Each year, The Mid-Ohio School provides customers the opportunity to learn from some of the best driving and riding instructors in the world and this year is no exception. Our team of instructors boast excellent credentials that include experience in F1, the IndyCar Series, and hundreds of combined wins in GRAND-AM Road Racing, the American Le Mans Series, AMA Pro Racing, SCCA, NASA and more.
Aaron Bambach
Aaron has been instructing for programs ranging from teenage defensive driving to full-on competition licensing for more than 20 years. He has competed in a wide variety of racing disciplines including open-wheel cars, sports cars, prototypes and now even Stadium Super Trucks. The ability to push a vehicle to its limit and convey that feeling to students is what makes Aaron an asset to programs at The Mid-Ohio School.
Jim Bishop
Jim raced karts as a teenager and has been involved in auto-cross, rallying, road racing, and stock car racing. He has accumulated many wins, lap records, and championships. Jim has instructed for over 30 years and over 10 years at The Mid-Ohio School. He is also the Chief Instructor for the Cal Club Region of the SCCA plus was an instructor for the former Long Beach Pro/Celebrity Race.
Mark Bloom
Mark has a lengthy and brilliant racing resume dating back to 1978 and continues today. A graduate of multiple high performance driving schools, and experience which includes SCCA competition (F Production, Showroom Stock C + Endurance, Pro Sports 2000), TrackTime Performance and Audi Club of America Driving instructor, State of Ohio certified drivers training instructor, and president and founder of Better Ohio Teen Drivers Inc., Mark brings this diverse background to our driving school programs for more than 10 years.
Mitchell Bloom
Mitchell is in his eighth year as an instructor of defensive and high performance driving courses. The Mid-Ohio School has enjoyed his talents since 2018. When not instructing, Mitchell is never far from a race track where he routinely competes in multiple car club HPDEs, Audi and Porsche club, NASA and SCCA road racing events.
Tommy Byrne
A legend and inspiration for aspiring professional drivers, Tommy is a six-time European champion and made it to the pinnacle of racing in the early 1980s when he raced in Formula One. Tommy is the winningest Indy Lights driver (living) and has raced sports cars, as well as SCCA Trans-Am cars. He is also a well-regarded author, known for his autobiography, “Crashed and Byrned” which has recently been released in movie format too. He is also one of The Mid-Ohio School’s original and most versatile instructors.
Thomas Byrne Jr.
T.J. began instructing at The Mid-Ohio School in 2018. His diverse background in karting and open- and closed-wheel race cars have been a great resource adding to our Instructor roster. T.J. continues to compete in SCCA and American Endurance Racing series.
Cole Carter
A third-generation driver born into a family synonymous with racing, Cole began his career at the age of nine competing in quarter midgets and karts, then graduated to full-size cars at age 15. Carter has run in multiple open-wheel series throughout the United States from USAC Midgets and Sprint Cars to Indy Lights, accumulating five championships and numerous wins, podiums, and poles along the way. Cole has been instructing and coaching since 2005 and began working at The Mid-Ohio School in 2009. Currently, he is a driver coach and spotter with Andretti Autosport, working with its INDYCAR and Redbull Global Rallycross teams. He remains active as a driver by racing in various forms of open-wheel cars and sports cars.
Patrick Gallagher
Patrick was born into a racing family and started racing quarter midgets and karts at the age of six. After winning many karting events, he moved onto open-wheel racing where he won two SCCA National Championships. In 2012, Patrick won the Mazda MX-5 Cup shootout and was rewarded with a full-time Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup ride where he signed with CJ Wilson Racing and claimed 2012 Rookie of the Year honors. His debut season in sports car racing earned him the team’s ModSpace-sponsored seat for 2013, and in 2017, he was crowned Mazda MX-5 Cup series champion. Currently, Patrick competes in the IMSA GS series in a GT4 Mustang.
Max Gee
Max began racing circle tracks around Ohio when he was 15 with multiple feature wins and highlighted by the 2010 season championship and Driver of the Year. Max is a graduate of all of The Mid-Ohio School’s driving programs, and he began instructing with The Mid-Ohio School in 2014. Max instructs Teen Defensive Driving and High Performance Courses as well as providing professional driver coaching. Max has had multiple starts, poles, podiums and wins in SCCA competition. In 2017, Max rose to the top step on the podium at the 2017 SCCA National Championship Runoffs winning the STU class on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Max was named Driver of the Year in 2017 by SCCA NEOhio Region. He was also awarded the 2019 conference STL Champion. Along with racing in SCCA, he also competes in the American Endurance Racing series. When not instructing or racing, Max continues his role as a mechanic on the fleet of driving school cars here at Mid-Ohio.
