Brandon Davis is racing his way through college. Literally.
When the DU junior isn’t speed-reading through his business management textbooks, he’s speed shifting through the turns and twists of racetracks around the country. Davis hits the gas in one of his souped-up Acura racecars for 20 or 30 auto races per year on the Speed World Touring Challenge.
The 20-year-old managed to take home rookie of the year honors in the 2005 Speed World series and finished fourth in the series championship. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native garnered a lion’s share of local press coverage, and the celebrity status that went along with it, when he competed in one of the many races staged in conjunction with the Denver Grand Prix in 2005 and 2006.
During the five or six weeks of the year when racing overlaps with school, Davis hops a flight on Wednesday evenings to race locations. He spends Thursdays and Fridays preparing, practicing and qualifying for the weekend races. He jumps back on a plane and returns to campus Sunday evenings with just enough time to sleep a couple hours before the week’s first class.
Davis says his professors generally work with him to make sure his classroom obligations are met.
“Most of them are pretty accommodating,” he says. “It’s not like I’m missing class because I’m sleeping in. It’s my job. I’m signed on to do this, and [my professors] understand it.”
Davis started racing when he was 6 years old at the behest of his father, Mike. But racing finishes second to education in the Davis family.
Mike Davis explains, “He does earn an income as a professional, but his priority is school.”
“My success will determine whether I do it as a weekend warrior thing or if I make it a career,” the younger Davis says.
This article originally appeared in The Source, March 2006.
[Editors’ note: In August 2006, Davis won the Speed Touring Championship race in a photo finish and was credited with a .005 of a second victory over Eric Curran of East Hampton, Maine.]