My SCCA Life: Grayson Strathman

This article first appeared in the September, 2016 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.

Grayson Strathman
Kansas Region
Member Since 2009

For Kansas Region’s Grayson Strathman, his formative introduction to motorsports as a youngster did not really come from SCCA, or even from IndyCar, IMSA, NASCAR, ALMS, karting, or local Saturday-night, dirt-track racing. Rather, essentially, it came by way of the NHRA – but with a twist.

“I grew up watching Kenny and Brandon Bernstein race at Heartland Park Topeka,” says the now 22-year-old SRF racer, Topeka, Kan., native, and newly minted mechanical engineer. The twist? “The real interest for me was watching the teams tear the cars down between races,” he adds. “They worked with such efficiency and accuracy, it was mesmerizing. I always pestered anyone who would listen with questions about everything.”

Among the people he pestered was his father, Matt. “My dad was willing to entertain my curiosity when I wasn’t around the pros, and even if he didn’t know the answer, we would talk out an idea or look up the answer.”

Strathman was introduced to the SCCA and to Solo by way of Lori Gill, his Topeka high-school calculus teacher (who happens to be a Solo Safety Instructor and married to SCCA’s Competition Manager Doug Gill). “ introduced me to autocross, where I competed in STX,” he recalls. “Through her school-sponsored car club at Washburn Rural High School, I learned about Formula SAE and immediately began volunteering for the University of Kansas.”

Without Lori Gill, who is a “wonderful lady,” Strathman adds, “I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. Not to mention, she did a great job of teaching me calculus; so I could go on and graduate engineering school.”

Strathman’s volunteer efforts with the KU FSAE team led eventually to a ride in the KU FSAE car, which he drove to a Divisional win at Heartland Park, only to be disqualified, he remembers, for not being able to work a corner because his work assignment conflicted with an SRF race in which he was also entered. Which starts the next part of this story.

It was the late Steve Fenske, founder of Midwest Spec Racer, who introduced Strathman and his father to SCCA’s Spec Racer class, Strathman recalls. “It wasn’t until 2010 that my dad committed and bought a car to run a full season,” he explains. “About halfway through the season, Steve came across an incredible deal on a second Spec Ford, and we couldn’t not buy it. My job then became rebuilding the second car to race the next season. After stripping the car to the frame, having it powder coated and rebuilding it, I ended up with a great car.”

Since 2010, Strathman, whose day job now is servicing and maintaining SRF3s as a CSR at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, has been the Midwest Division’s National points champion in SRF twice (2011-’12), its SRF Majors champion in 2015, and at the time of our interview around Father’s Day, the current Midwest Division SRF3 points leader, all while looking after 17 SRFs/SRF3s, along with 17 other racecars.

It’s all a challenge, he admits.

“No part of racing is easy, and I love that,” he says, “Getting the car prepped, working with budgets, getting the car to the track, figuring out what works for lap times, and what works for winning races, managing points for championships. Everything is great. It keeps my mind working, which is what I need. The adrenaline was great in the beginning, but that has faded over the years to be replaced with incredible concentration and quick thinking.”

Of Fenske, who died in 2013, Strathman says that he “used a genius business model to bring racing to all. He took care of everything in the beginning. All we had to do was show up and drive. The cars were always well prepped with fast setups, and he put together a great team to sort out what needed to be done trackside and just simply delivered a great product with little to no fuss. I couldn’t let what he started pass along with him, and he is the reason I still take care of my old teammate’s cars, as well as others now. I can only hope he would be proud of what his legacy has become.”

Down the line, Strathman envisions that, like Fenske, he himself might one day run his own business. “Whether that means staying at Hallett to eventually run the place or starting a manufacturing company, I need freedom to do great things, and I feel that will be difficult to find in a corporate structure,” he says.

Considering the arc of his own career, what advice would Strathman offer a young person interested in racing today?

“Listen. Listen. Listen,” he says. “Ask questions. Listen. The world of racing is full of some of the most intelligent and driven people in the world. Listen to them all. From business, to personal, to driving advice, they have so much to offer and so many are willing to share what they know. Listen to people and respect everyone. So many kids think they know it all, as I’m sure I once did, and the more I’ve learned the more I realize I don’t know.”