POLITO: A Hometown Hero in My IMSA Debut

By: Jack Polito

Getting the opportunity to race in an IMSA weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was very heart-warming and the result was emotionally overwhelming for me.

Last year, I was there with my friends watching all the cars, thinking to myself, “I can’t get over how cool everything is – from the cars and racing, to how professionally run the series is.”

Being a part of it this year was such an amazing feeling and a moment that I had looked forward to all year. I’ve been training and doing extra cardio – that plays a big factor because when you are fatigued, you lose. I had the opportunity to compete in the same race I watched from the sidelines last year.

I had to take it all in during my first practice session. Here I was passing some really cool cars, mesmerized by the opportunity. But after stargazing the first session, I knew I had to put my foot down to show them what I could do.

We were happy that I even qualified in the front-row in second for the first race. We had the pace to battle it out for the lead in the race, and we had a real fight on our hands early-on. I don’t like to think too much while I’m on-track, so I was pretty blank when the leader pulled off. All I could tell myself was that nothing changed and to keep my head down. I didn’t want to get all excited and make the little mistakes that add up.

Going into the last yellow flag, I knew deep down I had it. But even so… My spotter in Turn Five started congratulating me, and I radioed back, “Not yet! I haven’t crossed the checkered flag.” When I did, it was an emotion that I’ve never felt. To not only be in an IMSA race, but also to win it… it’s still just so surreal.

We were fast in Mustang GT4 last year, but this year there have been even more improvements. The drivability of Mustang GT4 is awesome. Just the way the car handled through the second turn – a very high-speed, sharp left corner – it was phenomenal.

It’s well-balanced and predictable. When you lose the back end to scrub some speed into turn two, it’s very maintainable and the movements aren’t as big, so it’s smooth. You also can’t forget the straight-line speed up the back-straight, which helped us a lot.

It’s a dream from where I started in Mustang two years ago – which was coincidentally at Mosport. My dad, Anthony, ran a season in it and he let me go run some laps there. I actually beat his time by a couple seconds, and there was this whole realization of, “Wow, you can drive.”

So, I ran the last two FEL Motorsports SCCC events of that season which included two third-place finishes at Calabogie Motorsports Park and cleaning out the house with two victories at Mosport. We committed for 2023, and in 12 races we had 12 podiums and nine wins.

There are ten races this year, and I’ve won all six this far. I don’t want to lose. I want that flawless season I’m very motivated to win races, but before the races, I’m very calm and usually meditating. My driving style reflects that, because you need a level-head out there.

Racing isn’t full-time for me. I just graduated college last year and work in sales at Polito Ford. It’s pretty neat having the ties we do with Multimatic Motorsports and Ford Performance.

My dad was a Multimatic driver for a little bit, but his dream was always to own a dealership. Since I was born, I’ve been around the coolest cars on the showroom floor, which sparked my passion for Ford. I believe in selling and racing a product that I believe in, and that’s Ford.

There’s a lot of talent out there at the end of the day. But I know how to drive a car fast and win races. It would really be cool as a Canadian driver to continue to show what talent we have here.

Ford Performance and Multimatic Motorsports have helped us so much and their level of support has been phenomenal. It’s just so unreal to me just to be noticed, and to feel that commitment to help us continue to win races and perform at our best.