Rick Porter
Rick Porter brings more than forty years of racing and driver-coaching experience to FastLane. His career sits at the intersection of professional racing, automotive manufacturer driver programs, and one-on-one coaching, and that range is exactly what makes him such a versatile instructor at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.
Rick has worked on manufacturer driver programs for BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Chevrolet, GMC, and Toyota. He is a BMW Performance Center (West) Level 2 driving instructor and served as a driving instructor and product specialist for the launch of the BMW 3 Series and the Porsche Panamera Turbo. His on-camera work includes driving an M4 GT4 in a BMW Super Bowl 2026 commercial and a featured drive in a Maserati MC20 spot.
As a coach he has worked with some of the most recognizable names in the sport. At the Long Beach Grand Prix Pro/Celebrity race he coached Al Unser Jr., Frankie Muniz, Dara Torres, Adrien Brody, and Top Gear host Rutledge Wood, and he has handled private coaching and race-car preparation for drivers including Marco Andretti and Parker Kligerman. As a lead driving instructor, his teaching has spanned classroom and lead-follow sessions, right and left seat coaching, defensive driving, teen safety programs, CHP police-academy training, high-speed and low-friction technique, drifting and stunt work, course design, and private high-performance one-on-one coaching.
Rick is a serious racer in his own right. He has prepared, tested, and raced a long list of machinery, from Champ Car Atlantic, Formula Mazda, and Formula Renault to a Ferrari 360 Challenge car, Spec Racer Fords, and vintage historics including a Jackie Stewart Tyrrell F1 car, a Denny Hulme McLaren Can-Am, and a Kyle Petty NASCAR. He currently races a Porsche in an endurance championship series. Away from the track he holds a commercial Class A license (he has hauled a 53-foot trailer cross-country with the Champ Car series), rides motorcycles, runs off-road and four-wheel-drive, boats, and mountain bikes every chance he gets. With Rick, a private day at Buttonwillow is spent with a coach who has genuinely done it all.
