Houk
Staff report
Ayrton Houk, 20, of McCordsville, has earned a Team USA Scholarship and will be racing overseas.
A press release from the teamusascholarships.org website announced Houk and Jack Sullivan will follow in some illustrious footsteps during the next few weeks as they fly the distinctive and patriotic red-white-and-blue Team USA Scholarship colors in several prestigious Formula Ford races in the UK.
They earned the opportunity following a recent shootout at the Polecat Training Center facility in Lynchburg, Tenn. Both have been leading contenders in this year’s FRP Formula 1600 Championship Series.
Houk and Sullivan recently have begun preparations for an extended stay in England with three days of simulation training with Kelly Jones at RaceCraft1’s new facility at the SILO Auto Club and Conservancy in Indianapolis, where they were joined for one day by accomplished INDYCAR and sports car driver Ed Jones.
“Having the opportunity to train at RaceCraft1 was extremely helpful in learning the track layouts with the help and coaching provided by Kelly Jones,” Houk said in the release. “Also, being able to drive with Jack Sullivan as a teammate and noticing each other’s driving tactics was great to learn and will definitely be beneficial for racing as teammates in the near future.”
“I am honored to be added to the extremely talented roster of scholarship winners that Team USA has built over the years,” Houk added. “I am also looking forward to traveling overseas for the first time and racing with the level of talent that the UK has to offer while also gaining immense knowledge and valuable experience from this opportunity.”
Houk and Sullivan were scheduled to head to England this week to begin on extensive testing program with Ammonite Motorsport in readiness for the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch on October 21-22 and the Walter Hayes Trophy event at Silverstone on November 4-5.
Previous scholarship winners include a number of former and current IndyCar and NASCAR drivers, including Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Jerry Nadeau, Buddy Rice, Andy Lally, Phil Giebler, A.J. Allmendinger, J.R. Hildebrand, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, Conor Daly, Connor De Phillippi, Spencer Pigot, Trent Hindman, Tristan Nunez, Oliver Askew and Kyle Kirkwood.
The Team USA Scholarship program has been providing opportunities for talented American race car drivers at an early stage in their careers since 1990.
