DAN BELLINO JOINS CIRCLE BELL MOTORSPORTS

Circle Bell Motorsports, producer of the AMA Pro Sacramento Mile and the Santa Rosa Mile, is pleased to announce that Dan Bellino has joined the Circle Bell team as Vice President of Operations.

“Having Dan join the team is really going to help us make AMA Pro Flat Track bigger and even better,” says Bob Bellino.  “His entrepreneurial spirit, attention to detail, and wide range of government and non-profit experiences, meshed with a love of the sport that is right in line with mine, makes it a great pleasure to have him join us.”

A native Californian, Dan grew up in the San Francisco Bay area.  Earning a degree in Communications from Boston College, Dan moved to New York City to take a two-year position as a New York City Teaching Fellow, a program designed to recruit and prepare high-quality, dedicated individuals to become teachers who raise student achievement in the New York City classrooms that need them the most.

“Though it was a two-year commitment, I stayed on as a teacher at P.S. 87 in The Bronx for nearly five years,” he explains.  “I spent three years as a fourth grade classroom teacher and two years as a kindergarten through 5th grade physical education teacher.

“During that first year, I realized that my students needed some form of extracurricular activities.  Since the school offered none, I started an after school running club with the help of the New York Road Runners Foundation,” explains Dan.  “Located in a heavily populated Caribbean-immigrant community, where the sport of track and field is near and dear to the culture’s heart, it caught on right away and after a short time we developed it into a non-profit club known as the Bronx Flash Track Club.  Within two years we had over 100 student athletes and it was obvious that the kids and community loved it.”

Even after leaving P.S. 87, Dan continued to coach the Bronx Flash and secured a $1 million grant to transform the school’s barren playground into a vibrant community park with a running track, basketball courts, grass and play structures.

Dan then joined the administrative staff of the New York City Department of Education, where he worked on the City’s Fitness and Health Education policies, curricula, data systems, and citywide events.  From there, he moved to one of the top charter schools in the country and helped lead their staff recruitment efforts before finally making his move back to the West Coast with his fiancé at the end of 2012.

In addition to his passion for working with youth and public education, Dan’s other passion is motorsports, having grown up traveling the AMA Flat Track circuit during summers with his father, brother, and sister.

“I started riding with my dad when I was five,” he explains.  “I loved every minute of it.  My dad raced when he was younger and by the time I was 14, I wanted to race, too.  However, the line I heard from my dad was ‘I broke too many bones in my body and I’m not going to watch you do the same thing.’  We compromised and went go-kart racing instead.  I raced until I was 19 and then college got in the way,” Dan said with a chuckle.

“When my dad started down the path to bring GNC racing back to Northern California in 2009, I jumped at the opportunity to help him in any way I could,” continues Dan.  “For the last few years, I would fly out from NYC to help on race weekends.  Both my dad and I share the same vision for the sport, so now that I’m living back in the Bay Area, I’m excited to dedicate my efforts to give the flat track community, especially the racers, the recognition and support they deserve.  Dad and I work really well together and it is a perfect fit for both of us.”

“Everyone in our family plays some part in Circle Bell Motorsports’ events,” explains Bob, “And having them all involved is very special to me.  Having Dan onboard full-time makes it even more fun than before.  He does a superb job, offers a new and refreshing outlook on things we can do and fills a much needed gap.”