Hanley 'going out and living my dream' with new IMSA venture

Last week, Hanley Motorsports Incorporated (HMI) shook up the IMSA paddock with its announcement that it would enter the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge series in 2027.

By purchasing the assets of multi-time IMSA class champion Paul Miller Racing, and with DXDT Racing as a partner providing key assets to the organisation, HMI's first major foray into IMSA is the culmination of what team owner Robert Hanley has worked towards throughout his many endeavors in racing.

As Hanley recalled to RACER, "My father decided at a later age that he was going to go try race cars. I was 13 years old, and I immediately loved it. I loved the mechanical element, I loved being at the racetrack, and I loved the time with my dad.

"It quickly evolved for me. A couple years into it, I'm having a conversation with my dad about how much I loved it, and he looked right at me and said, 'It's great that you love it – but I'm not paying for it.' So I got out of school, and I was hell-bent on having enough money to buy a racing car – I owned a couple of race cars before I owned a house! 40 years later, I'm still not sure if it was a good decision, but it's just been a part of my life."

Hanley spent his first chapter in racing as a mechanic, driver, and car owner on dirt ovals across the Rocky Mountain region. His most notable driving endeavors included three trips to the famous Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a decade apart.

In time, other priorities away from the track became more important: His wife Sherry and his two children, and his successful businesses away from motor racing. "I travelled a great deal professionally. I wasn't going to come home on a Friday, go to the race track on the weekend, and then leave again on Monday," Hanley said. "I felt strongly that I wanted to be as present as possible as a husband and a father, and that meant racing had to be put on hiatus. And I never told a single person that I'm done.

"But when my kids hit that point where they really don't want you around that much, it was very clear to me, like I'm sure it is for most parents. At that point, I looked at Sherry and said, 'I'm going back to the race track. My time is my own; I get to do that.' So at that point, I purchased a Porsche GT3 Cup car and kind of dabbled, did four races that first season and a lot of testing – I'm a big advocate of testing, especially at a later age. Having not been a very good driver, I figured, how can I work on this?

"And that got to the point where I got to do some Carrera Cup (North America) stuff. My son, Daniel, joined us in that process – he actually ended up being my tech when I ran Carrera Cup, and I was just very fortunate to bring it back into my life."

It was near the end of Robert Hanley's run as a Porsche Carrera Cup and Sprint Challenge driver that he founded a new team, Hanley Motorsports, in the Pirelli GT4 America series. His son, Daniel, would drive a TRD heritage-liveried Toyota GR Supra GT4 alongside the reigning Carrera Cup North America Pro champion Parker Thompson, and the pair would enjoy some success over the next two seasons.

Then, after leaving GT4 America in the middle of the 2024 season, Hanley Motorsports resurfaced as a partner for DXDT Racing during its 2026 IMSA campaign. Through that partnership, Hanley was introduced to DXDT's team owner David Askew, and Competition Director, Bryan Sellers.

And through Sellers, Hanley met Mitchell Simmons, the general manager and team principal of Paul Miller Racing – a driving force behind all of its success, which included last season's GTD Pro championship, and victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. But even with all that success, not all was well behind the scenes. Paul Miller has been slowed by health concerns, and it seemed that not all of his children were keen to continue using the family's core business, a successful group of automotive dealers, to continue to fund a racing team.

"Over the last year, various elements came into view, and we were able to go execute on what we thought were the most relevant and gave us the best ability to position this organisation to be successful," Hanley continued. "It's taken some time, but it's been a lot of hard work and commitment that put us in the position to do this. We have a clear vision, and a path that we're going to work toward."

At the same time, it gives David Askew an opportunity to scale back his own personal involvement in the sport after spending a decade building DXDT Racing from a club racing organisation to a perennial fixture in GT3 competition, starting in Pirelli World Challenge/GT World Challenge America, before migrating to IMSA in 2025.

"Dave and I developed a relationship over the 2026 season with my involvement there, and Dave will continue to be involved," Hanley said of Askew's role within HMI. "But it's an opportunity for him to step back and maybe not have as active and as big a presence as may be required to compete in IMSA. (The WeatherTech series) is a really tough place to be, and it takes a massive commitment and a lot of resources."

