CRS Spotlight

I got involved in racing through my dad. He took me to a go-kart track when I was three years old, and he always jokes that I absolutely hated it. A year later, he brought me back, and that time, something just clicked. I completely fell in love with it. From about four years old on, I was in a kart, and the racing bug never really left me.

Having racing as a family thing was honestly the best part. What made it really cool was that we had two different worlds of racing in the family. I was on the karting side doing more road-style racing, while my grandpa and uncle were racing asphalt midgets on the oval side. Another uncle got into karting around the time I was racing too, so we were always at the track together, even if he was running a higher class than me. Racing weekends were really a full family experience.

Jeff Gordon was always the guy I idolised growing up. My bedroom had racing themes everywhere, and I had shelves full of his diecast cars. I still have all of them today, including a bunch of unopened ones from the 90s. My dad actually put me in karts in the first place because that’s where Gordon started his career too, so that connection always stuck with me.

Most of my best memories revolve around my dad and grandpa being there. One moment I’ll never forget was when I won my second championship. We actually clinched it with a few races still left in the season, but I didn’t realise it at the time. After I got out of the kart and took my suit off, my dad suddenly started chasing me around where we were parked spraying me with a bottle of soda. It completely caught me off guard, but it’s one of those memories that sticks with you forever.

The switch, honestly, wasn’t something I was very happy about at the time. Racing is expensive, and the money just wasn’t as available anymore, so my family had to make some tough decisions. When you’re competing against people who can buy the best engines and parts whenever they want, it becomes really hard to keep up. Around that same time, I had started playing basketball in fifth grade, and once racing stopped, basketball pretty quickly became my main focus.

No, the love for racing never really went away. I still watched it on TV all the time and still went to the track to watch my family race midgets. The hard part was just not being in the driver’s seat anymore, especially knowing I still felt like I had more to give. Even after the family stepped away from the oval racing for a while, racing was always something I thought about.

As I got older, I started hearing more and more about sim racing, especially from people at the track. At the time though, I was so focused on basketball that I never really dove into it. Like a lot of people, I had the steering wheel setups for NASCAR games and Gran Turismo growing up, but nothing close to the level of simulation that exists today.

I originally got into iRacing because I wanted to get involved in open-wheel racing again, since that’s what I grew up with and always loved. Then, a friend I met playing the F1 game asked if I wanted to run the Daytona 24 with a group, so I ended up jumping into GT cars for that event. We finished fourth, and after that race, I was completely hooked on IMSA and GT-style endurance racing.

Winning the Daytona 500 was honestly crazy. I’d never won a special event on iRacing before, and the 500 is one of those races where it doesn’t matter what split you’re in. It can go wrong in a second. I had always meant to run it every year, but never fully committed. That year, my wife was pregnant, so I knew I wanted to take a real shot at it before the baby arrived. It’s a long, demanding race, but I loved every bit of it. I decided to stream it as well, so having a bunch of my friends there watching and cheering me on made it even more special.

I think the biggest growth for me has been mentally, especially with the endurance racing I’ve been doing. Earlier on, if something went wrong in a race or I made a mistake, I would dwell on it for too long. Over time, I’ve gotten much better at resetting mentally, staying calm, and locking back in so I can keep performing for the rest of the race.

I’ve actually really enjoyed the management side of things. When my son was born, I knew I probably wouldn’t have as much time to focus on myself as a driver, but I still wanted to stay involved in the team side of racing. Things like placing drivers in the right spots, understanding what they want out of the team, and aligning everyone’s goals has been really rewarding. It’s also taught me a lot of skills that I’ve been able to apply in my career outside of racing too.

Round one was tough because I simply didn’t have enough time to prepare, and it showed. I also underestimated how much the GT3 cars had changed in recent updates, since I mostly run prototype cars now. Round two, I was much more prepared for. I had a great qualifying session in the wet and timed my lap perfectly as the track was starting to dry. Unfortunately, on the first lap, another driver started on slicks and lost control, hitting me just right and giving me suspension damage that required a lot of repairs. That was really frustrating because I felt great going into the race. Round three was more on me. I made an early mistake that spun me, and while trying to recover, I pushed a little too hard and made another one later. Different circumstances from the previous race, but still a tough one to take.

The biggest positive is knowing the pace is there when I really focus on the preparation. Seeing that gives me confidence moving forward. A top five in the championship might be a long shot now, but the goal is to keep gaining positions and finish the season as strong as possible.

Spa is probably the track I feel strongest at. I’ve raced there in a lot of different series, so I’m really comfortable with it. I’ve also done a lot of laps at Monza in high-downforce cars, so I’m hoping that experience helps once preparation starts. Interlagos might be the trickiest one for me, but with enough laps, I’m confident I can still be competitive.

At the beginning of the season, I probably would have said my former teammates Greg and Nicolai. But with the way the first few rounds have gone for me, they’ve built up quite a gap in the standings. Catching them would be a big challenge at this point. Right now, my focus isn’t really on chasing one specific rival. It’s more about finishing these last rounds strong and making up as many spots as I can.

CRS has been a great experience. The level of drivers in the field is really high, and the admin team has been fantastic to work with. I’m really grateful they gave me the chance to be part of the inaugural season, and I’m excited to see how the series continues to grow.

One of the biggest things that stood out was the focus on the drivers themselves. There aren’t many series that really highlight the individual stories behind the people on the grid. CRS has done a great job of bringing attention to the drivers, and I think that helps both the competitors and the fans build more of a connection with the series.

I’d probably tell myself to live in the moment a little more. It’s easy to always be thinking about what’s next or where you want to get to. But when you take the time to really appreciate where you are right now, you realise those moments are the ones that matter the most.