Racer/Scratcher

A few days after attending the Winter Music Conference in Miami and learning the craft of DJ’ing, Scott Speed enters Martinsville with his No. 82 Red Bull Toyota tied for 36th in the car owner standings. Speed made his Sprint Cup debut there last October, and he was running at the finish in 30th.

But enough about racing. Speed spent the first part of this week hanging and scratching with DJ Carl Cox in Miami.

“I just like doing as much as I can. Life’s short — I want to do all of it,” said Speed, whose favorite artists include DJ Tiesto, Timbaland, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and Placebo.

Speed gave Cox, an Englishman and huge fan of motorsports, a ride through South Beach in the Red Bull show car, and Cox returned the favor by giving a few pointers on mixing music.

“That‘s the best part of being a Red Bull athlete, getting to meet all the cool people from different genres,” Speed said. “Carl’s interests are in cars and racing, and all of mine are in music and fashion. It’s cool to meet someone when each of you have an interest in the other’s profession.”

He also spent time with DJ K-Razor at the Red Bull Music Academy (pictured above). “He got me going in the right direction,” Speed said. “It’s about feeling the music, to be able to sync songs together. It’s something you have to feel.”

The Winter Music Conference is a weeklong electronic music event held every March since the mid-1980s in south Florida. The event moved to Miami Beach in 1991 and was considered a major catalyst in the establishment of the South Beach club scene. The WMC draws more than 3,500 music industry participants and 62,000 event participants from 70 countries.