John Vatne – Founder/Writer/Photographer

Mecca of Speed: What led you to create the website? What's in a name?  

John Vatne: The name came from a trip to Indy in 1993. I was there watching one of my all time favorite drivers, Emerson Fittipaldi. The stands were packed and the energy and devotion of the fans at that time was a force of nature.

If you recall on the last restart, Emmo was leading the field back to green and pulled one over on Nigel Mansell. Emmo slowed down on the back straight forcing Mansell to get on the brakes. As soon as that happened, Emmo was on it. He came out of turn four and never looked back.

Arie Luyendyk was in third and pounced, passing Mansell going into turn one. Those images have stuck with me to this day. Speed, pure and true.

At the time I had completed my first year of college and was working towards a BFA. For one assignment we had to do a religious self-portrait. I did the back of an IndyCar, which may seem odd, but I was looking this assignment from the angle of religious as something you did religiously, not as in faith, but as in commitment.

Mecca is often associated with a pilgrimage to a place of great personal importance. Thank about when you go to a race, it’s a journey to an important place whose driving force is speed.

Mecca of Speed: What is your ultimate vision for the future for the website and its contents?

John Vatne: In the big picture, I see more then just a website. There are values and content that I hope we produce, but not at the sacrifice of personal values. With the right chemistry we will grow.

Success without selling out, the artist values I struggle to remain true to.

Mecca of Speed: What are your creative influences of website design?

John Vatne: The website has evolved over time. We have worked to keep things clean and easy to navigate. You can have the greatest content in the world, but if nobody can find it, what good is it.

The color choice of blue and white were made for two reasons. Fist, while we are in a global market our bases is in the United States. Choosing the international racing colors of the United States only made sense. 

Second, if you look at the magority of our past material, pre-2008, you will find we covered a lot of Champ Car activities. Champ Car’s signature color was orange. We work to promote and complement motorsports. The complementary color of orange, is blue.

Mecca of Speed: What do you enjoy doing more, writing and photography or posting images and updating the website?

John Vatne: Two of the things I enjoy most are photography due to my background in art and doing interviews.

There is a vast spectrum of people involved in motorsports. Having the opportunity to find out what makes people involved in the sport tick is what I’m after.

Most people involved in motorsports have a definite drive (no pun intended), which you see during an event, but they are flesh and blood; have families and commonalities with your average fan.

Mecca of Speed: What does the future hold in store for the Mecca of Speed?

John Vatne: We will be expanding into multiple media formats. The challenge is finding the right individuals whose chemistry works with everyone else.

Mecca of Speed: How has the website influenced racing or race teams?  Has anyone commented to you about images or stories?

John Vatne: In 2006 we were covering the Champ Car open test and Fan Appreciation Day at Road America. The media was told that things were pretty open for this event as a lot of the staff public relations staff were not in attendance.

I approached Nelson Philippe about an interview and introduced myself from Mecca of Speed. He responded with, ‘Mecca of Speed, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fabio!” This was in reference to a Paddock Pass I did back in 2004.

I hung there for about a second, then he laughed and we shook hands. Luckily, Nelson has a good sense of humor and was more then willing to sit down and talk with us about his career to date.

Mecca of Speed: Was there anyone person who got you interested in racing?

John Vatne: It started with my Dad. He took me to a local short track, Slinger Super Speedway when I was a kid. It all started with late model stock cars.

Around 1985 I discovered IndyCars, Formula One and IMSA. I subscribed to AutoWeek, which at the time was in a newspaper format. I started reading about every series out there. The monster feed on it’s self after that.

There are more times and events, but I don’t think we have enough space to go into them here.

Mecca of Speed: If you had a support series budget, what series would you run in and why?

John Vatne: The Atlantic series. While I love road racing and have seen some great sports car events, I’m an open wheel guy at heart. The Atlantic series has great cars and a fair bit of talent, which is a great combination for racing.

I don’t consider GT2 a feeder series, but if I did go sports car it would be GT2 in ALMS. The mix of cars and the incredibly deep pool of talent makes every win hold value more then its’ weight in gold.