“OFF-TRACK”

Austin was always a little unusual; he can also be characterized by the phrase: all-or-nothing. While engaging in ‘normal’ sports like baseball, lacrosse, and even earning a black belt in karate and MMA, Austin always felt a little more in touch with his weird side. In middle school, he found solace in playing “ring-around-the-Rosie” and other games, instead of soccer or football at lunch recess. That didn’t play well with other students and he was outcast for it. He was very in touch with his creative side, and an interest for photographing birds led to a passion in film and photography by 7th grade, where his life veered from karting to film.

Racing always came first, but Austin has always tried not to put his eggs in one basket. Growing up in San Diego, CA. Austin attended Coronado High’s School of the Arts (CoSA), where he studied film and digital media. When he wasn’t obsessing over motorsports, he was making movies – often missing class to be on film and commercial sets all over Southern California. By 18, he had worked on over 100 short films and commercials, including taking on the role of Director of Photography for a 90-minute feature film in Coronado, CA.

On the side, he ran various small ventures from selling t-shirts and exercise programs to founding a small business reselling auto parts online. Mitigating struggles with mental health and difficulties fitting in, he always found comfort in his passions: racing, film, classic rock and progressive metal music, and fitness.

In 2018, Austin was accepted into the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts, from which he transferred internally to pursue business. Austin is set to graduate in Fall 2021 with a degree in Real Estate Development and dual-minor specialties in Entrepreneurship and Cinema. During school, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society, the Vice Dean’s list, a brother of the Phi Delta Theta California Delta fraternity, and drove for the USC Racing FSAE team in two national competitions. In 2021, he created a reflex training system for athletes and continues to run his auto parts business to fund his racing career.

During his last year of college, he found a profound purpose in combining racing into his daily life. Racing is motivation to do school work, to wake up, to eat, to exercise. By incorporating racing into his daily life, it made sense to share his daily life with the rest of the world, doing good at the same time: educating about the wonderful autistic community.