RACER turns 32: Endurance, commitment and the power of you

It was 12 years ago this past weekend that the RACER 3.0 Era began, as we revealed the first new-look issue featuring the radical Delta Wing IMSA racecar on the cover. This followed the company being reacquired by the founders only a month before. It was a brave reset of the magazine — and the ambitions of our small but mighty RACER team. As fate would have it, this was also on same weekend of the 20^th anniversary of RACER’s original debut…

On the evening of April 11, 1992, RACER magazine issue No.1 was revealed to racing’s insiders on the eve of the Long Beach Grand Prix. My friend and media hero, the late Chris Economaki, raised a toast to RACER’s success, and added, “this sport is big enough for both of us” in reference to him being the publisher of National Speed Sport News (now SpeedSport.com). I once had a discussion with Chris about who each of us, actually worked for. It’s you, our audience. You are why we do what we do, and this is something we never forget at RACER, because we’re also fans — just like you.

The launch of RACER fulfilled a long-held shared vision between myself and my friend Jeff Zwart, who is a talented photographer and director, and who would join me in investing in the business. I’m eternally grateful to him for his friendship, talent, wisdom, and commitment. The birth of the RACER dream is covered in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 of our Forging Ahead video series on The RACER Channel.

Many were skeptical about our survival, but RACER magazine overcame numerous and daunting challenges because many more people believed in us than those who doubted us. It is gratifying to now look back and realize that RACER is still standing while other long-established titles have faded and died.

Call me Captain Obvious, but this is the result of those who chose to subscribe or advertise. A heartfelt ‘thank you’ if you did either, or both! If you haven’t yet done so, please click the links above to join those who believe in RACER — and in racing.

By 1996, RACER was well established and growing rapidly. So was our internal creative agency, that is today known as RACER Studio. We’d landed a deal to publish the CART IndyCar Fan Guide, and we’d been involved in creative projects for the Skip Barber Racing School, ESPN and the action sports fashion brand No Fear.

In truth, no fear was exactly what we’d need to get through the next five years, as the world of motorsports and media began to evolve rapidly. IndyCar was entering a period of painfully destructive division, NASCAR was ascendant, and IMSA in a period of decline. But media was in for an even greater period of disruption as the web 1.0 revolution began.

By this time we’d attracted new investors, led by IMSA racer, team owner and successful businessman Rob Dyson. My longtime friend Skip Barber also invested in our company, as did CART team owner Bruce McCaw, active racers Mark and Brian Simo, who’d founded No Fear, my colleague Bill King and the late Michael Dingman, who was a racer and served on the board of the Ford Motor Company.

RACER was ready, and on the grid early for the race to media’s future. RACER.com launched in May 1997. This was a result of vision and hard work of RACER’s founding publisher Bill Sparks, and our original website editor Bill King.

During that same period, our agency attracted GM, Honda, Penske Motorsports and Porsche as clients. Our business was growing, and so was interest in racing.

Soon we were approached by several leading media companies to acquire our company, but one was particularly persistent, and ultimately successful. UK-based Haymarket media was the publisher of Autosport, F1 Racing, Motorsport, Motorsport News, What Car? and Classic & Sports Car. They pursued the deal for three and a half years and in January 2001, RACER became part of the Haymarket family. I remained with the company, as did all our staff. We soon had new teammates who spoke proper English, and were great fun and full of creativity and passion.