DXDT's contribution to HMI is the assets needed to facilitate what will become a four-car program – two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs, one in GTD Pro and one in GTD, plus two M4 GT4 EVOs in Pilot Challenge – running out of Paul Miller Racing's old headquarters in Buford, Georgia this season.

The team will field four BMW M4s of GT3 and GT4 varieties. Hanley Motorsport photo

Hanley added, "In terms of my life, I'm on the uptick, while Dave may want to back off on that a little bit, he has some other interests that he's pursuing." To that end, Askew will retain DXDT's Statesville, North Carolina facility and repurpose it for his personal hobbies, including but not limited to sailboat racing. "It is Hanley Motorsports moving forward, but Dave plays a role in that, and we're really fortunate to have him and his continued presence."

The key assets of Paul Miller and DXDT that contribute to forming HMI are more than just buildings and transporters and tools, it's people like Sellers – one of the great IMSA competitors of his era as a driver – and Simmons, who spent many years working together at Paul Miller Racing, and have now been reunited at HMI under Hanley's vision.

"One of the reasons we gelled so quickly is that we all have a lot of the same beliefs and founding traits," said Sellers, a 20-time race winner and two-time IMSA series champion across a 20-year driving career that spanned from 2005 to 2024. "And one of those beliefs that we all share is that life teaches you some hard lessons along the way. What you have to do is be willing to learn from those – once you get knocked down, you have to stand back up and try again.

"For me personally, all of these things were just an evolution of stepping out of the drivers' seat and into a management role. And I've tried to look at them that way and understand that (stuff) happens in racing, you have to do your best to prevent those things from happening – but more importantly, you have to learn to recover from them when they do happen."

DXDT's up-and-down 2026 campaign last year embodies Sellers' outlook. For all the high points, such as Robert Wickens' terrific pole run at Long Beach and a season-ending podium at Petit Le Mans, there were also crushing lows both on and off the track, such as a transporter fire that the team suffered on its way from Long Beach to Laguna Seca.

"One of the things that I've learned in the management role is that you really have to lean into the people around you," Sellers continued. It's impossible to do it on your own. In the beginning, it's a little bit difficult because you want to do everything you can to help everybody around you. But then you find out very quickly there's a term for that, called micromanagement – that nobody likes, including yourself once you're in the moment.

"I feel like everything has led us to this point here and now. I feel lucky to have people like Dave Askew to lean on. I'm extremely lucky to have someone like Rob to lead this program moving forward, and an old friend to rely on and bounce ideas off of like Mitchell.

"If you ask me, I kind of won the lottery in terms of programs. You look at all the experience I have around me, and all we can do as a group is get better from this. It's our driving force."

HMI is already to take to the track as soon as December when IMSA will hold its annual Sanctioned Test at Daytona International Speedway, before its first race at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January. The team has already hired a total of 52 people, including 17 full-time staff working at the team's current shop in Buford.

While those preparations are underway for next year, work is beginning on HMI's new facility, to be located in the nearby town of Flowery Mound – if all goes according to plan, there will be an open house ceremony held around the time of next year's Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

"What's happening now," Hanley said, "is that at my age, 62 years old, I'm going to go out and live my dream – which is to build this organisation exactly the way I want to do it.

"I've been very fortunate to have success elsewhere. I realized that my skill set was not that great as a driver, it was maybe in a business environment, and I embrace that wholeheartedly. And it's now put me in a position to go do this the way I've always dreamt of doing it.

"Another thing I'll tell you: I could not have more support from my wife, because she is scared to death of what a retired Rob will be like. She is all in on this endeavor, so it's just a really cool, special thing to get to do – and I'm really pleased to do it with all these folks.

"It's a massive undertaking. We understand the magnitude of what we're doing, it's definitely not lost on us. But we have put tremendous effort into getting the right people in the right places. We've had a CFO (chief financial officer), Clark Condrey, on board since July. He's been beneficial in helping us, and we don't really feel like we have any gaps at this point.

"It's November, and we think we're where we need to be from a people perspective, which is what's really going to enable us to be successful.”