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CORVETTE TODAY #140-Meet The New GM Of Track Operations At The NCM Motorsports Park, Zack Rackovan
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May 8, 2025
The National Corvette Museum's Motorsports Park just hired a new General Manager for Track Operations. He was already the official photographer for the NCM's MSP...his name is Zach Rackovan. Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, introduces you to Zach. Learn about his beginnings as a policeman, then going to photography, traveling the country with his family and winding up in Bowling Green at the Motorsports Park. Zach is energetic and enthusiastic, which totally comes through in this episode of CORVETTE TODAY!
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[Music] welcome to Corvette today the podcast
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the number one radio station in Kansas City for over 40 years here's Steve Garrett
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enthusiasts like yourself at mid-enginecorvetforum.com and a shout out to Corvette forum and
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canadiancorpetforum.com welcoming Corvette from around the world my guest on Corvette today is no stranger to the
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NCM Motorsports Park in 2015 he and his company were named the official photo
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vendor there and now he's the new track operations general manager at the National Corvette Museum's Motorsports
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Park I'd like to welcome to the show Mr Zack rackavan Zach welcome to Corvette today well I appreciate you having me on
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Steve I'm super excited to share with you the journey to get here and and also some of the exciting things that the Motorsports Park has planned for 2023
2:58
we've got a lot of things going on so I'm excited to be on the show today thank you very much for taking the time to do it and we're excited to hear about
3:04
all this first off Zach tell us about yourself where did you grow up did you come from a car family I grew up in St
3:10
Louis came from the correct side of the state I know you're from Kansas City so I had to throw a joke in there my dad
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was really into Aviation growing up so that was kind of where I got my initial burst of adrenaline for Speed and horsepower not really a car family but
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motorcycles and we enjoyed cars it just wasn't a focal point of the way I was raised but he worked he was a service advisor for a Dodge dealership in St
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Louis so I was always around cars but it wasn't a high performance environment it kind of came to me late in life as I got
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into tracking a car and getting into high performers Motorsports and things of that nature so it wasn't something that I grew up with but it's definitely
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something of a Britain braced as an adult and hopefully I'm changing that tide for my kids they're obviously more
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involved in Motorsports than most because of the way they were brought up my daughter was at a racetrack at six weeks old she was at her first race that
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I was covering photo wise so it's been a change for my kids but growing up it wasn't a big focal point but it's
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something I'm glad I found later on in life very true now how did you get into cars and then more specifically
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Corvettes well I started my Motorsports career on two wheels like I said my dad was into motorcycles so as I grew up you
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know one of my first High performance-ish Vehicles was a Suzuki Katana 600 which if anybody that knows
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motorcycles they're going to laugh at the fact that I referred to it as high performance but when I got it it was a fire breathing dragon of a motorcycle I
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quickly learned that it was on the lower end of the spectrum of high performance bikes but I got into that I lived in
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Southern California at the time I pretty much exclusively rode a motorcycle I had a car but it sat so long that I got a
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nasty note from my apartment complex that I had two flat tires and it hadn't moved in six months because with the
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traffic it just made more sense to take the bike so I got into riding the bike in California subsequently we moved me
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and my wife went back to St Louis I met some bike friends and then we decided we were going to do a track day and that's
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what got me introduced to the safety and the Allure of racing on a surface that was built and designed for operation of
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high performance Vehicles especially bikes and the increased safety that you can get from that kind of an environment so got into track Day made it 1.1 track
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days which meant that I successfully drove my first one and I wrecked in the first session of my my second one and at
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the time I was a policeman I came home and I told my wife that I wrecked the bike and she was concerned about the bike obviously she said that she was a
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little concerned because you know if I broke a wrist a collarbone I couldn't work it was one of those things where physicality had to be there to keep
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doing the job and she said I'll never tell you that she can't do anything she's not that kind of a wife and she said but she she wanted to make sure
