Don Schumacher Racing shifts into higher gear

December 08

While many motor sports organizations from NHRA drag racing to NASCAR are taking steps backward in challenging economic times, Don Schumacher Racing is speeding forward.

The nine-time NHRA Full Throttle drag racing championship organization is expanding its Communications Department by hiring Jeff Wolf, a veteran sports reporter and motorsports columnist, after adding graphic designer Aaron Holland and social media specialist Leah Vaughn earlier this year.
DSR, which won its ninth NHRA championship with Matt Hagan driving the DieHard Advanced Gold Dodge Charger last month in Pomona, Calif., also brought its vinyl and graphics in-house in August.

Wolf, 58, joins DSR after working for the Las Vegas Review-Journal for 12 years. Prior to that, Wolf worked for newspapers in Ohio, Florida and Arizona, and was a publicist for Firebird International Raceway near Phoenix from 1988 to 1995 and Pikes Peak International Raceway near Colorado Springs, Colo, 1998.

Wolf, who will serve as DSR PR Manager, joins Communications Specialist Leah Vaughn, who leads DSR’s social media efforts, and Director of Marketing and Communications Ted Yerzyk in the DSR Communications Department. The group will be based at DSR headquarters in Brownsburg, Ind. Vaughn joined the DSR team this spring after working at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Fla.

For Wolf, an Ohio native and graduate of Ohio State University, his new position fulfills a lifelong dream of being part of an NHRA drag racing team.

“For some reason, when I was around 12 I became infatuated with drag racing,” he says. “My older brother and dad had no interest in cars or racing, but after building model cars I started to buy ‘Hot Rod’ and ‘Car Craft’ magazines when they cost 50 or 75 cents.

“My brother Steve took me to my first drag race – I still think my parents paid him to take me – in the mid-1960s when I got to see Ohio George Montgomery, Stones-Wood-Cook and Big John Mazmanian in an A/Gas Supercharged match-race at National Trail Raceway in Kirkersville, Ohio.

“When those magazine pages came to life with smoky burnouts, wheelstands and power … I was hooked.”

DSR continued its in-house expansion this summer when it hired Holland as graphics and vinyl manager. Prior to joining the drag racing super team, Holland spent nine years at the Indianapolis Star. The seven-car NHRA team also has a full fabrication and CNC/machine shop at its Brownsburg home.
Along with completing the design elements for all of DSR’s racing assets, Holland will create marketing materials and other literature for the organization. He also will print and laminate vinyl graphics on the team’s Roland Soljet Pro III printer and Royal Sovereign laminator.

“It was a great opportunity to join one of the premier teams in all of motor sports,” Holland said. “DSR is a great environment to work in and it’s a fantastic group of people that allow me to be creative, and it’s great to see that final project on TV on ESPN2 each weekend. I’m excited for my first NHRA off season and to see the finished product hit the track in testing early next year.”

DSR will begin the 2012 season at preseason testing at Palm Beach International Raceway in South Florida on Jan. 16. The 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season begins Feb. 9-12 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif.

Wolf and will be at his DSR desk on Jan. 2, 2012, and before then can be reached at wolfj@shoeracing.com or nitrorodeo@gmail.com.