How pro or semi pro rally drivers got started

[s13Kurt]

I always wondered this. My best guess would be they started driving there own cars and got noticed? Opinions?

[Matej]

Rich parents.

[ZilviaKid]

Rich parents.
just like every other motorsport

[sr20sean]

Rich parents.
sad but for the most part true

[ayuaddict]

Rich parents.

Rich parents and some talent, or a metric shit ton of talent.

[Edwin562]

or just plain skills...

[mrchomponthis]

Most likely karting.

[curbhuggerrps13]

Or rich friends

[HyperTek]

Karting is the way.. Professional Racing favors the young to grow fast into pro racing.. You cant be old, I think drifting is the only sport that you can do this though. Get your hand at being a champion in pro drift, having that on your resume then you can try rally imo


or like Nick Hogan - get shit handed to you

[curbhuggerrps13]

nick works hard for his things.......he has to wake up everyday and look at himself in the mirror :-/

[Quail]

A lot of F1 drivers got into it through Karting. I still remember when Hamilton was making big waves in the karting scene.

(Becoming serious in karting usually requires rich parents)

[lawrenceyang]

karting. i was wondering about this not too long ago also

[sidewaysil80]

go through all the hpde's, get your comp license, get into spec miata/spec3/spec e30 and not suck, get some podiums/network, hopefully get hired onto a professional race team (grand am cup or something along those lines). i don't think you would be making enough to "live" off of, but still have fun and not have to come out of pocket to race around the country. i feel like thats semi realistic and attainable. but imo i think thats the highest you would get, like everyone is saying f1 and things like that you need be molded into from a young age. you can do the hpde at a fairly old age (early to late 20's) and still have a shot.

[alexanderig]

A lot of F1 drivers got into it through Karting. I still remember when Hamilton was making big waves in the karting scene.

(Becoming serious in karting usually requires rich parents)

very true, but ive read and heard many times karting is the way to start but you need to start young

[sidewaysil80]

very true, but ive read and heard many times karting is the way to start but you need to start young

indeed, i'm trying to coerce my wife to sign off on picking one (pref. all) of the kids and starting them in karting. my oldest is 4 so i think i still have a LONG time to go before she is ready lol.

[alexanderig]

indeed, i'm trying to coerce my wife to sign off on picking one (pref. all) of the kids and starting them in karting. my oldest is 4 so i think i still have a LONG time to go before she is ready lol.
lol if you have the time and money to invest into them and getting them into carting thats great and id go for it. that goes for any motorsport though for example i dont know if he is still driving for them but back in 2004 the driver of the titan motorsports supra came from motorcross racing. That's also how Travis pastrana came to be in rally

[drift freaq]

All forms of motorsports are expensive. Getting into them is a matter of cash. Being good in them is a combination of practice and talent. Just like anything else. I would say Rally driving would be easy to get into if you have the cash. Though having the talent to be a successful Pro Rally driver is a whole other ball game. Its a sport dominated by drivers from Finland. It just so happens racing of all sorts in Finland is pretty much a national past time. They put kids in cars in the snow and ice at the age of 13-14 and let them battle it out.
Most Finnish F1 drivers are also Pro Rally drivers because of this.

Almost all motorsports though is a throwing cash down the drain proposition for most drivers. Its a satisfaction sport. Few make enough money to support themselves doing it.

With that said if you have the cash do it! They often said Paul Newman would have been a real world champion driver if he had started younger than he did. He was busy making his fortune so he could race pursuing his first passion acting. He did not get into Trans Am and SCCA driving till he was in his 40's. He was a very good driver too.

Shifter Kart driving is probably one of the cheaper forms of motorsports and is actually the closest to F1. You are running speeds of up 125mph an inch or so off the ground. Pretty damn sick and fun if you ask me.

[!Zar!]

Living in America already puts you about 10 steps back.

Honestly.

[drift freaq]

Living in America already puts you about 10 steps back.

Honestly.
LOL yup QFT!!

[IIIXziuR]

F1 Drivers are Handsome and all come from wealthy families...or so I've noticed.

[lflkajfj12123]

handsome and wealth brings attention to sponsors

[slider2828]

Truthfully, cash, credit cards maxed out.... Seriously if you are old enough to read, its already too late....

