Lots of people love cars, but Bill Jandrisits, HBA ’83, MBA ’90, President & CEO at MCAN Mortgage Corporation, takes it a step further, racing his beloved Porsche on professional-grade tracks.
I watched car racing from the time I was four or five. When I turned 16 I bought a used Toyota, put on the widest tires that would fit, and had it repainted fire engine red. Then I worked on trying to get it to run better and faster. When I was at Ivey, my father gave me a Chevelle Laguna. I tried to make it go faster, too, but the problem was that made the fuel economy go down to about four miles a gallon — not so good for a student!
I always dreamed that one day I would actually go out and buy something that was fun to drive. When I was with RBC, I was moved down to North Carolina, the home of NASCAR. I started doing business with some of the owners and drivers and hanging out at the tracks. After owning two Porsche 911s for street use, I bought my first track car, a 1986 Porsche 944 turbo. I took a two-day Porsche driving school, and I was hooked.
The 944 was a cheap car to buy but hard to maintain. The faster you went, the more likely it was to overheat or break down. After going through the trials and tribulations of wearing out clutches and engine parts, I bought a 2011 Porsche Cayman S, which is a really good track car. I kept going to driving schools. At one point I did an autocross challenge with 50 other drivers and won the whole thing. Now I belong to the Lime Rock Drivers Club in Connecticut. I get to hang out with other people who have a passion for racing and focus on improving my driving.
Driving a race car is an incredibly intense experience and it requires an amazing amount of focus. At full speed you’re travelling about three football fields every second, so you have to focus far, far ahead. You train yourself to brake heavy in a straight line and exit each corner at full acceleration — otherwise you’re too slow.
I tell my staff that success in real estate is a lot like racing. It’s about understanding the conditions you’re in, where the turns are, and when to adjust your course. It’s about making most of the routines you do automatic, so that you can focus your vision to the horizon, see what’s coming, and be able to react in time. And smooth is fast. Those who do it well, make it look effortless and don’t crash.
Photo: Nation Wong
Art Direction: Greg Salmela, Aegis
