Janco’s Focus On Fitness Aids Improvement At Track - Speedway Digest

What do you do when nobody is watching?

Performance Tech Motorsports driver Joel Janco takes no days off.

Janco, 66, understands the importance of being physically fit while racing in the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda series, and his determination is showing on track. Janco, from Key Largo, Florida, has stood on the Lites 1 Masters podium in all four races this season, finishing second four times in his No. 25 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.

“About a year and a half ago, (Performance Tech Motorsports team owner) Brent O’Neill took a look at me getting out of the car and said, ‘Joel, you’re going to have to get in better shape.’ I’ve always been in good shape, but that changed things. At that point, I hired a personal trainer. I work out two hours a day, seven days a week.

“My wife and I walk our dogs 3 miles in the morning. After that, three days a week I do 40 minutes at 90 percent of my maximum heart rate on the treadmill. Then I swim a mile, which is easy since I live on a Florida bay. I jump off my dock and swim to a neighbor’s and back. Every other day I have a personal trainer named Randy Wetzel, who puts me through a strength training routine, which is tailored to racing. He’s developed a program that is really race-specific, particularly upper-body exercises.”

Janco is sixth in the overall Lites 1 driver championship point standings with 10 races remaining on the 2015 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Development Series schedule. He is second in the Lites 1 Masters standings, just two points behind reigning champion John Falb. This is Janco’s second full season driving for Performance Tech, and his improvement is evident.

“Now I don’t get tired and sore driving the car,” Janco said. “It’s very difficult physically to drive these Lites cars. Exercise has made a huge difference. I feel younger and stronger, and therefore can drive better. If you look around the paddock, all the drivers are in very good shape. You’re not going to compete against these guys without also being physically fit.”

Janco raced a variety of cars after which he retired for 13 years. During that time off, he spent three years sailing through the Caribbean with his wife, Kathy, on their 50-foot catamaran, “Triumph.” On his 61^st birthday, he decided to scratch his itch for cars and jump back into the Skip Barber race series, followed by racing an FE in SCCA and USF2000.

Janco laid eyes on a Prototype Lites machine for the first time in 2012 at Road America and never looked back. He drove for Eurosport Racing for one race in 2012 and for a full season in 2013. Florida resident Janco decided to make the switch to Florida-based Performance Tech Motorsports in 2014 for proximity reasons.

“Performance Tech is like a family,” Janco said. “The atmosphere is very nurturing, and everybody is completely focused on doing the best we can on the track, and it makes a huge difference.

“If I make a mistake like I did a few weeks ago when I put the car in the wall (in another series) at Watkins Glen, most teams would say, ‘That’s too bad,’ and put the car in the trailer but not them. They know it’s important to get me back in the saddle. They put in the extra effort to do that, and the result was two podiums. It’s that sort of commitment to me that they have and the commitment that I have to them that makes it work.

“I think the coaching by (driver coach) Jonatan Jorge has been significant, and I think his techniqueis finally sinking in. I have two awesome teammates in Austin Versteeg and Robert Alon, both young and fast drivers. I can see their data to find out what can be done, and occasionally I might do something that is insightful for them, as well. In addition we have Ryan McCarthy this year as our engineer. He’s added a significant amount of ability to improve the handling of the car. It’s really been a total team effort.”

After placing third in the Lites 1 Masters championship in 2014, Janco does not plan on slowing. He is focused on winning the Masters title this year.

“I’m getting used to being on the podium and drinking champagne and would love to see that continue,” Janco said. “I certainly expect to win Masters races this year and plan to challenge for the championship. Everyone else is trying hard to win also but that’s what makes it fun.”

Rounds 5 and 6 of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda season are scheduled for June 25-27 at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.

For more information about Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, visit www.imsa.com, follow hashtags #CTPL and #MRT24 @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.