Lots of kids start carting at like 5-7 years of age....

[s13Kurt]

All this is what has been crossing my mind :( Im 20 and to be as humble as possible i've been told alot that im im a very good driver. I also now realized that im pretty nasty on a quad also. I would just love to even be in some kind of pro am rally series or something. Maybe I should start trying to get into karting to get my self noticed.

[simmode1]

All this is what has been crossing my mind :( Im 20 and to be as humble as possible i've been told alot that im im a very good driver. I also now realized that im pretty nasty on a quad also. I would just love to even be in some kind of pro am rally series or something. Maybe I should start trying to get into karting to get my self noticed.
If you're already 20, I'd say hit the auto-x and HPDE instead. Aim for SCCA or Grand Am racing...

At 32, I've giving up hope on any sort on pro racing career. So my cars will reflect that I'm only building them for mild recreational use only. Nothing too balls to the wall serious.

[drift freaq]

All this is what has been crossing my mind :( Im 20 and to be as humble as possible i've been told alot that im im a very good driver. I also now realized that im pretty nasty on a quad also. I would just love to even be in some kind of pro am rally series or something. Maybe I should start trying to get into karting to get my self noticed.


There are a lot of amateur racing series. I believe there is an amateur section in SCCA Rally. Like others have said if you wanted to get noticed in karting you should have been in it already. As 20 is usually the jumping off point to other forms of open wheeled racing. If you want to do it for fun go for it shifter karts are a blast.

Have you thought about Quad racing? I had a friend back in the bay area that used to quad race in his 20's. It was competitive it was not overly expensive. It looked like it was a blast. You just have to drive your shit all over the place to do it. LOL but that is pretty much all racing as well.

At this point in time, if I were you I would focus on career that could support the habit. Most of the drivers in SCCA Trans Am and whatnot are business professionals that do it on the weekends. Some do own tuning shops, BMW, Porsche, Toyota, Nissan etc.. others are software company execs. Stuff like that. The top guys are full time professional drivers but a lot of them are not.

Oh and don't forget the Vintage series. Get to drive cars you always thought were the shit but are no longer considered competitive in today's race world.
The big key once again in all of this is MONEY! Its just the way it is.

[ronmcdon]

Living in America already puts you about 10 steps back.

Honestly.

I don't know, the motorsports are actually a lot more popular and accessible here than most countries. It might not be optimal, but driving events and different tracks are readily avail, at least in CA. Might not be optimal, but it surely isn't the worst.

[Steinkrunk]

Didn't some dude build a BMW for under $2k off of craigslist and run in a pretty big rally race? IIRC he came in second next to factory racers with crazy budgets and now he's sponsored and doing it big. If you want to rally, if there are any hillclimb organizations around your area I would figure that would be a good way to get started down that route.

But yea, I'm a professional racer on my xbox :-) I figure that's as close as I could ever get since I'm broke and I drive a busted ass 240.

[future]

Forza pro racers ftw

[HyperTek]

look up Damon Hill..
Damon Hill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Hill)

He got involved in racing at a later age then most (started racing motorcycles at 23) and became an f1 world champion in 96. Though his dad was a f1 racing legend but died when he was 15.

check out Gilles Villeneuve
Late f1 racer who died in 82, but was just a snowmobile racer in the beginning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Villeneuve


Check out Sim racing, there have been some sponsored competitions that take someone who is the fastest, and putting them in real cars.

[s13Kurt]

Well I guess I need to either start trying to slide in pro am or get into some kind of scca racing. Only reason I ask is i've always had a borderline obsession with cars but I've recently figured out its more driving them instead of working on em which I do now for a living. I wouldn't care about making a shit ton of money if I just got to focus on driving something.

[TheWolf]

go through all the hpde's, get your comp license, get into spec miata/spec3/spec e30 and not suck, get some podiums/network, hopefully get hired onto a professional race team (grand am cup or something along those lines). i don't think you would be making enough to "live" off of, but still have fun and not have to come out of pocket to race around the country. i feel like thats semi realistic and attainable. but imo i think thats the highest you would get, like everyone is saying f1 and things like that you need be molded into from a young age. you can do the hpde at a fairly old age (early to late 20's) and still have a shot.

Nope. Racing works backwards. First you get sponsor then you get good driver.

Rich parents.

