{"id":69236,"date":"2020-02-04T12:16:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T20:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=69236"},"modified":"2020-02-04T12:16:14","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T20:16:14","slug":"how-to-start-racing-in-imsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/how-to-start-racing-in-imsa\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start Racing in IMSA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"How
All images courtesy IMSA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether you want to make a career of it or just do it to have fun, racing in the International Motorsports Association (IMSA) can be enjoyable and rewarding. It\u2019s also a challenge. Although paths to professional racing differ, drivers from every series and level of racing agree that if you\u2019re serious about becoming a licensed driver, you need to have commitment and pay attention to both your physical and mental health. Let\u2019s take a look at what it takes to start competing in IMSA races, starting with the all-important paperwork.<\/p>\n

IMSA provides a checklist<\/a> of all the paperwork items they require before you can start entering races. The basic application is pretty simple: Just fill out your basic info (name, age, DOB, etc.), check off which series you want to enter, sign it and get it notarized. Next, there’s the vital \u201cI relieve you guys of all responsibility if I crash and burn\u201d Release and Waiver of Liability and Indemnity Form.<\/p>\n

\"How
Not all race cars look like race cars. Many IMSA cars are, with some safety mods, just like what you may have as a daily driver.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On top of the above info, you\u2019ll be asked for imPACT<\/a> (concussion) test results, your racing history and a complete racing medical examination<\/a> that\u2019s no more than three months old. If you want to enter the WeatherTech Series, you\u2019ll also need to fill out the FIA l (Federation Internationale de l\u2019Automobile-racing\u2019s international governing body) license section of the application.<\/p>\n

Once approved for your IMSA license, you can apply to compete in sanctioned events, but this doesn\u2019t guarantee the event coordinators will approve your application. They\u2019re going to look at your racing and driving history. If you\u2019re a complete neophyte with zero track time and no racing school certifications, they may disapprove your application. So, it\u2019s also a good idea to hit one of the many racing schools in the country before applying to enter a sanctioned event.<\/p>\n

\"How
Gentleman driver Ben Keating behind the wheel of the Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG at the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For those of you who aren\u2019t kids anymore and have \u201ca few extra bucks\u201d lying around, there\u2019s the \u201cgentleman driver\u201d route to racing. Many classes of sportscar racing require that each team field what\u2019s known as a \u201cgentleman driver.\u201d This is someone who isn\u2019t a professional race car driver. They\u2019re an amateur who paid for their seat time. This is, in fact, how many sportscar teams are able to stay afloat – the cash influx from these drivers pays the bills that sponsors don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Ben Keating<\/a> is a gentleman driver who started his \u201cracing career\u201d when he was 35 years old. Ben\u2019s a car dealer from Texas who always dreamed of being a race car driver. His wife bought him a street car track session for Christmas in 2006. Since he owned a Chrysler-Dodge dealership at the time, he grabbed a Viper off the showroom floor and hit the track. That was it. He was hooked.<\/p>\n

\"How
That\u2019s Ben\u2019s Mercedes AMG behind the Acura prototype car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since that track day in the Viper, Keating has been on winning teams for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Petit le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring. Even with those trophies on his office wall, he\u2019s still a gentleman driver. Ben\u2019s got three key pieces of advice for someone wanting to get into racing, either as an amateur or pro:<\/p>\n

1. \u201cI feel the need. The need for speed.\u201d Going fast has to be a need for you. Like Sammy Hagar, you \u201ccan\u2019t drive 55.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Start small. Take part in a few track days to see if you like it and are comfortable doing hot laps at speeds of 140 and above. If you find yourself mumbling \u201cI\u2019m going to die\u201d as you barrel down the straights at 140 in a pack of eight cars, racing may not be for you.<\/p>\n

3. Join an established team; don\u2019t try to start your own. It\u2019s far too expensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether you want to make a career of it or just do it to have fun, racing in the International Motorsports Association (IMSA) can be enjoyable and rewarding. It\u2019s also a challenge.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":69240,"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":[11,3470,3699,5029,5401,543],"tags":[4800,395,1074,41,1632,6332],"class_list":["post-69236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-tos","category-news","category-other-racing","category-racing","category-racing-tips","category-sports-car-racing","tag-how-tos","tag-imsa","tag-mike-aguilar","tag-news","tag-racing","tag-sports-car-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMSA-Lead-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-i0I","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69236","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69241,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69236\/revisions\/69241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}