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that I understood that I could quickly diminish our family's Financial capacity if I were to be hurt while riding a
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motorcycle so I gave up tracking the bike at the track but I still wanted to hang out with my friends and I was a
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amateur photographer and I enjoyed the hobby so I said well I'll just go out there take pictures I'll take pictures of my friends and it'll be a good time
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and I'll get to go out and continue my social aspect of it and people started offering me money for photos and then
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that was kind of the Catalyst that light bulb went off a lot of law enforcement have secondary jobs to help cover the
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bills and I thought you know I could do something here it went from covering a couple of races a year to working every
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weekend from April through October we traveled all over the country for different races and that's how the photography end of it was born it was
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born out of hitting the air fence at turn seven at Gateway in St Louis it was
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one of those crashes that at the time felt terrible and I was sore but it bred the next phase of my life which was to
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move into professional photography so it was serendipitous I guess is the best way to put it absolutely right and I want to get back to the photography part
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and also the detective part with you being being a policeman but first talk about your school and educational career
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pretty standard education I went to high school and that's in St Louis and I don't know if it translates into Kansas
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City but you can always figure out where somebody was from in St Louis but you'd ask some questions where did you go to high school right I graduated from
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Pattonville High School in 2001. I didn't immediately go to college I was in commission sales and was doing fairly
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well for myself I took me to the mortgage industry and then I moved to Southern California and that's where I
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met my wife of course in that industry afforded me the opportunity to do a lot of cool stuff buy motorcycles and have a
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good time and then once we found out we were having our first daughter it kind of was over the California thing it was taxes it was just getting more and more
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expensive to live there and had an opportunity to move back to St Louis and that's where my family was from and we had the bulk of the family there so when
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we got back that was in 2008 and I'm sure the listeners know the tragedy that was the financial situation in 08 that
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was the time I decided Well I don't want to have a job dictated by the economy anymore so I enrolled in the police academy my dad was in the Air Force he
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was a security police officer I always had ideas of grandeur of getting into law enforcement this was the opportunity
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to kind of reset our family and went into the police academy and graduated from Jefferson College with a degree in law enforcement well I guess criminal
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justice is the way they want you to say it then I was Off to the Races as a policeman by 2008 I was a commissioned
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police officer in a suburb just south of St Louis very cool talk a little bit more about your law enforcement career
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because you were doing that for like eight years weren't you yeah I thoroughly enjoyed being in law enforcement that was an opportunity that
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I truly did want to help people and I truly wanted to try to make an impact in my community in my area I actually lived
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in the city that I worked in which now is kind of a rarity most guys try to not live where they work just because of the
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separation there but I embrace the fact that I was helping to police and helping to provide that kind of support for
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Citizens and neighbors that I had in town and I thoroughly enjoyed it it was one of those opportunities to learn a
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skill set and I would say it was probably the most impactful thing I've done in my life very cool it afforded me
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the opportunity to learn stressful environments learn how to communicate effectively there was a lot of advantages that were gained from that
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but as I'm move forward in my career I knew it wasn't my lifelong passion I was building this photography thing on the
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side and it was quickly becoming more and more of an albatross that I had to decide you know I have to pick one so my
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wife was all too happy to hear me come home November 15th 2015 and tell her I think I'm done being a policeman I think
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we can make this work in the photo world just got to change our lifestyle a little bit so we decided to change it a
