How In 48 Hours Atlanta’s Racing Community Rallied To Help Patrick Wilmot Go Racing
As Atlantan’s were just getting back to normal life from snow days earlier, an almost unbelievable plan was being hatched. Despite finishing 2nd overall for the season in the IMSA VP Racing Challenge, including incredible 2nd and 3rd place finishes at Atlanta’s own Motul Petit Le Mans, Patrick Wilmot was staring the start of the 2025 racing season without a seat.
A local Atlantan who is a long time regular in Atlanta driving and track community, Patrick is a staple of the Atlanta racing scene. From WRL to SRO to IMSA. Yet, you’ll still seem him at the occasional track day coaching or providing thrill rides.
Normally, racers at this level spend all off season working to line up sponsors. Of course, it’s not always smooth, but rarely does a team, driver and funders have to come together in such little time. Over the next 48 hours the community from sponsors to individual contributors rallied to help Patrick
The story starts in earnest at the beginning of the week of the 2025 Roar Before The 24 at Daytona International Speedway. This event is the kickoff of the entire IMSA season. It’s also when the VP Racing Challenge has center stage.
It’s a story that starts as a mad scramble, but ends on the podium.
The Opening
Patrick initially met the owner of Swish Motorsports when they ran in SRO and competed against them last year as Patrick was campaigning in his Split Decision Racing G82 in the IMSA VP Challenge.
“A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of coaching Mike Dayton, the owner of Swish and one of the Swish crew guys, during their SRO debut in the same BMW G82. Fast forward to last year, and Mike and I crossed paths again, competing head-to-head in the VP Challenge. He was in the Swish car, and I was behind the wheel for Split Decision Motorsports G82.” – Patrick Wilmot
A surprising part of this story has always been, how does a car at this level go without a driver? One of the biggest challenges drivers face is the need to raise sponsors to pay for the operating costs, which can be $10,000s per weekend. While there are plenty of drivers willing, it still requires the capital to afford to go racing.
“Leading up to Daytona, Mike had been in talks with a few drivers about filling the seat, but they backed out at the last minute. That’s when Jimmy Scott, my team owner from Split Decision, stepped in. On the Sunday before the race, he reached out to Mike, offering to help fund my chance to drive the car.” – Patrick Wilmot
The Fund Raising
While Patrick finally had an opportunity to go racing, he needed to raise funds. Not expecting to have have a seat, Patrick had not yet lined up all of his sponsors. Luckily, Patrick had a network he could reach out to. He also put out an open call for support to help him rally. The catch? He needed to raise the needed funds in the next 48 hours to secure his seat.
Of course, just raising the funds in 2 days is a lot of work. He needed at least $10,000 just to secure his seat. But he also had to prepare himself to go racing. This meant travel, logistics, getting familiar with the team.
“The week leading up to the race was chaos. Honestly, I hadn’t been in the gym for a couple of months since I didn’t have anything lined up for Daytona—or afterward.”
Luckily, the Atlanta track and racing community stepped up. Patrick secured some initial commitments from a handful of sponsors. Many stretched to find available marketing budgets. Patrick made calls and sent texts. He secured some initial commitments from Michael Dayton and Traction Insurance (editors note: members of ShiftAtlanta’s board operate Traction). A series of Facebook posts went viral as even those who didn’t own a business shared Patrick’s call for sponsors.
Others, like Nine Lives Racing, got creative. Nine Lives Racing not only committed funds, they had an idea. “We’ll get people to buy merch, and donate the funds to Patrick’s campaign to go racing”. Nine Lives would benefit from so many additional people wearing their brand around, and it gave the community a way to get engaged.
Other individuals offered to donate directly via Venmo and Paypal. $50 here, $100 there. Small, but with a few sponsors willing to kick in, plus merch sales, excitement grew. This might actually be possible!
In less than 48 hours. It happened. Patrick had secured the funds thanks to the support of the community. Now came the hard part. Patrick had to meet a new team, learn a new car and go race. And in racing, winning solves a lot of problems. No pressure.
“What really stood out to me was the sheer number of people who stepped up to make this opportunity a reality. I’m incredibly fortunate to have an amazing group of supporters who truly believe in my potential. The outpouring of support was overwhelming—seeing countless messages flood in, my posts being shared dozens of times throughout the weekend, and seeing how many families gathered around their TVs to watch me battle it out was both deeply humbling and incredibly exhilarating. With this team and the backing I received, I feel like I have a fantastic opportunity to show what I’m capable of behind the wheel.” – Patrick Wilmot
The Race
Practice and qualifying were my first experiences in this specific car, but with my time in the G82 last season, I felt right at home. – Patrick Wilmot
While Patrick had to scramble to get down to Daytona and the practice and qualifying his first opportunities to drive the car at all, the platform (G82 M4) was the same as last year. Patrick also substantially credits a great team engineer that helped him adapt his driving to the car setup even with the limited time.
Tom provided key insights on how to adapt my driving style to match the car’s setup, and his guidance was invaluable. It was the first time I’d experienced that level of support, and it made a huge difference. – Patrick Wilmot
Still, it wasn’t all easy. Patrick admits his lack of preparation, particularly physically was an issue. Not believing he would have a seat in 2025, Patrick focused on other aspects of his life. A decision he wouldn’t make again.
Lack of preparation caught up to me on race day. After an intense battle with Greg Liefooghe on Saturday, I was completely spent. It was a humbling reminder: “It’s better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.” Lesson learned—I won’t be caught off guard again. Fitness and readiness will always be a priority moving forward. – Patrick Wilmot
1st Race Result
The Swish Motorsports car qualified 8th overall. During the first race Patrick battled, regularly competing for 3rd place. A late move by the 4th place car and Patrick found himself in 4th place heading into the final lap. It appeared he would just miss the podium, a potentially frustrating result. Luckily, the 1st place car in his class ran out of fuel on the final lap. Patrick was able to secure a 3rd place finish and a podium spot in the first race.
2nd Race Result
The 2nd race was very different. Rain had hit Daytona. Patrick and his team knew while this presented a challenge, it could also present an opportunity. The G82 M4 operate at a disadvantage powerwise in the VP Racing Challenge series. But the wet meant the team could gamble a little. A full wet race could negate some of the power advantage of the Supra’s and Mustangs. It could also be a disaster, if the track dried quickly a car set to optimize in the wet would be further limited. Not ideal when you already are playing catch up.
In the end Patrick got as high as 2nd. But as the track dried, what they feared happened. Patrick fell further back in the field. The gamble on the full race wet conditions didn’t work out.
Patrick Thanks His Sponsors And The Atlanta Racing Community
Here at ShiftAtlanta we do some amateur racing. It’s HARD and it is EXPENSIVE. So we can only imagine how hard it is to raise funds, go race and WIN in less than a week. So for a conclusion, we’ll let Patrick thank the people that helped make this happen:
I owe a huge thank-you to these groups for coming on board at the last minute and making this dream a reality. – Patrick Wilmot
Jimmy and Louise Scott
Mike Dayton
Editors note: Some comments were lightly modified for clarity.
