My first experience with behind the wheel was in my father’s Honda, when I was in middle school. Somehow, I convinced him to let me drive it intermittently on a makeshift track in a parking lot near our house. Luckily, I had already read the first chapter of Carl Lopez’s “Going Faster,” and with a basic understanding of vehicle dynamics, managed to drive close to the limits of adhesion but without incident. Eventually my father’s justified paranoia put a stop to this. But once we discovered an arrive-and-drive kart race series at a nearby circuit, I entered my first race and finished 2nd. After entering a few more races, we realized that even this type of motorsport was too expensive for us. So, for the remainder of high school, I practiced my skills as often as possible in rental karts and at indoor tracks. But I knew that I would never be satisfied by this. I decided that to obtain the funds and knowledge to go racing, and to work towards a career in the auto industry, I would pursue mechanical engineering.

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In college, I expanded my activities in racing by joining The University of Texas at Austin's Formula SAE team. My biggest achievement in FSAE was pioneering aero development for our car. After learning the basics of computational fluid dynamics, I helped design our team’s first aero kit that had been developed through CFD. I also worked part time for a few semesters in college, and whenever I had saved enough money, I would compete in rental kart races. Once I started my first engineering internship, I was able to purchase my first racing kart. The initial year of racing in my own equipment was absolutely humbling. Even with FSAE experience, it was a challenge to prepare the kart well enough to finish a race, let alone be competitive. But eventually I solidified my basic skills as a mechanic and a driver, and in a few months, I was on the podium again.

Once I started working full time as an engineer, I was able to commit more time and money to racing. After spending a year in a slower category, I jumped to a faster engine class and then started competing at regional and national level events, often times against young drivers who are intent on becoming professional racers. Unlike many of my competitors at the time, I never hired track side support, because not only did I want to be a proficient driver, but also a proficient mechanic and engineer. Besides the countless hours I spent at tracks testing chassis setups, I also spent a great deal of time using simulations, analyzing data logs, and reading academic literature to understand the dynamics and engineering of a vehicle chassis. My efforts allowed me to achieve some successes in motorsport. But more importantly, I discovered my enthusiasm for chassis development and vehicle dynamics simulation and testing.