October 22, 2020
Evolution Development Group (EVO), an athletic development company that intends to turn top-contenders in individual professional sports into tomorrow’s champions through fan investment, today announced it’s been chosen by Andretti Autosport to bolster their driver selection program. EVO is planning to provide everything from management and training, to promotion and nutrition for drivers who have been scouted by Andretti Autosport and EVO—and are promising champions—but need the extra support to help them succeed.
As a part of the deal, Andretti Autosport has taken an equity stake in EVO’s business, which plans to allow the average person to invest in their company, and get a cut of the earnings of all the athletes EVO intends to develop—across a myriad of individual professional sports (beyond just auto racing). It’s a new way for fans to engage with sports they already love, while driving the potential of making races and events more competitive, and more exciting.
Becoming an NTT INDYCAR® SERIES champion is no small task, and Andretti’s vetting process is rigorous. Many drivers don’t make the cut—not necessarily for a lack of talent—but often for a lack of funding, or a little more training. Andretti Autosport’s partnership with EVO may enable the premier racing team to work with an even greater pool of drivers, thanks to EVO’s team of successful veteran coaches, trainers, managers, nutritionists, and more. With EVO, drivers may have the opportunity to hone their skills, get more seat time behind the wheel, improve their diet and exercise, and get help with funding, as they pursue their dreams to chase the checkered flag.
“The biggest problem with racing is that it’s very expensive to race. You can have all the talent in the world and love it more than anything, but if you don’t have the backing, you’re probably not going to make it,” said Michael Andretti, Chairman and CEO of Andretti Autosport. “There’s a lot of talent sitting on the sidelines that could have been champions. To have a platform like EVO, it’s huge for a young, true talent.”
“EVO is solving a problem for Andretti Autosport by further developing drivers that otherwise may be left behind because they lack the resources to become tomorrow’s champions, but not the talent,” said John Norman, CEO of EVO. “EVO plans to offer athletes everything they need to reach their goals, and the Andretti Autosport partnership is the first step in building future athletes.”
The Evolution Performance Driving School will be holding a Test and Tune/Dial-In on Thursday and Friday April 12-13 on the Skid-pad prior to the event. We'll have instructors as well as JJ Furillo from Ultimate Performance on hand. O ver the past several years, the Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) landscape has evolved significantly as multiple external drivers have influenced the industry. Examples of such drivers are.
Where drivers were once small-headed clubs made from wood, they are now460cc monsters made from some of the most advanced metals in the world. Moderndrivers are capable of sending the ball more than 300 yards in the air – adistance that was considered impossible in the past. Of course, modern driversare rather expensive due to the materials and engineering required to bringthem to life, but most golfers are glad to pay the price if it means they canoutdrive their playing partners on a regular basis.
The development of this ‘new age’ of golf heads has even had an effecton golf courses around the world. Manyold courses have had to be lengthened or they would become obsolete. In termsof the pros, it is now rare to see a course that is under 7,000 yards in length.Golf is a bigger, more powerful game than ever before, and you have the driverto thank for that development.
For most golfers, this club is their favorite in the bag. Rarelywill you find a golfer who would prefer to hit a fairway wood or long iron offthe tee. If there is one thing that golfers have in common across the board, itis a passion for teeing it high and letting it go.
It might be helpful to at least have a basic understanding of thedevelopment of the driver. They have only come to look like the titanium/metalmonstrosities that they are within the last 20 years.
Evolution Drive System
Most of the early golf drivers hadsmall heads made from persimmon wood. Why did they use such small heads? The wood would start to make the club too heavy if they made theheads much bigger. That meant that golfers were left with a small sweet spot.If you missed the ball out toward the toe or in toward the heel, you would losea lot of distance.
THE START OF ITALL- METAL to TITANIUM
The metal revolution started to takeshape in 1979 when TaylorMade introduced the first steel head onto themarket.
Taylormade driver nicknamed it the 'PittsburghPersimmon' as TaylorMade used steel rather than persimmon. and it developed into one of their strongest linesthroughout the 1980s.
There were advantages to playing golfwith metal. The first, was the weight savings that were achieved.Swinging a hollow metal-headed head meant the overall weight of the clubcould be lower, which would instantly increase swing speed.
