Bob Lutz - CEO & President of Driving 101 Nascar Racing Experience

Robert J. Lutz grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., working for his family-owned business. His marketing and management career started at a young age, assisting in the development and maintenance of D.I.R.T Motorsports.

With a well-rounded business background, Lutz moved to Charlotte, N.C., in May 1990 to further entrench him in the national racing community. In July 1991, Lutz accepted the job as marketing director for Fast Track High Performance Driving School in Harrisburg, N.C. He served in that role for two years and transformed Fast Track into the leading Winston Cup driving school in the United States.

Lutz left Fast Track to follow his creative vision and created the Richard Petty Driving Experience and showcased his marketing talents as President and Chief Executive Officer. He nurtured and developed the company with innovative ideas that led it to become the leading stock car driving experience in the United States. After opening locations in Charlotte, Atlanta, and Las Vegas, Lutz concluded two years of negotiations to bring the Richard Petty Driving Experience to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. When it opened in February 1997, it marked the first time a third-party organization was allowed to own and operate an attraction at Walt Disney World.

In October 1997, Lutz sold his share of the company to explore other opportunities in the motor sports industry. It was that thought that led to the creation of Driving 101, LLC in October of 1998. Lutz once again figured out how to improve the driving experience concept. The goal was simple—to establish Driving 101 as the premier and only full sized, open wheel driving experience in the world. In doing that, auto racing fans, corporate clients, and non fans alike are exposed to open wheel racing and will be able to better understand all the excitement and intricacies of one of the most popular forms of racing in the world.

Driving 101 quickly expanded to nine locations nationwide by 2004. In order to take Driving 101, “World’s Fastest Driving Experience” to the next level, Lutz developed a business relationship with “Driver of the Century”, Mario Andretti, thus starting the Mario Andretti Racing Experience in April 2004.

In May 2005, Driving 101 moved the home office location from Las Vegas, NV to Concord, NC. Lutz then announced another business relationship with 4-time, NASCAR Champion, Jeff Gordon thus starting the Jeff Gordon Racing School which offered real NASCAR race cars that fans, thrill seekers and corporate America can drive on a superspeedway.

In July 2007, Driving 101 purchased American Racing Academy, formerly Derek Daly Academy in Las Vegas, NV. Adding a complete fleet of race prepped BMW Z3’s race cars expanded Mario Andretti Racing Experience to Mario Andretti Racing Experience Road Racing.

On July 9th, 2009, Lutz formed a multi-year contract with NASCAR to rebrand the Jeff Gordon Racing School to NASCAR Racing Experience. The NASCAR Racing Experience (NRE) provides a menu of racing programs from a ride-along as a front-seat passenger to the full racing experience which puts fans behind the wheel of an authentic race car. The program used current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race cars for its programs.

Another large acquisition for Lutz took place in April of 2012 when he purchased the famed Myrtle Beach Speedway. Over the years, Myrtle Beach Speedway has been the training grounds for some of NASCAR’s biggest stars including Dale Earnhardt Jr. (former late model stock car competitor) and Jeff Gordon (former Busch Series track record holder). All four generations of Petty’s (Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam) and all three generations of Earnhardt’s (Ralph, Dale Sr., and Dale Jr.) have taken a green flag around the asphalt oval that spans 0.538 miles (0.866 km). The speedway is home of the Myrtle Beach 400, NASCAR Racing Experience and the Horry County Fair.

On May 10th, 2013,

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's iHeartMedia's CEOs. You should know. Today we'll get you some seat time
behind the wheel of a race carwith Bob Lutz, CEO of NASCAR Racing
Experience and Driving one oh one.Now you're no stranger to racing and race
car drivers. How did this allget started? I moved down into Charlotte
in eighty nine met a guy who'saspiring race car driver by name of Jeff

(00:20):
Gordon. You know, I hadthis idea of a driving experience where if
we could put people in race carssafely and behind the wheel and where they
can have fun. You know thatI thought people would want to do so.
Thirty four years later, we're stillhere and put millions of people through
the program and lots of smiles onpeople's faces. Now what you see on
TV on Sundays, that's what youreally do with NASCAR Racing Experience. Right,

(00:42):
You're in the car by yourself,you have radio communication with a spotter
that's up in the spotters stand,just like an actual Cup race on Sunday.
You get the same thing if youcome through the racing experience. You
know, staff is so important herein Charlotte. We're very fortunate that there's
so many NASCAR teams here and somany people. You know, the customers
have a time, but yet yourstaff has a good time doing what they

(01:02):
do as well. This experience offeredit different tracks around the circuit, but
Charlotte's great. I love Charlotte.You know, we're operating at nineteen tracks
around the country, and you know, Charlotte is a place that you know,
when I first moved here back ineighty nine, I fell in love
with it and knew that this wasthe place that I called home. When
I got the Stocker operation up andgoing again. Bob Blood, CEO NASCAR

(01:25):
Racing Experience and driving one oh oneon iHeartMedia's CEOs, you should know