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Hooked On Driving is a community of people who love their cars, love to drive, and enjoy driving them in the controlled environment of a road course, while not competing. Founded in 2004 as a high performance driving experience (HPDE), we enjoy driving our cars closer to their potential than is prudent on the public highways. At Hooked On Driving, now fondly known as HOD, we encourage drivers young and old to learn more about the capabilities of their car, and develop a higher level of skill that comes from traditional highway driving. As a result, this group is more prepared for the really scary public highways!

HOD drivers share a common passion, amazing experiences, BIG FUN, great friends, and a hobby and/or sport for a lifetime. We hasten to point out that HOD is NOT Hooked On Racing. THIS is the thing…HOD is non-competitive, with drivers driving quickly and well, in an environment focused on safety first. The result is the leading safety record in the HPDE industry, and customers who are having BIG FUN, rather than stressing on the ultimate lap time, or pushing too hard to pass that bully in the blue beast.

Why we do it - Our HOD Mission

Riding a lonely flight home from the frigid Midwest, my Bay Area home is sounding really sweet to me. I've been on a trip to meet with some other passionate individuals who, like me, want to move our hobby and avocation forward in a new region. I've begun to find lots of folks who see what I've seen for a few years now - that our hobby of performance driving as an entry point for literally millions to experience motorsports, needs to be taken to the next level. What we are doing is not new, but how we are doing it is. Everyone who drives with us has their own unique reason, whether it's to check "drive on a racetrack" off their bucket list, develop advanced driving skills, simply enjoy their own car on the track, or transition to the actual competition. As unintended consequences, we've seen guys and gals get a spark from a second childhood, add spice to relationships, young drivers gain confidence and life skills from overcoming a personal challenge, and possibly best of all - a sense of fun discovered by many who may have lost it along the way. Offering all of this excitement in a format that is attainable for most adults without the risk and cost of other "high adrenaline" activities like hang gliding or parachuting is a reward in itself. It is a thrill to see new drivers as they learn and add skills, ultimately developing into safe and competent high-performance drivers. We are flattered by the faith that is put in us, and we do not take it lightly.

The Hooked On Driving "mission" is to take Performance Driving to the next level in several ways:

Build a national and trusted name-brand around a viable business model
Make this a main-stream hobby, by making sure that the world knows what we do and that the average person can participate, and that driving on the track is a safe, fun, and rewarding activity
To continue to polish our state of the art operational procedures in the areas of event management, safety, effective learning, and maximum satisfaction for our customers
Develop a national community of performance drivers who share the HOD philosophies and approach to the hobby

We at Hooked On Driving are excited about the future. We believe that what we are doing is good for everyone involved in motorsports, including:

High-performance automobile and aftermarket manufacturers
Racing sanctioning bodies seeking new racers or more spectators
Automotive media organizations, such as Speed TV or Road and Track
Magazine
Racetrack owners
Other track-day organizations
Professional driving schools

We hope you understand this mission and choose to join us by participating in our events. We also hope that you share our hobby actively with your friends and relatives. Performance driving has been the "best-kept secret in motorsports" long enough! Thanks to all of our customers our January event was a surprise sellout! And we look forward to seeing you at the track soon!

David Ray, with the Support of the NorCal HOD Team