Name: Brandon Igdalsky
Title: Pocono Raceway President & CEO
Age: 38
Where I’m from: Roxborough, Pa.
Where I call home: Long Pond, Pa.
Focusing on right now: The future growth of the track.
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Igdalsky's often unwinds while on his boat with
his wife and twin daughters |
Best advice: Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to fail. The biggest mentor I ever had was probably my grandfather, JOSEPH MATTIOLI. He was so visionary in a lot of what he did, and wasn’t afraid to look outside the box and do things people thought were crazy. At the end of the day, you look back and he was right and everybody else was wrong. People kind of started to follow suit with what he did.
A must for a new hire: The first thing I look for is personality. An exciting personality and someone who really understands what the word "fun" means. I don’t mean fun as in just playing games, but someone who knows how to lighten up a little bit around work and bring that around with them.
Exec I admire the most: Obviously my grandfather, but I have a bunch of friends in business that I go to quite a bit, including NEAL DEANGELO and PAUL DEANGELO at DBI Services.
Best book I’ve read this year: "Screw It, Let's Do It," by RICHARD BRANSON. I liked that he was willing to fail to succeed -- basically that no matter what people, the nation said about him, what he thought, what his gut told him was the right way to go. If he failed, great, if he succeeded, even better.
First thing in the morning: It used to consist of me checking e-mails, but now it’s jumping on Twitter and seeing what’s happening in the world. Then I’ll read the local papers to see what’s going on in our community and what’s happening statewide.
Talking tech: I use Twitter a lot. I use it for my own silliness, but it’s also a great communication tool for our fans. I’m really quite active; probably more so than a lot of other track presidents. I find it’s a great tool to interact with fans and really be able to dive into their thought processes. It helps us improve our product and what we’re doing here at Pocono. It’s built my brand not just with my fans, but also with the stakeholders in the sport.
Must have music: I listen to pretty much anything. I’m not a huge country fan, but I’ll listen to it. During this time of year there seems to be a lot of JIMMY BUFFETT on my stereo, there’s always some good classic rock going on. Sometimes a nice mix of alternative.
Food for thought: We do a lot of grilling during the summer. My kids love seafood, so we spend a lot of time fishing. We fill the freezer with some nice tuna steaks and striped bass in the spring and the fall.
How I unwind: We have a boat and we try to get out whenever we can. The kids have a nice time with fishing. It’s good to be able to go out as a family and spend some time together. I’m not a big hunter, but I love fishing. My wife is amazed at my changed personality when I’m sitting on the water. I just kind of blank out and become totally relaxed.
Day in the life: I think motorsports in general -- whether it’s NASCAR, IndyCar or drag racing -- needs younger fans. We need to look at how we interact, how the sport’s handled and what we can do best to get those younger fans out here. We’re seeing increases, which is great, but we have to see that trend continue. It can’t be something we just give up on. Whether you’re a track or a league, I think we all need to focus on that.
