QuestionHello, my name is Chris And I'm 18 living in the snowy upstate NY. I'm still in high school and have had a driving passion for vehicles for years now. I want to chase my dream of starting a career racing, whether it be drift, rally, circuit, I just want a career doing it and hopefully become good enough to move up to racing with the pros, the only problem is I have absolutely no clue where to start, i can find racing schools that would help in any way, and I'm not sure what my best option would be, I just don't want to waste any time at all doing the wrong thing then having to start over later in my life. I have a vehicle with enough of a pedigree to begin with; a Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, so if there's a way to use that to help me get somewhere that would be a good start, sorry this question is so long but thank you, I'm looking forward to your response :)
AnswerStart with Go Karts, join World Karting Association (Google it!) and find the tracks close to you . Start racing in the lower levels, move up until you are in the larger , faster carts, and winning regularly. MOST of the big names in racing spent some time in Karts early in their careers.
Then join Sports Car Club of America (www.SCCA.org) and look into racing with them. You will have to buy a race car and do the mechanical work, buy the tires and gas and fix things that break at the track. It might be a good idea to try and get a friend interested in being your crew. You will probably need considerable financial help at this stage. But if you get good at road racing, your chances of getting a pro ride are a little better.
Understand though, something like 1/2 of the young population of the country want to be race drivers, so the competition is REAL tough, and you simply may not have the talent to be a professional. Plus it is EXTREMELY hard work. 18 hour days, 7 day weeks and year around. It's a real killer. Many of us enjoy the amateur racing we do (I am in SCCA) and can spend some of our time doing other things that professional driver can't - - like being with family or earning a living !
Finally, if you're a good student and interested in racing, you should study Physics, Chemistry,and Math VERY hard, and plan on pursuing an Engineering degree in college. Several of today's NASCAR stars are engineers, Ryan Newman is one that comes to mind, there are others. Nearly all of today’s professional drivers though, stated in Go Karts. And nearly all of them are college educated.
The Mitsubishi is not a competitive car, or at least I don't ever see them being raced.
Good luck !
Dan Liddy
Sarasota, Florida
