“It’s all about fan engagement,” said Josh Holt about MyRacePass.com, a one-stop digital assistant for racers, track operators, series organizers, and race fans.

This one-stop clearinghouse for digital services connects race promoters, sanctioning organizations, drivers, and even race fans.

Few people who haven’t actually done the work can have a full appreciation of what a track or series operator has to face on a weekly basis. A promoter has to sign in racers, get scoring procedures in place, create race lineups, issue results and press releases, and sell merchandise. All at once. It can be frustrating and intimidating. To all that, now add the racers who want to market themselves, connect closely with fans and, again, sell T-shirts and things to pay the bills. Wouldn’t it be great if a digital clearinghouse existed to do all these things at once?

Thanks to three guys who came off the prairie, it already does. MyRacePass—or to use its online handle, MyRacePass.com—is an entrepreneurially driven, one-stop mega-market of digital assistance for racers, track operators, series organizers and yes, just plain fans. This PRI Founding Member traces its roots back to 2008, when three oval-track fans who liked technology began piecing together a service to create websites for drivers. That trio is Josh Holt, Zach Calmus, and Ross Van Eck, who today offer a one-stop clearinghouse for digital services at MyRacePass out of Lincoln, Nebraska, on what today has come to be known as the Silicon Prairie.

“Eighty percent of the race series in the United States were touched by MyRacePass last season alone,” Holt said. “We have the World of Outlaws, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and USMTS. At the end of the day, we’re a software company. We do everything from race management systems to online ticketing to building websites, and we try to be essentially the suite for grassroots tracks, racers, and motorsport operators. We try to make things more efficient for promotors and scorers, with fan engagement as a byproduct. We want to get fans engaged in what’s in front of them.”

MyRacePass, and its partners, essentially started out custom-building driver websites under the name Driver Website in 2008. Within four years, the partners learned to expand their marketing when Holt, who raced karts and winged sprint cars, took over operation of Rock Rapids Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa. That was when the partners realized that track operations could also benefit from a menu of digital assistance, which in 2014 proved to be the real birth of MyRacePass as it exists today.

The digital services it offers include real-time timing and scoring, competitor sign-in, pit assignments, schedules, ticketing, point standings, results, and merchandise sales, all constantly updated, most recently through the MyRacePass app that’s available for download through the Apple and Google stores. The digital services have the capability of being linked to individual driver websites, which MyRacePass also creates, or sites for sanctioning groups or touring series. In many cases, fans can shop for a driver T-shirt or cap while perusing just-updated results or standings that MyRacePass prepares and constantly revises.

That type of race-management and statistical software support is what MyRacePass does constantly. Holt explained, “What we’re doing here is taking the people in the scoring tower and essentially turning them into marketing people for the track. Our race management software evolved to the point where promoters could use it for online registration, even pre-COVID-19, doing lineups, handling results, payouts, and point totals, which are also tied to the driver websites. We have a very wide lineup of available tools for ticket sales and apparel orders. Fans can go to the track or driver website and buy what they want, get it in two weeks, and the profits go to the track or the driver.

“I like to use Friday-night high school football as an example,” Holt explained. “It’s all about fan engagement. That’s what we’re trying to do, make it more efficient and as fast as possible.”

Holt added that in today’s environment, any business faces multiple challenges, but he cited the ongoing evolution of motorsports as the most enduring. “Things change in motorsport. Things change in safety, in technology, and at MyRacePass, we want to be able to roll out updates to our software. The last two years, COVID-19 taught us a lot, but for us, the biggest thing is just how we manage change. Online ticketing was big for us because during COVID, there were speedways that weren’t allowed to exchange cash. That opened eyes that as an industry, we’re able to do things in different ways, and as a software company, we’re trying to stay ahead of that. There were some states that didn’t like the lineup board, but with the MyRacePass app, they can look at the lineup from their trailer.”

What concerns Holt most about industry health isn’t a specific single issue, but rather, the industry’s ongoing ability to adapt to change at a dizzying pace. “I don’t know if it’s a concern, but making sure the promoters are open to ideas of change is important, just to make sure that all of us, regardless of the part of the industry, are able to adapt,” he explained. “There’s more racing, more mid-week events, and yet we’re dealing with tire shortages and other shortages. Racers will always find a way. The biggest question is always, ‘What’s next?’”

Holt said that becoming a PRI Founding Member has represented a substantial investment for MyRacePass, which in turn represents a dedication to maintaining a long-term, serious presence in the industry. “The PRI Show is the show for motorsports,” he said. “I support PRI and the things it’s doing, like the lounge for promoters where they can learn the newest and greatest things. PRI for us was a 10-year commitment. It’s a way to show the industry that I have that kind of commitment, as well. I wanted to be a Founding Member to show the level of commitment I have to the business, that we’re here to stay and we want to grow that industry. It’s all about introducing people to people.”

In addition to Membership, the ability to attend the PRI Trade Show has been beneficial in helping MyRacePass line up contacts with tracks, racers, and series. “We’ve been going to the Show since 2014,” Holt said. “In motorsports, that’s the show, no matter what your level. When you think trade shows, there’s only one. If you need to talk to certain people in this industry, you can do it at PRI.”

That kind of close contact has taken MyRacePass toward its next frontier of expansion, into drag racing. By his own admission, all three partners were neophytes when it comes to straight-line competition. Holt gave copious credit to Michelle Lackey Maynor, who operates a drag strip and asphalt oval at Alaska Raceway Park in Palmer, Alaska, with helping them translate their firm’s software catalog into protocols that can benefit drag racers and drag strip operators.

“Michelle has helped us greatly,” Holt said. “It’s no secret that we’re going into drag racing next. We want to help the quarter-miles, the eighth-miles, the Saturday-night tracks, and we’re learning how to get more eyeballs on them. That’s what we’re excited about now.”