Safer Racer Board of Directors ~ Randy LaJoie
Randy LaJoie (born August 28, 1961, Norwalk, Connecticut) started racing go-karts when I was 12 years old. In 1980; at the age of 18, I began racing modified racecars. Randy was the 1981 track champion in the Modified Sportsman division at the Danbury Arena; he won 14 out of 22 races. In 82’ and 83’, he won 5 races at Stafford and 6 at New London and was the 1983 NASCAR Busch North Series Rookie of the Year. In 1984, racing full time I had 3 wins and placed 4th in the series points chase. Randy made his major-league NASCAR Winston Cup debut in 1985 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, started 14th and finished 16th. Also, that same year he had 5 wins and his first NASCAR Busch North Series championship. In 1986–1988, while taking a hiatus, he moved south to compete in the NASCAR Busch Series. First event mid season, Randy finished second. In 1994, he had his first full Busch season, led in points for awhile, placed 6th in the final. In 1995, Randy was called up to Cup again, driving 13 races for Bill Davis Racing. Following his departure from Bill Davis he returned to the Busch series; where he had three top tens and a pole at Richmond in nine starts. The following season he was hired by BACE Motorsports, Randy won five races over the course of the season and clinched his first Busch Series championship. He followed that up with another five wins and his second straight championship in 1997. In 1998, with two wins he finished fourth in the points standings, left BACE, and was called back to Cup racing for injured Ricky Craven, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, where he had six top tens and three top fives. In 1999 he signed on to drive for James Finch, despite the fact his team lacked major sponsorship. After the season-opening victory at the NAPA Auto Parts 300, Bob Evans Restaurants came on board as the team’s sponsor. Despite the added funding, Lajoie dropped to tenth in points. He moved up to seventh in the standings next season with one win, but chose to depart the team at the end of the season for NEMCO Motorsports. Driving the #7 with sponsorship from Kleenex, Randy won two more races, but again fell to twelfth in points. He had fourteen top-ten finishes in 2002 and moved up one spot in points. In 1998, Randy had an idea that he turned into a dream. LaJoie began manufacturing seats for race cars in 1999, and his company, The Joie of Seating – was started. Randy has come up with a stamped, molded aluminum seat that fits 95 percent of a driver’s body and has revolutionized containment in aluminum seats for the first time since 1981. From 1998 to the present; Randy’s seats have been the most tested and copied in the industry. He was also awarded the 2007 Safety Innovation Award given by the North Carolina Motorsports Association. In 2004, Randy began traveling the country, conducting various safety seminars and inspections, where he discovered that ignorance and not money is the major reason “grass-roots” racers are running unsafe equipment. With this in mind, in 2008, Randy formed “Safer Racer Tour,Inc.” a 501 (C) (3) non-profit corporation, organized for educational services to help develop, promote, and conduct safety seminars at all types of racing venues around the country. With this tour he has been able to visit over 75 race tracks in the USA and Canada. Looking toward the future he hopes to be able to spread the word about safety at other racing venues in New Mexico and countries such as Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand. Along with running The Joie of Seating, traveling around the country for “Safer Racer Tour”, Randy is also a co-host on Sirius Satellite Radio’s NASCAR channel and has been an ESPN Analyst since 2007.
"I've bumped into Randy LaJoie at enough out-of-the-way short tracks to know how committed he is to the sport. His approach and his sincerity about safety have always impressed me." - Bones