, that's pretty rare. You know, generally you're going to have an idea how there's something wrong with my ear. Let's get this cleared up first and then I'll have that done. Um, so as long as that ear is nice and clear, we insert what's called a nodal block that prevents the impression material from going too far into that. Yeah. Uh, and that could be problematic. Sure. Um, once that ear is nice and blocked off, we fill it up with a proprietary silicone material. It takes about three or four minutes to harden. It's still soft, but it's it's not as liquid as of course. Um, we pulled that impression out. We mail it to your manufacturer of choice. We wait, you know, ten to fourteen days and we either have a custom ear plug, a race mold with, with, you know, speakers in it or, you know, from our company standpoint, a hearing aid. Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. You know, one thing I struggle with is, uh, you know, making the foam small, pulling my ear back, getting stuck in it, and then the helmet now fell out. Let's try it again. Right. So and, and that that ear impression can be so important. I've even, I believe it or not, I've, I've made impressions on myself. Yeah. You know, so in the mirror it looks ridiculous. Um, but having a good impression is so important to where when I did it myself, that impression wasn't great. So we mail it out to the manufacturer. I received that mold in and it didn't fit. I had my helmet on. It's pushing on my ears. We're an hour into a session at Daytona. Um, last month I know that was at Sebring. I apologize Sebring in December. And I'm like, I gotta get these out of my ears. Oh, man. You know, and it's not the product. It was the impression. Yeah. You know, there's racing electronics and now sound gear. Um, which is a division of a hearing aid manufacturer. Um, they make great products, both those companies that comes down to the person that makes the impression. Oh, sure. So making them by making them on myself was not the brightest idea. So I just tried. Yeah. Was it worth it? Since we're talking about ears and hearing we're involved in the sport, that's very loud. And you can be inside of a car for multiple hours where there's decibels that could probably do some damage, even behind a helmet. What recommendations do you have for the listener to protect their ears and their hearing while they're at an event? Yeah, I mean, there's nothing better than custom hearing protection. Um, a second alternative, um, if in a lot of our clients or a lot of friends and family people in our circle, they don't like wearing hearing protection, um, they find it to be another extra step that they have to deal with at the racetrack. Um, they find it to be a communication barrier with, you know, teammates, crew members, friends, family, um, but you have to do what you have to do. Um, the easiest alternative to a custom made product, you'll have to use the foam inserts. And then over the earmuffs, there's those provide a really good what's considered noise reduction rating to make sure that no matter how loud it is, um, I mean, you could be near a volcano. Um, those typically are going to provide enough protection to where you're not damaging the hearing any further. Yeah. Oh, that's good advice, I hope, I hope folks listen and heed that advice. Yeah. Check their hearing. It's so important. I, I know I sound like a broken record with it, and I know that there is, there's a lot more awareness than there used to be with hearing protection, especially, you know, individuals forty plus that may start to see some of that noise induced loss mix with the age factor of things. Um, but it's what we found out recently is there's really not a large difference between a really loud sound for a short period of time and a loud sound. Think of a lawn mower for a long period of time. And that that loud noise exposure is just so crucial to Shoulder control, especially over the racetrack. Even once a year, you know, one NASCAR race, one drag race can cause permanent hearing damage. Wow. For life. Yeah. And there's there's nothing that can be done. Yeah. No surgery procedure, medication, ear candles, uh, fancy drops, nothing that can restore the hearing. That's been damaged as of now. Yeah. Well, folks, listen up. Take Rory's advice. Yeah. Uh, I asked you what you like about our sport, and you said it's the unpredictability. Lap over lap. What do you mean by that? Yeah. I mean, you look at other sports and, you know, there's there's a lot of different factors in other sports. But you look at racing and there's there's so many more factors that play into a race. Every