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lot a bit afforded us the opportunity to take the swing and become entrepreneurs and open our own company and go full
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time with it before I joined the Motorsports Park professionally that was what we did full time from 2016 all the
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way up to just last month wow that's really cool so let's talk more about the beginnings of your own photo business
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from ABI photography well like I said we started in 2009 after I had my unfortunate incident in the Gateway it
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started you know from humble beginnings it was just an opportunity to go out and hang out with my friends but as I grew it I realized that there was a need in a
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market for high quality digital imagery because people really enjoyed what they were doing on the racetrack but like a lot of things that you really enjoy it
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goes by so fast that when it's over you remember bits and pieces so I wanted to afford people the opportunity to share
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that experience with others through quality photos and prints and all the things that we created as digital media
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and artwork for the Motorsports industry eventually we got really really busy and like I said earlier that's what kind of
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pushed me into that mindset that it's time to make a change because I was working seven days a week every weekend I was on a race track Monday through
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Friday I was in the detective Bureau so I was burning all of my vacation to go to race tracks and at the time when I
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made that decision I realized that wasn't fair to my kids it wasn't fair to my wife that anytime that I got off work got taken up by a racetrack so I wanted
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to spend more time with my family I wanted to involve them in the travel involve them in the business my wife worked hand in hand with me building the
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company she was honestly see if she did all the work I just pushed buttons I was the guy that would stand in the Sun and capture the images Ashley my wife was
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the person who made the business run she was your back end support she was the customer service she was the printer she
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did all the editing she did the bulk of the work that my creative side couldn't handle because I was on to the next race
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track so she made it successful once I decided to retire I didn't really know know where I wanted to live I was kind
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of over living in St Louis I wanted to kind of travel a little bit I got to do that when I was younger so we sold everything we owned cars houses
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everything bought a motor home wow put our kids at home school for two years and decided to travel the country that's
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exactly what we did we went from coast to coast different race tracks and just decided with the only goal or the only
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requirement to be well let's figure out where we want to live and then eventually we'll put down Stakes but we
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had no need to find a place we enjoyed the mobile lifestyle it was a little different I think it was formative for
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my kids to get to see the countryside get to meet different cultures it was an opportunity for us to figure out where
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we felt the most comfortable as we continuously worked our circuit we kept this Southern Track kept coming up in
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the conversations with our clubs and it was at NCM Motorsports Park was being built so we did the first event that
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they had here we covered it with 1010's Motorsports I fell in love with the track from a surface standpoint as a guy
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who likes to track cars I would put it up against any racing surface in the country probably the world it's absolutely fantastic but the clubs kept
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coming back and we kept staying down here we kept coming back to different events and before we knew it we were here every other weekend and we kind of
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fell in love with Kentucky it quickly became apparent that this is kind of where we wanted to settle in we knew this racetrack had a lot of promise that
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it was going to grow exponentially which it has so the entrepreneurial mindset and we said there's a way we could make
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this track work luckily they developed the Corvette touring product with the C7 Corvette that's when I knew I had an
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opportunity here to make a fully fledged business covering this track I knew that the Corvette was going to be my window
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into setting up shop hanging my shingle and becoming a professional Motorsports photographer that didn't have to travel
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which is super super rare and it worked we became official photographers in 2015. while I didn't grow up with
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Corvettes I absolutely love them because they gave me the opportunity to settle down and make a living taking pictures
