Who We Are

Blacktop Bootcamp Skid Car Blacktop Bootcamp, Incorporated is a company dedicated to teaching drivers advanced, life-saving driving techniques. We believe that the best way to survive a crash is to avoid having it in the first place. To that end our students learn inside the classroom and inside the car.

In the classroom students are taught the physics behind driving; how and why a car behaves the way it does. They learn how the laws of physics can work for and against them on the road. Some things that continue to be taught in Driver's Education are contrary to the laws of physics. We spend time "unlearning" some of the out-dated and incorrect teachings of traditional driver's education.

Make no mistake about it the only way to learn driving is by doing it. Pilots don't learn to fly from watching a video. Unlike some courses we do not spend 8-hours watching propaganda videos. This is learning by doing. This alternating schedule of class time and on-course time ensures that students get first hand experience putting the accident avoidance techniques to use in their own cars.

When they are out on course students will drive with an experienced in-car instructor who provides invaluable feedback and guidance. Our instructors are hand-picked from law enforcement, high-performance driving and racing communities. They ride with each student ensuring that the techniques taught in class are being executed properly behind the wheel.

From behind the wheel of their own vehicle students use our accident avoidance simulator to practice making split-second decisions to avoid a "crash" and then put our techniques to work. Students practice emergency maneuvers over and over to ensure mastery and muscle memory.

One of our most valuable teaching tools is our skid car. To learn these skids on a normal car would require significant speed, a dedicated high-speed track and would be vastly more risky to the driver and the car. The Blacktop Bootcamp skid car has outriggers on it that enable students to learn skid correction at very low speeds in a controlled environment. An instructor controls the amount of traction available at either axle to induce skids on demand in any weather. Through the use of the skid car students can feel what it is like to drive on rain, snow or ice in the middle of hot summer day!

Christopher Ihara

Chris is the president and founder of Blacktop Bootcamp, Incorporated. He began his high performance driving career in 1995 taking over a dozen high performance driving schools at various tracks around the east coast. He has also done drag racing, autocrossing, Solo 2 competition and even competed in the grueling One Lap of America.

Chris obtained his competition racing license with the Sports Car Club of America in 1997 where he currently competes in American Sedan. In that time he has earned an SCCA regional championship and many, many podium finishes and race wins. He has driven dozens of tracks around the world as a student, an instructor, a journalist and a racer.

Since 1997 Chris has also been instructing high performance and advanced driving schools. As an in-car and lead classroom instructor he has taught hundreds of teens and adults life-saving driving skills. It is here that he picked up his passion for instructing the Driving Arts^tm.

In 2004 Chris began his law enforcement career where he continues today. After working many senseless and often heart breaking crashes with teens, he has seen first hand the effects of poor driving skill and judgment. It is this experience that drove him to found Blacktop Bootcamp.

To that end Blacktop Bootcamp's mission is to try to save lives through better education in a hands-on, positive learning environment.

Ralph Cofer

Ralph Cofer is a Senior Law Enforcement driving instructor and has taught pursuit driving for over 22 years. He also teaches high performance driving classes for police use of the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Charger; as well as classes for front and 4-wheel drive. Ralph also teaches Pursuit Management to all newly promoted supervisors.

Mr. Cofer has also been certified through Driver Training Associate, Inc. to teach the Driver Improvement Program for the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. With 36 years of Law Enforcement experience and 22 years of instructing he is a valuable asset to the Blacktop Bootcamp team.

Specialized Driver Training

Basic Driver Training, Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (1989)
Basic Training for Driver Improvement, Virginia Department of Education (1996)
Driver Improvement Instructor Course, AAA (1996)
Advanced Driver Training, North Carolina Highway Patrol (1998)
Basic Front Wheel Drive Training, FBI Academy (2000)
Basic Driver Training, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (2001)
Pursuit Intervention Technique, Fairfax County Police Department (2005)

Brian Hair

Brian Hair has been racing and instructing for over two decades. He has competed with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and the grueling One Lap of America. Brian's driving resume speaks for itself:

Driving Experience:

BMW Club Highway Safety School participant, 1989, 16 years old
MWCSCC Autocross Novice Class Champion, 1990
Various BMW Club Driving Schools from high school into college
Numerous Autocrosses with Blue Ridge Region SCCA in college
SCCA (Washington DC Region) Solo champion, 4 years
SCCA Solo Nationals trophy winner, 2006
SCCA Regional and National competition license holder
SCCA Regional race winner
Redline Time Attack, 1st Place
One Lap of America, 1st Place in class 2008, 2010, 2nd Place in class 2011
Indoor Karting League organizer, BMW Club (Allsports Grand Prix)

Instructing Experience:

NASA Level 1 and 3 instructor clinics
BMW CCA instructor for Bluegrass Bimmers, Northern Ohio, Hoosier, National Capital and Tarheel chapters
BSR Friday At the Track instructor, including instructor clinics, Hyperfest, and Drifting
Instructor for track events hosted by TrackDaze, Mazda Drivers, Mercedes-Benz, CCC Track Day, and Lindsay Cadillac
SCCA PDX instructor
SCCA autocross school instructor
Allsports Grand Prix indoor karting, Kid's Program instructor
Street Survival instructor
Instructor for various car control schools

Experience like Brian's is a tremendous asset that our students can benefit from. It is instructors like Brian that make our program so unique.

Dave Parker

Dave Parker is no stranger to high performance driving beginning in 1989 when he graduated the Virginia State Emergency Vehicle Operations Course. Then over the past decade Dave has instructed auto enthusiasts the essentials of car control at high-speed, open track events. As an in-car instructor he has sharpened the skills of hundreds of students on track at speeds well beyond highway limits.

A licensed racer with in the Washington, DC region of the SCCA he has served since 2004 as an instructor teaching other drivers the fine art of auto racing. In 2005 Mr. Parker graduated from the BSR Evasive Driving course. Then in 2008 he began instructing with SCCA's Performance Driving Experience, where he continues today as both a classroom and in-car instructor.

Dave completed the five-day instructor course with BSR in 2011. It is Mr. Parker's passion for expanding his skill set and willingness to teach others that makes him such an important part of our team.

Jay Laluz

Jay Laluz has been doing high performance driving for over a decade and has visited tracks like Summit Point, historic Watkins Glen, Virginia International Raceway and Putnam Point. He has taken over a dozen high-performance and advanced street driving events as a student from several different organizations. Mr. Laluz's experience as a mixed martial arts instructor makes him well suited to teaching students complex tasks like accident avoidance and vehicle control.

Additionally Mr. Laluz is one of our cross-trained instructors - because in addition to his extensive high-performance driving experience - he is currently a certified Law Enforcement Officer as well. Thus he has Emergency Vehicle Operations training in addition to his other skill sets.

Who We Are

Christopher Ihara

Ralph Cofer

Brian Hair

Dave Parker

Jay Laluz

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