My Path To Racing

Jerami Bailey was never encouraged by anyone to get into racing. Some people don’t need outside influence to find their infatuation with the tarmac. It just comes naturally.

What began with a weekend Autocross track event, quickly turned into Bailey circling back to participate in one race after another, season after season.

Eventually, this would evolve into Jerami winning the season title for his class, which was about the time that an all new track infatuation began. It was the annual GridLife event at Road Atlanta, and before he knew it, Jerami was running HPDE for a full two years before moving into his third, and arguably most challenging racing endeavor yet: Time Attack. 

Building Momentum

What started out with autocross in two different groups (ALSCCA out of Birmingham, AL, and TAC/TVR out of Huntsville, AL) has turned into a nationwide GridLife adventure. Time Attack took Jerami all over the country, with races ranging from running rings around Road Atlanta and Barber Motorsports Park in the deep south, and upward and outward to Road America, GingerMan Raceway, Heartland Motorsports Park, and the mighty Mid-Ohio.

Trips to Pikes Peak, Laguna Seca, New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Lime Rock were also undertaken over the years, as Jerami attempted to take on as many events as possible. All in the hopes of securing wins and seeing as many new tracks as possible each season.   

Hitting the Highway

Over the years, Jerami has gone on to be crowned seasonal champion at TAC/TVR Autocross in STX class, has wrecked in Turn 1 at Road Atlanta, and barreled down the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. He has also witnessed firsthand the gut-wrenching elevation changes at Road Atlanta, embraced the sheer expanse of Road America, and hooned through the hidden beauty that is Lakeville, Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park.

But perhaps the most memorable adventures he has from all of these years of racing, were the ones he had with his wife, as they explored America together, traveling from track to track. More on that in a few…

Track Triumphs & Tribulations

As for Jerami’s chariot of choice, that love affair began when he started modifying a 2013 Subaru BRZ. This preliminary chassis contained the typical bolt-ons like shocks, wider tires, an air intake, and some cosmetic enhancements. But after running his best time at Road Atlanta one day, a snapped component in the rear during a cool-down lap sent Jermai careening into a wall rear end first.

Subaru totaled, but aftermarket upgrades still salvageable, Jerami took his track insurance payout and purchased the BRZ’s twin brethren: A 2013 Scion FR-S.

After swapping everything that was salvageable over to the new chassis, Jerami added a Jackson Racing Supercharger, along with a wing, a splitter, a rear diffuser, and some wider wheels and tires. These additions allowed entry into the GridLife Street Mod class, which he ran for two seasons, before removing the supercharger and diffuser so that he could move over to the GridLife Club TR class. 

In June of 2023, Jerami attended a track day/time attack event at Barber Motorsports Park that was being hosted by GridLife and Jzilla. After putting down some seriously impressive track times, Jerami found himself sitting on the grid as a top-five ClubTR contender. 

But with only a few minutes left in the session, the FA20 engine decided to kick the bucket somewhere between turns four and five. Over 122,000 miles of driving action, accompanied by two seasons of supercharged track shenanigans had proven to be too much for the little 2.0-liter, and things looked grim for the remainder of the race season. 

But when close friend, Dewey, heard of his friend’s misfortune, he called Jerami up and proposed a simple yet brilliant solution, “Let’s go put your old engine in!” 

Upon arriving back home, Jerami and Dewitt spent 12 hours together swapping the blown engine for the untouched motor in the wrecked BRZ. Everything converted over, Jerami drove the car up to Barber and was back on track the very next day, where he competitively secured his first Top 5 finish with GridLife that weekend. 

Finding Support From All Sides

Fortunate to find help from those in the know when in desperate need, Jerami has been overwhelmed by the support he has received from the racing community over the years. If he needs help at the track, his friends are always happy to lend a hand, and the GridLife group is always willing to help during an event. That said, the team primarily consists of Jerami and his wife, Kim, with a carport at the house serving as their paddock. 

However, remote and trackside helping hands from Boosted Performance Tuning are always available as needed. The whole crew down at Al’s Auto Body Experts have proven to be of great help as well, as they painted the car’s rear wing and various other aspects of the vehicle. And then there is Dewey at IAG, who has been like a brother to Jerami since the two first met 20 years ago. A good friend who is a huge help when it comes to sourcing parts and bad ideas alike. 

As far as more recent partnerships/sponsorships go, EBC Brakes and Go Fast Bits came on board for the 2023 season. Jerami ran the EBC Apollo Race BBK with SR21 pads and came away thoroughly impressed. GFB supplied some stellar lightweight pulleys as well.

But perhaps Jerami Bailey’s biggest supporter is his wife, Kim. A woman who doesn’t know much about cars or racing, but is always there to support her husband, purely out of understanding that he is doing something that he genuinely loves. Having only missed one event in the past four seasons, Kim doubles as his photographer when Jerami’s out on track, and has proven to be a crucial component in this ever-evolving automotive endeavor.

Since racing has never really been Kim’s cup of caffeine, she would often find herself bored at the track with nothing to do. So when COVID hit in 2020, she decided to pick up a camera to keep herself entertained. Since then, Kim has been able to secure media credentials for every GridLife event in the past two seasons.

Additionally, being that Kim has a master’s degree in Sports Management, the business aspects of running a race program come rather naturally to her. So this is definitely a team sport. Jerami does the racing and all the work on the car. Kim handles the business and race program management side as well as all photo and video assets, and updates sponsors and social media as necessary along the way.

Fast to the Future

Meanwhile, back in the garage, Jerami Bailey is in the process of plopping in an FA24 engine from the 2nd Gen 86 into his track car… if he hasn’t done so already. Out of five GridLife events he attended in 2023, his FR-S held four Top 10 finishes, with two of those being in 4th place. 

But after missing the podium by nearly three-tenths of a second each time, enough was enough. With the season over, the car was garaged and the motor was pulled for the more potent FA24 transplant. A healthy FA24 engine produces about 50 more horsepower on average than the older FA20, which is precisely what the Bailey team needs to negate the lack of top-end power that has been hampering them on track. 

Jerami has his sights set on winning ClubTR in 2024 with a Subaru engine and not a Honda K-swap like what much of the field is running. So while he is thinking about revamping some other aspects of the vehicle’s build list below, his primary focus remains on making that new FA24 the star of the show. 

The man truly does have the skills to win while behind the wheel. He just needs the right chariot and the proper motor to get him to where he wants to go, which is straight to the podium.