Providing Consulting Services in the Motorsports Industry
Mark Long, host of Driven to Ride Podcast, invited me to be a guest on the show to chat about my life and career in motorsports.
Press Release from Driven to Ride:
Motorcycling has opened nearly every door imaginable for Heather Wilson Schiltz, both personally and professionally. Schiltz heads up High Gear Success, a communications and marketing firm that caters to motorsports companies, event organizers, and racers. She is also the host of “Momentum: A Motorsports Podcast.” And, borrowing from her childhood dreams, she teaches others to ride.
Schiltz was quite literally born into motorcycling. Her father was an avid off-road racer. After high school, he opened a KTM/Husqvarna dealership in central Ohio. “Our lives revolved around going to the races and being in the dealership,” she says. “I don’t think he expected it to be a lifelong thing, but that’s what it turned into.” Heather’s parents recently sold the dealership after 48 years of operation.
Schiltz has been riding since she was five, but the actual behind-the-handlebars aspect of the sport takes a backseat to the many relationships she has forged. “I enjoy riding so much,” she admits. “It’s really freeing—a great experience. But I love the community and the family aspects that surround it. When I think about motorcycling, that’s what comes to mind for me.”
What I found is that a lot of these organizers had been hosting events, for sometimes decades, and they just hadn’t really transitioned with the times as far as technology or marketing.
Some of them were doing mail-in entries instead of online entry forms. A lot of them weren’t doing pre-entry. They were just signing up at the event. A lot of them weren’t keeping any records at all. They didn’t have emails. They didn’t have email marketing platforms. They might have had a Facebook page.
And so I was like, ‘I think there’s like I see a need here.’ These people need the support, and there’s not really anybody helping them do that.
