Racing America contributor Jay Pennell explains how people looking to start a career in motorsports can utilize Racer Jobs.

Alan Dietz:

“Welcome back to The Bullring presented by R&S Race Cars.

“Alan Dietz, Jess Ballard and now, Jay Pennell from Racing America joining us, and Jay, you've been busy. I know you were at Daytona for our NASCAR Cup Series coverage and said you hadn't worked a Cup race in a while. So, for somebody else who hasn't worked a cup race in a while, is it like riding a bike?”

Jay Pennell:

It really was. I've been around the NASCAR Cup Series for a long time, just in different capacities. So the last race I had covered at Daytona on the media side was, I think, the 2015 Daytona 500 when I worked for FOX Sports. So since then, I was with Richard Childress Racing and was lucky enough to win at Daytona with Austin Dillon. So that was just a whole new side of the business. And so to get back and be on the media side, it felt really good. Felt good to ask questions again and write stories. It was nice.

Jess Ballard:

“And you were at Pensacola the day before, weren't you?”

Jay Pennell:

“Yeah, it was a big weekend of racing in Florida, so we went down there for the Pro Late Model race, saw a really great race down there, drove overnight and got to Dayton about 7:15 in the morning. That's a drive. It was a little bit of lack of sleep, but it was definitely worth it. I saw two incredible races all weekend long.

Alan Dietz:

“So we got the playoff field set at Daytona, so we go to Darlington now. It's the first race of the playoffs this year. What do you think we can expect? Because you have got some really strong teams right now that could factor in that aren't in the playoffs.”

Jay Pennell:

“Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting. I mean, last year Erik Jones went there andw on the race and he wasn't in the playoffs. So you have that precedent already where somebody's gone in and won the playoff opener that isn't in the playoffs. I think of somebody like Chase Elliott. Chase isn't in the driver's championship, but that 9 car is in the owner's championship. And I think that team has a chip on their shoulder now going into the final 10 weeks to really overperform what they've been doing. So I look for them to be strong. But the Hendrick cars were strong there last time. William Byron won, obviously last time we were there and so were the Gibbs cars. So I think it's a little bit more unknown now than I think ever really before know. The playoff field is really tight, but then there's a lot of guys who aren't in the, you know, somebody like Ty Gibbs or Daniel Suarez or Chase Elliott that I think can go out there and really make an impact this weekend.”

Alan Dietz:

“Alex Bowman”

Jay Pennell:

“Yeah, Alex Bowman, for sure.”

Jess Ballard:

“Yeah, I hope so.”

Alan Dietz:

“Yeah, she's a big fan”

Jess Ballard:

“Well, Travis is definitely in a better mood on Sundays if that car is running better.

“Well, actually, speaking of that, you have been very involved with our recent launch of Racer Jobs, and, well, just tell us a little bit about a little update.”

Jay Pennell:

“It's been live a month now. Yeah, about a month. It's a really great resource, and it's something that I've really enjoyed working on. Coming up in this industry, it was a lot of just finding the right time and the right people and things like that, and there wasn't really any job boards or anything where you could go where it was like, ‘Hey, this is a list of openings within the industry.’”

Alan Dietz:

“Which is crazy. It seems like every other thing has been thought of here and not a classified, if you will, almost.”

Jay Pennell:

“Yeah, for sure. And we have jobs on there from all the teams in the RTA, but also open-wheel, you know, General Motors. There's all kinds of motorsport jobs in there.

“I think one of the things that's important to realize is there's all kinds of roles within the industry that you need – IT people, you need people to handle travel, you need business managers, you need accounting, those kinds of things.

“Those kinds of things that I think a lot of people don't know are opportunities within the motorsports industry. And they think, ‘Well, I'm not an engineer, I'm not a driver, I'm not a crew chief, so how can I be involved in motorsports?’ Well, I think this is a really great opportunity to find those chances, get yourself in front of some of these folks and find these positions.

“One of the other cool things I think we're going to do, we're starting to do this, is put together some content featuring people within the industry. What do you do? How did you get here? What is your advice for folks looking to get into the motorsports industry? So I've done a lot of different roles in NASCAR and in motorsports, so to help other people kind of find a role and start a career is something that I'm really excited about.”