Meet the RRC Team
Tonie Stevens
Tonie has been serving as Richmond Raceway’s Director of Events since October, 2022. She cut her “event” teeth planning elaborate tailgate parties with her mom for steeplechase horse racing. Tonie has brought insurmountable enthusiasm to Richmond Raceway, putting her intense passion to work to book, create and facilitate wonderful events.
LORI WARAN | TRACK PRESIDENT
Lori Collier Waran serves as Richmond Raceway’s first female track President. Lori launched her career in Washington D.C., entertaining government dignitaries, professional sports teams and corporations with Sodexho Marriot. After 8 years, Lori and her family moved to her hometown of Richmond, Virginia where she joined Auto Trader and started her nearly 20-year career in the media and communications industry. In 2006, Landmark Media tapped Lori to take the helm of the Richmond based media company, Style Weekly Media as Publisher where Lori led the team for nearly 15 years. She was the youngest Publisher in the United States for an alternative weekly at that time.
Building audiences and innovating has been a skill well honed by Lori throughout her career which is why most recently, NASCAR tapped Lori to take the helm at Richmond Raceway. She is thrilled to engage loyal fans and new fans and create an iconic fan experience for years to come.
Lori is used to living life in the “fast lane” with her husband of 24 years and two sons – one in college at Virginia Tech and one in high school at Hanover High School. All of whom drive too fast.
Lauren Daneker | Executive Assistant to the President, Office Manager
Born and raised in Mechanicsville, VA, Lauren’s no stranger to the Richmond Area. She’s also no stranger to Richmond Raceway as her mother began her career at the track in 1992 – Lauren now finds herself working in the very offices she ran through as a young girl. She started with RR as Event Coordinator, then transitioned to work with the Track President as her Executive Assistant and Office Manager. Lauren assists in coordinating the Track President’s schedule, planning meetings, coordinating communication, community relations, office management and more.
Her career background ranges in experience from working in a Winery, a Consulting Firm, & Miss USA. She continues to work with the Miss USA in her free time when she’s not at the Dog Park with her dog, Blu.
Tonie Stevens | Director, Complex Events
Tonie has been serving as Richmond Raceway’s Director of Events since October, 2022. She cut her “event” teeth planning elaborate tailgate parties with her mom for steeplechase horse racing. Tonie shares, she learned early on that good planning, attention to detail, and passion makes for a great event; and a joyous event can create memories and traditions that last a lifetime and span generations. At Style Weekly Media, she developed and produced large- scale festivals from HOGTOBER, RVA Earth Day Festival, and ShadROCK Music Festival to smaller more intimate gatherings, luncheons and dinners. Her success in event production led to her being selected to be a street level producer/marshall for the 2015 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the Fan-zone venue Chief at Libby Hill for the 2015 UCI Road World Championship races. One of her all-time career highlights was working on the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA.
Tonie has brought insurmountable enthusiasm to Richmond Raceway, putting her intense passion to work to book, create and facilitate wonderful events.
Pam Daneker | Complex Event Coordinator
Pam has 30 years in the event industry and has experienced all aspects of the business. She spent 29 years with the State Fair of Virginia handling vendor sales, entertainment booking, ticketing, security and much more. She’s also had years of experience handling facility rentals at Meadow Event Park and loves the event industry and is very much a people person.
Pam has been married for over 30 years to her husband, Tod & has two children; one son, one daughter, and two grandchildren.
Jimmy Hays | Manager, Event Operations
Jimmy has been with Richmond Raceway for 20 years and exceptionally serves as RR’s Operations Manager. He works closely with the Director of Events and Event Coordinator to successfully facilitate all of Richmond Raceway’s events and deliver incomparable customer service.
In his free time, Jimmy enjoys spending time with his family and his dog.
Chris Alberta | Manager, Security
Chris retired from the Henrico County Police Division with 40 years of service at the rank of Captain. He’s attended numerous leadership schools to include The FBI National Academy, U of R Police Executive Leadership School, DEA Drug Unit Commanders School, and the Senior Management Institute for Police at Boston University. Upon retirement in 2015, Chris joined the Richmond Raceway team as Security Manager. He is happily married, has three daughters and four grandchildren.