Shane van Gisbergen’s NASCAR team – Trackhouse Racing doing things differently

Trackhouse is a fairly new NASCAR team with an interesting kick – mega music star Pitbull is a part owner. But there is more to it than just that.

America loves fame, and America loves it when fame crosses borders. So when Armando Pérez, better known as Pitbull, bought into Trackhouse Racing in NASCAR two years ago, the lines blurred and the global interest in NASCAR scored a boost. 

A fan of the sport since watching ‘Days of Thunder’, Pitbull also knew Trackhouse driver Danial Suarez through connections, and that got him onto team owner Justin Marks, and the rest is history. The timing was perfect – Marks was starting something and had the ability to align with a star who has sold more than 25 million albums and has been viewed on YouTube more than 15 billion times. 

What aligned Marks and Pitbull, in addition to a shared love of NASCAR and motorsport, was the idea that they could do something more than just win races. 

The pair are from very different backgrounds. 

Pitbull was born in Miami to Cuban immigrants. It is said he learned to speak English from Sesame Street – we knew it was educational – and he grew up in tough crime-riddled neighbourhoods, where the seeds of his drive to make a difference were sewn. His music elevated him out of the cycle, and now he is one of the biggest names in the music industry and about to release a new album named after his NASCAR team – Trackhouse. 

Marks was born in Missouri, grew up in Iowa and then California, and gave up university to concentrate on his motor racing. He raced in sportscars and NASCAR, his biggest win being a class victory in the Six Hours at The Glen while racing for Meyer Shanks Racing in an Acura (we say Honda) NSX.

Marks comes from a family of entrepreneurs. His father is a partner in a private equity firm and a board member of GoPro. He was an interim CEO at Tesla and is a minority shareholder in the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. The Trackhouse Motorplex, formerly the GoPro Motorplex, near Mooresville in North Carolina, is a family venture that created a bit of a springboard for Marks getting into NASCAR team ownership. 

Trackhouse’s origins came about when Marks failed in a bid to buy Leavine Family Racing when it folded at the end of the 2020 season. Rather than sulking in a corner, he created his own team, Trackhouse … from scratch. 

He brought in former Dale Earnhardt executive Ty Morris to help with the day-to-day operations. The team runs a cause marketing strategy that includes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) learning with several initiatives around inner-city charter schools, which are non-government public schools in the USA. It was this link that grabbed Pitbull’s attention, given he is funding some of those schools. 

Suarez was hired as a driver for the one-car team, ironically leasing a racing charter from Spire Motorsport, which bought Mark to Leavine, and things started to shift. Marks cut a deal with Richard Childress Racing for cars and engines and then, in 2021, Trackhouse bought the NASCAR operations of Chip Ganassi Racing and expanded to two cars from 2022 onwards. 

Ross Chastain joined the team and is right in the thick of the 2023 title, as he was in 2022. 

“The whole initiative when we got together with Trackhouse was all about uniting people and creating awareness for Trackhouse and the sport and NASCAR,” Pitbull said.

“I feel that music is a universal language that unites; it doesn’t divide. It’s the same way you could utilise the race car and how everybody loves racing. So you put them together, and that is what it’s all about to me. 

“How do we find unconventional, non-traditional ways to create awareness, unite people, and bring them out to the track so they have fun and enjoy? Make them fall in love with Trackhouse, our journey, how it’s been from nothing to something, and the underdog mentality. It runs parallel with what’s happened in my career and it’s happened in the music industry with me.”

He said calling his new album Trackhouse was a no-brainer, and there are lyrics on the album directly related to the track action.

“There’s a song called Takes 3 where I mention the move that I call ‘Ross Off the Wall’, ‘Off the Chain Chastain’, and then it’s Danielle Rapido Suarez.” 

The song references Chastain’s wild run at Martinsville last year when he planted his foot on the last lap of the race, needing to win to remain in the title fight, but wasn’t in the running until he ran full throttle against the wall through the final to corner the win race. If you haven’t seen it, use the QR Code to check it out. Trackhouse the team is also spoken about as fighters in Can’t Stop Us Now.  

Pitbull is helping to grow NASCAR, which is staggering given the size of NASCAR. But Marks says the alignment for him was perfect from the start. 

“It’s been amazing, because we all just think so much alike,” he says. “It’s about trying to create something great in the world and something that’s memorable and something that resonates with as many people, inspires as many people as possible. 

“It’s a creative collaboration, and it’s an alignment in stories. It’s given us an opportunity to have a partner that’s very creative and has a very different life experience and sees the world through a different lens, but at the same time, sees the same opportunity and is motivated by the same things. 

“Being successful in music is competitive, and it’s difficult. You have to find your way and find your voice – and it’s the same thing in racing. It’s been empowering and inspiring for us, and this  (the Trackhouse album) is just another incredible moment in the relationship. 

“It is an incredible gift that Pitbull’s given us, to be able to take our Trackhouse story out to his world and to his fans and following, with some great music and some memorable experiences.”

In answering questions about his involvement in the team, Pitbull says it is very real and not a publicity stunt. 

“This is all about our stories coming together, and that’s why the fans love it,” he says. “They know that in no way, shape, or form is this something that we’re just trying to do just because we’re trying to get Trackhouse to a certain level. This right here is about making history. It’s generational, it’s about creating a legacy, having fun doing it and putting the two stories together. 

“They coincide. It’s all about constantly fighting and proving everybody wrong. It’s that underdog mentality that nothing is something, and that’s where it aligns. To do it through music and then Ross, Daniel, Ty, Justin and the whole Trackhouse team do it on the track.

“As far as the team goes, I think it is doing phenomenally well and clearly it’s been disruptive in a very positive way in the sport. 

“As for me being at the track, I was just at Daytona, I’m going to go and check out the team in Chicago, and I’m trying to be involved as much as I can. 

“Now that everything’s up and running, and for lack of a better term, to a normal state,” he says, referencing the COVID lockdowns, “you’re going to see me more at the track as far as communicating with the team and the drivers. I try to let them know that I’m very proud of them. It’s nothing but respect for what the team does, what the organisation does, but what those drivers do when they get in that car and give it all they have.”

Pitbull opened the first Slam school (charter schools) in Miami a decade ago and took a NASCAR into that school many years before Trackhouse. Slam now has 14 schools in Florida, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona, with more than 7000 students. Now he gets to take one of his cars to the schools and prove the value of the STEM concept. 

“I got a chance to survey and have the ultimate focus group when I saw those kids see a NASCAR and go, ‘Wow, what is this?’

“Then about a year and a half ago, we brought a Trackhouse car in, and they got a chance to feel it, touch it, and hear the engine roar. Right there, a whole new world opened for them. 

“So if you think about it, we’re already winning because that’s really what this is all about. In one way or another, we can help those that need it the most and have fun doing it. This process and what it is to create a winning team and a career that’s had so much longevity.”

Trackhouse is a disrupter and, in a short time, it has climbed to the top of NASCAR. Marks knew he wanted to be different, and when Pitbull joined the team, that was even easier.