Sip, swirl and boogie: local entrepreneurs race for charity

Several Bay Area entrepreneurs will trade their laptops for steering wheels at this weekend’s Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) Charity Challenge at Sonoma Raceway, Oct. 3-4. The weekend will feature local business owners who have discovered a need for speed even when not running their respective businesses.

The Charity Challenge will feature nearly 250 vintage race cars on track for a full weekend of racing on the 12-turn road course.

Representing Sonoma is Martin Lauber, founder and chairman of Swirl Marketing. A real-life “Mad Man,” Lauber had already left his mark on many of the world’s most recognizable brands (Disney to Fox Sports to Levi’s) before starting his digital marketing agency Swirl in 1997. Since then Swirl has prospered and has recently been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the country, with clients including Microsoft Stores and Wal-Mart.

Away from the office, Lauber’s passion is vintage cars and racing, and he has entered two of the cars from his collection in the Charity Challenge: a 1969 Chevron B-16 and a 1970 Titan MK 6 Formula Ford. For Lauber, racing is a family affair and he’s excited to be racing with and against his brother Ed Lauber, who is entered in a 1969 Titan MK5 Formula Ford.

Look for Martin and wife Kelly in their 1965 Alfa Romeo Ti rally car giving guest rides Saturday and Sunday of Charity Challenge weekend.

Randall Smith of Petaluma is another local entrepreneur and speedster. He’s the founder of Mesa/Boogie, which started as a small repair shop that modified Fender amplifiers. Smith’s modifications gave the small amps much more input “gain,” making them louder, as well as creating a recognizable distorted guitar tone. Prominent early customers included Carlos Santana and Keith Richards.

Mesa Engineering would go on to introduce a long list of innovations and patents that have shaped the world of electric guitar tone. It’s nearly impossible to find an amplifier on the market today that doesn’t offer a feature that Smith is responsible for.

Earlier this year, Smith was inducted into the Vintage Guitar magazine Hall of Fame in the Innovator category. During the CSRG Challenge, Smith will pilot a Chevron B-19 and Arrows Formula One race car.

Other regional participants include Kentfield’s Jeff O’Neill, one of four founding partners of Ram’s Gate winery in Sonoma, which conveniently overlooks Sonoma Raceway. A native of the North Bay, O’Neill long dreamed of hitting the track, and now he competes around the world in approximately eight events per year. He will pilot his 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage and 1968 Alfa Romeo GTA Junior during the Charity Challenge.

For more details on the Classic Sports Racing Group, visit www.csrgracing.org or visit CSRG’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/csrgracing.