race is different. Every lap is different. Even if you're hitting your marks every time as a driver, even if you're a spectator, you know, you look, oh, one lap, they're this far apart. One lap. They're, they're much farther apart. Um, just the uniqueness of the visual things that you see and the things that you hear every single lap, every single corner is just so different. It's refreshing. Um, for me, it keeps my attention. I know some of the races now are they're saying they're longer than they should be. Um, I think they're not long enough. Um, but just having that experience where you're not, you're not getting bored. The race is keeping your attention because there's all these factors. I think it's really important to make sure that, you know, you're, you're enjoying the race to or enjoying driving, right? You know, yeah, you had a really cool opportunity with a O'Reilly NASCAR team, um, where you sponsored a car that was at the Daytona race and it's going to be in a video game. Yeah. How cool is that? I can't believe it. Um, you know, this is the first time that's been made public, uh, which is great. Um, yeah, our company, we're, we're a small business. I have four employees. Um, I'm technically the fifth. Um, but we had an opportunity to come about last July, um, with a company called Leonard Motorsports Marketing. I had no affiliation with them. They cold called me. Oh, yeah. Um, they said, you know, we think that your business would be a great alignment with the loud noise of a racetrack, and they had no clue, zero idea about how into racing I was, um, for all these years. And I said, you know what, I, what does this look like from a cost perspective? Um, for, for NASCAR cup car, uh, the cost for our company was much larger. Yeah. Um, so there's no way we could have made that work financially. Um, but for the NASCAR rally auto part series, um, that, that budget was certainly a lot more feasible. Um, so we worked with them, we came up with a good deal. We got the whole rear bumper. Um, a part of the deal was, hey, if, if we do this deal, I want the rear bumper. Yeah. So after the race was over, we were involved in a last lap crash in August. Um, which was fine. The bumper just got beat up. Uh, we ended up eleventh, so she had some battle scars. Yeah, they cut her off, mailed her to me, and we've got her hanging there at the clinic. Oh, no. Kind of in the back. Um, you know, we don't we want to keep a nice professional setting up front. Yeah. Why? Why is there broken car parts? Right, right. Customers are asking. Um, so then, you know, in February, we thought let's do the same thing. You know, this worked out really well. We had a great time, you know, being a sponsor of the sport. They give you a little bit more access as well. Mhm. Uh, the February race at Daytona can be very expensive as a spectator, um, from, you know, hotels, resorts, um, seating, you know, tickets for the Daytona five hundred are up every year because it's become so much of an entertaining product over the years. Yeah. Um, we see NASCAR go up and up and up over the years. Um, so that cost has gone up as well. Um, in terms of February. Uh, that was a great weekend. Uh, we got down there on Thursday. Uh, we met with Patrick Emerling who was driving the thirty eight car for Ryan Sieg racing. Um, we had the back bumper again. It's just us. And then, um, they gave us garage passes. They treat us really well over the weekend and we my just my mother and I went, yeah, just kind of like an early Mother's Day deal. Uh, she's always been my race buddy in the past, you know, seventeen, eighteen years when we go to the NASCAR races. Um, we had a great time there, uh, had a great time in the garage and had a lot of good photo opportunities. Um, and came home. Um, I got a call last week about the race team, Ryan Sieg racing. I missed the call. I thought, I'll call him back. They probably want me to re-up for August or something. Um, and I call him back kind of thinking, hey, sorry guys. Like I don't think I want to do August maybe next year. We'll see. Um, maybe do a different race. And they said, no, this is different. We need to get your permission for licensing. What do you mean? Um, we need the paint scheme that we ran in Daytona. Um, is going to be a part of the new NASCAR twenty six game, uh, for Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Nintendo Switch, all the platforms. And I said, you're joking. Yeah. And no, we're serious. We need your permission. We need to send you documentation for the licensing. How could I say no? Right. It's so cool. So, you know, for a local company like ours to be featured, not