Tell us a little bit about your history with ASE and what this partnership means to you.
“ASE has been with my career since about 2004 when I first started racing Quarter Midgets. My dad had a relationship with ASE from his racing endeavors and I started carrying the ‘Blue Seal’ logo on my gear and race cars since then. As I moved up to different categories, the relationship became more official and it has just been a long lasting and solid partnership. I am so grateful to know the many people that make ASE what it is and represent them and the many technicians that earn that famed ‘Blue Seal’ logo for their careers."
What would your driving career be without the successful technicians that surround you on a race weekend?
“Nothing. Literally, the entire success that happens out on the track is all due to the technicians that work on the race cars. The communication that we have between the engineer, the technicians, and myself is vital so we can not only make the car faster, but make sure it is reliable and safe. The eye the race technicians have to spot anything going wrong, to tune the car to the most fine of measurements, and to just keep the maintenance up on the cars is so impressive and a vital part of our success.”
What sense of confidence do those technicians give to you as a driver?
“Just as I mentioned above, it means so much to me to have the best technicians on my car. When I see them from my vantage point in the cockpit and they are working on the car with confidence and poise, it gives me so much confidence. Seeing them go about changes or fixing certain things in a calm way makes me know that the car is safe and reliable. Then, I can go out there and make it happen on the track without any doubt.”
What does ASE mean to the Automotive industry?
“ASE stands for excellence. There is also so much history to ASE that it is an honor to be with them in my racing career. It is an honor to carry on the legacy that ASE has developed in the automotive world and in motorsports.”
Tell us about your racing career and how you became a race car driver.
“I am so lucky to be doing what I am doing. Racing cars professionally is just the coolest thing to me, and I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to do it as I realize it is not something that happens too often. I am thankful to my dad, all of my friends, and my sponsors like ASE who helped me get here since starting in Quarter Midgets in 2003, then Go Karts, then open wheel formula cars and oval cars, to GT and Touring cars in IMSA with Bryan Herta Autosport and Hyundai. I became a race car driver from starting out with my dad in a go kart in a parking lot and just having fun. It was one on one time with my dad and it was something new and challenging that I wanted to just keep doing. We kept doing it ever since and just progressed each year. I loved the technical part of driving and racing against others and to get better at your racing lines and just to strive and practice to become a great, well-rounded, driver that could do it all!”
What would you tell anyone looking to get into the automotive industry as a technician?
“To do it! Try it out, and if you like it, then see where it takes you! You could end up on a high level race team one day after becoming ASE Certified. There are technicians that I work with who are ASE Certified and they started maybe in a dealership or a shop, but now they are working on a team such as Bryan Herta Autosport preparing Hyundai IMSA race cars!”