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of a beautiful car at a beautiful track in a place that we really really love to live that's a great story Zach I tell
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you what let's take our first break and when we come back Zach we're going to talk more about your relationship with the the Motorsports Park prior to you
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becoming the track operations general manager I've got Zach racavan with me here on Corvette today we all know that
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you're enjoying the only current podcast on Corvettes Corvette today hey thanks
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call them at 833-840-5334 I'm your host Steve Garrett
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with me is the new track operations general manager at the NCM Motorsports Park Mr Zach raccovan Zach in the second
17:17
segment let's talk more about your relationship your photography relationship with the Motorsports Park
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your company is ABI photography talk about how you got affiliated with Motorsports Park and became their
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official photo vendor well like we had spoke earlier in the first segment we were coming here for events to shoot
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hpde track day clubs we had a fairly good stable the business of clients that brought us from track to track with them
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MSP was the new track in town and just like every other track that opens up it was a new and exciting surface for
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people to learn 23 turns 3.2 miles so there's a lot to tame there so we kept coming back and kept coming back we kind
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of fell in love with Kentucky like I said earlier so I needed to figure out a way to not have to travel my girls were
17:57
getting older they were done with the homeschool thing they wanted to go back into regular school and we supported that and we wanted them to have that
18:03
opportunity so it became a situation where we really had to analyze our business and see if we could figure out
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a way to make it work or I didn't have to travel so much we got lucky that they told us they were developing a new
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product here and they wanted to offer the opportunity to drive a C7 Corvette on a race track and it was going to be a
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Monday through Friday thing most tracks operate they're Fast and Furious on the weekends and then it gets kind of dormant corporate stuff here and there
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during the week but I needed something that would run five six seven days a week because I had to work every day when they developed that product I sat
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down with the general manager at the time and the operations guy and I said hey I think we can make this work I think there's an opportunity here to
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enhance your product by giving people a way to remember it they bought in and they knew that there was a value there
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to our customers that was kind of what gave birth to ABI photography at NCM and becoming that vendor that was always
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here and that just kind of translated into as we grew with MSP most people didn't realize that we were a separate
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vendor that we weren't officially a part of MSP but we were just a service provider for them it had a lot to do with the way I operated our business I
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am very much a person that believes that Rising Tides raise All Ships and the success of the Motorsports Park is as
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much dependent on me as it is on them so if I'm there as their vendor representing them I did that job to the
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fullest extent that I could helped when I could help and provided customer service when I could provide it and tried to build a value in the
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relationship that we had and I think that's what ultimately got me into the position that I'm in now but it was mainly just because I wanted to be
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successful as an entrepreneur I wanted to show my kids at a hard work ethic would yield financial success doesn't
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have to make a million but you just want to be comfortable in the life that you live and feel like you're getting compensated for the work that you do
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some days rough out there in 100 degree weather and some days it was the opposite it was 40 and raining it became
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very important to me the quality of the experience that not only they had while they were on the track but the quality of the experience that we could help
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them provide when they got off the track because you know as you get off the track and you're all pumped up and you want to go back and show your brother-in-law what kind of cool stuff
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you did in Bowling Green right well I provided them with the evidence that they needed to prove to somebody that they were a race car driver and I took
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that very seriously and the opportunity very seriously so I think that translated into the way in which we
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worked with the Motorsports Park and their clients my mindset was always they're not my clients they're not msps
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clients they're our clients and if they're happy then they will make purchases from both of us and that became an important Mainstay in the way
