SoKY’s Choice: College racers put classroom skills to work on Bowling Green track

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) – College students from across the country traded classrooms for race cars during a Collegiate Racing Series championship weekend in Bowling Green.

The National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park hosted the second of three races in the series’ inaugural championship season. Students are competing for a chance to become the first national champion of collegiate motorsports.

“This event is race two of our championship season,” said Jack Hobbs, president and CEO of the Collegiate Racing Series. “So here students are earning points towards potentially being crowned the first-ever national champion of collegiate motorsports.”

The series has 84 college teams in its system, with nine cars competing in Bowling Green.

Collie King, CEO of Flagtronics, said the experience can open doors well beyond driving.

“There’s a huge demand for younger talent to come into the industry, whether it’s engineering, whether it’s working on cars, wrenching on cars, driving, marketing, data analytics,” King said.

For Purdue University junior Anushka Vysyvaraju, the opportunity combines her passion for racing with her studies in data analytics and applied statistics. She serves as the team’s vice president and lead race engineer.

“We’ve built a lot of good friendships,” Vysyvaraju said. “We’ve all worked with each other. We all come from very different backgrounds.”

Michael Roux, a Tulane University master’s student and former president of Tulane Formula Racing, said the standardized cars help ensure the competition is about the students’ abilities rather than their budgets.

“It really shows the talent of the team and the drivers, instead of just who can afford to have the biggest, most expensive car,” Roux said.

Roux said the lessons extend beyond the track, with students gaining experience in areas such as marketing, analytics, communications and logistics.

“The cars you see here today, it’s such a small component of what each of the teams does,” he said.

The championship concludes in December at Homestead-Miami Speedway.