Successful race promotion requires attention to detail and the ability to capitalize on opportunities, which Kevin Savoree and his business partner Kim Green have utilized to produce some of North America’s most treasured race events. Regardless of the series on the bill, the promoter in him proclaimed, “Whatever it is, we will be around to sell a ticket to it.”

Kevin Savoree may be one of the most important people in American racing today, but he tends to stay out of the limelight. Together with his business partner Kim Green, he runs Green Savoree Racing Promotions, which may not ring a bell. However, most racing fans know Green Savoree events like the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, BITNILE.com Indy Grand Prix of Portland, and the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Additionally, the company promotes races from the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, and the FIA Formula E races in America. Finally, Green Savoree are the owners of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and its racing school.
This is all after Green and Savoree had an impressive career as team owners in IndyCar racing. Working together since 1993, the duo have won four IndyCar championships, three Indianapolis 500 races, and the 12 Hours of Sebring as team principals, and established the first IndyCar street race at St. Petersburg in 2004. We caught up with Savoree in advance of this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Portland to ask what it takes to be successful as a nationwide and international racing promoter.
PRI: Few people start their careers intending to become a racing promoter. How did you get here?
Savoree: I didn’t intend that! Kim Green and I both come from small farm communities, Kim in Australia and myself in Illinois. So it’s pretty crazy to think we are where we are, and we do what we do. Neither one of us ever thought this would be where life took us. But I think that’s part of what racing is about, is taking advantage of opportunities and whether it’s a pass on the race course or being successful on the business side of racing, whether it’s with a race team or race track or whatever. I tell everyone, I’m one of the lucky guys who gets to wake up every morning and do something that I love to do.
But as to how I got here, my parents died when I was young, and I ended up going to Eastern Illinois University and got a business
degree with a major in accounting. I always felt like that degree prepared me pretty well for business, and I eventually became a partner in a CPA firm. Literally the way I got into racing was that one of my clients was Jerry Forsythe. One day he gave me a call and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to get back in racing. I know how much you love that. I’d really like you to take care of it for me.’ That’s when I got involved with Team Green, and then Michael Andretti and Kim Green and I bought Team Green and went racing and had some great success.

Then in 2004, IndyCar was thinking about going road racing. Michael and Kim and I were sitting at breakfast, and the decision had come down. A lot of our sponsors really had an interest in St. Petersburg, Florida, but there was no promoter down there. I can remember Kim, like it was five minutes ago, saying, “Why don’t we do that?” The next thing you know, we approached IndyCar and they said, “Yes.”
Now, 20 years in it looks like a good decision, but it’s a very, very tough business with absolute demand for attention to detail. I think Kim Green and I bring that, and we enjoy the business, and we enjoy being hands-on owners. I think like anything, it’s about the organization and having great colleagues, and that’s what we are all about.
PRI: Do you think your accounting background helps you with the detail orientation when it comes to all of this?
Savoree: Absolutely. Whoever we have on our team, whatever they bring to the table, whether it’s a marketing background, a public relations background, a law degree, or the operations side of things, you have to have varied experiences and varied ways to look at how to attack and solve problems and make everything a success. I certainly think the accounting degree for me was a big part of that. Kim’s got a very mechanical background, and that brings a lot to the table, too, on how we approach certain things.
PRI: You’re about to host a NASCAR race, and then in four weeks we’ll be back here in Portland with Formula E, and then we’ll be back here with IndyCar, all under your umbrella. Can you tell us some of the challenges you face when working with all these different groups, or is it all more or less the same?
Savoree: They’re all championship level, championship caliber events, and they all have great teams and great organizations. We’re blessed to get to work with some of the best people on the planet from a series perspective. What we enjoy so much is just the show. Ultimately that’s what we have to think about. We’re here to entertain, we’re here to make everybody have a fun weekend. So whether that’s the guest experience coming in, or the kind of merchandise we have, or the kind of concessions we have, or the kind of video boards, or whatever that experience is, those are all challenges within each event. But the cars and the competition, they’re all very different.
In a way they’re all very similar in that there are great race car drivers and great teams. But for us, we try to talk about being in the festival business, and I think it’s one of the things we all try to focus on is bringing that atmosphere to life for the fans. When you look at the spectrum of fans, you have avid fans that know more about the cars and the drivers and the teams than any of us do. Then you have festival-goers who are just here to be entertained. I think these weekends provide that in a city, whether it’s Portland, Oregon, or St. Petersburg, Florida, or Toronto, Ontario, or our track in Ohio. That’s what we have a lot of fun doing.