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in which we approached our job and our customer service level and the quality of our work ultimately was very successful and I'm super proud of what
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we built and I'm very excited about the next phase of it that's really cool so give us the story give me the back story
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about how you got your job as track operations general manager then well like I said you know I never viewed my
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position here as an outsider I was trading some people at times because I was technically not an employee but I
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always viewed the opportunity to serve the customer as an opportunity that I should undertake regardless of who signs
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my checks so I treated every customer that was here like they were my own so I wanted to be forward with that customer
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service mindset in my interviews I told our executive director I said I'm loyal probably to a fault and that loyalty
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lies with my customer and that loyalty is to provide them with the best possible experience while they're on track whether it's from a safety
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standpoint a value standpoint or just an overall exhilaration standpoint and I never changed that motto when I was in
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photo I think that hopefully that translated and people saw that and when our previous general manager took an
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opportunity to travel out west and work with a different track I saw a window open I said you know this is something I
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could do this is something I'm passionate about I'm passionate about the racetrack I've learned to love and be very passionate about the brand that
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we provide whether it's Corvette Ford or it's race track forward or it's Motorsports in general and I think I have something to offer I spent the last
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12 13 years building a business that was successful within the world of Motorsports and I've told my kids before
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that there's very few of us in the Motorsports industry that get to make their living in Motorsport so it's an honor that what we do there's even fewer
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of us that are artists you know photographers and the like so when the opportunity came up it was as simple as a conversation with the people that be
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that were in power with the executive director and said hey I want this opportunity and that kind of kicked off the process so we went through the
21:57
interviews and the standard process to get a job I guess they bought what I was selling because now I'm not doing the
22:03
job and I'm super excited for the opportunity good for you buddy good for you so tell us more about what your
22:08
position entails there at MSP Motorsports Park so as a track operations general manager I cover all
22:14
things racing surface all things experiential which is our Corvette product lines safety is one of my Main
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Stays as far as my responsibilities to make sure we provide a safe and efficient race track and operation it really is a team effort we've got a
22:26
great operations team we've got a great sales and marketing team we all work hand in hand to make sure we're providing a fantastic product to our
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clients providing them with a safe and optimal racing surface to go out and operate their vehicles on I'm just a
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member of that team that ensures that that sales process gets delivered every day that we deliver Excellence that we satisfy our guests some days I'm
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cleaning bathrooms and taking out trash and other days and sweeping the racetrack so it's just one of those operational jobs where you kind of got
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to be a jack of all trades and be willing to roll your sleeves up and get dirty but at the same time you got to be willing to put on a suit and tie and go
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to a meeting and represent the track in the best way possible and show people what it has to offer that's awesome you know we've had Andy Pilgrim on the show
23:02
before talk about what it's like to work with a racing Legend like Andy Pilgrim well this is
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I had no idea who what Andy was like I said earlier you know we weren't a racing family I knew like who he was
23:13
from a respect standpoint from what he's achieved but he was just Andy when he was introduced to me he was just Vandy
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and so I never had that star struck moment so he became a friend before he became a professional racing Legend they
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came to me one day and said hey I got a project idea and he wanted to do videos for Automobile Magazine I was doing
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video at the time and we got into that and we've shot some really neat stuff here at the Motorsports Park was an opportunity for us to show some cool
23:37
cars and show off the racetrack so we became fast friends but it's funny because he's still just Andy you know I
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mean obviously he's got this racing pedigree that is exceptional but it's funny because when I'm around him like I
23:48
said he's just Andy people that aren't in that environment with him they're all struck by him and you know he's a
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fantastic driver he's an excellent teacher he really is passionate about his philanthropy and the traffic safety
