DRIVER BIO
Named after his father’s favorite NASCAR driver, Cale Yarborough, it seems only fitting that Cale Phillips found himself drawn to racing. At age 37 his path has taken a unique route, given all the young drivers entering the series, but it shows a never give up attitude.
Cale grew up on a farm right outside Raleigh North Carolina and was very active from an early age. He helped his dad work on old tractors, or various projects around the farm, and did not mind getting dirty. As most young kids, it was more tradtional sports for Cale, basketball and soccer being the main two. It wasn’t until age 13, when he got his first dirt bike, that he got a taste for racing. Motocross racing at the amateur level at local tracks across Virginia and North Carolina, Cale raced on and off for 10 years. The on and off was due to being a skilled player on the basketball court, which saw him earn an opportunity to play at the college level. In between the motocross and basketball though, Cale’s uncle (who was a racer in SCCA and NASA) took him to a track day event. It was on that day, that the real fire was lit, and Cale was hooked on road course racing.
After Cale graduated college in 2009, he acquired his NASA competition racing license. This would be the beginning of his 11 years of racing at the club level. During this time, the learning curve was steep, not winning his first race until September of 2015. These early years also provided a great test to his resilience, along with gaining plenty of mechanical knowledge working on all his own cars. His club racing saw him start in a Mazda RX7, then a Mazda Protégé, and then to a Mazda Miata. It was in the Spec Miata class, that Cale really zeroed in on his driving skills and race craft. These valuable tools would prove to be a winning recipe when he then moved into the Spec Iron class, in a 2010 Mustang GT.
This class would provide Cale with numerous race wins, along with a Southeast Regional championship at the end of the 2020 race season. It was then in 2021, when Cale achieved his top goal at the club level, winning a national championship on the famed road course at Daytona.
Cale was lucky enough to previously work in motorsports. He was a senior accountant at Team Penske and was with the legendary race team for 8 years. Being a part of such a well-run and successful organization on a daily basis, provided great and valuable experience that he is able to lean on when tackling his own racing endeavors.
