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Newly Appointed: Michael Printup
Less than a month after retiring from NASCAR, the former president of Watkins Glen International joined Parella Motorsports Holdings as the new president of SVRA.
Just before summer 2023, Michael Printup retired from nearly three decades with NASCAR, most recently in the role of president of Watkins Glen International. He and his wife were ready to leave their New York State home for one in South Carolina. Then Tony Parella, founder and head of Parella Motorsports Holdings (PMH), called and asked him to join his Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) as president.
Printup told PRI the opportunity and the plans Parella outlined were too good to pass up. He joined the organization on July 17.
PMH owns five major road racing series: SVRA, the Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli, Formula Regional Americas Powered by Honda (FR Americas), Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 US), and Prototype Sprint Series Association. The company hosts racing festivals across the United States under the SpeedTour brand. The SpeedTour events combine racing, car shows, concerts, and other activities. The events often draw more than 25,000 spectators at major tracks.
PMH is primarily headquartered at Parella’s Romulus, New York, home but essentially operates virtually from its executives’ homes around the country. Printup had numerous interactions with PMH through his role at Watkins Glen. He recently shared his goals and thoughts with PRI on SVRA’s growth potential.
PRI: When you retired from NASCAR at Watkins Glen International, were you planning a full retirement, and if so, what was it about this opportunity that changed your mind?
Printup: I retired for a whopping three weeks. My wife and I had bought a house in South Carolina, and we were ready to go when [SVRA owner] Tony Parella offered me the job as president of SVRA. I’ve known Tony for years, so I accepted and knew it would be a fun adventure.
PRI: What are your immediate plans at SVRA?
Printup: The immediate goal is to understand the company financially, from a human resources and operations point of view. The team works remotely, so getting to know the staff has been critical for me. I’m also working on the budgets for next year. The long-term goals are to create and define better efficiencies in revenue and expenses.
PRI: SVRA has been in a growth mode since PMH acquired the organization. Where do you see continued growth coming from?
Printup: We want to grow this company exponentially, hopefully twice as big as we are today for later next year and going into 2025. We’re growing quickly. We are potentially looking at 27 events next year. That’s going to be the growth by additional events and capitalizing on what makes up our big events. Corporate sponsorship is one of the “big buckets” Kim McCullough and I are attacking already. [Kim McCullough, a vintage sports car collector and racer and formerly vice president of Marketing for Jaguar Land Rover North America, joined PMH as chief marketing officer last summer.]
PRI: Is there growing interest in vintage sports car racing among younger participants? How do you reach them?
Printup: When I came to Watkins Glen 15 years ago, many people thought that SVRA people were fading away and retiring. But that’s not true. You take that younger demographic, and then you start moving up into what has been traditionally 40s, 50s, and 60s age groups with SVRA. What we’re seeing now, and what Tony has developed with the complementary brands, has driven more interest because now we are live-streaming [on the SpeedTour TV’s YouTube channel], and then dubbing and delay-taping a lot of our races.
PRI: How does that media coverage help drive growth?
Printup: We’re the biggest in the country for promoting vintage racing. When we start thinking about corporate sponsorships, we’ve got a big base of demographics we can turn to. SVRA people are watching themselves on TV. That wasn’t happening five years ago. Corporate sponsors can see themselves on TV. We’ve got some big partners, including corporate jet and vodka companies. Why not have an official wine of SVRA? We need to match partners with our demographics and create more categories.
PRI: Are there any stand-alone SVRA events, or are they all part of SpeedTour events?
Printup: We have a few venues focusing on the vintage racing series. It depends on schedule and track, and on the financial models that we create as partners with race tracks across the country. We must be mindful of making sure SVRA’s entries and fans are taken care of, and I think Tony does a good job of that.
PRI: Can you name one recent mistake you’ve learned from in your professional career?
Printup: Early in my career, when I started learning the ropes of management, I was always trying to define the team. But I’ve learned that you’ve got to let the team develop you. That’s a better approach, and it’s been mine for the last 20 years.
PRI: Who has been most influential to you in your professional career?
Printup: I’ll choose two: Roger Penske, and the France family, which owns NASCAR. The lessons you learn in working with Roger’s organization are immeasurable! Structure, discipline, customer service, detail orientation, and doing things the right way. He personally taught me these principles and they have guided me my entire career.
The France family in working with ISC taught me more about strategic planning and financial acuity.
It’s strange how two billionaire families have a different guiding light but at the end the goals were the same.
PRI: Is there one piece of advice you have received, whether personally or professionally, that has greatly impacted your life?
Printup: Yes, ‘Do the right thing, and do it all the time.’ I love that statement. It’s an easy mantra, but you’ve got to do it all day long.
PRI: Excluding your cellphone/tablet/computer, what’s one thing you can’t live without?
Printup: My family. They drive me every day. I could write a book about what my wife and two boys in their 20s have taught me.
