Mike Staub, “Flat Out” Classic Chief Event Master

Mike had a love for anything with motors (other than lawnmowers) since he was young. Although, lawn mowing and delivering newspapers gave him the money to buy his first motorized vehicle at 13, a Tecumseh powered mini bike. Dual sport motorcycles, a street bike and a 455HP GTO followed.

He drag raced anything he had with wheels, against anything. A short career of real drag racing followed. His first major break left him car-less for a while. He knew the sport of drag racing was beyond his budget!

The responsibility of life came along, parenting, and fun cars were a thing of the past for quite a while. Beginning at a young age, he taught Ryan about cars. Ryan could tell car models from headlights/tail lights from great distances at a young age. Mike also taught Ryan how to predict future actions from observing drivers’ behavior. Looking ahead. Hmmm – Ryan was driving a manual transmission at 12.  When Ryan was in college Mike bought a new C5 Corvette. Soon after, Ryan bought a used E36 M3.

Ryan’s almost immediate involvement with the BMW Club and SCCA took him into auto crossing and Driving Schools (DE)s. “Come watch, I think you’d like DEs”. Mike did. Soon Mike did a PCA DE and was hooked.

That “Staub” kid sure recruits a lot of people into this passion!

Soon Mike became Activities Director for the KC BMW Club. In 2005, Heartland Park was undergoing a much-needed update. Due to construction delays, the August DE date was consistently delayed. Finally in early October, Heartland Park told the club the facility wouldn’t reopen til Spring 2006. Mike asked the learned DE organizers in our group if we do an event elsewhere yet that Fall? Everyone said impossible, not enough time to plan, secure location etc. Those who know Mike know he works best under pressure and hates hearing “I/we can’t do this”!

Within the next few days, Mike had driven to the old MAM near Omaha and Hallett in Tulsa, meeting with track managers. Hallett agreed to stay open one more weekend in the middle of November. Not only was a Hallett tradition started, an Event Master was born!
Mike has now been Event Master at a dozen driving schools at three different race tracks.
Sometimes he thinks we forget a critical component of driving schools. They make us better drivers on the street, avoid accidents and sometimes save lives. We have testimonials regarding this.

Driving Schools have been responsible developing lifelong friendships for Mike and most anyone who delves into our passion. Car guys and gals are great people!

Mike says, “no matter how much work you think goes into planning and executing a 3 day DE weekend, you probably aren’t close. Please thank the Instructors, Registrars and other Volunteers. We are always looking for new blood. Just ask. The reward of seeing a great event is worth the hard work”!