RJ Valentine

As a race car driver, he has been a major player on the competitive racing scene for four decades with over 400 pro starts, of which 127 were in the Trans Am Series, and continues to be a force on the track. In 2009, he won the prestigious Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, driving the #67 TRG Construct Corps/CRG Porsche GT3, with teammates Andy Lally, Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Justin Marks. A remarkable achievement given the grueling nature of this 24-hour endurance race. As a leading driver in the Grand-Am series in the 1990’s and into the 21st century, Valentine was a pioneer gaining corporate sponsorships and demonstrating how they could benefit companies. Over his career, he has raced virtually every type of competitive race car at tracks all over the world. Based on his successes in the Grand Am Rolex Series and renowned racing career, in 2005 RJ was selected to drive for PTG Motorsport, BMW’s American research and development team, with former GM factory Corvette driver Kelly Collins. PTG had a strong and successful year, highlighted by a podium sweep at the US Sports Car Invitational at Laguna Seca. Collins set the GT-class pole in the race, and he and Valentine went on to finish 2nd, cementing BMW’s first 1-2-3 finish in nearly eight years. RJ has earned an extraordinary 11 podium finishes in the past 18 months. RJ returns to his roots in 2006, driving a tube-frame Pontiac GTO.R, reminiscent of his days driving Trans-Am Camaros. He also returns to race with TRG, the California-based team with an overall win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2003, and class wins at the Rolex 24 and 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2002. The GTO.R, built by Detroit-based Pratt & Miller, is the latest in a long line of world-beating GM racecars, including the Corvette C5-R and C6.R, as well as the Cadillac CTS-V racecar. In 2007, RJ had arguably his finest season on the race track. He and TRG teammate Andy Lally, claimed 5 victories, 2 seconds and placed 3rd in the Grand-Am GT Championship aboard the #66 TRG CRG/Maxter Porsche GT3. He and Lally also won a series record 8 "Improve Your Position" Awards for best qualifying performances, and earned the most podiums of any team in 2007. For Valentine, who has always used his racing as an opportunity to build business relationships, the establishment of F1 Boston and F1 Outdoors is a natural evolution. Valentine believes business and racing have much in common. To succeed in each requires planning, teamwork and a deep desire to compete and win. He has successfully used the parallel tenets as a networking and closing methodology in a multitude of businesses for the past two decades. Business/Entrepreneurial Career Valentine has achieved the same level of success in business that he has on the race track. As an entrepreneur, he has been responsible for more than 35 years of business growth. The MBA Group, which he founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Braintree, Massachusetts, has owned and operated businesses in such diverse industries as insurance, high technology, real estate, financial services, oil and gas, and corporate investigative services. he has nurtured start-ups and small enterprises by providing strategic vision, marketing innovation, operational expertise and financial acumen that have enabled these businesses to become leaders in their diverse fields. Valentine and The MBA Group were quick to recognize the potential of the quick-lube concept and built the New England Jiffy Lube franchise into a 30-store, $25 million business before selling the franchise to Pennzoil at an unheard of 18 times earnings ratio. Other successes include: United Plans, a third-party administrator of health insurance plans, which The MBA Group developed into an industry model with leading technology and marketing before selling to a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet; the start-up LCF Associates, a white-collar crime investigations firm, which utilized leading-edge computer research tools before the widespread use of the Internet and counted virtually all Fortune 100 companies among its clients; and a partnership with software developer Arrayworks, which has developed a software architecture to automate virtually any business process. Valentine’s talent for identifying "rising star" products and companies is uncanny. He was among the very first to invest in many breakthrough products, including Lo-Jack Car Security Systems and Mosquito Magnet Biting Insect Traps. In 2000, Valentine most closely aligned his entrepreneurial instinct with racing experience with the opening of F1 Boston, a unique conference and entertainment facility build around two European-style indoor kart racetracks. That was followed by the construction of F1 Outdoors in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, which offers competitive kart racing on a 1.5-mile track and will soon include a clubhouse and dining room with all the amenities associated with a country club. While simultaneously racing and running karting businesses, Valentine realized a need for a better barricade system and took it upon himself to invent one. In 2000, Valentine founded Impact Safety Systems (ISS) in Braintree, Massachusetts for the express purpose of setting new standards in the barrier industry. Valentine designed a unique barrier system for car racing and karting, as well as athletic sports and traffic safety. ISS is dedicated to providing barrier systems that are safer than any other barrier available, as well as more durable, easier to install, faster to repair and more economical, while also being aesthetic.  ISS’ revolutionary barriers were born out of industry-leading R&D and technology from the highest levels of Motorsports and are proven effective under the most demanding conditions. ISS has become the safety barrier system of choice for both permanent and temporary tracks nationwide. In 2008 Valentine and three partners built and opened New Jersey Motorsports Park. Sitting on more than 500 acres in Millville, N.J., New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) is nestled in a beautifully forested region surrounded by scenic rivers and is conveniently located near the Delaware Bay, the Jersey Shore, Philadelphia, New York City and D.C. NJMP offers diverse and dynamic motorsports attractions including two world-class road courses, Thunderbolt and Lightning, an exclusive Drivers Club (DC) membership program with privileges on dedicated drive days and race events, a clubhouse, pool, Finish Line Pub restaurant, VIP parties and the Tempest Raceway, one of the top karting facilities in the country. NJMP has become the premier motorsports entertainment destination visited by over 12,000 enthusiasts a month. In 2014, Valentine and his associates added a new dimension to NJMP with the addition of trackside Exotic Car Garages (ECGs). They felt it would be a perfect addition to the fully immersive experience that NJMP offers, particularly to DC members and track participants. Construction of Phase I, an 11,000 square foot building, began in early Spring of 2014. By then, most of the 10 available units had already been sold and Phase II began selling even before Phase I was completed in 2015. All 7 units of the soon-to-be 8800 square foot Phase II building were virtually pre-sold before the ground breaking in the Fall of 2016. Prices range from $140/sf for interior units to $145/sf for end units, plus owner upgrades and customization sizes range from 500 to 1600 square feet. Phase I ECGs are owned by a wide range of enthusiasts, from collectors to motorcyclists, but all are racers of varying levels and every one is a DC member. NJMP has plans to continue building ECGs around both tracks as they are permitted for 200+ units, and because the demand for private car condos continues to grow. A native of Boston, Valentine now lives in Hingham, Massachusetts.