Yep. I'd say 95% of all entrants into something like the 24hours of daytona are private rich dudes that like to race. If you see corporate sponsorship on a ride, it's usually because they work for that company. A usual for instance is like the local Gainsco insurance daytona prototype. This is really some guys own the insurance company and us racing as a tax writeoff for advertising. If you see a bunch of south american dudes sponsored by Sharp or Xerox or soemthing like it. It's usually due to the fact that their father or them is the master distributor for all coppiers in brazil or something like that. The majority of nextel cup drivers, have fathers that are captains of an industry or they can write their own sponsorship deal. I'd say more than have of the indy 500 field is rental rides and F1. Don't think those "back markers" are there because of their hidden tallent. They're there because they bring sponsors with them to the team. Cash talks and racing isn't cheap. Michael Schumacher got to drive the Jordan on his debut because he could afford to pay for the tire bill for the weekend. Sure he's a great driver but he also needed cash to get his start.

[soreballz]

OP: You live in Georgia, right? Have you thought about circle track racing? Building cars for a 3/8ths to 1/2 mile dirt oval is fairly inexpensive, and would be a whole lot of fun.

[Rally240sx.com]

Welcome to the California Rally Series (http://www.californiarallyseries.com)

they have been hosting stage rallys for over 30 years a good place to start if you ask me, its were Im trying to get to... if I ever finish my build and find a co-driver

[s13Kurt]

So I guess driving as an employment is gonna be out of the question:( I'd even work on some race team if I could just to be able to travel.

[Karlitos]

Nope. Racing works backwards. First you get sponsor then you get good driver.



Yep. I'd say 95% of all entrants into something like the 24hours of daytona are private rich dudes that like to race. If you see corporate sponsorship on a ride, it's usually because they work for that company. A usual for instance is like the local Gainsco insurance daytona prototype. This is really some guys own the insurance company and us racing as a tax writeoff for advertising. If you see a bunch of south american dudes sponsored by Sharp or Xerox or soemthing like it. It's usually due to the fact that their father or them is the master distributor for all coppiers in brazil or something like that. The majority of nextel cup drivers, have fathers that are captains of an industry or they can write their own sponsorship deal. I'd say more than have of the indy 500 field is rental rides and F1. Don't think those "back markers" are there because of their hidden tallent. They're there because they bring sponsors with them to the team. Cash talks and racing isn't cheap. Michael Schumacher got to drive the Jordan on his debut because he could afford to pay for the tire bill for the weekend. Sure he's a great driver but he also needed cash to get his start.


QFT

I know a guy that was pro-am and had a chance to go pro. He was very good in american iron series from way back when. He got invited to a pro team. Except the team told him, if you want to drive our car you pay $70,000. So he has to pay to play. He was telling me this on the way back to the shop from Buttonwillow and how even F1 drivers pay their fees. Look up Pay Drivers in F1. These are teams as stated with connections to a company that have funds to build cars and sponsor them for tax write offs. They start just like "enthusiasts" build a car get money and get better afterwards. But yeah you have to start early and be part of a big company who can put a name on your car.

[drift freaq]

look up Damon Hill..
Damon Hill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Hill)

He got involved in racing at a later age then most (started racing motorcycles at 23) and became an f1 world champion in 96. Though his dad was a f1 racing legend but died when he was 15.

check out Gilles Villeneuve
Late f1 racer who died in 82, but was just a snowmobile racer in the beginning
Gilles Villeneuve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Villeneuve)

.

Damon Hill got in late because of who his father was and he had been running in feeder series before jumping off to F1.

There is a rookie driver this year who is actually older I can't think of his name right now that was like a 2 time GP2 champion.

Gilles Villeneuve had talent and paid his way in.

Well I guess I need to either start trying to slide in pro am or get into some kind of scca racing. Only reason I ask is i've always had a borderline obsession with cars but I've recently figured out its more driving them instead of working on em which I do now for a living. I wouldn't care about making a shit ton of money if I just got to focus on driving something.

Well working on them for a living is way into driving them as you can promote your shop through your car. Going Pro Am is not a bad thing to do.
You are still young enough to compete in a lot of different forms or series. Its just the Formula car drivers and Pro Rally drivers well that is just a whole other thing like we all said.

