Chicane Racing Shoes: For the American Racer

Fueled by a Strong Passion for Motorsports and Footwear, Chicane was Born at the Track
By John Connelly – Founder and CEO of Chicane Racing Shoes

I first started going to sports car races when I was 16, first to VIR and the following year to Sebring, Daytona, and Watkins Glen. I continued going to races while in college and it became my dream to one day be a race car driver. The smell of race fuel, the fantastic engine sounds, the incredible cars were all in my blood. But life got in the way for 50+ years.

After selling my outdoor footwear company in 2018, I was able to focus my attention on auto racing and embrace the sport like never before. It was amazing and exhilarating to realize my dream of racing, but in the back of my mind I was missing the footwear business. Early one evening after the track (UMC) went cold and after a couple of beers I mentioned to my racing buddy, Scott, that we should start a new footwear brand for motorsports enthusiast to offset some of our track expenses. Scott, who is always up for adventure, said, “let’s do it”. Having been in the footwear industry for 40+ years I had the experience and connections to develop premium racing footwear, and with Scott’s long history in the racing community he knew many of the key players and brought authenticity to the concept. The plan was hatched.

The original idea was to approach the market with a women’s only line of racing footwear. Female participation in motorsports is still relatively small but is a growing subset and most racing organizations are trying to attract more women to the sport. I knew that all the other brands just offered unisex sizing and fit, so this would allow us to keep the line tight and offer the market something that wasn’t available elsewhere.

With the 2019 season winding down, the business planning started in earnest. We needed a name we could trademark and one that related to motorsports. The idea of CHICANE popped into my head one day while watching racing on TV. It was perfect. In racing, a Chicane is a series of tight turns in opposite directions. You hear it multiple times at races, during TV and radio broadcasts, you see it on track maps and anyone driving on a racetrack knows the meaning. We applied and received the trademark for Chicane Racing and it suddenly felt very real. It was time to get to work. To kick it off I decided to purchase a GT4 and convert it into a proper track car. After all, we were going to need it for all the testing we would be doing on our racing shoes!

As we began to develop some product concepts, I decided we should offer both men’s and women’s styles and I started thinking how we could differentiate Chicane from the competition other than just offering women’s specific sizing and fit. I had a contact at Michelin and called to tell him about our plans. I suggested that since they have the #1 racing tire wouldn’t it make sense to connect the driver to the car in same way tires connect the car to the track? He said, “great idea” and our partnership and collaboration with Michelin began. We’d now have the best soles for driving and racing; to connect the driver to the pedals by incorporating Pilot Sport tread designs and Michelin’s grippy and durable compounds.

Unfortunately, Covid started to rage causing delays and all kinds of challenges, and we had second thoughts about timing, but we were committed. I hired a well-known designer, a product development ace and marketing guru, all serious car guys. We decided to use lightweight PU for our thin midsoles in place of EVA to provide better durability and support. In addition to performance, we also focused on comfort and fit. The shoes are slim but have a squish more room in the toe-box compared to Euro brands. All styles have a proven, true ergonomic insole with a deep heel cup and proper arch to keep the foot in a neutral position improving performance, comfort, fit and feel, one of the features that made my previous company so successful. The shoes ended up being so comfortable most people leave them on all day.

In early 2022 we were able to soft-launch the brand with our Track Day shoe called the Speedster, and in late summer we delivered our GT collection of racing shoes. The silver lining of the delays is it allowed us more time for testing. Our pro driver, Dylan Murry, driving in the Porsche Carrera Cup Challenge Series and in IMSA LMP2, and we ourselves spent many hours driving in prototype shoes. Dylan driving in LMP2 was on the podium at the Rolex 24, 12Hours of Sebring and Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen wearing our GT1 model. Lots of champaign soaked shoes. The launch was successful, so I bought a GT4 Clubsport factory race car.

Now, I’m close to turning 76, and I should finally have my competition license 60 years after it all started.