Jobs in auto racing are plentiful or scarce, depending on which end of racing you are looking at, so if you want one, start thinking “out of the car”. Actual driving jobs are very scarce. The competition is heavy, you need skill, connections, and experience just to begin to think you have a chance at driving. However, there are some other paths to try within this huge industry.

If you want to be the star, the driver, start where you can. There are amateur races as well as professional races. Local tracks, small towns, fairs and carnivals can all have race driving opportunities. Race car owners need drivers, but they also need the team that keeps that car working. Pit crew, managers, media and public relations people, and an office team for scheduling, payroll, advertising, and travel arrangements.

There are racing schools and programs in Motorsports Management. There are hands on courses and online courses for students, professional and amateur drivers. Team members can also benefit from training courses. Managers, owners, agents and promoters need to know how to do their jobs better. Students can take this opportunity to build relationships for the future, network, and keep up to date with their skills.

Beyond the actual drivers and their pit crews, jobs in auto racing are available at the tracks, in broadcasting, and in promotion. Every track has its team of specialists. There are jobs for directors, marketers, media and communications, business development, sales, office administration, hospitality, security, and special event coordinators.

Some tracks need coordinators to handle large events, such as car shows and corporate sponsored events. In sales, both tracks and owners look for paid sponsors. This would be mostly an off track job, and there would be travel and public relations involved. Driver agents help expand the ability of drivers to build public relations, make special appearances possible, and keep things running smoothly on that level.

There are jobs in auto racing with related associations, such as NASCAR, the United State Auto Club, National Hot Rod Association, International Motor Sports Association, and other groups. Volunteering is another way to work into an auto racing related job. It is perfect for networking and meeting influential people who might later be helpful in your career.

A newer opportunity for those who want to improve their driving talents are the many racing schools and racing experience commercial operations, like Mario Andretti and Jeff Gordon have begun for the public to enjoy. Here, you can get a hands on racing school driving experience. Drive NASCAR, Indy or Formula style cars, or BMW on real tracks for an affordable $99 up to $1149 for multiple style cars and more time, up to 45 minutes. You never know who might be watching!

Driving a race car is like the frosting on a cake! Sweet, but it is the topping on the cake. Driving is the topping for a very large, exciting industry. There are plenty of jobs in auto racing “outside the car”.

Probably every neighborhood from New York to California and Maine to Florida has a kid who likes to draw cars. And maybe those kids will proudly announce that when they grow up they are going to be car designers. For many, that dream will fall by the wayside but for a select few it will become reality. In the early mid-forties, Giorgietto Giugiaro and Marcello Gandini were a couple of Italian kids who like to draw cars. Today, they are Italy’s top designers.

The vehicle designer is responsible for creating the exterior and interior appearance of over the road vehicles. Generally, these are automobiles but trucks, vans, coaches, and motorcycles are also included.

The designers usually work in teams. One person does the exterior, another the interior and a third works with colors, materials and trim. The working environment and working conditions are pleasant. It is a risk-free career that does not usually require overtime or weekend work.

A design begins with a set of digital or manual sketches. Once these are approved by management, more detailed drawings follow. Then clay models or digital models are developed. The same procedure is followed for exterior, interior, and color and trim design.

However the road from car sketches to the design studio is paved with hard work beginning in high school. Auto design is one of the most competitive careers in the design industry. Consequently the competition to gain admission to the colleges that offer transportation design classes is fierce.

Prospective designers need to begin in high school with all the two-dimensional drawing classes they can fit into their schedule. But it isn’t enough to just be able to draw a car. They also need to understand aerodynamics, engineering concepts and ergonomics. They will be working with figures so knowledge of math and physics is required.

And throughout high school they need to work on building a drawing portfolio. All colleges require a portfolio. And it goes without saying that the better the portfolio, the better the graduate’s chances of being accepted by a prestigious institution.

While many schools offer majors in industrial design only a few specialize in transportation design, which is the recommended career path for future vehicle designers.

It is important to make a wise choice of colleges. One needs to examine the credentials of the faculty and the reputation of the courses. Most important, the institution should have a strong industry connection. Part-time faculty members who work in the industry are of immeasurable help, in guiding students’ work to meet industry’s demands and assisting them in finding employment upon graduation.

Once in college, the students will pursue a four-year design major. During the first years they will study drawing and design theory. In later years they will concentrate on computing and model making. Some schools provide an internship in a design studio during the third or fourth year. These are valuable since internships are often a direct path to an entry-level job upon graduation.

However, the job market is much better for engineers than designers. For every vacant design position, there are twenty engineering jobs. In spite of this, the student with outstanding talent and creativity will always be recognized and find a niche in the industry.

You can easily get a free auto repair manual for whichever repair need you might have. You need an internet access and have to follow a certain procedure searching for auto repair manuals, but when you have done this procedure a few times it will be very easy to find the right instructions for do it yourself auto repair and it won’t cost you a dime.

There are four types of automotive description documents that you will need to choose from when you want to do a repair;

General manuals Diagnosis descriptions Repair manuals Maintenance manuals

General Manuals

In addition to some general manuals, most of these are related to the make. Here you can get step by step guidance on how to repair most of the makes in the vehicle market. Let’s say you have a Honda Acura 2002 model and you want to find a manual for that make and model. What you do is perform the following search in a search engine: “free car manuals+Honda Acura+2002″. Then you will have a long list of sites that provide you with all kinds of descriptions for your Honda Acure 2002 model, and you can choose what you want.

Diagnosis descriptions

Automotive diagnosis manuals can also be sub-divided by make and model. But it can also be divided by the area of the vehicle that is affected, for example engine intake problems, brake problems, cooling problems, exhaust problems, start or stall problems, transmission problems etc. Let’s say you have a start problem. Your search would be “car diagnosis manual+ start problem”, then you should get more than enough repair information to choose from. You can even get diagnostic trees where all options are covered for nothing.

You have probably more than one time heard some annoying noise from somewhere in your vehicle, without finding the source of it. This is one of the most kinky situations to run into because you don’t know if it is a serious signal or just a small thing. Some websites gives you the opportunity to diagnose vehicle problems by the noise, sound and vibrating signals – and that is great. The sooner you find it the sooner you can fix it and then you can relax. When you search, you can describe the sound, for example “whine noise” or “shifter knocks” or “driveline vibration” plus car diagnosis manual plus eventually the make.

Repair Manuals

In addition to regular manuals you can also get very instructive and detailed descriptions in other internet document or websites like articles, etc. The natural way to sub-divide such repairs before searching, is by the area of the vehicle that is going to be repaired, for instance body repair, exhaust repair, suspension fix, interior repair and even general car repair.

You do the search the same way as above; “car repair manual (or description) + the area of repair and go through the list of resources you get.

Maintenance manuals

Though vehicle maintenance is closely related to your vehicle make and model, there are some maintenance issues that are pretty much common whether you have a Cadillac, VW or a Mercedes, for example changing oil, changing air filters, engine wash, fluid maintenance, tier maintenance etc. You can get access to maintenance descriptions by searching for the kind of maintenance plus “car maintenance manual (or description)” plus eventually your make and model.

I think you’ll be amazed of the amount of automotive repair free stuff online.