Performance Tech Motorsports Spotlight: Seasoned Driver Dan Goldburg

 Performance Tech Motorsports’ driver Dan Goldburg is the teams jack of all trades piloting prototypes, BMW’s and beyond.

Goldburg has remained a familiar face in the Performance Tech Motorsports’ family for nearly a decade. After last competing with the team in 2013 in IMSA Prototype Lites, Goldburg rejoined Performance Techs’ ranks in 2018 for the NASA Spec E30 National Championship. The series and cars may have been largely different, but the comradery and can-do attitude of Performance Tech had Goldburg feeling back at home.

“Last year I won the NASA Spec E30 National Championship in a BMW 325i,” Goldburg said. “This class features a low cost of entry, and thus gathers large entry numbers. The National Championship at Mid-Ohio in 2019 had over 30 cars in class making the competition very competitive.

“I bought my first Spec E30 in 2017 as a way to get back into racing after three years off and because the National Championship that year was at Sebring, which is my home track. I bought the car, quickly got up to speed, and came home with second at that year's championship. I was hooked on racing again and continued to compete in that class in 2018.”

The racing bug bit again. After a taste of success Goldburg wanted more.

 “By mid-2018 I contacted Brent,” Goldburg said. “I told him I wanted to win the National Championship in this class, and I needed Performance Techs’ help. Brent and Frankie (Parzych, Crew Chief) agreed to take it on, even though the class was not something they would normally be interested in. Frankie and the team poured their heart into prepping the car but sadly Frankie passed away that year.

“We didn't achieve our goal of winning the championship in 2018 but plotted a course to get it done in 2019. We suffered a setback when I totaled the car at the exit of Turn 17 in early 2019. We acquired another car and the team did their magic on it to get it ready. We arrived at the 2019 Nationals and swept the weekend qualifying on pole and winning all of the events. There were many challenges that weekend, but everyone stayed focused on the goal of winning the championship.”

Racing drivers can spend their entire careers waiting for the stars to align for a perfect weekend such as Goldburg’s Mid-Ohio championship sweep. With the right team backing them, such as Performance Tech Motorsports, the goal suddenly becomes much more attainable.

“The championship weekend is when I learned what it feels like to truly fire on all cylinders as a team,” Goldburg said. “As a driver, I was prepared from iRacing and prep workout allowing me to stay focussed on the event. The team focused on their portion and each session we improved and inched closer to the win. I carry that feeling of having extreme focus and of each member of the team doing their part to win with me to every event.”

The 2019 championship win was the final igniting factor in Goldburg’s push to the next level of racing. Goldburg’s mental and physical preparation conjoined with his confidence in the team left him eager for more.

Goldburg channeled that feeling as he entered the 2020 IMSA Prototype Challenge season in the No. 6 Motel 6 Ligier JS P3. Leading up to the first event Goldburg had only one weekend to shakedown and learn the car at the MICHELIN Sportscar Encore at Sebring International Raceway in November. The 2020 season kicked off with Godlburg’s Daytona International Raceway debut in a closed cockpit LMP3. Even with his vast knowledge of the open cockpit Elan DP 02 and traditional closed cockpit, BMW 325i Goldburg had a sizeable learning curve to conquer in the Ligier JS P3.

“The biggest challenge this year has been learning the car and getting up to speed with a competitive group,” Goldburg said. “The IMSA events do not allow much track time so my first few events were difficult to get up to the speeds that would place me at the front of the pack. At Daytona this year is where it first started to click for me.

“Starting the race in the rain and getting to feel the car move around a lot more than in the dry gave me a better feel for the car at the limit. Then having a test day at Sebring ahead of what was supposed to be the Twelve-Hour weekend allowed us to try many different setup options and allowed me to feel the car in many other dry setup ranges. The test also provided me a lot of valuable seat time. I just can't wait to get back into the car in real life and put to practice what we worked on at Sebring and Daytona.”

The rescheduling of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring event weekend shook the racing community as the drivers, teams, and series worked to fill the coming months with sports car racing. The utilization of simulator rigs quickly became an essential piece of equipment with IMSA sanctioning biweekly iRacing events in the IMSA iRacing Pro Series. Goldburg was one step ahead as he’s been implementing his simulator in his training since 2008.

“I purchased my first simulator rig in 2008 when I began training for the IMSA Lites program,” Goldburg said. “I’ve used iRacing every race since then. I run at least a few hours of lap time in the closest car to what I’ll be driving on the track we’re going to. I also have incorporated a racing-specific physical training program including weight training, HIIT aerobic training, and yoga. Additionally, I add in go-karting as much as time allows.”

Simulator racing, much like real-life racing, involves strategy, engineering, and skill. Goldburg intends to show off twelve years of practice in next week's IMSA iRace Pro Series at Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course on Thursday, April 29 at 6:00 p.m. ET. He’ll climb behind the wheel of his virtual No. 64 Motel BMW M8 decked in the iconic Motel 6 red and blue livery to match his LMP3 for his debut in the online series.

With help from Performance Tech engineers, spotters, and Team Principal Brent O’Neill, he hopes to seize his first podium of the 2020 season. The 90-minute race features a single-driver format with the cars able to drive approximately 50-minutes on a full tank of fuel. The sprint race will be streamed live on iRacing’s YouTube channel, Twitch or Facebook with commentary from IMSA Radio announcer John Hindhaugh. Pre- and post-race programming also is planned for The Torque Show, hosted by Justin Bell and Tommy Kendall.