2019 Year in Review
It has been another exciting year of growth at Buhl Sport Detroit! Alex Keyes continued his success behind the wheel of the DRiV/Racing4Detroit rallycross car, Teen Street Skills' impact on SE Michigan continues to expand, and fun, unique events at Lafayette Garage highlighted the summer season! Here are some of the highlights of the year…
Alex Keyes, behind the wheel of the DRiV/Racing4Detroit #4 car found the podium four times in the second (and final) season of Americas Rallycross. The team took 1st place in the season opener and found the podium both times in the final doubleheader of the series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Racing4Detroit moves on from Americas Rallycross, as the series announced in November it would not extend beyond the 2019 season. Fortunately, we are excited about opportunities with Nitro Rallycross--part of Nitro World Games events. Nitro World Games was created by Nitro Circus and action sports icon Travis Pastrana.
Teen Street Skills continues to grow as the third year of the program wrapped up in November. This year's participants--mostly teenagers--represented more than 130 high schools, academies, and universities in Michigan. About 3/4 of participants were 15 and 16 year olds with permits.
The underlying messaging of Teen Street Skills is so important to us and we have made great strides over the past month in developing our EyesDrive™ national campaign. EyesDrive focuses on educating drivers on distracted driving and we are excited to be launching the campaign to the public in 2020!
Another big introduction this year was Lafayette Garage, which is not only home base for Racing4Detroit and Teen Street Skills, but also now corporate headquarters of Buhl Sport! This fall, the team officially moved out of the Factory and into Lafayette Garage where all the excitement happens!
In addition to Cars in Corktown, we have had several incredible events at Lafayette Garage. Cruise Detroit: Woodward 2019 presented by America's Automotive Trust and Autoweek launched from Lafayette Garage and cruised up Woodward starting in the heart of downtown.
Middlecott Design also put on the first ever Sketchbattle JR event at Lafayette Garage in October. The event partnered leading automotive design professionals with youth artists for an unprecedented free experiential and educational opportunity.
Of course, we especially want to thank all of our partners that make these programs possible and successful! They allow us to make a difference with teen drivers, host important educational events like Sketchbattle JR, and also have fun at the race track and with those that come out to activities.
Thank you to all of our other supporters, friends, and family for joining us at a lot of these events and we look forward to hosting more unique opportunities in 2020 and beyond. Stay tuned for more exciting announcements starting in January as it relates to Teen Street Skills, the EyesDrive campaign, and Racing4Detroit news!