Photography by Paris Van Gorder
Who oversees all the cogs in the racing team machine? The team manager.
But just how do they become team managers, what do they all do and how can you start on that path?
While many team managers have similar backgrounds, each can have different approaches when it comes to making a career out of racing–some from a more technical side, others from a personal relationship and business side.
“I drove professionally for the better part of 20 years,” shares Gunnar Jeannette of AO Racing. “Being involved with different programs, sometimes you have to put effort beyond what you do as a driver, which I think sort of led to some of my overall skill set.”
On the other hand, some didn’t think they would be in this field.
“Although I grew up around it, I was never interested in racing,” admits Erin Gahagan of DXDT Racing. “I graduated from college with a major in journalism and did bookkeeping for a photography studio before going back to Virginia to help my dad.” When she did get back home, Erin took on the team’s logistics, growing her skills over the years before eventually moving up and on to DXDT.
Despite their different career paths, their duties? Very much the same.
Creating the teams, overseeing admin, handling sponsorship development and marketing, these are just a few of the things that Gunnar and Erin tackle daily.
DXDT Racing, founded by team owner David Askew in 2014, stands best known for its work in the SRO Fanatec GT World Challenge America series. But this year, the team took a big step into the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship by entering the GTD class with its Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
When asked how the addition of an IMSA team affected her duties, Erin shares how her role has changed with the recent hiring of a program manager. “Right now, I am overseeing more of the admin and sponsorship side of things trying to help that grow,” Erin explains. “The ultimate goal is to have two pro cars, so we have to figure out a way to generate that money to get there. While that’s more of my responsibility at the at the moment, I can’t let go of that management part either.”
When it comes down to it, a racing team is a business. It needs to find that balance between performance and customer satisfaction. Although Erin doesn’t come from a technical background, she communicates with all members of the team on a deeper level than what most fans and sponsors see. This allows her to make decisions that benefit not just the company but also the team.
“I’m never going to step away from the scenes,” Erin shares. “I know our members’ personalities, their experience, and our strengths and weaknesses as a team. To me that’s better than having a marketing person coming in and say, ‘Oh, that’s great team,' but they don’t know any of the inner workings.”
On the other hand, AO Racing is relatively new to the racing world, being formed in 2022, but already holds global ties to the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, Asian Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Still not sure if you know the team? Well, you have seen their iconic T-Rex Porsche 911s, Rexy and Roxy, or their Dragon LMP2 car, Spike.
[How to stand out in IMSA? AO Racing has Rexy and Spike.]
Gunnar is not just team manager of AO Racing but also co-founder alongside PJ Hyett. When asked how his background as a driver helps him within his role, Gunner tells us, “I spent a lot of my career doing testing and development on various programs, so from the driving side and the technical side I want to do as much as I can to set the team up in a manner that any driver that is driving for us feels that they’re 100% supported by all of the staff.”
How does one become a team manager?
“I can’t suggest early on enough in people’s careers to go out there and be the guy that cleans the wheels, be the tire guy, be a mechanic or any of that stuff,” Gunner stresses. “If you get into that team manager or team principal role and you’ve never done that stuff, you don’t truly know how hard it is to work a 24-hour race. One advantage I have is that before driving, I was the guy sweeping the floors or cleaning all the bugs off the cars when I was 12 to 15 years old. To really have that perspective and understand how a team operates is vital in playing that role in as good of a manner as possible.”
It's easy to forget that there are several individuals, beyond the team owner and the drivers, who work really hard to ensure success.
In reply to Colin Wood :
I managed to catch Erin during the Rolex 24 in passing, but throughout the weekend, it felt like everywhere I looked, she was there. Team Managers do a lot more then meets the eye and it's amazing.
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