Read more of Max's story HERE.
Sam Halkias - Forever in our hearts (1949-2023)
Sam began racing in 1972 with SCCA, racing a Triumph TR6 in E Production. A past SCCA National Champion, he was awarded the SCCA President's Cup in 2009 and has accumulated more than 60 SCCA National wins, 10 Division Championships, and 29 SCCA National Championship Runoffs appearances. Sam holds track records at Mid-Ohio, Grattan, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Nelson Ledges, Road Atlanta and Gingerman. We will forever be thankful that he was one of our instructors since 2009.
Scott Harrington
The Mid-Ohio School has benefited greatly from Scott’s driving talent and instructing experience for more than 25 years. One of The Mid-Ohio School’s original Instructors, he has been involved in all aspects of the school from curriculum development and classroom instruction to professional driver coaching and driving drills instructor for all programs offered. Scott’s career highlights include: INDYCAR and Indianapolis 500 starts, INDYCAR Rookie of the Year, Can-Am Champion, multiple wins in Formula Atlantics, two-time medalist at SCCA National Championship Runoffs, IMSA sports cars, Motorola Cup, Firehawk Series, Indy Lights, Lucas Challenge and Sports Renaults, plus SVRA.
Mark Junge
Mark is our most versatile veteran instructor at The Mid-Ohio School. His experience and talents with two- and four-wheel machines have been a great asset to all of our programs. Mark’s impressive resume made him the perfect fit to quarterback The Mid-Ohio School’s Performance Track Riding motorcycle programs as well as complementing our driving course instructor roster.
Aaron Quine
Aaron grew up at Mid-Ohio watching his father race Corvettes. He started racing at the track in 1990 in his dad’s ’66 Corvette and other high horsepower cars. Over his 28 years of racing at Mid-Ohio and across the rest of the country, he has captured many poles, wins and track records. Aaron is currently racing in the SCCA Trans-Am Series in a sleek, beautiful Grabber Orange Camaro. He also has a career start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Mid-Ohio.
Fred Robertson
An instructor at The Mid-Ohio School since 2006, Fred’s racing resume includes an SCCA National Championship, several national championship podiums, as well as winning multiple SCCA National events in the Production/Prepared classes.
John Schmitt
A true professional on and off the track, John has been a great asset to The Mid-Ohio School’s roster of instructors for more than 10 years. His racing career highlights include competition in Grand-Am Sports Car Series, NASA and SCCA with multiple starts, poles, podiums, wins and championships.
Brian Till
Brian has been with The Mid-Ohio School since its inception in 1993. His involvement has been in all aspects of the school from curriculum development and classroom instruction to professional driver coaching and driving drills instructor for all programs offered. In 1989, Brian left his native Houston for Columbus, Ohio, to pursue his racing career. He competed in open-wheel racing and eventually ascended to CART/INDYCAR Series. He raced in the Barber Saab Pro Series in 1989, the Toyota Atlantic Championship in 1990 (Champion and Rookie of the Year), as well as the 1991 Indy Lights Series, placing fifth in the standings. From 1992-94, he competed in more than 20 INDYCAR races, including a 12th place finish in the 1994 Indianapolis 500. His last year of professional racing full-time was in 1995 when he finished ninth in the SCCA Trans-Am Series standings.
Read more of Brian's story HERE.
Sam Till
A talented graduate of all The Mid-Ohio School’s driving programs, Sam began instructing in 2018. Being a great student with racing in his lineage, he has made the transition from student in the classroom to teacher look easy. The Mid-Ohio School welcomes his youthful energy and passion to safely teach the craft of Defensive and High Performance driving courses.
Greg Vandersluis
Greg started his racing career in 2008, and he was the Rookie of the Year in SCCA, following that up with Driver of the Year in 2010. Since then, he has raced on multiple tracks throughout the Midwest and won several SCCA Championships and set track records, including a third place finish in his first appearance at the 2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs. Greg also continues to compete in NASA and the American Endurance Racing series.
Jason Wolfe
Jason started his racing career at the age of nine racing karts at a local track. He quickly worked his way into formula cars, racing in various SCCA pro series and also the Cooper Tires USF2000 as part of the Road to Indy ladder system. Jason’s career is highlighted by consecutive Pirelli World Challenge Championships in 2014 and 2015 along with SRO TCR and British GT Championship series race wins.