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| March 04, 2009 News |
| On the Road: The Life of a Journeyman Mechanic - Mike Maurini - Day 4 |
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 | Mike Maurini awaits the action at the SKUSA SuperNationals with Top Kart driver Tyler Thomas
(Photo: EKN) |
The following edition of 'On the Road' takes a look at one of the busiest young men in the industry, Mike Maurini. Many of you know him for his previous position with the FirstKart.com race team and with the Shifter Kart Illustrated, with whom he worked earlier in the decade. Now, Maurini has created his own business, Race Tech Development, and is working as a wrench for top karters across the country. His diversified program also includes other facets of the industry, including press release work for the Stars of Karting and a select list of drivers.
With the hectic travel schedule throughout February and March, Tuesday was my day of rest, so to speak and my only full day at home. With an early flight tomorrow morning to Orlando, 5:55am to be exact, I chose to try and sleep in a little bit. Setting my alarm for 8:00am, I struggled to get out of bed and prepare for my day.
As Elena and I only have one vehicle and she works at First Kart USA, I usually travel with her to the shop located in Brownsburg, Indiana and spend the day doing computer work, phone calls, e-mailing, invoicing and hanging out at the shop. This day at home was no different as we left our house for the short eight mile drive to the shop. Stopping for our morning coffee along the way, the caffeine fix would help me get a jump start on the day and keep me focused to the task at hand.
Arriving at the shop just before 9am, I setup my computer and proceeded to view my normal morning list of websites, including eKartingNews.com where I read the complete race review of this past weekend’s Gatorz Challenge of the America’s event. I always like to read how the drivers I work on do as it gives a sense of satisfaction after the weekend is over. Finishing on the podium twice this past weekend including a race win was awesome as Joey Collins and I will look to secure the championship and invite to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals at the final event in late March at Willow Springs.
On the side of my tuning gigs and work with the Snap-on Stars of Karting Series, I provide some media relations work for a select group of racers including Taylor Miinch and Tyler Thomas. This morning was devoted to preparing Miinch’s Gatorz Review release as well as Thomas’ Stars of Karting Preview for this weekend’s upcoming opening round. The media market is something that I really hope that up and coming racers look at it as I feel any promotion is good promotion. Having your name seen on websites and in front of the media is how stars are made so even a bad weekend’s result can turn into something good.
 | While at First Kart, Maurini worked with veteran mechanic Terry Ventresca and a number of up and coming drivers
(Photo: EKN) |
In previous years I have completed PR work for everyone from the karting ranks to the Champ Car Atlantic and Firestone Indy Lights programs. I use to provide some work for James Hinchcliffe, who was racing Formula BMW a few years back as he was one of my biggest promoters within the motorsports industry. Always looking to get as much attention as possible, I sent all his releases to my normal distribution list as well as a select few contacts that he had made including the local paper in his hometown of Oakville, Ontario. The local paper would publish a select few releases but one day he made it to the cover of their sports section and low and behold, a business entrepreneur with a load of money saw this article. Not knowing James from a hole in the ground, this gentleman proceeded to contact me and I forwarded James’ information to him….Three weeks later, Hinchcliffe had a new MAJOR sponsor that helped his car racing career that came from one of my press releases….pretty cool!
Arriving at the shop that morning was First Kart employee Bobby Wilson. The former national champion moved from Florida to Indiana to join the First Kart program and we have been pretty good friends for quite sometime as we worked together in 2003 and 2004.
After completing some invoicing and inputting all my weekend receipts into Quickbooks, it was off for some lunch and a busy afternoon of running errands. With only four days home in the month of March, I need to utilize this time wisely to ensure I get everything done. A haircut, purchasing toiletry items, mailing, shipping and banking were all on the list for the afternoon as I was out and about for a few hours.
Upon arrival back to the First Kart headquarters, it was back to my computer for some more writing work. While I was out, I spoke with Stars of Karting’s Paul Zalud as I was looking to have Race Tech Development become a partner in the Stars of Karting Series. After a short discussion, it was decided that I and Race Tech Development would provide all podium finishers with RTD money to be used on products or services anytime within 2009. Having been in the sport now for 18 years, I can tell you that achieving a podium result at a national level event is tough and the recognition that you receive for getting there is awesome. I, like many others in the sport, am trying to do what I can to help grow karting and give back to the people that are already involved and though Race Tech Development is still new and fairly small, I figured doing this was the best thing possible.
I quickly generated a press release about these awards as well as did some type work for the series. With the opening round only two days away, the work and e-mails do not seem to stop and at last count I hade sent 73 messages out today.
At 5:00pm, Elena and I left First Kart for a quick trip home for some dinner and then off to a meeting at LA Fitness. With us both being health conscious, one more then the other for sure, we decided that we were going to join a gym and begin to get in better shape. With a new location two blocks from our current house and membership that is transferable to any LA Fitness in North America, we figured we would go and check it out. With a membership giving you access to the gym, pool, sauna and exercise classes, it all seemed very good but the lack of time posed an issue for me. If I bought a membership today and used it every day that I was home for the next month, I would go a total of three times between now and April 2nd…..Hardly seems worth it. Maybe I will hold off for a month and see what April brings me.
With most of North America in the off season, January through March is busy when you live in the Northern half of the USA. Traveling to the Florida Winter Tour events in Florida for six weekends, then across to the West coast for three Gatorz weekends and mix in a Stars of Karting event, ten of twelve weekends are spent on the road. Being very money motivated and wanting to win, I solidified work for all of these events with very good drivers and don’t regret anything. Come April, the season slows down a bit as clubs and regional level programs start up and the national championship and WKA programs begin to spread out more. Currently I have the first three weekends of April off, but with an IKF Region 7 event and some possible testing at other tracks across North America, it is looking that I may fill my schedule through that month also.
Back to the storage unit, I mean house, after our LA Fitness meeting and with laundry complete, it was time to start packing. I sort of knew what I had to bring and it was basically everything that had come out of the dryer needed to be folded and packed in my bag. Having spent two weeks in Florida before this past weekend and with the next three weeks planned in the sunshine state, I packed a larger bag for the February events and left it in the trailer. Having taken everything to a laundry mat the day before I left, a bag of fresh clothes traveled with me while another awaited my arrival down South.
With the completion of packing it was off to bed relatively early as tomorrow morning’s 3:45am wake up call for 5:55am flight would come early. It’s a good thing I love what I do.
Stay tuned all this week for my, On the Road: The Life of a Journeyman Mechanic segment. |
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