Race teams live and die by the clock.
Every second on the track is critical… but every second at the HQ counts too. Fact is, most race teams spend more time on administration than they do in the pits. Sponsorship contracts, driver agreements, transport permits, notarizing a power of attorney… it all piles up quickly, and a single missing signature can spell disaster for a team over a whole weekend.
Here’s the good news:
Administration is the easiest aspect of the racing operation to improve. With the proper systems, teams can end their paper wars and get back to doing what they love — racing.
Inside this guide:
- Why Race Teams Drown In Paperwork
- The Documents Every Team Has To Manage
- How To Streamline The Workflow From Garage To Office
- The Power Of Going Digital With Notarization
Why Race Teams Drown In Paperwork
Race teams have a unique problem.
You’re not just running a business, you’re running a small business, a logistics company, an engineering shop, a marketing agency… all at once. There’s simply more paper coming off the printer on the desk than the typical small business owner’s.
A typical race weekend involves:
- Driver and crew contracts — agreements that often need notarized signatures.
- Sponsorship deals — legal contracts with deadlines that don’t move.
- Parts and supplier invoices — dozens of them per event.
- Travel and transport documents — especially when crossing state or country lines.
- Insurance and liability waivers — non-negotiable for safety and legal cover.
And here’s the kicker…
The majority of teams are still keeping track of all of this in paper folders and email chains with a printer that is out of toner when it matters most, right before a big race. More than 1.25 billion documents are notarized in the United States every year, and a good portion of those belong to race teams. Race teams these days are taking advantage of a trusted online notary to get the large documents, such as power of attorney notarization, done quickly.
Sound familiar?
The Documents Every Team Has To Manage
You must know what you are streamlining before you can streamline it. Race teams are inundated with four categories of paperwork. Each one has deadlines, signatures and headaches.
Legal & Authority Documents
This is the heaviest category and one that results in the most delays. It consists of items such as sponsorship contracts, driver representation agreements, and more importantly — power of attorney notarization. Power of attorney documents are of particular importance to race teams because they allow a team principal or manager to sign for an owner, driver, or sponsor if they are unable to be present in person.
That’s huge for racing.
Why? Because the team owner is often in a different city than the team, the driver is frequently on the road and the sponsor is probably thousands of kilometres away. The ability to secure an effective notarized POA in place remotely allows a team to keep on rolling without having to fly someone across the country every time a contract requires a signature. Remote notarization has become so important for distributed teams like race crews because telecommuting has increased by 500% since 2020.
Operational Documents
These are the day-to-day pieces of paperwork:
- Crew schedules
- Travel itineraries
- Hotel bookings
- Pit pass requests
- Race entry forms
Mind-numbing. Absolutely. But jump one and the driver might get stuck at the gate.
Financial Documents
Race teams are a high volume cash business. Teams need squeaky clean documentation for sponsorship payments, prize money, supplier invoices and tax filings. Get this wrong and it’s not just a missed race at stake — we’re talking audits and penalties.
Compliance & Safety Documents
Every sanctioning body has its own forms and requirements. You will find this in NASCAR, IndyCar, F1, and club level racing… no excuses for non-compliance.
How To Streamline The Workflow From Garage To Office
Now for the fun part… cleaning up the mess. The good news is that you do not need to tear the whole system down. Just a few minor tweaks can save hours every week.
Centralise Everything
The first step is consolidating all of the documents into one place. Most teams have paperwork strewn all over:
- Email inboxes
- Filing cabinets in the workshop
- Folders on the team principal’s laptop
- Random USB sticks
This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Store all files in one online folder. This could be a shared folder on Google Drive, Dropbox, or a company team document sharing solution. All team members can access the information they need, at any time, from anywhere.
Standardise Your Templates
If you’re writing every contract from scratch, you’re wasting hours.
Create templates for:
- Driver agreements
- Sponsor contracts
- Crew employment letters
- Travel authorisation forms
- Liability waivers
Once they are built, you just plug in the names and dates. Easy.
Set A Document Calendar
This is something most teams don’t do, but it’s a game-changer.
Create a calendar that tracks when every significant document is due, requires renewal, or requires a signature. Sponsorship contracts, for example, tend to renew annually, insurance policies expire, and driver contracts must be signed within a specific time frame. Missing any of these is bad news. A simple calendar solves the problem.
The Power Of Going Digital With Notarization
Digitizing your notarization workflow is the most impactful upgrade the majority of race teams can make. The market size for online notary services was valued at USD 1.2 billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach USD 3.5 billion by 2033, signifying how quickly businesses are shifting away from physical notarization.
Think about what this means for race teams:
- A Daytona driver could literally sign a contract in real-time with a Charlotte based team.
- A European sponsor can close a deal with a US team without the need for anyone to travel.
- A team principal may sign a POA from the airport on the way to the next race.
That’s the power of moving away from the old way of doing things.
But there is a catch…
Not all documents are eligible for online notarization in all states. Some states still require in-person notarization for certain documents. Be sure to check the state’s laws before relying on online notarization for an important document.
Crossing The Finish Line
Race teams that win on the track, are usually the ones organised off the track. The admin side of racing isn’t glamorous… but it’s the glue that holds the whole thing together.
To recap:
- Centralise all of the documents in one cloud-based folder
- Build templates for the documents used most often
- Set a document calendar to track deadlines and renewals
- Use online notarization for power of attorney and other key signatures
Make these changes and you’ll clear several hours per week. Time that can be spent doing what matters most — designing faster cars and winning races.
