How Casey Mahoney turned a racing background, IT skills, and a niche idea into a business people can actually experience.

In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long talks with Casey Mahoney about Victory Sim Experience, the racing sim center he built in Hickory, NC. Casey shares how he got into racing early, worked around NASCAR, and later found a way to combine that background with technology and entrepreneurship.

They also get into the shift from building simulators for other people to creating a space where customers can come race for themselves. It is a conversation about finding a lane, adapting when a market changes, and building a business around experience instead of just equipment.

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT

How Victory Sim Experience works
Why sim racing is more realistic than people expect
Casey’s early background in racing
Working around NASCAR and local race teams
How the housing crash pushed him into a career change
Combining racing knowledge with IT skills
Why COVID changed the sim industry
Trade shows, rentals, and building a business around events
What makes a sim center work as an experience
Why Hickory made sense as the home base

CHAPTERS

00:21 – Mitch meets Casey and asks about the business
00:31 – What Victory Sim Experience is and how it works
01:02 – The different types of racing people can do
01:14 – How the company started building simulators in 2012
01:24 – COVID, trade shows, and the shift into events
02:07 – Turning idle equipment into a sim center
02:26 – Racing events, trade shows, and where the business travels
03:09 – Casey’s racing background and working for Bill Elliott’s team
03:39 – The recession, layoffs, and making a career change
04:00 – Learning IT and combining it with a racing background
04:30 – Building sims, growing demand, and new competition
05:29 – The sim center, reservations, and walk-in traffic
06:11 – How long people race and why 30 minutes is usually enough
06:39 – Why sim racing is not a video game
07:32 – Tracks, skill levels, and how beginners get started
08:34 – Growing up in Hickory and being a Bill Elliott fan
08:50 – What Casey actually did around race teams when he was younger
09:26 – Favorite tracks and how racing has changed over time
10:20 – Why sim racing felt new before it became mainstream
11:21 – The hardware, the cost, and why the experience matters
12:16 – Staffing, family, and Casey’s son working in the business
12:47 – Where the trade show work happens
13:24 – Using simulators to pull people into a booth
14:14 – Whether Casey wants more locations in the future
15:19 – Mitch wraps up and connects Casey’s story back to motorsports

Connect with Mitch Long: LinkedIn | KazInsurance | Read: Pagers & Payphones

Connect with Casey Mahoney: LinkedIn | Victory SIM | Facebook

More from The Long Game

• Italian Food, Family, and Community with Tom Cook of Tutti’s
• From Green Beret to Blackhawk Pilot to Financial Planner: Nick O'Kelly on Risk, Family, and Starting Over
• NASCAR, Family, and Starting Over with Chip Goode

About This Podcast and Series

The Long Game is a series under Entrepreneur Perspectives. Produced by QuietLoud Studios — a modern media network and a KazSource brand.

Get in touch with Eric Kasimov:
X | LinkedIn

Credits:
Music by Jess & Ricky — SoundCloud