Late to Grid - Grassroots Racing

No Rig? No Problem. Getting to the Grid Anyway

• Bill Snow

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In this episode of Late to Grid, we sit down with Jack Butler—a rising star in grassroots motorsports. What started with video games and weekend karting sessions has transformed into real-world racing experience in Champ Car, open-wheel training at the Lucas Oil School of Racing, and competing in 14-hour endurance events at Daytona. Did we mention Jack just graduated high school?

We explore how Jack turned virtual laps into real seat time, the role sim racing played in building racecraft, and what it’s like to juggle college prep while hunting for apexes. Jack shares the importance of mentorship, making the most of limited seat time, and his future aspirations to race in IMSA.

Whether you're new to motorsports or chasing your next podium, Jack’s journey is a masterclass in starting young, staying humble, and showing up prepared.

Race season is here. If you need to catch up on setup, or have something that needs repaired, you need to be Atomic prepped.  Get to  https://atomicautosports.com/ to get your car ready to get out there next weekend. 

If you're chasing lap times, you need a track ready setup for your car.  Get to AtomicAutosports.com to get your car scheduled to get you on the podium. 

Track ready setups for time trial drivers and others 

Thanks for listening and taking an interest in growing grassroots racing. The Late To Grid podcast shares the stories and inspiration that help listeners along their motorsports journey.

Find all episodes on the Atomic Autosports website.