Secondly. this allowed the heads tobe made bigger because of the weight savings. Therefore, golfers had clubs thatwere larger, (meaning a bigger sweet spot- a false statement) and lighter all at the same time.These were advancements that persimmon models couldn’t keep up with, and themetal models soon came to completely dominate the game.
Evolution Driver Beyblade Burst
Metal drivers continued to grow andgrow, enabling golfers to hit the ball harder and farther than ever before.Seeing no end in sight to the development of longer-hitting clubs, the USGAstepped in and established limits to these heads. The USGA set limits of460cc’s for the volume of the club head, and 48’’ for the overall length of theclub.
As long as the current rules remainin place, we will likely see these clubs remain generally the same foryears to come. Of course, that doesn’t stop golf club companies from trying tocome up with the latest and greatest models that will win over the market.
HERE COMES TITANIUM DRIVERS
Mizuno introduced theworld's first titanium driver, the Ti-110, in 1990. Powerful and expensive, theywere marketed almost exclusively in Japan. However, like most other earlytitanium drivers, the heads of these Japanese drivers were actually cast in theU.S. by precision aerospace foundries such as Titech, Selmet, Wyman Gordon, andHowmet.
In 1992, MacGregor unveiledthe first American-designed titanium driver, the T-920. But Callaway’s hugelypopular stainless-steel Big Bertha still ruled the fairways. So, in its firstyear, MacGregor’s groundbreaking T-920 only sold a modest 2,500 units.
By the time Callawaylaunched its first titanium driver, the Great Big Bertha, in 1995, the U.S.market was ready—purchasing over 250,000 drivers in just 12 months. Majormakers quickly followed suit and ushered in an era of titanium drivers inAmerica dominated by big-name U.S. golf brands.
In 1995, Grand Golf’s GRANDTAG titanium driver also made its debut. Although designed exclusively for theJapanese and Asian markets, it was engineered and manufactured in the U.S.using state-of-the-art aerospace technology and precision titanium foundries.Weighing just 255 grams, it was quickly heralded as “lightest, best-balanceddriver in the world”—a full 15 grams lighter than its closest Japanesecompetitor and an amazing 45 grams lighter than the lightest U.S. titaniumdriver of the day.
AND THEN THE PARTY STARTED
Though the first titanium head was released in 1990, it wasn't until1996--when Callaway and TaylorMade started to develop their answers, and theirnew clubs would take off in popularity. Allowing for a larger sweet spot anda faster swing speed due to its light-weight material, titanium heads havecompletely replaced everything else ever invented.
Here is a quick listof some of the clubs introduced by the main O.E.M.s between 2010 and 2013. A bitridiculous in my mind!
Callaway
2013: Callaway RAZR Fit Xtreme2013: Callaway X Hot
2012: Callaway RAZR Fit Xtreme2012: Callaway RAZR Fit2012: Callaway RAZR X Black
2011: Callaway RAZR Hawk2011: Callaway RAZR Hawk Tour2011: Callaway Diablo Octane
2010: Callaway Diablo Edge Tour2010: Callaway FT-iZ
2010: Callaway Diablo Edge
Titleist
2013: Titleist 913D22013: Titleist 913D32011: Titleist 910D2
2011: Titleist 910D3
2010: Titleist 909D22010: Titleist 909D32010: Titleist DComp
Ping
2013: Ping Anser2013: Ping G25
2012: Ping i202012: Ping G20
2011: Ping i152011: Ping G15
Cobra
2013: Cobra AMP Cell Pro2013: Cobra AMP Cell
2013: Cobra AMP Cell Offset
2012: Cobra AMP Cell2012: Cobra AMP Cell Pro
2012: Cobra AMP Cell Offset2012: Cobra AMP
2012: Cobra AMP Offset
2011: G15 Draw2011: Cobra S32011: Cobra S3 Max Offset
2010: Cobra S22010: Cobra S2 Offset2010: Cobra ZL
TaylorMade
2013: TaylorMade RocketBallz Stage 2
2012: Taylormade RocketBallz Tour2012: TaylorMade RocketBallz2012: TaylorMade R11S
2011: TaylorMade R112011: TaylorMade R11 TP
2011: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0
2010: TaylorMade R92010: TaylorMade R9 TP Driver
2010: TaylorMade R9 SuperTri2010: Taylormade R9 SuperTri TP2010: TaylorMade R9 4602010: TaylorMade R9 460 TP
2010: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast