Beyond The Visor

Ep 8 - Tony Laporta: Life Behind the Mic

Tony LaPorta broke out to the national dirt racing scene in 2021 when he took over the reins of the United States Auto Club's full-time announcing duties. His tenure there was over at the end of the year, and he spent the next two years trying to find his way back behind a microphone. That call came with the formation of the High Limits Racing series and Tony found himself back behind the mic, and back on the screen handling the pit reporting duties for the newly founded series. His personal and story-based approach has made him one of the top media figures not only in dirt racing, but the entire sport of auto racing. In this episode, Tony talks about the experiences of living life on the road, what his favorite stops have been along the way, and how they handle pleasing four different people all with different personalities. Tony lays out how he first got into racing and then subsequently announcing. Tony and Zane talk about the importance of storytelling before Tony shares his final thoughts. A special thanks to Rich Farmer and the Fremont Speedway Hall of Fame for allowing us to record this episode in the Fremont Speedway Hall of Fame.

Bobby Elliott

Bobby Elliott is freshly out of high school near his hometown of Allenton, Michigan and navigating his extremely busy life in the college classroom, at the job site, and at the racetrack behind the wheel of his family owned 410. Rapidly seeing improvement every single time he hits the track, Bobby has his eyes set on making it big in the sport. Utilizing social media to garner a following and leaning on strong family ties to the racing industry, Bobby has the framework laid out to launch into regional and national stardom. In this episode, Bobby talks about his roots in racing. Traveling up and down the road racing micros in part of the country not known for its micro scene. Bobby and Zane talk about relationships and maintaining a social life as a driver and a media person. Then the two dive into how Bobby keeps his mind straight with all the noise that comes with a bigger social media presence.

Austin Black

Clyde's own Austin Black started racing go karts before making the jump to the one-of-a-kind dirt truck division. After a stint there, him along with his dad decided to take another step to the highly contested 305 sprint car division. With 2024 in the rearview mirror, Austin sets his sights on 2025 and finding the consistency that he had in the years prior. In this episode, Austin and I talk about his climb up the ladder from go karts to sprint cars, why the decision was made to step up at each level, and what the challenges have been between each one. We also dove into how Austin keeps his mind fresh during the offseason and resets before the 2025 season comes around. We also talk about mentors and idols in our own unique spaces and how they play a role in our lives.

Kalib Henry

California dreaming of race cars and winning on the biggest stage has always been something Sacramento's Kalib Henry has done. Born into a racing family and quickly climbing the challenging ranks of the Cali racing scene, Kalib relocated to Fremont, Ohio ahead of the 2024 race season. A season that once was all said and done, found Kalib as a track champion at Fremont and with a nice collection of wins across the Midwest region. Ready to continue his racing career, Kalib sets his sights on improving on already sound talent base and finding ways to one up his win column going into the 2025 season. In this episode, Kalib and I talk about his 2024 season, the highs and lows, and what is on the horizon in 2025. Kalib gives us some insight on what it's like to race with an experience crew chief who has spent time on the road with some of the nation's best. Then we finish it off with some lighthearted discussion on fast food preferences and he gets asked the hard questions on his favorite things in life.

TJ Michael

The Lonestar state's TJ Michael relocated to Ohio in his teenage years to pursue a childhood dream of driving race cars. A longtime family friendship with Ohio's Bobby Clark led to an opportunity the Michael family couldn't pass up and the rest from there is history. After a stint in 305s, TJ moved to 410s, which would eventually lead to the family-owned team hitting the road with the All-Star Circuit of Champions. Now a hired gun, Michael spends most of his race season running locally within the Ohio region, traveling when the schedule allows In this episode, TJ and I talk about physical & mental fitness, his journey from Plano, Texas to Fremont, Ohio, and what life with a traveling series looked like. We also dive into the difference between the personalities of winged and non-winged sprint car racing, the hopes of bringing USAC to Ohio, and finish off with those we looked up to as kids in racing.