My next guest got hooked on video games, started sim racing, then went to a competition school and is now racing Champ Car. Oh, and get this he just graduated high school. Let's throw the green flag on this episode. Well, as I mentioned, we have Jack Butler in the Atomic Auto Sports Studio to talk about his racing journey. He's young, he's going off to college next year, and he's got an awesome perspective because although he's young, he's done so much including. And we're going to get into this racing with the radio racing endurance team. So Jack, it's great to have you on the podcast. Yeah, thanks for having me. One of the ways I like to get the episode started is, you know, what got you rollin and interested in motorsports. And you said you were playing a formula One video game. Had that all come about? Yeah. So, when I was younger, I played a lot of Xbox my friends, and we started playing the F1 2018 game. And at the time I knew about F1. Never followed it or anything. And we just kind of messed around in it. And then eventually I kind of started looking more into it and started actually following the races. And I was hooked immediately. So, yeah. How many years did you guys play the video game? We basically played every single one that came out till about 2021. So yeah, that's cool. And you eventually got into some iRacing, right? Yeah, I think I started iRacing on 2022. And then once I started iRacing, there's really no going back to F1 after that one. Exactly. Yeah. Because we've had, you know, some of the the practice sessions we've done to get ready for races too. And how how often are you doing iRacing? Not super often anymore. It's kind of usually only weekends and stuff because I was in school. I usually only do iRacing for, again, the Red or sessions or some of the special events. My computer isn't quite super good enough to do it all the time, so. All right. So what was it from the video game that made you say, you know what, I think I want to try this on a real track. What? What gave you that itch? Yeah. I mean, I started feeling really confident in iRacing. And, on top of that, working at Autobahn. That was getting me on the kart track every single week. So, that's kind of how I learned my racecraft and all that. And that was a I figured, hey, what if I take that to a real track and see what I can do? That's cool. So for those that don't know, Autobahn is a automotive country club up in Juliette, Illinois, which is outside of Chicago. And what made you get a job there? Yeah. So, my dad, he works at a bank, so he gets a lot of clients, and a lot of them tend to be Audubon members. So I was looking for a summer job. I just came off a job that I really didn't like at a grocery store, so I was looking for a good job. And my dad was able to reach out to one of the members there, and that kind of allowed me to job. That's pretty cool. Go from grocery store bagging and stacking the, helping people at the cart track. Yeah. Very exciting. So you mentioned, you know, jumping in the cart weekly. Were you part of a league or you guys just got an opportunity to go out and run some laps? Working there, we just get to go out on track whenever it's not busy or after hours. We do, late night karting. So. All right. There's 2 or 6 base carts or something else. The rental carts there are Honda, 270 cc engines. Okay, so they're pretty decent. That's great. That's pretty cool job for someone your age and someone's interested in racing. What? Before we get into some of the racing stuff, I always, I always love the business side of our sport. And you being an employee at Autobahn. And we've had Mark Baso on the, the episode during season one. What have you learned about working there? Whether it's something you apply to your racing, apply to your life? I mean, working there is just, you really get to be in that environment. And it really makes you realize that racing is not just something that you can just pull up and do. You have to make connections there, you know, like at the kart track, we get a ton of people coming over from the main track who are members who are maybe they just finished a race there, and there's time blossom with the kart track. And it's really interesting talking to those people and getting their perspectives. Oh that's great. So you were able to go to the Lucas Oil School of Racing. What made you want to do, go from F1? You know, the video game to iRacing to run in some karts around Audubon, to be like, hey, I want to go to a big time school and give this a try. Yeah. So, at the time I was actually playing a lot of tennis. And I never wanted to do anything with tennis. I've always loved racing a lot more. So, one day I was talking to my parents. I'm like, hey, I really want to give it a try. Maybe stop playing tennis, because all the money we're putting into tennis lessons, we could be putting those into racing. And, the school's a great place to go to because that's a place where you could just test it out. And that's the place that you can make mistakes. And where was the school? A track? It was at Audubon. That's not a reason. It was really close to home. So, yeah, the same place you work. That's pretty cool. So you signed up for the the Lucas Oil School of Racing. Walk the listener through. What is the school? How many days, what type of car? Because you're running an open wheel car, right? Yes. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Oh, cool. Walk us through. You know, sort of what the structure is and how they walk you through the program. Yeah. So if you're doing the basic two day, then you show up, you go into the classroom and you, you get separated with, like, your own little group, and, you meet your instructors. My instructor was someone who has been on this podcast before, Ryan Hall. And he has kind of gets everyone know each other, kind of some icebreakers. Because these are the students that you're going to be developing with for the next two days. So after some classroom discussion, there's no better place to learn besides on the track. So they get you out there pretty quick. So they do like a walk, like a rundown on the cars, how to start it. Very simple. Cars are just paddle shifters. So, honestly, they're probably the perfect car to be learning stuff, and there's no downforce at all. It's all mechanical. And then it's all pretty much just laughing. There's some leaf follow drills. They kind of get you used to some of like, situations maybe in racing. So they do race starts, some side by side stuff. It really just is the best, like, way to learn and to put yourself in these situations that you'll find in the actual race without having the actual risk involved. All right. What surprised you most about the, the, the course, not the race course, but the school. Yeah. Probably just the amount of, track time you actually get. I mean, after the first few classroom stuff, you're on track all the time. It's a ton of track time. You're out there for at least three hours a day, so. Oh, my gosh, that's plenty of track time. It's it's amazing. Yeah. And what's the biggest thing you learned? Like you're a big