{"id":38251,"date":"2017-04-11T11:39:38","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T18:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=38251"},"modified":"2017-04-12T12:27:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T19:27:25","slug":"whats-next-for-mcleods-paul-lee-now-that-drag-racing-is-off-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/whats-next-for-mcleods-paul-lee-now-that-drag-racing-is-off-the-table\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Next for McLeod’s Paul Lee Now that Drag Racing is Off the Table?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NHRA
Paul Lee behind the wheel of top fuel dragster.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McLeod Racing President and owner Paul Lee walks the walk and talks the talk in the race world. In addition to heading up the popular and rapidly-expanding clutch and driveline company, Lee has been drag racing for most of his life.\u00a0 He was even set to drive a Funny Car in this season\u2019s NHRA Mello Yello Series for Kalitta Racing when an unexpected health crisis thwarted his plans.<\/p>\n

A massive heart attack right after the Performance Racing Show in Indianapolis knocked him off his feet, forcing him to bow out of the race season to preserve his health.\u00a0 RacingJunk.com spoke to Lee about the heart attack, his career, and what\u2019s on the table for him now.<\/p>\n

\"NHRA<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty bad attack,\u201d Lee said, \u201c100% blockage. They call it a widowmaker, and I\u2019m lucky to be here. \u00a0I was in good health, did all the right things with diet and exercise, but it\u2019s hereditary. Now I\u2019m going to rehab three days a week, exercising with the heart monitor, continuing to eat right, but to drive a dragster, you need a physical and between the heart damage and the blood thinners, I was just out of the running.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee is a competitor first and foremost though, whether as a racer or a businessman, and we asked him to reflect on his driving career, and how he\u2019ll shift that energy into other activities.\u00a0 He\u2019s been racing nitro and alcohol cars since 1988, not to mention racing his first car as a teenager. \u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0 won national championships, and is an icon in the sport for racers who know they need to have a savvy head for business and throttle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved driving the Nitro Funny Car.\u00a0 I\u2019m a hot rod guy, and it\u2019s the ultimate hot rod.\u201d\u00a0 He adds, \u201cHowever, there\u2019s more to life than drag racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked to recall the highlights of his career, Lee didn\u2019t indicate trophies or titles.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s the people. My best friends are in drag racing. It\u2019s a small community, but we all share a passion for racing, and I\u2019ve made a lot of friends through the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues, \u201cI love the competition. I love to win.\u00a0 But it was never just about going fast.\u00a0 Sure, going 320 miles per hour and winning is great. And yeah, it\u2019s a team sport, but at the staging lights \u2013 it\u2019s just you against the other guy and the goal is being faster.\u00a0 However, the best part is truly the team. I always enjoyed working with the pit crew, the whole team, working on the car, going to dinner with everyone.\u00a0 I love to win, but the team is the best part of drag racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9297\"<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s drive is hardly confined to racing however. He\u2019s a savvy businessman who has been instrumental in expanding McLeod\u2019s reach.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of drive,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201cI\u2019ve always been focused on growing the business, and that\u2019s not going to stop. It\u2019s just part of my personality. I can\u2019t stop pursuing goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s grateful that those goals have always overlapped. \u201cTo be a car guy for both drag racing and the business has been a gift. I can\u2019t wait to get to work and see what the day holds.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what\u2019s in store for the thriving clutch and driveline business, Lee couldn\u2019t tell us details, \u201cNew acquisitions are in the works that are very exciting,\u201d he said, but McLeod is moving into a new, larger facility to accommodate its growth.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great team in place, as well as great distribution partners and loyal customers. It\u2019s an exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9296\"<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Lee still enjoys driving. Even if he can\u2019t rocket down the strip at 320 miles per hour, he\u2019s got a garage of hot rods that still need to stretch their legs. Plus, racing is a family business after all, at least for the McLeod family. McLeod Creative Director, Krista Baldwin, is a young, up and coming\u00a0top-ranked driver\u00a0 in the NHRA Top Alcohol dragster class.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s advice for Krista reflects his own experience, \u201cKnow as much as you can about marketing and creating a return on investment for sponsors. You need money to drive the car. You need talent but you also need to bring in the money. Focusing on the business part of drag racing is the biggest advantage you have. \u00a0Plenty of people can drive, but not a lot of people can go out there and show they can bring a return on investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart words from a man who understands that having the right team, on the track and in the office, is the key to success.\u00a0 Paul may have stepped away from the track, but he\u2019s still driving a business to its pinnacle of success and we can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s next for him, and for McLeod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McLeod’s Paul Lee may have retired (reluctantly from racing, but hasn’t put his drive in the park position.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029],"tags":[858,5276,2809,669,3817,4752,3918,425],"class_list":["post-38251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","tag-clutch","tag-driveline","tag-mcleod","tag-mcleod-racing","tag-nhra-funny-car","tag-paul-lee","tag-retirement","tag-top-fuel-dragster"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Paul-Lee-Feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-9WX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38251"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38335,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38251\/revisions\/38335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}