Podium Life turns one today. Tens of thousands of you have discovered us, and I am incredibly grateful to all of you. Our team loves motorsports; and curating content related to culture, gear, and lifestyle is our dream job.
Thank you for your support.
Here’s our origin story.
I grew up around racing. My father was an F1 mechanic and eventually emigrated to the US to follow the American dream and work in motorsports. He went on to start an IndyCar team, and I worked in the family business. Quickly realizing I was not mechanically inclined or the next Ayrton Senna, I pursued my own career in digital strategy and marketing.
An awkward 13 year old me sitting with my Dad (Sal Incandela) at a CART race in 1986.
From 2010-12, I worked with Brian Simpson (co-founder) where we ran digital and content strategy for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar Series. During our time together we talked about a website that would aggregate all of the cool racing stuff for fans. Foreshadowing.
Brian went on to start a successful motorsports agency, and I switched to the software industry. The idea sat in neutral. Pun intended.
Ten years later, in the summer of 2022, the idea kept emerging – build something that showcased all of the amazing racing stuff. The timing was ideal. The success of “Drive to Survive” was giving all forms of racing a popularity boost. Traditional motorsport outlets continued as influencers and social media embraced the sport in new ways. It was clear F1 and other Series were headed for unprecedented fan engagement.
But there was a clear void – numerous outlets focused on the competitive side of the sport, but few showcased the art, books, games, gear, tech, and so on. No one was curating all of the racing products for fans. My other co-founder, Stephanie Capouch and I started planning out Podium Life.
It is an honor to do something in motorsports that aligns to my own talents and interests. My dad would be incredibly proud.
It’s incredibly hard to sell an idea that is just a concept. I pitched Podium Life to lots of people. Most could not grasp the idea, but one person saw the opportunity immediately: Josef Newgarden. Our co-founding team was complete, and we got to work; designing the brand, building the website, and creating the content strategy. We launched the Podium Life on January 25, 2023 at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
A year later we have published 344 stories.
We have had the pleasure of showcasing brands like Puma, Tag Heuer, Alpinestars, EA Sports, Tumi, New Era, Bowers and Wilkins, MasterClass, Automobolist, Simucube, Red Racer Books, Modern Racing Prints, FanAmp, Furious Motorsport and more.
We have featured original stories on Alexander Rossi, Gary Vaynerchuk, SheLovesF1, Lucas Blakeley, Tony Kanaan, Rene Rosin, Michelle Della Penna, and many more. Storytelling is core to what we do and hearing directly from a racer or expert is as good as it gets.
We have reached 169 countries. Do you know how cool it is to view Google Analytics live and see someone in Macao checking us out?
And we are committed to being motorsport agnostic which means we have covered everything from the Dakar Rally to IndyCar to F1 to NASCAR to TT Isle of Mann and everything in between. Motorsports is truly global, and we want to celebrate this with all of you.
But Podium Life is still young. Our plans for the future include:
- An expanded newsletter
- More video content
- More gaming content
- More original stories across the diverse set of racing series
- And more investment
We are currently in the midst of fundraising to help Podium Life realize its full potential. And we are in a number of strategic discussions around partnerships. So much has happened in our first year. I can’t wait to see what year two brings.
If you no longer go for a gap which exists you are no longer a racing driver
Ayrton Senna
We’re going for the gap.
I’d love to hear from you.
How are we doing? What would you like us to feature? Want to write for us? Want to invest?
Please drop me a line: daniel at podiumlife.com or via our Contact page.
In the meantime, please keep supporting us, and if you haven’t yet, follow us on all the socials.
Here’s to year two. And thank you for helping us capture the cool in motorsports.
Daniel Incandela
