by Start Your Engines: Business Students Help Cal Poly Racing Team Cross the Finish Line Behind the Scenes and Behind the Wheel
Inside the Aero hangar, Tommy Bordeaux and Chase Gioffredi are kneeled on each side of a Formula race car designed and built by the Cal Poly Racing team as they discuss the possibility of moving the car’s pedals forward.
“My legs are pretty long, so, unfortunately, I don’t fit really well,” says Bordeaux, who will drive the car during competition. “Right now my legs are almost hitting the roll bar.”
Gioffredi agrees the car has an ergonomics issue.
“The problem now is the steering wheel goes into your legs because your legs are kind of bowed,” he says.
While the two sound like the many engineering students that have gathered here on Build Night, a few minutes earlier the duo had attended a meeting for the club’s business team, which handles the club’s marketing and competes in the racing competitions as well.
“Working with the teams, you learn a lot of skills,” said Bordeaux, vice president of Cal Poly Racing, who has recently graduated with a business administration degree, concentrating on information systems. “Both the skills of working on cars and the soft skills of teamwork.”
Like Bordeaux, Gioffredi, a business administration student with a concentration on marketing, is an avid car racing fan.
“We’re into racing first and business second,” Gioffredi said.
Cal Poly Racing began 50 years ago with a donated Ford Galaxie taxi that was converted into an off-road race car. Today, students design, create and test three different cars – an off-road Baja car, an electric Formula 1 style and a gas-powered Formula 1 style.
While the club is heavily represented by engineering students, anyone can join.
“Our team is part of the Mechanical Engineering Department, but we welcome all majors, and we have students from a variety of backgrounds,” said Stassa Cappos, a mechanical engineering student and lead of the Baja team. “So different engineering majors, business majors — we’ve even had students from music and physiology.”
At competitions around the country, drivers compete with the cars, but the teams also have to offer a business presentation – which is where business students are especially helpful.
“It really makes us apply what we’ve been learning in the classroom to an actual business case,” said Nicky Chavez, who heads the business team with Bordeaux. “They’ll involve everything from creating marketing plans, to logistics, supply chains, management, and sales.”
For the competition, the business team creates a business plan to present to a fictional investors. Those plans, as Chavez detailed at the business meeting, include information on local labor force, parts suppliers and profit potential for the cars.
In real life, the business team actually markets Cal Poly Racing, seeks sponsors and plans events.
“Cal Poly Racing operates like a little business,” said Jacqueline Fritsche, a mechanical engineering student and Formula team lead.
To get the information they need, the business students constantly communicate with the engineering majors as they design and build the cars.
“In their careers, these students are going to have to work in interdisciplinary teams,” said Damon Fleming, dean of the Orfalea College of Business. “So learning how to do that now while they’re here, engaging in Learn by Doing, is the best practice for getting ready for their careers.”
Bordeaux had a little head start – he began racing go-karts when he was younger, then progressed in high school to racing Mazda Miatas across California.
“So when I got to college and found Cal Poly Racing, I knew it was a perfect fit and had to get involved,” he said. “I was very interested in the driving element of the club, of course. But I knew that if I wanted to earn the respect of the club, I needed to do something else. For me it started by joining the business team, helping them out with graphic design projects, with different social media posts, that kind of thing.”
That broad experience will help Bordeaux with his plans to one day own and drive for his own racing team.
Meanwhile, being involved with Cal Poly Racing, members say, creates lifelong relationships.
“I’ve found my family and friends here, and I’ve also found my passion,” Fristche said.