Rich Cowell

DADDY!

While attending The Hill School in Pottstown, PA in 1989, Bluemaxx Racing was founded with the purchase of my Lapis Blue Metallic 1983 Porsche 928S named Maxxine. At the time, I did not have any intention of racing my 928, nor did I know much about the different events I could participate in both on and off the track.

After graduating from The Hill School in 1990, I attended the While attending The Hill School in Pottstown, PA in Coral Gables, FL. While there, I began to get more and more interested in learning how to properly drive my car on the street. I looked into the best way to do this and attended my first PCA autocross in November, 1992. I met a wealth of great people at that event and this is when the MONSTER was created. During the next 2 years, I spent most of my free time attending autocrosses and driver's educations all across the United States, mostly with the Porsche Club of America.

After graduating from the University of Miami in 1994 with a degree in Business-Entrepreneurship, I moved to New York City where I was employed as a financial analyst at Asset Growth Partnership, a small investment banking firm in midtown Manhattan. After moving up the ranks at AGP, I was offered a position as an analyst at Whale Securities Co., L.P., an underwriting firm also located in midtown, Manhattan. While at Whale Securities, I started and ran the Seed Venture Capitol Department. Along with my team of analysts and investors, we invested in small, private companies that were mainly focused in high tech industries. After a few private placements and a couple of initial public offerings, I decided to start my own venture capital company called Cowell Enterprises, Inc. During this time, many of my colleges in the investment banking world also raced their cars. Since I did not have Maxxine with me in NYC, I spent many weekends helping friends with their race cars at events all throughout the northeastern US. Although my professional life was thriving, my personal racing life was nonexistent and this was very difficult for me to endure over 5 years.

After a very successful professional life in New York City, Cowell Enterprises, Inc. relocated to south Florida. With the demise of the venture capital market in the late 1990's our focus shifted from venture capital to long term equity and debt investments as well as short term catalyst investments (trading).

Today, with the markets not being very susceptible to short term catalyst investing, my wife and I decided to go into business together. We started another company called The Cowell Group, Inc., a private real estate company focused on residential, commercial and investment properties throughout Florida. With the strong real estate market in Florida, we have seen our business succeed beyond our expectations.

Once I had settled back in south Florida, I started driving in some local PCA events with my 928S (Maxxine). Unfortunately, I soon realized that Maxxine needed a lot of money invested in her in order to maintain track use. Ultimately, I felt that Maxxine needed to be retired from track use once and for all. Of course, this would mean that I needed buy another car for track events...So, in 1999 I ordered a new Porsche 996 at Champion Porsche and have been campaigning it ever since.

After quickly adjusting to the speed difference from the 928, I soon found myself instructing at driver's education events once again. Being an instructor in both PCA, PBOC, and BMWCCA has given me more joy than I would have ever thought. I have met many great people and helped give them the confidence to control a car beyond their beliefs. I remember the incredible sensation I got in the early 90s when Anita Canfield taught me how to properly drive my car and I always try to emulate her style when teaching my students. Helping others become safer and more confident in their abilities is a wonderful feeling and ultimately, the smile on their face at the end of an event is all the confirmation I need.

After instructing drivers for over 11 years, I decided to take the plunge into Road Racing. Up until 2004 my only competition was in autocross (Solo II) competitions where I won three National Championships with the Porsche Club of America in 1994, 2003 and 2004. In December 2004, Erinn and I made the leap into Club Racing. We wanted to find an organization which would welcome our light modifications. We also needed to find a Club Racing program that was NOT too aggressive. After much research, we decided on the Porsche-BMW Owners Club based in south Florida. We also have our Club Racing license in the Porsche Club of America as well. Feel free to go to our Schedule Page to see where we will be racing next weekend. Everyone is always welcome to join us at any of our events.

When I am not at a car event, I spend as much time as possible with my family. My wife, Erinn and I spend part of the year in Park City, Utah with our German Shepherd, Enka. Other hobbies include, playing tennis, mountain biking, surfing, water skiing, scuba diving, snow skiing, golf and finding great places to eat (just go to the RoadFood page to see more on that!)