With the increase in gas prices and tariffs making imported car parts more expensive, motorsports isn’t getting any cheaper. Regardless, it’s a sport we’re all addicted to, so justifying the additional costs is part of our fiber. The question is, how can we sustain our motorsport addiction while still being able to keep food on the kitchen table? For me, the obvious answer is to eat less food, which helps you lose weight and thus makes the car faster. All kidding aside (although I could certainly benefit from losing a few pounds), sharing the costs of racing with another person can really help balance a racing budget. Enter this month’s column: 5 Reasons to Team Up.
Over the years, I’ve teamed up with different friends – and sometimes total strangers – to strengthen my own competition efforts. Sharing a car is very common in both autocross and RallyCross, but I’ve shared cars in road racing as well.
Most road racing weekends have separate races on Saturday and Sunday. My car partner and I simply raced one day each and split our racing costs 50/50. We were given Spanish nicknames by our competitors, Sabado and Domingo to differentiate which one of us was inside the car on the starting grid (I was Domingo as I always raced on Sunday).
In all cases, not only did we share the costs of the weekend, we shared car maintenance labor, towing duties, and data to help make each of us faster. The partnership started out of a financial need, but the team-up ended up being so much more, which is why I’m a big proponent of having a car partner.
Here are my 5 reasons to team up.
1. Share the Cost
Every partnership and cost sharing arrangement is different. Sometimes it’s as simple as paying someone’s autocross entry fee, or it could be buying a set of RallyCross tires. I’ve navigated numerous deals over the years, both as the car owner and as the “arrive and drive” guy. Most were informal, while others were pre-planned and set up on paper for an entire season of competition together. Regardless of how the deal was structured, sharing the cost with a partner made racing much more affordable.
In many cases, the cost savings allowed me to complete additional events leading to higher profile National Championship events. I was able to make it to National level championships and compete against the best in the country.
My ability to compete at the highest level was always increased with the assistance of a partner, because splitting costs leads you to have more money to spend on something, and as the saying goes, more money is always more better.
2. Share the Labor
When it comes to competition vehicles, not everything is about money – often, it’s about time.
If your car suddenly needs a clutch before the next event but your work or family schedule simply won’t allow you the time you need to fix it, having a friend who can pick up the slack is immensely advantageous.
Of course, this depends on the ability of your partner to be a good mechanic. I’ve teamed up with lots of different types of people in motorsports, some had lots of money and didn’t know the difference between a socket and an end wrench, while others were amazing mechanics who couldn’t afford to pay for gas in the race car. Regardless of their ability to wrench or pay for things, every partner brings their own assets and skills to the relationship. The reality is that race cars always need maintenance, and time is a commodity we don’t always have.
Being able to share the responsibility for getting the car ready is huge. Also, sharing the responsibility for maintenance created a natural check and balance for the readiness of the car. Instead of one person looking into the reliability of the vehicle, now two brains can concentrate on it.
(When you can share data with a car partner, you can always find more speed on track. Photo by Keith Kramer.)
3. Learn From Each Other
One of the most advantageous things I’ve received from partnering with different people over the years is knowledge. I’ve learned car setup, dialed in my race craft, and shared data with drivers who pushed me to go faster. Over the 35 years I’ve spent playing with cars, I’ve gained an encyclopedia worth of motorsports knowledge mostly from the people who I shared cars with. And the people I learned the most from were the partnerships where the other driver was faster.
Our own human ego will often lead us to partner with someone who isn’t threatening; someone who won’t beat you in your own car. I’ve found that by putting someone in my car who’s quicker and more knowledgeable than myself, I get smarter and faster. Did I lose events in my own car to these partners? Sure did! Was I a better driver afterwards? For sure!
(Sharing a car in autocross gives you have another data point when it comes to driving potential. Photo by Philip Royle)
4. Travel
Handling long tows to big events like the Mission Foods SCCA National Championship Runoffs or Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships takes time. I’ve shared towing duties where neither one of us could get enough time off work for the full trip there and back. To solve the problem, one of us towed the car there and the other towed back. This partnership helped us both get to an event that individually neither one of us could have done on our own.
Not only were we sharing time, we were sharing fuel costs for towing, and in some cases, we were sharing resources: One driver had the race car, the other had a truck and trailer. For the last 20 years, I’ve owned a motorhome that could provide shelter at events for everyone involved. Each partner brings something to the table, and those assets may not be the obvious ones like a set of tires.
I’ve also partnered with people from across the country where I flew in, drove their car, and then flew home, allowing the chance to experience different regions, tracks, and competition.
5. Companionship
Of all the things that come with partnering with someone in motorsports, I’ve found the companionship I’ve gained in the process to be the most beneficial. Competing alongside friends is just more fun than doing it alone.
I’ve made lifelong friends from my partnerships at the track. You not only share in the burden of the sport (the cost, the bloody knuckles), but also the glory. Looking back at some of the biggest wins I’ve enjoyed, the data is clear: I was better when I was working with someone versus running my own solo effort. Plus, it was more enjoyable with friends.
As you look toward your next motorsport adventure or plan your next season, consider partnering with someone to share the cost and share the glory.
(About the author: Rob Krider is a national champion racer, the author of the novel Cadet Blues, and is the host of the Stories and Cocktails podcast.)