at maybe one of the coaches or Ryan or one of the instructors, you walked away saying, Holy cow. Never even thought about that. Just kind of the fact that, I was talking to Ryan and, I remember being like, oh, I bet, normal closed wheel cars are probably way different than these things. And he was like, actually, no, they're very similar. So especially going into other series besides Lucas Oil. If I just kind of go back to what I learned at Lucas Oil, it becomes really easy for me because the stuff you learn there is just can be applied to anything else. All right. So when you're going through the program, what what did you think was going to happen after you graduated? What were you hoping for? I was really looking to make a next step quick, because I didn't want to forget everything I learned from the course. So I was hoping to just do some Champ Car races. Took a while for that to really get into it. Into the seat. Sometimes pretty limited for me. So. Yeah. And we had you racing with us at Raider Racing. So what was the, I guess the, the biggest transition, eye opener or even surprise in moving from, you know, Formula Ford open wheel to a front wheel drive production car. And how did you make those adjustments? In the Formula Ford, you can really feel everything that's going on with the car. It's a very barebones car. And I think something I had to get used to with, the Dodge Neons is that I feel like everything felt a lot more softened compared to those cars. And they felt pretty different, especially the fact that they're a front wheel drive. So I wasn't find myself having to catch a bunch of slides. And, honestly, just like being in an actual race itself because Lucas Oil, you're doing wheel to wheel stuff, but you're not competing for anything really. And it's just a completely different environment in general, a lot more intense, I'd say. Yeah. And you go from a school, we have instructors and, you know, maybe some other support team to, you know, racing with a team where, you know, we do have people that kind of serve as that coach role, just other drivers. We've got people that are dedicated crew support. We've got our core team members, a lot of people floating around in the in the pit and paddock there. That was that helpful. Did did you like having that much support and that many people around? Yeah. The I mean, the guys at Red are great. They're really fun to talk to. And yeah, it really helped. So just like their support the whole time, because you need to have a positive attitude when you're big into a race car with like 120 cars on track. So, yeah. And what Jax referring to folks is Daytona, you know, there's 121 cars that took the green flag at that 14 hour race. And in 2025, Jack was one of our drivers. And Jack and I take a step back. You know, when you originally reached out to me and the 2024 season, you know, you had the school under your belt, you had some virtual racing under your belt. And, it was, you know, connecting with with your with your instructor, Ryan Hall, that really gave us the confidence to say, okay. Yep. This young man can handle the car. And, and man, could you I mean, you were you were laying down. You did really well for us at, that was Pitt race last year, right? Yes. Yeah. And then, yeah. Great showing there. And then, man, you were laying down some fast laps at Daytona for us. Really, really putting the car in a great position. We appreciate that. But, you know, that that's one of things I want to bring up is the relationships in motorsports and the networking. You know, that's really important as as we go through here to get people to vouch for us or get people to support us, help us along our motorsports journey. Dean Ryan, still keep in touch? No, not too often. I've been I've been feeling pretty good. I mean, I only have reached out to my every help with something, so, We'll say hi every once in a while. He'd love to hear from you. I'm sure, but, Yeah, but I remember during Pitt race, I was texting pictures of you on track. Same at Daytona. He was pretty pumped up. You're out there on those high banks? Oh, yeah? What do you got? So you just graduated high school. You're going off to college? What are you gonna be studying? Automotive technology. So I'm hoping to just stay around cars my whole life. Pretty much. Any ideas and career? What you might be doing specifically? No. To be honest, no, I'm just hoping to. Wherever I end up. I just love it. I mean, at the kart track, if I would, I would love to work there my entire life, to be honest. Not a very sustainable job, but, you know, something similar in that aspect would be nice. Yeah. Something you love doing? Being around something fun. Any any interest in staying in the racing community as a career? Absolutely. I want to, I want to stay in racing. I want to work in racing. Beautiful. What is it about racing that really gets you excited that you want to be around it? I mean, it's just fun, you know, like, there's nothing like it. But I remember my first time ever at a racetrack, 2022 IMSa at Road America. It was the biggest eye opener for me ever. Like, I just loved it. I loved it so much. It was amazing. What was one thing you loved about it? I mean, just the just the sound of the cars. I mean, the first ever. I mean, I got started the first ever car I've ever, like, on a race track was the Porsche Cup car. Probably one of the best sounding race cars out there. It was just amazing. I was on the front straight and just like hearing them fly by, I'm like, there's no way I'm ever going to do that. And then three years later, I guess I'm racing cars now, right? So what's in store for the rest of the season? What, what other events are you going to do? Yeah. So, I'm looking at maybe 1 or 2 more champion races this year. And I mean, for me, really, it's just about the time, whenever I go, whenever I have a race weekend, I'm not there to, necessarily put in good results. I'm there to just get better, you know, try to learn something new, because seat time for me is super limited. I mean, so I have to make the most of it. Absolutely. So let's talk about that. Help the listener understand when they're getting seat time. How do they make the most of it? How do you approach that? Yeah. So, at Daytona, I knew what to focus on going into there because of, watching in-car video from Pittsburgh. I watched probably like my stint over and over again just seeing the little things. So for Daytona, I think my focus was being a lot more aggressive with passing and, especially on the brakes. And I think it was pretty easy for me to do that, especially because of all the iRacing sessions we putting in, because the exact same. So it is I, I was able to just get a lot better of a feel for the car because I was more familiar with the track and Pittsburgh. I had no experience of that track whatsoever. Yeah, you know, the iRacing certainly did help our drivers get ready because you kind of understand and understand the flow and the landmarks, and it's amazing how realistic iRacing is. Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned doing a couple more endurance races this year. What's a big goal you have as you look, you know you're going to be looking back as you head off to college. What what's the big goal to get done this year? This year really just I'm looking at possibly Road America. But honestly, over the next four years, I'm looking at eventually moving up to IRL and, the ultimate goals and so of course. So I really just depends on how things go. Right now my main focus is to do more Champ Car races, see what my schedule is like in college, see what kind of job I have in college, be able to afford the racing and eventually move up swell. So yeah. So, Road Atlanta or Road America, that's going to be during school. You're good with that? Yes. Yeah, I'm just missing classes for that one. But it'll be it'll be worth it. Yeah. Now you're smart, kid, you're disciplined. I know you'll get the work done ahead of time or immediately after. So in motorsports and racing, we need to learn as much as we can. You know, you talked about seat time. There's also things we could be doing by reading or watching. What are some of your go to resources as you want to learn more about our sport? I mean, my YouTube recommendations, it's all just racing stuff. So I mean, whenever I'm not doing anything, I'm watching YouTube racing. And also just on TV, and, iRacing. Turns out it's a great place to figure out racing technique, especially trail braking. And, throttle application. So I think that helped a lot. And then karting, of course, that it's different from a car of course, but there still are some like fundamentals there that can definitely help you. Let's say somebody grabs you says Jack, I want to do this, I want to get on track. You know we all have a different journey. But what would you, what steps would you recommend to someone like that to help them understand our sport, get behind the wheel and eventually get into racing? I definitely introduce them to sim racing and I definitely introduced him to karting as well. I wouldn't, I don't think I'd necessary recommend on a racing school just yet, just because there's a lot of money to invest, in sim racing is of just get to feel like. Do you like like, do you actually enjoy it? You know, like before you pour less money into it? And if you are going to do karting, buy cheap, don't buy expensive stuff, you know, like you don't, you don't need the nicest helmet or the best suit, you know, just get a feel. Do you like it and go from there. Right. Just get out there and do it. That's great advice. I see a max Verstappen flag in the background there. Is that someone that you follow and look up to is as a racing inspiration. Recently, probably not someone I should look up to too much with some of the stuff you've been doing. But yeah, I got that back when I was really into formula One. Not so much nowadays. Now I'm really into IMSa and IndyCar a lot more. Yeah. Who's your favorite team or driver? And and so team, probably Meyer Shank Racing. I'm a big, Tom Blomquist fan, so. All right. What do you like about him? I his car looks sick. I'll be honest with Carl. Like, cool. That's great. And, do you get to some of the Emerson IndyCar races? Yeah. This year, the first year, that I actually didn't go to the 500. But last year and the year before, I did, and also I go to insert Road America every year. That's gonna be a blast. So much fun. There you go to America. It's just an awesome track. Like, it's like a like a like a state park, almost with a race track in it. You know, you can just walk anywhere you want. It's really cool. Yeah. Do you think your aspirations for being a driver? I guess, yeah. How does that impact your your career, you know, are you willing to put the driver aspirations on hold if you get the ultimate job out of college that gets you close to racing, but maybe not behind the wheel? Yeah. It's very it's a very confusing part. So actually, I was planning for a little while to do cybersecurity because, it's a high demand job and you can make a lot of money off of it for. And I want to put that all towards racing. But I quickly kind of figured out that I'm not very good at studying stuff that I'm not interested in. So I had to make the choice to do automotive. So I think unfortunately, racing's so expensive that you have to sacrifice stuff for it. And you can't race if you don't have a decent job, of course, unless you have sponsorships. But of course, you're not going to get a sponsorship unless you've put in thousands of hours of racing and people know who you are. So that's a that's a great point. What are your friends think about you racing? Yeah. It's funny. None of my friends, like, know anything about it. So, there is like, oh, that's cool Jack. That's pretty cool. Oh, wow. I. Wish I could, I wish I could show more, but it's pretty exclusive, unfortunately. Like, I wish I could just take them out on track sometime. Yeah, well, maybe, maybe if we ever do the, the Juliet race. The endurance race, they can all come down and watch you. Did you attend that? Did you attend that? Was that last week? You. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was last week. It was last week? Yeah. Did you make a way over there? I did, I was working, I was, I was working for Friday, so I think they had a practice going that day. But it was pretty cool seeing all the Champ Car guys down there at the kart track. Oh, I bet that's fun. I guess a couple more questions before we wrap up here, Jack. So you mentioned is the goal. What do you think you need to do to get there? Right now I just need to see time. And of course, I don't have the funding to get there right now, so, if I ever do get IMSa, it's for sure going to be way further down the road for me. And I'm okay with that. You know, it's about the journey. So, Man, that that's very well put. It's about the journey. Well, before we wrap up and ask the last question, is there anything we didn't talk about that you hoped we would? Stick. So we covered it all. Well, I think I know the answer to this question because I've been with you at, your two endurance races with us. But maybe this happened at the Lucas, Oil School of Racing. Have you ever been late to grid? I have not, I've had nightmares about it, but I have not. And hopefully I never late to the grid. Do you have a tip to make sure, the co-chair with folks that help you get to grid and time. I feel like I'm always ready very early, so you can never be ready too early. It sucks being out in the sun, in your suit, all ready to go, but, I mean, at least you're there and you're good to go, so beautiful. Well, Jack, I want to say thank you for taking some time out of your day. And, as your as you're working, young man, and you're getting ready for college. Thanks so much for sharing your insights on your motorsports journey. We wish you a lot of success. Thank you. Thank you. I want to thank you for listening to the Late to Grid podcast. If you get an opportunity, share it with a friend. You want to grow the sport. Of course, you can always follow us on social media, Instagram and Facebook at late to grid. And do me a favor, don't be late to grid yourself.