SCOTT SHARP PULLS DOUBLE DUTY
It’s hard to say no when the chief
executive of one of racing’s most
visible and involved sponsors asks you
to start a racing team. But that’s what
happened to Scott Sharp in 2009
when Patron Spirits CEO Ed Brown
wanted to take his side career as a
racer to another level.
A few years earlier, Sharp had
gifted Brown with a four-day intensive
driver training school, and Brown
enjoyed the experience so much that
he started competing in his spare
time. Sharp helped to manage his
program, but he and Brown soon
realized that they would have more
control over the direction it headed
and the potential for growth if Sharp
started his own race team.
The result was Extreme Speed
Motorsports, which started out in
the American Le Mans Series ultra-competitive GT class. After running
a pair of Ferrari F430s for Brown
and Sharp in 2010 (ABOVE), the team
campaigned the latest F458 Italia
in 2011 and ’ 12, with Sharp nearly
claiming the 2012 GT crown after a
strong second half to the campaign
(including a class win at the prestigious,
season-closing Petit Le Mans enduro).
ESM shifted up a gear to the LMP2
Prototype class in 2013, and Sharp
and the team have relished the
challenge of going head to head
with the similarly HPD-equipped
Level 5 Motorsports squad.
“We weren’t getting factory
support from Ferrari and we realized
that to get maximum exposure for
Patron, we really had to be in the top
class,” says Sharp. “It’s something
special when you’re going for the
overall win instead of a class win.”
EXTREME DECISION
THE OWNERSHIP ROUTE
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“I’ve always thought that if you crash,
you crash,” he shrugs. “You have to be
willing and able to lay it all on the line,
and if that means ripping the rear of the
car off, then that’s just the way it is.”
Most great athletes are known for their
ability to “compartmentalize” the outside
elements in their lives in order to fully
focus on performing, and Sharp’s ability
to divide two radically different
responsibilities is a good example.
“I want to be treated like one of the
drivers at the race track,” he says. “That
way I just focus on driving. So many
people have said that you can’t do both,
but I never believed that. If you work hard
during the week, make the decisions –
whether it’s logistical, financial, planning,
what have you – and you have the right
people, which we do, then as a driver I
can treat it like it’s any other race team.
“Of course, there are times when I need
to be involved in decisions and situations
I wouldn’t have been privy to in the past,
dealing with sponsors during the weekend.
I guess it’s kind of a different pressure that
you don’t face as a driver. But for the most
part I can keep the two roles separate.”
Sharp says the biggest surprise about
being a team owner so far has been the
immense satisfaction he derives from
seeing the second ESM car, driven by Brown
and Johannes van Overbeek, do well.
“It’s really rewarding to see it come
together,” he notes. “Anything you are
part of from ground zero, building it up, is
rewarding in itself. Then add in the guys
you helped hire, all the endless work, the
trials and the tribulations, the oh-so-close
moments – when it all comes together and
you start winning races and see the team
at that top point, that’s hugely rewarding.
“I think that everyone has a catalyst
which takes them down that road into
team ownership,” Sharp adds. “Certainly
for me it was Patron, and it was all
because I introduced Ed to driving.”
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