One of the facets I really enjoy about coaching is the diversity of the events I get to participate in. Last week I had two very different experiences, but they were both a lot of fun and gave me a lot of satisfaction as a coach.
The first event was definitely different than my typical coaching roles. A local dealership organizes an annual customer appreciation day at VIR, and I was one of the coaches on hand to work with participants. The event is always fun because the customers who have never been on track before get a whole new experience with their cars, and the track veterans get to refine their skills.
This year was especially unique because I had a good friend participating as one of the event sponsors. David Gebhardt of Baird financial planning sponsored a couple of the coaching session sign-ups so that it was complementary for the dealership’s customers. We had many excited driving enthusiasts who ended the day with a lot more appreciation not just for their cars, but also for high-performance driving!
Later that week, I had a very different coaching opportunity that involved developing a track car into a race car alongside a client of mine, Peter. His first race weekend is coming up soon, so we took his current track car and made upgrades to complete its transformation into a race car. Not only was it a lot of work for Peter to do, but there were also a lot of conversations to strategize our development plan, so it was really exciting to see everything come to fruition.
We had a terrific day—the car performed flawlessly, we were able to make fine-tuning adjustments to optimize the car, and Peter went faster than he ever had before at VIR. It was very rewarding to see all of the hard work pay off. Peter’s first race comes later this month, and I’m very excited for him as he takes the next step in motorsports.
Overall, it was a really rewarding week for me with two very different but equally fun coaching experiences!