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stuff so when I have an opportunity to be around him and a fan oh it's so much fun for me so it's fun to get into an
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environment where somebody has that admiration for his racing career they know his historical background and all
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the stuff that he's achieved honestly he's just a really good guy yeah he's fun to hang out with he's got a unique
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sense of humor he'll get you when you don't see it coming he's a very unique person he is absolutely and I'd say as
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he was standing here he has a level of expectation of Excellence out of everybody around him that Rivals no one
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I've ever met and I think that's why he was as successful as he was and still is in professional racing he won't let you
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perform less than your capabilities he'll demand and it's in a 100 percent positive way to bring not the best in me
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as a videographer me as a director of video as an editor everything what we did together professionally his
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expectation was always to make sure I was at the best that I could be so we produced the best product that we could that's Andy and you're right he is such
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a nice guy that came through on his podcast as well we just had a great time and I think everything you said just
24:57
refers back to what we did during that podcast Andy is just a great guy and he is a Corvette racing Legend that's for
25:04
sure Zach let's take our final break and when we come back we're going to talk more about the NCM Motorsports Park and
25:10
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Corvette today join the community and now back to the only current podcast
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on Corvette Corvette today with your host Steve Garrett hey thanks once again
28:13
for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about everything Corvette brought to you by
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wheelcraft want to dress up your Corvette with bright Chrome or black chrome wheels visit wheelcraft.com and
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learn about their Advanced PVD chrome finishing they can refinish your wheels or offer a wheel exchange for most
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call them 833-840-5334 I'm your host Steve Garrett
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with me is the track operations general manager for the National Corvette Museum's Motorsports Park Mr Zach
28:46
racavan in this third and final segment we're going to talk more about the Motorsports Park because right now
28:51
there's so much going on over there Zach let's talk about the expansion give us an update on what's going on there and I
28:57
still I'm super excited to talk about and share with the world what we're doing down here in Bowling Green at the
29:02
Motorsports Park we obviously as everybody in the Corvette world knows and just racing in general we suffered a fairly significant setback in December
29:09
of last year when a tornado came through and did significant damage to our property not only did it do damage to our property but the damage to our city
29:15
and we're very focused on our area and our community Bowling Green in general is healing from that wound we suffered a
29:22
little more structural damage than some luckily no employees were on site with no injuries or anything of that nature
29:27
but it definitely was an unexpected setback to say the least to our facilities a lot of people don't know
29:32
but my house was right on property it was just at the front of the Motorsports Park and it was significantly damaged to the point where it had to be destroyed
29:38
so there was a lot going on emotionally when that happened and this team and they stepped up they didn't falter they
29:44
didn't take the opportunity to lick their wounds they took the opportunity to say okay we've got to come back we don't have the option to rest they're
29:51
pushing and they're driving and they're going above and beyond to make this park an absolute gem in the Motorsports
29:57
industry a year from now when we got all this done and it's back behind us so we can say that while the tornado was tragic we wished it wouldn't have
30:03
happened we rallied from it and we've built the best products that we possibly could and we're going to continue to build on that the building is currently
30:09
under construction we've got most of our structures back we had significant damage to our day garages those are all rebuilt and ready to go we got a few
30:16
things to finish up on the Kimberly AFS Pavilion and then it'll be back open and running for our guest which is fantastic
30:22
our long-term garages are all back to standard all back to fully operational so we've got the long-term garage
30:27
options again for our members and for our clients the holiday building is the last project that we have to complete
30:32
and slay and we've been working diligently with our general contractors as quickly as possible so we're hoping
30:38
for spring summer to be back in some phase of the building and then hopefully by the end of next year I think ultimately at the end the vision and the
30:45
plan that the board and Motorsports Park and Greg has for this facility is outstanding and I am so excited to get
30:51
to debut this next year and really show what Motorsports Park can do that's cool talk about the driving experiences that
30:57
the Motorsports Park Zach especially you've got a Z06 Driving Experience coming up as well right you know that's
31:02
our Stable horse the Corvette is our go-to gal for for providing a quality Motorsports experience at the racetrack
31:08
we started with c7s we've now moved into the z51 c8s and you can come down to the Motorsports Park you can get an
31:14
