For any high school senior, getting into Harvard would be a dream, but one teen is delaying her higher education to follow a different passion: racecar driving. Aurora Straus didn’t intend on becoming a racecar driver when she was younger, but after her dad - who happens to be CEO of Monticello Motor Club in the Catskills - signed her up for driving lessons at the track at 13, she was bitten by the bug.
“My dad’s intention was for me to learn car control skills,” says Staus. “I will never forget the feeling of the machine under me. I was so small, and I had never experienced so much power. It was the first time I had ever gone into the triple digits.”
Now, Straus has graduated from her high school in Westchester, New York last year and was accepted into Harvard. She ended up deferring for the year and continued racing instead. So far she’s competed in 35 races and will be one of three women among 150 drivers competing in the Pirelli World Challenge series in Austin, Texas.
- As for what comes next...Straus plans to study at Harvard in the fall as an English major and mechanical engineering minor. School isn’t expected to be the end of the road for her racing career either. Staus plans to continue racing on the weekends during her time in college.
Source: NY Post