#12 - Racing for Children's

Michael discovered his passion for motorsports while at Auburn University and began pursuing a career in the industry. In 2009, Michael joined the Auburn University Formula SAE Racing Team and assumed the role as the team’s Director of Marketing and Driver. After graduation, Michael immediately began working in motorsports holding a variety of positions. Michael’s work history includes: Track & Facility Maintenance and Operations, Event Management/Promotion/Sponsorship Sales, Operations Management, Event Marketing, and Driver Coaching. Michael has been racing karts since 2011 at the club, regional, and national level in a variety of equipment. When not racing or working, Michael enjoys spending time with his wife and dogs, regular exercise, being outdoors, movies, concerts, and spending time with his family and friends.

Nick starting his racing career in 2007 running with the Georgia Sprint Kart Association (GSKA). In three years with the series, Nick collected 2 championships and 18 race wins. Since 2010, Nick has been regularly competing at both the regional and national level with success. Nick has scored countless poles and race wins over the past decade at tracks like Atlanta Motorsports Park and Go-Pro Motorplex. In conjunction to his racing success over the years, Nick has also spent time as a development driver and professional driver coach for brands including: CRG Karting Chassis, Porsche, Primal Racing School, and F4 race-cars. 2022 will mark as Nick’s fourth year driving for the Racing for Children’s Karting Team. In addition to multiple sprint race wins for Racing for Children’s, Nick will be eager to add an overall win at the SimCraft 24 Hours to his resume.

With Patrick’s father racing a Shelby Mustang in HSR and his first trip to a track being before he was even one month old, one might say that Patrick has racing in his blood! In 2007 he began his racing career in the ProCup Karting league at Andretti Indoor Karting. Three years and three championships later he began racing cars. His debut was made in a Ford Mustang in SCCA’s American Sedan class, racking up 4 national wins and finishing in the top 3 in points from 2009-2012.

In 2012 Patrick began his professional instructing career with Skip Barber Racing School and Mercedes AMG, along with starting his own private coaching company, Wilmot Racing, LLC. Since then, he has instructed for various manufacturers such as Porsche, Audi, and Ferrari and continues to offer professional coaching and mentoring to his clients in their racing endeavors.

In 2016 Patrick began Pro Racing in a Pirelli World Challenge Mini Cooper for The Precision Motorsports Group. He and his team brought home 2 top 5’s and 4 top 10’s over the course of the year. 

In 2017 he moved over to the Global Mazda MX-5 Cup with GB Racing/Racing Analytics where he would earn the Mazda Move of the Year Award for passing 3 cars, in the rain, on the outside of turn one, at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

Since 2019, Patrick has raced in the annual SimCraft 24 Hour race with the Racing For Children’s karting team. Over the past four years the team has been able to raise more than $15,000 towards research for Children’s Hospital of Alabama.

Most recently, Patrick has four top 10 finishes in IMSA, competing in the TCR class driving a Volkswagen GTI TCR and an Audi RS3 LMS TCR for AOA Racing. 

Erik starting driving karts during summer camps at Andretti’s Indoor karting facility in 2012, and continued to attend these camps for several more summers.  In May of 2017, Erik competed in his 1st outdoor go-kart race in the Briggs LO206 Junior class at Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP). In his first race outing, Erik won the race and set a new track-record in the process. That Fall, Erik expanded into the IAME KA100 Junior class, and in the Spring of 2018, he moved to racing in the Briggs LO206 Senior class at the age of 14.  In 2018, Erik won the Briggs LO206 Senior Championship at AMP and finished 3rd nationally in the KA100 Junior class with the United States Pro Karting Series (USPKS).  In 2019, Erik moved into the KA100 Senior and X30 Senior classes winning both Championships at AMP.  In 2020, Erik made the jump to open wheel cars competing in the F4 US Championship Series driving for Velocity Racing Development (VRD). Throughout the season, Erik scored multiple point finishes, 3 podiums, and 1 win. Erik went on to finish 6th in the championship despite missing 5 races. In 2021 Erik competed in the USF2000 Series and the final two rounds of US F4. This year Erik is living in Spain training to be a junior factory driver for Mclaren in British GT. He will compete in the 2023 British GT championship in GT4.

Interests: 

Baseball, Golf, iRacing, and “Hanging out” with Friends

Accomplishment:

Briggs Jr – 2017 – 3rd Overall – AMP Championship Series

Briggs Sr – 2018 – 1st Place – AMP Championship Series

KA100 Jr – 2018 – 3rd Overall – United States Pro Karting Series

KA100 Sr – 2019 – 1st Place – AMP Championship Series

X30 Sr – 2019  – 1st Place – AMP Championship Series

F4 Driver – 2020 – Velocity Racing Development- 6th overall- 1 win- 3 podiums- 10 points finishes- 2021- 5 races- 3 top 5s

USF 2000- 2021

Andrew Pinkerton is a racer from Birmingham, Alabama. His career has seen him compete in open-wheel, sportscars, prototypes, and go-karts. Racing in series like IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Mazda MX-5 Cup, World Racing League, SCCA, NASA Club Racing, and USAC 24-hour Go-Kart Races. His expertise extends beyond just driving, Andrew is actively a race engineer, strategist, and driver coach. Winning races and executing a successful race is a team endeavor that Andrew understands and continuously works with teammates to improve.
The 24 Hours of NOLA will be his 3rd race with the Racing for Children’s Karting Team, and sixth 24 hour go-kart race.