opportunity to do several different things in that car whether it's touring laps and you set the pace on that so it's an opportunity for somebody who
31:20
just wants to see a racetrack or get to know the car to go out and do it at the pace that they want to set and obviously
31:25
it's not really easy to test drive one of these things because they're so hot right now it's so hard to get into one so this is an opportunity for guests to
31:32
come down see the car see the facility and take a tour in the car it's three times by start finish so a total of four
31:37
laps and it's an absolutely phenomenal way to become intimately acquainted with a fantastic automobile on one of the
31:43
best racing services in the country we've expanded on that now we've got the Corvette experience where you can go and do the next click up we do a classroom
31:50
session then we drive we do a classroom session then we drive so you get an opportunity to learn and then apply and
31:55
we do that three classroom sessions three opportunities to drive on track you really get to step into what the capabilities of the car are but leave
32:01
knowing that she's got so much more to offer the car is so complex and so Advanced and so powerful and what it can
32:08
do it's I mean it is a weapon on the racetrack to leave wanting more is exactly what we're going for to get that
32:13
initial taste that experience to lay the foundation of what the vehicle can offer to know that there's so much more you
32:19
can do with it it has so much more capability and that's just going to be blown out of the water with the Z06 the Z06 we're going to offer a couple
32:25
different packages you got an opportunity to drive it just like a C8 you know three times by start finish it's going to be an exhilarating
32:30
experience the GM had a few of those cars out here the noise is absolutely intoxicating yeah most people wouldn't
32:36
be excited about listening to traffic noise all day long but when it's a symphony of design and Engineering going
32:41
around in the circle all day you can't help but love to listen and then we've got the next phase up of that where you get an opportunity to not only drive the
32:47
car launch the car from 0 to 60 and feel that acceleration and then we put you in a car we let one of our professional
32:53
drivers drive and then we take you and we show you a little bit larger envelope of what that car is capable of with a hop so there's a bunch of different
32:59
products that we're offering around the Z06 and the C8 and we're continuing to develop new opportunities to get on
33:04
track could do new experiences but we also understand that we've got an opportunity to present our racetrack in
33:10
a really great light maybe you don't have a Corvette but you want to get into racetracks and you want to get into Motorsports and track days we've got a
33:15
product for you with like our high performance drivers introduction where we take a day-long class to just teach you the basics of high performance
33:21
driving the flags the point size the etiquette so that way when you go to your first HPD your first high
33:27
performance driver's education class you've got a really good foundation think of it as like track driving 101
33:32
and it's a really cool opportunity to get on a race track low pressure environment you set the pace you get the
33:37
opportunity to learn at your own speed then step into that world of high performance driving as a hobby or as a
33:43
profession if you could take it that long and it's just an absolutely cool way to get on a race track in an
33:48
environment that's not only safe but it's fun and it's enthusiastic as far as the growth of a driver so we've got a
33:53
lot of cool stuff going on I'm really excited about 2023 we're going to continue to develop products we're going to continue to listen to our customers
33:59
and try to deliver on excellence and give them everything that they want that's really cool and you got an
34:04
opportunity where the track can be rented out for corporate events and parties I didn't know that yeah that's
34:10
been a huge addition to our portfolio this year we stepped into it from an opportunity just to get on a racetrack
34:15
and our sales representative Chad White has really molded that product into a team building atmosphere a corporate
34:20
product that you can deliver really neat guest experiences client experiences I mean at the end of the day it's super
34:26
cool you're driving Corvettes on a racetrack driving go-karts doing autocross but they've really pulled together a way to present that in a very
34:33
professional environment through whether it's catering or team building exercises or corporate usage of the classroom and
34:38
now it's become a fully functional fleshed Out product that we can offer to local businesses like anybody that's willing to travel to come here and have
34:45
a really unique team building experience and a really unique opportunity to give back to their clients or their employees
34:50
it's just a neat environment and it's just a fun way to mix it up you know we do a lot of racetrack stuff a lot of high performance driving education a lot
34:57
of C8 experience and this is a wild card that goes in their work you know we're constantly trying to think up new ways that we can do things and new ways that
35:02
we can offer stuff to folks and it's a breath of fresh air to see the corporate stuff take off like it has it with the new building coming in 23 and 24 it's
35:09
going to just continue to grow very cool you've also got a driver's Club how does someone become a member of the drivers
35:15
club and sign up it's a really unique program we're trying to innovate in that market to offer the opportunity to get
35:21
on the racetrack for guys that just want to drive and gals that want to drive drive so you know 30 plus days a year they can get on the racetrack there's
35:27
several different membership options Chad can we'd love to discuss all those with you we have a driver's Club Lounge
35:33
is going to be opening here soon we've got long-term garages there's a lot going on in that space but it's mainly just an opportunity to provide an
35:39
excellent value to folks who want to track a lot you had alluded to something earlier Zach and I wanted to touch on this again you talked about garage
35:46