necessarily featured, but to be, you know, on the back of, you know, that car just like it ran in Daytona, you know, will live forever. You know, that's that that means a lot to me. Yeah, that's very cool. Roy. All right. We're getting down to the, uh, the end of the show here. Is there anything we didn't talk about that you wanted to discuss? Not that I can think of. Um, off the top of my head. Um, I do really just want to thank you for having me on today. Oh, yeah. It's a great story. We can touch on, you know, some of the racing that that we've done the past several months. Um, I ran a race with the team called Edmonton Motorsports at Daytona at the road course back in April. Oh really? That was phenomenal. Um, that was, uh, it was almost a dream come true. You know my my big dream. I want to be on the oval. Um. I'm chasing my dream. I'm not giving up on it. Um, I'd love to run in NASCAR and just trying to take all the, the steps that I can to put myself in a position that those opportunities could arise. Um, but we'll see what happens. You know, I got to take it week by week, race by race. Um, but just being on track at Daytona in April was it was unbelievable. Um, doing one hundred and fifty on the front stretch coming into turn one there. Um, just like they did the Rolex race, you know, when we were watching it together in January. Yeah. Um, that was phenomenal. What kind of car was it? It was, uh, it was a Miata. It was a ninety nine. Nice, um, nice cage. Big wing. Yeah. We ended up actually we had some mechanical issues with one car. Um, but the team also brought a second car. Um, I very thankful to Edmondson Motorsports. Uh, Justin, Jackie, everybody there give me the opportunity to be able to run the other car because the primary car had some mechanical problems. So the second car, we ended up third in class. Third in a class. Uh, congratulations. That was phenomenal. I was so happy to be a part of that, even though I only drove it two out of the fourteen hours. You know, I, I could have bend it, you know, I could have crashed it no problem. And then we would have been third. But, uh, very happy to be a part of a team like that in a series like Champ Car. Just, just for fun, get more seat time, more track time. Uh, that's probably the best value for your money out there. Oh, absolutely. That's a great experience. It was phenomenal event. Do you have any more endurance races planned? Not at this time. Um, you know, with NASA, with spec and forty six. That's my main goal right now. Um. Maybe I'll do one for fun. Um, I told myself I don't plan on racing at Daytona unless it's on the big track on the Oval. Um, that's my goal. We'll see what happens. Um, but I made a pact to myself not to go back to Daytona unless that's the case. Unless that's the case. Yeah. Just just kind of hold myself accountable. I'd love to run it some. I'd love to run Laguna Seca. Oh, that'd be phenomenal. Just some bucket list tracks, you know, more or less for fun, you know, whereas I think the Speccy forty six, I try to take it very seriously and make sure that we're being really competitive. Whereas Champcar, I kind of like to do that just for fun. Fun, but a bit more seat time. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, it's time for the last question. Absolutely. Have you ever been late to grid? Uh, I would say probably the only time that I can think of that was painfully obvious. Um, you know, we talked earlier about fuel. Mhm. Um, after one of the sessions that M2 had a small, small tank, I believe it was sixteen point six gallons. You know, you're in a twenty minute session that could get down to two or three gallons. It was surprising how much fuel it burned. I'd go grid. I go out on track. We're going in Berlin in the keyhole and at Mid-Ohio and, uh, get back to the gas. There's not a lot there. Like what? Not good. And I go down, we get into down the back stretch. Wide open throttle. Downshift downshift downshift. Going to China Beach. Accelerate out. MM. Same thing. I look dang fuel low. Ah. I didn't fuel up. Oh my goodness. Um so um, not necessarily late to grid per se. Um but but late um, late to get back on track. So I got one lap in and I had to sit there on the grid until it was of course safe to go back. Yeah. Ate up a little bit of your session. Absolutely. You know, and fueling that up, there's a line at the pump. So that was, uh, a little difficult. Yeah. Well, Rory, it was great having you on. I can't wait to see how your season unfolds and spec E46 with NASA. Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for being here. I appreciate you so much. Thank you sir.