For Illinois-based WeatherTech Founder & CEO DAVID MACNEIL, racing is not only a hobby, but a way of life. In addition to the automotive floor mat manufacturer taking over title sponsorship of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at the beginning of November, MacNeil is also competing in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona Int’l Speedway -- the track’s first race after completion of the long-awaited Daytona Rising project. MacNeil: “I am going to do the best I can in the race car. I hope we are celebrating a win.”
IDLE TIME: We have a business dinner on Friday evening with customers, partners and employees. After that, I am heading to bed because I have a 24-hour race the next day. The race is 3:00pm on Saturday until 3:00pm on Sunday. I am certainly getting enough sleep. I am going to get up and eat a healthy breakfast and get off to the track to start to get prepared for the race. But when you run a business in America, you really can’t ignore your emails over the weekend. Otherwise, you start off the week buried. The email side of things is almost never ending.
SHIFTING GEARS: My guilty weekend pleasure is driving an old sports car with a conventional manual gear box; just enjoying some old school driving without any electronics watching over me. I have an old ’98 Porsche 911. It was the last of the best 911s. I have three kids --20, 23 and 24 -- so I try to spend time with them. We went to France in ’14 when my son raced. It was just him and one other driver, so they "ironman"-ed it for 24 hours, which was pretty cool.
BLACKHAWK CROWN: My other hobby is learning to fly a helicopter. I get a little traveling in now and again. I like to visit either coast. I love the ocean. Sometimes I like to go to Colorado and get some skiing in. I also like boxing and swimming. That’s part of the workout regimen. I have a pool at home that I try to swim in quite a bit. I’m also a huge Chicago Blackhawks fan.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: I certainly enjoy good food and a glass of wine now and then. My girlfriend and I both certainly know how to read a restaurant menu. There are a couple of good restaurants in Hinsdale, Ill. I could probably live off of both Italian and Japanese food the rest of my life and I would be happy.