PRI: If someone told you they wanted to become a racing promoter, what advice would you give them? What qualities should they be working on in themselves? What experience should they be seeking out?
Savoree: It’s such a tough business. I would probably caution them to sleep on it and make sure that’s really the path they want to go down. But again, it’s such an exciting business. I think it’s always important to take a step back, take a breath, think it through, and really make sure you’ve really thought through why you think you can be successful at it. I would say that to anyone who’s going to enter into some kind of business enterprise, and maybe that’s my accounting nature. I think our secret sauce—and this is something I’m so proud of—Kim and I have done a great job hiring smart people. We really look at their work ethic and then their communication skills. If you have those attributes, you can probably make a go of it.
I think those are the same attributes that if you were going to try to jump into this business, just make sure you have that acumen. Then you need a tireless work ethic where you’re never going to say no and never quit. Then finally, you need to be able to communicate really well. If you have those attributes, you can probably make it work.

PRI: How do you think we bring the next generation of kids up in racing to keep this business going?
Savoree: One thing is obviously the gaming aspect. A lot of young people thrive on that kind of sport or being able to participate in that way. I think fans also enjoy some of these reality shows. They enjoy getting to meet drivers and their spouses and their families and to see what they go through and what life is like on the road or on a race weekend, or just in their everyday life. That’s another great way for fans to get to know the sport in a way that’s not really the sport. Those are a couple of the things going forward that are probably going to be impactful as we try to create new fans. Then as much as anything, we need to create that festival environment where it’s about the whole event as much as the car race. As long as you can strike some balance there, I think that’ll be something that resonates with the younger fans as we move forward.
PRI: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is one of the most challenging race tracks in America, and it’s beautiful with a park-like setting. How does running that facility work with your promotional business?
Savoree: I’m thrilled to hear you use the word park because since 2011 when Kim and I bought Mid-Ohio, one of the things we felt strongly about is we want to preserve that park-like feel. We just felt like in that part of Ohio, preserving that look and feel was very important. Kim and I have spent millions of dollars to improve the safety of the race track and bring it up to a standard that we’re very proud of. We just repaved the track at the end of October last year. That’s literally a 20-year investment. Over the years we’ve done other improvements to try to enhance the look and the feel of it, but at the same time preserving the look and the feel that it’s park-like. That’s a tough balance, but hopefully we can stay true to that.

On the business side, we have a great team of permanent staff at Mid-Ohio. What we’ve done over the years is develop marketing, public relations, and operations skills on that team, and they actually travel to all of our events. It’s important for us to improve the quality, clarity, and consistency of our product from venue to venue, whether it’s St. Pete, Mid-Ohio, Portland, or Toronto. Having a lot of the same team allows us to do that. I think the incredible thing about Mid-Ohio is that from mid-March to mid-November, that facility is open. Whether it’s working with the Ohio Highway Patrol training, which is something that Kim and I feel really strongly about, or hosting lots of different driving schools and teen driving schools. We have so many letters and testimonials from parents and grandparents that a child or grandchild went to Mid-Ohio and took the course. That kind of training is something that we feel can be life-changing and life-saving. It was one of the first safety courses of its kind for young people, and we’re so very proud of that program.
Then obviously a lot of car clubs come there. They really have their weekends booked a year in advance, and we have the SCCA there a couple times a year. That usage of the facility is always so special. All that fits in with the major professional events that we have there, whether it’s IndyCar, MotoAmerica motorcycles, the ARCA Series, the Trans-Am Series, or the SVRA series. We have the largest motorcycle swap meet in North America with AMA, which actually is a fundraiser for the AMA museum.
PRI: What can a small series promoter do to raise their popularity and visibility and maybe land a support race at a major race weekend?
Savoree: That’s a tough ask. The things that all these series are looking for is, number one, being popular in the market that you are in, and then how that market may fit with their fan base and their TV base. Encouraging your fans to tune in or attend races or to be active on social media about how their markets fit for a series. Those are things that are always important. For example, we knew that there were a lot of fans in the Pacific Northwest, whether it was IndyCar or NASCAR. Promoters need to pay attention to detail in their facilities, about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. People take note of that, and the series take note of that. I would say to be really good at all the little things and then the big things can happen.
PRI: You’re involved in promoting Formula E racing. What does the future hold for electric racing?
Savoree: Obviously, there’s such a debate about that. It’s come so far in 10 years from where it started to where it is today, and it’s continuing to grow and expand. I think the fans will dictate that. Also, manufacturers will dictate what series they want to be in. In a way, that question is over my pay grade. Who knows what the future holds? But whatever it is, we will be around to sell a ticket to it.
PRI: What’s inspiring you these days? Or what hills are left to climb?
Savoree: The thing that Kim and I feel so strongly about is that he’s got some family who are growing up, and hopefully we can get them involved in the business in a few years. It goes so fast; they’ll be through high school and through college, and hopefully they’ll want to come be a part of our family business. I’ve got a couple of sons who are involved in the business, and I think for me, there’s nothing that would make me more proud than to have that legacy going forward for the next generation and see what they can do with it.