Lots of stuff you could be competitive and quite possibly build into a career. Of course the first to do is to find a sponsor by proving to them you can drive and then get out there and start doing it.

20 is just to late for some of the balls out serious shit. Though there are guys running LeMan's and what not that are in their 40's and 50's so its not out of the question but like I said before and others have said. Money , Money, Money is really the key for most motorsports.

[mrchomponthis]

I feel like many of the people involved in this discussion really have no idea what they are talking about. spec miata, spec e30 won't get you anywhere! Most kids start karting at a young age and are picked up very quickly if they are great drivers. Then contracts are signed by parents and expectations by sponsors must be met. I have seen many kids go from karting to Formula cars, vw challenge, lower end alms, or super karts.... If anyone is really interested in karting check out ekartingnews.com

[sidewaysil80]

I feel like many of the people involved in this discussion really have no idea what they are talking about. spec miata, spec e30 won't get you anywhere!

a mutual friend of mine went from spec e30 to getting signed with bennet racing enterprises. matter of fact i think two of his 3 co drivers all came from spec miata/spec e30. i'm not saying it will get you into formula1 or lemans lol...BUT for weekend warriors and guys with late starts it could potentially get you (assuming you have the time/dedication/talent) into "pro" series such as the grand-am rolex, grand am cup, etc.

[mrchomponthis]

Read what the topic is about my friend. Race winning spec miata's cost thousands more than karts and your basically getting the same if not more interest by major race teams.
a mutual friend of mine went from spec e30 to getting signed with bennet racing enterprises. matter of fact i think two of his 3 co drivers all came from spec miata/spec e30. i'm not saying it will get you into formula1 or lemans lol...BUT for weekend warriors and guys with late starts it could potentially get you (assuming you have the time/dedication/talent) into "pro" series such as the grand-am rolex, grand am cup, etc.

[sidewaysil80]

Read what the topic is about my friend.

how pro or SEMI PRO drivers get started. i got that much...what am i missing?

[mrchomponthis]

Rally............
how pro or semi pro drivers get started. I got that much...what am i missing?

[drift freaq]

Rally............

While the OP did put Rally as the subject title he actually did mention or query about other forms of racing, in subsequent posts.

I think most of us stated( I know I did) that going for F1,Indy cars aka open wheeled racing was determined at early ages and most through karting. Though Sprint Cars used to feed Indy cars back in the day.
We also stated that most Pro Series paid driver racing involved talent developed early on through feeder series.
As for the Pro Rally query most top name World Rally drivers are foreign from countries that have feeder series to Pro Rally as well or in the case of the Finnish its just what they do from a young age and its a national past time.

Though in the U.S. one could get there through SCCA Rally. Albeit like I said earlier would take lots of money and real driving talent.

There are exceptions to every rule and in Auto Racing Money is the key to that exception. Paul Newman while being a very good driver would not have had the success he had in his 40's and 50's in Trans Am and whatnot if he had not had money to spend.

Now the thread has had quite a bit of info that has actually helped the OP make a better conclusion as to what do. Perhaps you should take heed of that?

[word sux]

karting is the way to go


I remember begging my parents for one when I was little. I live right down the street from a track. But sadly I grew up poor.

[s13Kurt]

Thanks alot for all the replys. I think I am gonna make a move to get into karting and try and go part time to have as much time to race as possible. I gotta get into it now before its too late lol

[FreemanX]

I would also think you may get noticed if you attended a rally school. If you did really well, they might sponsor you or recommend you for a race? <a href="http://www.freemanxexperience.co.nz/driving-experiences-gifts/rally-driving/">Rally Drive Days</a> - for the best across Oz & NZ - <a href="http://www.freemanxexperience.com.au/driving-experiences-gifts/rally-driving/">FreemanX Rally Drives</a>

[gambit420s]

I would also think you may get noticed if you attended a rally school. If you did really well, they might sponsor you or recommend you for a race? <a href="http://www.freemanxexperience.co.nz/driving-experiences-gifts/rally-driving/">Rally Drive Days</a> - for the best across Oz & NZ - <a href="http://www.freemanxexperience.com.au/driving-experiences-gifts/rally-driving/">FreemanX Rally Drives</a>
fuck you, msglength

[simmode1]

Shameless promotion. But not bad advice though.