Skooter Peaco understands the challenges faced by track operators, sponsors and sanctioning bodies, working in multiple roles in each of those areas. That ability, not only to put himself in someone’s shoes, but to have actually walked in those shoes, separates the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Vice President from others in the motorsports industry. “I tried to think of someone else in the industry who had been a racer, a track operator, a sponsor and a sanctioning-body official, I couldn’t think of anyone,” said Peaco, a 49-year-old Ohio native. “Sometimes being one of those entities helps and hurts the others. You have to put your racer hat on one day, your sponsor or track operator hat on another day and you have to balance that. But, I like the sanctioning body part of it more than any part of it.” Peaco understands the desires of racers — he’s been one himself EARLY EXPERIENCES Skooter, the son of drag racer Skeet Peaco, remembers growing up in the 1970s, being on the road and at the track at an early age. “I remember being pulled out of school where you would grab your homework and load up the van and off you would go to Tucson or Maryland or who knows where,” he said. “But, my dad also spent a lot of time bracket racing at Norwalk and Dragway 42. I remember being at the track when I was five or six years old, and it became a second home if you will.” According to his mother, Peaco’s first race was actually in the womb when she was eight months pregnant with him. His first memories of the track included his dad keeping him busy by towing a pair of five-gallon water jugs in his little red wagon. SKOOTER PEACO AS IHRA VICE PRESIDENT BRINGS UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE 20