Name: Kevin Savoree
Position: Green Savoree Racing Promotions President & CEO
Where I'm from: Illinois
Where I call home: Carmel, Ind.
Focusing on right now: We operate the season-opening IndyCar Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, so just making sure everything is set.
Best advice: For all of us in life or work, you’ve got to want to be where you are. If you’re not, then you’re probably not going to be happy or do your best work. That, in the team environment, it shows. Also, you’ve always got to give your team a chance to win. When you can do those couple things, good things are going to follow.
A must for a new hire: Obviously if it’s a new hire we look at their GPA and what other activities they’ve been involved with. We want to hear what that candidate wants to do, what do they enjoy doing. How they perceive the work environment, do they have a strong work ethic. Where is family in their life.
Book shelf: I’m really into books by JOHN GRISHAM and authors with similar stories to tell.
First thing in the morning: I kiss my wife of 35 years on the cheek, tell her good morning and that I love her. After that I’ll check my email or texts that have come in overnight. Typically I’ll catch some morning news, “TODAY,” CNN or some other form of news.
Talking tech: Literally on our phone is this virtual office technology. You don’t need a laptop, it’s there on your phone and is basically your computer. That is so powerful to be able to stay literally in constant contact with, whether it’s our guys in Toronto or Mid-Ohio or the sanctioning body or our sponsors, it’s pretty incredible. That’s only going to get stronger.
Food for thought: My favorites are Italian and steak. My wife and I love to cook -- we love to spend time in the kitchen and have family and friends over. If I had to pick one meal for the rest of my life, I’d probably go with spaghetti.
How I unwind: When I get home I try to turn the office part off -- I want to know what my family has been doing. My son goes to school at Bellarmine University, and not a day goes by that I don’t talk to him to find out what’s going. I really just love spending time with them.
Day in the life: I come down to St. Petersburg basically the first of December and stay until April 1. There’s certainly added pressure leading the season off for IndyCar. It’s always that anticipation of what’s new, what’s going to be faster, who’s going to have the advantage, what team’s going to click or what driver is going to click with an engineer. It’s like the start of any season -- there’s always something to look forward to, and when you’re the first race, all eyes are on it to see how that turns out. The city of St. Petersburg and the Tampa area, their tagline is “Embrace the Race,” and they really do a great job working with us and coming out to enjoy the race.