rentals get a little bit more in depth about those so the garage rental aspect kind of like fishing I guess is a good
35:52
way to put it so for folks that haven't dealt within a Motorsports world you can either throw your boat on a trailer drive it down launch it in the boat ramp
35:58
and have to go through that rigmarole or you can have it sit in the marina and this is your Motorsports Park Marina so
36:04
you've got a private garage locked up it's secured it's behind the Gated fence where you can keep your cars your tools
36:10
your tires sofa to sit on a TV to watch the fridge full of beverages you know so that way when you show up to the
36:16
racetrack you drive up in your daily driver turn the key open your garage door and there's your race car sitting there ready to go on the racetrack I
36:21
think for a lot of our driving club members who travel a little bit further it's one less thing that's going to encumber them from coming to the track
36:27
having to deal with the transportation of a car it's absolutely the best way to travel in Motorsports because if you
36:33
only want to come from Power you only want to come for five hours or whatever it is you don't feel that self-inflicted guilt to have to stay longer having that
36:39
permanent garage here makes you feel like a park because you are a part of the property you've got your stuff here and you can just show up and you can
36:45
drive we've got several different sizes 350 square feet 508 square feet and some
36:50
of the Legacy garages there's some unique floor plans we rent those on a yearly basis Zach has the new track
36:55
operations general manager of Motorsports Park what do you see as the future for the Motorsports Park itself
37:01
that's a really fun and complicated question Steve so I am very lucky and
37:06
very blessed to have a very creative very passionate executive director that's guiding our ship I have a firm
37:12
belief that we have a fantastic racing service but we've also got an exceptional event venue and there's nothing but growth ahead of us as far as
37:19
the diversity of stuff that we can offer the diversity of products and events and buy foresee us having the opportunity to
37:25
do things that while Motorsports related maybe not racetrack Central whether it's meetings or Gatherings or concerts or
37:30
car shows or autocrosses there's just so many opportunities that we have because of the quality of the facility that we
37:36
have built already and we continue to develop it's just going to keep growing and growing and growing I'm passionate
37:41
about getting people into this sport it's an opportunity to share a bond with friends and family and your kids and
37:47
things that you may not have otherwise thought about we've got a lot of people who drive fantastic automobiles whether they're Corvettes or Porsches or BMWs or
37:54
Toyotas it doesn't matter that have this pedigree to be on the track and it's like a thoroughbred and a paddock every
37:59
day that doesn't get to run you bring them out to the track and you let them stretch those legs and they'll really show you what they can do and you'll
38:04
really then learn to appreciate the design and the engineering that went into the development of a car like the Corvette and you can't experience that
38:10
on the road at least not safely and in my old line of work not legally but to come out onto a race track and be able
38:15
to appreciate the amount of tenacity and technology and Excellence that's driven
38:21
into that car by General Motors the only way to do this at the racetrack if I had a punch list of goals it's to continue
38:26
to deliver that message and deliver for our guests to make it an absolutely no-brainer decision for our corporate
38:31
clients that this is where they want to spend their time and their money we will continue to do our best to convert gasoline into Smiles buddy the sky's the
38:38
limit for the NCM Motorsports Park that's for sure Zach if someone wants to reach you or get to the Motorsports Park
38:44
give us social media for both you and the Motorsports Park we're available on Instagram at NCM MSP and then on
38:51
Facebook we're at Motorsports Park feel free to give us a call the website is motorsportspark.org all of our
38:57
information is there all of our opportunities to get on track my contact information as well as the teams if anybody has direct questions from either
39:03
feel free to send me know all that information is listed on the website I just look forward to connecting and
39:09
contacting and doing whatever I can to help people find their way here and find their enjoyment while they're on property Zach thanks so much for taking
39:15
time to be on Corvette today this has been a true learning experience for me and I hope for all the listeners and
39:20
viewers as well well thank you very much like I said it's a neat opportunity to be in this industry and I can't wait to
39:26
see you come down in April for the events that we have at the Museum and see other folks as they come into the Motorsports Park and just show what all
39:33
we have to offer thanks for listening to Corvette today and please be sure to tell your family friends and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette
39:39
Today podcast and thanks to our sponsors wheelcraft want to dress up your Corvette with bright Chrome or black
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chrome wheels visit wheelcraft.com to learn about their Advanced PVD chrome finishing they can refinish your wheels
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or offer a wheel exchange for most models and it comes with a five year warranty visit wheelcraft.com today or
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in Kansas City at chevyusa.com you've been listening to Corvette today
40:25
with Steve Garrett if you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
40:32
today you can email him at Steve Garrett DJ gmail.com
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that's Steve Garrett DJ gmail.com Garrett has two r's and two T's or
40:43
connect with Steve on social media on Facebook Twitter or Instagram using at
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Steve Garrett DJ thanks again for listening to Corvette today [Music]
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