A life in the fast lane

He was a crew chief before he could legally drive, and Patrick Utt has worked in the motorsports business ever since.

The Brown Deer native who splits time between living in Tampa, Fla., and Grafton used to spend every waking hour with his older brother Brian working on cars in their garage. Their single mother always knew where they were.

Today, Brian builds parts and cars in his Grafton shop and Patrick, 60, finally gets to race. The owner and driver of Badger Auto Sport is ranked third in the Sports Car Club of America Points Championship and won a divisional championship last year.

Both could have retired years ago but they’re already doing what they want to do.

“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. We feel that way,” Patrick said.

His business acumen started early. He sold fireworks to other drivers at his brother’s races, making him just as well known as Brian.

Big-time racers would seek Patrick out for fireworks he ordered in bulk from Florida when fireworks were legal to ship but not to sell in Wisconsin. Nobody reported him, and the venture served as business networking.

Brian said that one time when his team members couldn’t find Patrick at a race they saw him schmoozing and eating behind the ropes of Paul Newman’s racing team.

Brian was jealous but also benefited from Patrick’s endeavor. He once needed a new clutch to race, and Patrick handed him $75 from his pocket to pay for it. Brian then gave him a list of parts he needed, and Patrick kept pulling out cash.

“I was his first sponsor,” Patrick said.

At 14, Patrick became Brian’s crew chief. That became an issue at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, where minors weren’t allowed in the pits. Brian, while sitting in his car, told an official Patrick had to be allowed since he was his crew chief.

“The guy shrugged his shoulders and let me in,” Patrick said.

His dream, however, was to become a Formula 1 champion. He went to Europe at 18 years old and placed third in a major competition. “I was pretty good,” he said but he lacked experience.

Now, he said, the pipeline starts early. Children as young as 6 race go-karts that travel up to 60 mph. He races against professionals that started as teens at Road America.

While a career in professional racing wasn’t to be, Patrick wanted to stay in the industry. At 22, he started his own business, Powerhouse Products. The concept was a one-stop shop for racing tools and equipment that didn’t exist in the industry, including products he designed for drag, oval-track and sports car racing, and truck pulls.

He sold the business eight years later to Competition Cams in Memphis, Tenn. and ran that division of the company for three years.

Then Patrick joined Peterson Publishing and soon became the publisher of its series of racing magazines that grew out of Hot Rod magazine. He grew it to a $20 million business.

Eight years later, he seized another business opportunity, buying a safety equipment business called RaceQuip out of bankruptcy and turning it into the top auto racing safety gear supplier of amateur racing.

“I’ve used the term serial entrepreneur,” Patrick said in describing himself.

He guided the company through the pandemic when races weren’t being held. Instead of slowing production like his competitors, Patrick kept making driver seats, gloves, suits and helmets.

Doubling inventory looked crazy during a downtime and Patrick admitted it was a gamble, but he understood the industry.

“I knew how big the market was and how much product was needed every year,” he said.

“When you’re in the industry your whole life, you can read the tea leaves.”

When racing came back, his company could keep up with the instant demand for gear.

“We had carved out the No. 1 position in our space,” Patrick said.

He later sold that business to Holley Performance Brands — which dates to the 1800s and produced carburetors for Henry Ford — and got back to what he really loves. Patrick has been racing the past few years and is on the Trans Am Series, a professional racing circuit.

“Anybody who ever gets into a race car and drives it,” he said, “asks themselves how can I do this for a living?”

Brian raced professionally from 1980 to 1986. He went on to found Motorsport Composites, which makes bodywork for a host of race cars, and Carbir Race Cars in Grafton. The gas station owner that got him interested in racing as a child now works for him.

The adrenaline rush when racing, Patrick said, is “huge.”

“The speed at which you have to be able to process information — your mind can never rest,” he said. “It could easily be a sensory overload. That’s part of the allure.”

He races a 540-horsepower 2023 Camaro, a Carbir S2 Sport Racer and a Porsche 935K in various events. Speeds reach 165 mph at Road America and 178 mph at Daytona.

It’s his businesses over the years that have allowed Patrick to get back into the car full time. Paying for parts, gas, tires, entry fees and the crew make for an expensive hobby.

“I think a racer could spend money faster than a lottery winner,” Patrick said.

He is fortunate that his favorite track is a short drive from Grafton.

Road America, he said, is a gem that many racers across the country have come to love. “Road America is the nicest facility I have ever raced at anywhere in the world and consider myself lucky to have it as my home track,” Patrick said.

Given it’s scenic setting, the 14-turn track is often called “the national park of speed,” he said.

While at 60 he is on the older end of racers, Patrick still loves the competition.

“I’ll keep getting in the car and racing as long as it’s fun,” he said.

Patrick is often racing against teenagers who practice in a simulator or a car every day, and spend time in the gym.

“They’re pro athletes,” Patrick said.

But just being in the business has allowed Patrick to pursue his passion for his entire teen and adult life.

“Motorsports gave me a purpose in life. It gave me something I always wanted to do, and I learned skills from it,” he said.

Patrick’s next three races and the car he’ll be driving at Road America are: June 21-23, June Sprints SCCA Super Tour, 2023 Camaro; June 28-30, Trans Am Series,  2023 Camaro; July 12-14, Road America, Weather Tech Int’l Challenge, Vintage Race Cars, Porsche 935K.