DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ryan Hardwick had a five-year plan to get into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and especially the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
But a confluence of events in November, when Hardwick won the Lamborghini Super Trofeo AM World Championship at the Italian Vallelunga circuit and 2018 WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class champion Madison Snow announced his decision to step away from sports car racing, accelerated that plan.
Earlier this month, Hardwick was introduced as the driver who would share the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 with Bryan Sellers for the full 2019 WeatherTech Championship season. In effect, everybody is looking for back-to-back championships next year.
“Like a lot of these things usually go, there was a bit of me being in the right place at the right time type of thing, along with just some good timing,” Hardwick said. “I was coming off a big win there with Lamborghini in the Super Trofeo world championship. That timing of winning that championship along with the North American championship in the amateur division for them, along with Madison Snow’s decision to step away from racing, all of those things just kind of came together at the same time.
“There was a vacancy on the Paul Miller team and they needed a Silver driver with Madison leaving. With me getting those wins in the Lamborghini, I was in their good graces and a driver they were wanting to develop. It really was an accumulation of all of that coming together.”
Hardwick is quick to give credit to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series for his rapid ascension to the WeatherTech Championship. He won five races and finished second in the AM class in his debut Super Trofeo season in 2017 before winning five more races this past season en route to the AM title in the North America series as well as the World Championship.
“My goal when I started racing car was to one day race in IMSA, and specifically Daytona, the Rolex,” Hardwick said. “That was my bucket list deal, to be able to develop as a driver and to learn the skills it would take to compete in GTD and to compete at the Rolex. I set it as a five-year plan when I was getting involved. When I first started racing, I chose the Super Trofeo series, because after a lot of research, it kept pointing me towards that specific series and that specific car.
“It would develop me faster as a driver than any other series, and I believe that was true. I mean, that car, you have no choice but to be disciplined and learn how to drive that car, or else. It’s a really challenging car and a really competitive series to drive in. My goal was always to make it to IMSA. I didn’t think it would happen in two years. I thought it would take me a little while longer, but I give a lot of credit for my driver development to that car and that series in Super Trofeo.”
Hardwick is especially pleased that his WeatherTech Championship debut will come in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. His family has a long history at Daytona International Speedway and he is thrilled to write another chapter next month. He got his first taste of the 3.56-mile Daytona road circuit earlier this month in the final Michelin On-Track Opportunity of 2018, and he’ll get more seat time next weekend in the Roar Before the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“It was my first time ever driving at Daytona,” Hardwick explains. “That was enough in itself for me to take in. Of course, I had been to Daytona many times to watch the races, both the car races and I come from a motorcycle background, so I’ve grown up my whole life going to Bike Week, watching the Daytona 200 and Supercross and so forth, but I’ve never been on the full track in a car.
“I’ll never forget the first time going through the banking. They all told me how steep it would be, and they all undersold it. That was a really cool feeling. It was just a great feeling for me to be on that track. It made my family really proud. My grandfather was actually a lead mechanic on a NASCAR team way back in the day when they were racing out on the beach in Daytona in the really early parts of NASCAR. My mom – it was her dad – my mom grew up going to car races and going to Daytona and watching my grandfather’s car race in Daytona. So, it was a really special thing for my mom and my grandfather – he’s no longer with us now, but he was looking down. I think he’d be pretty proud that I’m actually going to be racing at a major event like the Rolex in Daytona. It’s going to be a proud moment for my family that just has some history there with the track.”
As he noted, Hardwick’s relationship with motorsports goes back much further than just the past two years of racing Lamborghini sports cars. As a youngster, he raced off-road motorcycles and Jet Skis, which eventually led him into the powersports business. What began as a single Honda motorcycle dealership in Tennessee back in 1999 has become quite an empire.
“We’ve grown that business to now be one of the nation’s largest retailers of motorcycles, ATVs and personal watercraft,” Hardwick said. “Our dealership group, we have eight locations, and we sell a little over 9,000 vehicles a year, so we’re one of the top three largest retailers in the world. We carry 11 brands of motorcycles, ATVs and Jet Skis. It’s a really fun business. I actually got into that from my passion. I grew up riding and racing off-road motorcycles, and then also raced jet skis and personal watercraft.”
He’s also proud to have the support of his good friend, Andy Frisella, whose company has provided substantial support to his racing efforts the past two years in Lamborghini Super Trofeo. That support will continue with Paul Miller Racing in 2019.
“Andy is a huge car guy, a big Lamborghini guy as well,” Hardwick said. “Andy, with his business partner back in 1999, they started a business in the fitness industry. They first started with retail stores, but that business quickly grew, and they developed their own brand of fitness nutrition, vitamins and supplements. That brand, over the last about 10 years, has been the fastest growing global brand in fitness.
“It’s called 1st Phorm and they’re based in St. Louis, Missouri. Again, a very, very large, successful company, very passionate about health and fitness and helping people achieve their goals. Obviously, they help and support a lot of athletes, from professional athletes in baseball, football, basketball, wrestling, obviously bodybuilding and that type of thing, a lot of CrossFit athletes so they’re really, really big in the fitness space. This is – through their sponsorship of me – their first foray into auto racing and they’re really, really excited about growing and growing into the IMSA paddock and being on the IMSA grid full time. It’s a great company led by great people.”
Hardwick feels blessed to be surrounded by great people, including his family, friends like Frisella, new co-drivers Sellers and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup teammate Corey Lewis – who he also knows from Lamborghini Super Trofeo – and the entire Paul Miller Racing team. He believes that association will make his first foray into the WeatherTech Championship that much more successful.
“I’m preparing myself in the best way possible by surrounding myself with guys like Bryan Sellers and Paul Miller Racing,” Hardwick concludes. “With those guys, I’m ready to go into battle, but I am very aware of the challenge that lies ahead.
“Make no mistake about it, even with my relatively new position with this series, the Paul Miller team, their goal is to defend the championship. They have a high level of confidence in their ability, so a lot of it’s going to come down to my shoulders. I’m aware of the level of competition and I’m just excited to get out there and let ‘er rip.”