BY
on
Gary Dranow is a man with
keep
Pacesetter
edge many interest, most of which
him
the
things in life. He's been in the ary Dranow has done many
look in to find out information. passively waiting for people to to the average Web site that sits
O
Fast Facts
SOCA REGION: Utah
SINCE: 2007
FOOD: Mexican industry, a ski coach. Ask what he garment industry, the mortgage events and occasions, in contrast of a group to notify them of
ohyes, autocross. and, let's not forget dog walking. And., playing guitar, tennis, golf, ski racing to road cycling and mountain biking, equestrian competitions to motocross does for fun, the list stretches from Burton diverseSnowboards. as The Tennis Channel and programs and Webcasts for clients as capabilities and has created television Platipus also has video production
"With any sport or activity, even Crossing, Platipus Sports and Modern Dranow is the CEO of Platipus
The only relation to the platypus dancing, there's a progression.
GARY DRANOW
LAST BOOK READ: Atlas Shrugged by
ENTERTAINERS:
FAVORITE TV SHOW: NCIS
FAVORITE MOVIE The Princess Bide
Commander intellectual property, United States. an "i"it's an acronym for platform, Ski Racing. That's Platipus with
andyears of being in business." things that have evolved out of years business if you will. We do so many
"I start up companies based on companies is IDC in California in the mid 1970s. He also and ski racing coach at Snow Summit that began as a certified ski instructor Dranow speaks from experience kind ofa freak of nature; a freak of animal, he says, is, "We're both
Zo6 the platipussports.com Web site. better? We can," says a banner ad on *Can you see yourself getting FAVORITE CARS OWNED: 1982 Porsche 9n sc, 2002
order to be successful." methodologies a person can go to in care what it is, there is one or More a progression to teach skill sets. I don't Coaches and teachers have developed
Another of his claimed the bronze medal. the champions of all age groups he then in the one-run showdown of all age group national champion, and NASTAR. In 2007, he was NASTAR be ranked No. 1in his age group in competitive skiing in 2001, rising to about a decade, Dranow returned to through the 1980s. After a hiatus of Masters and NASTAR competition skied professionally and then later in
technique, applying lessons learned He also began to analyze ski-racing emerging technologies," Dranow
martial art-style exercise routines. studying tai chi chuanthe slow-motion networking are a current focus. things. Communications and social technologies to new ways to do says, as he explains applying such dreams come true. Children. Dranow likes to make such that IDC stands for Insane Dreams of on 14," still a child himself, he notes Inc. Describing himself as "55 going
of your years of participation." media to build your own portfolio years. It hosts all manner of data and and engineered over the last few application that we've designed organizations. It is a ground-up organizations, or actually any social network designed for sports in itself," he said. "It's a secured "Platipus is an emerging technology
"It's like a resumne I can put together
with all my data, enriched with photos
Beyond that, Dranow said, it and videos.
"I learned things about how we
"We ran a business [Modern the cutting-edge approach to ski racing. my own approach, which has become concepts to ski racing and came up with mass. Then I applied my theories and move, how we control our center of
"I do my teaching at Wolf Mountain computers in their cars. to data and analyses from onboard media from photography and videos as an example, which owns a site providing a place for members to store
Dranow uses his home Utah Region Olympics, it's for the parents. system is not for the kid going to the enthusiast, the recreational racer. My more efficiently. I cater to the adult camps and coaching, teaching to ski Ski Racing] where we were doing
It's really endless. It's massive."
can actively reach out to members
|Ski Resort in Utah]. The first thing we
20
february www.SCca.com
FAVORITE NON-SCCA
AOTVIIY: Allof [his many
pickup truck activities] happen when 'm not lying in bed watching TV.
OWNED: 1970 Datsun
2009
Jimi Hendrix, Robben Ford,
Ayn Rand
RAT
do is help a racer get their alignment sorted out with the boots, then we get them on the proper ski, then we get to proper technique.
Dranow's involvement in Soloonly began about three years ago. He'd bought a Mini Cooper S, and a friend "told me about this thing where you race around cones in a parking lot. That was right down my alley because
in ski racing you race against the clock. Also in bicycle time trials you race against the clock.
"I thought Iwould go out and dominate right away. What happened is I absolutely didn't know anything. Ididn't even know what 'grid' was. . just kept getting in line to stage."
He was introduced to Charlie Shelton and afriendship emerged that has locked the twointoa camaraderie that extends to both their business and recreational pursuits. Shelton is now the chief operating officer of Platipus and became DPrepared National Champion in 2008 driving Dranow's Mazda Miata.
"A ski race course is identical to a Solo in allaspects except it's onthe side of a mountain," Dranow says.
There is, he notes, one significant difference: When the competitor loses it, in Solo he just spins to a stop while in skiing injury is likely. Ask Dranow about
While there may not seem to be many similarities, Gary Dranow says a ski race course (ABOVE) is actually identical to what he finds while autocrossing his DPrepared Miata (OPPOSITELEFT).
his head being held up by titanium after breaking his neck in four places.
"In ski racing you want to stay right under the edge of exceeding your capabilities or it'sgoing to get you. When your speeds are 60 to SOmph (such as in a downhillor Super G race), bad things will happen."
But Shelton tells him, "You are not going to be successful [in Solo] if you don't exceed your envelope. You have to learn to trust the car. It's amazing how far you can push it. You are pushing your ownperception of what the envelope is, where the car can certainly go faster than you may think.
"Learning the capability of the car. It's three runsl and you're done. In a ski race youget one run inthe mnorning, they change the course and you get one run in the afternoon - that's it, you're done. So [in cither onc). you've got to be olyour game.