Mechanical engineering junior Sean Johnston’s older brother took him to his first race when he was 7. His favorite driver, Alex Zanardi, won the race and did donuts right in front of him in victory.
“The sort of intensity in the air you can feel,” Johnston said. “I mean, it’s just sort of electric that there’s so much — I don’t know, it’s almost indescribable.”
It was that moment, in the thrill of having cars whip past him at 200 mph, that he said he wanted to be a professional race car driver.
Originally from Mt. Shasta, Calif., Johnston got into Cal Poly as a mechanical engineering major, driving a green Plymouth Voyager minivan with no seats in the back. His dream took a step further when he interned as a junior engineer for the Le Mans Prototype challenge race car with Performance Tech Motorsports.
Mechanical engineering professor John Fabijanic has worked in the racing industry and said Johnston is smart and knows what he wants.
“He’s laid out a plan and multiple ways to achieve that goal,” Fabijanic said. “He’s worked for groups that prepare race cars and he’s found that on his own. That’s what you have to do, you have to make contacts, you have to network and find people in the industry so when the opportunity arises they think of you and give you a call.”
But Johnston was told that even with all of his professional connections, he would have to raise $120,000 for the opportunity to drive.
Fortunately for Johnston, his big break came in an unexpected way. Earlier this year, Johnston became a part of the first North American GT Academy competition, sponsored by Nissan and Sony Entertainment. It is a nationwide racing video game tournament, originally held in Europe. Anyone with a Playstation 3 video game console and a copy of the game Gran Turismo 5 could compete.
From 54,000 initial registrants, only the top 32 of the online competitions would make it to nationals in Orlando, Fla. Then, the top 16 would fly to the UK’s Silverstone Circuit where those would be put into a racing boot camp, trading in simulators for real practice time behind the wheel of a race car.
A panel of judges will determine the best racer not only in terms of speed, but also marketability and charisma. The winner of the final leg of the competition will receive four months of formal racing training in the UK, a shot at getting an international racing license and a chance to be a professional race car driver. The winner would also be a part of a reality television series airing on Speed TV.
“This competition, the GT Academy, it doesn’t matter how much money you have, it doesn’t matter who you know. It’s a competition based purely on potential,” Johnston said. “They take the fastest people in the nation in a racing simulator and put them behind the wheel of an actual car. I mean, it’s just unprecedented. There’s really nothing else like this competition in the entire world.”
The winner of the 2008 European GT Academy, Lucas Ordonez, is a perfect example of how the competition can make dreams happen. He is racing in the Le Mans cup this year, after his humble GT Academy beginnings.
Johnston’s main dream is to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an endurance sports car race held every year in France, just like Ordonez. Like the name suggests, the race is non-stop for 24 hours, with drivers switching out through the night as they try to fit as many laps in as they can.
“It’s the ultimate test of a team of people and a machine,” Johnston said. “It’s what I truly love. I mean, Formula One is awesome, but the races are only an hour and a half long.”
Johnston’s roommate and friend, industrial engineering junior William Petrossi, said Johnston joined the triathlon team to keep himself in shape. Racing requires a certain level of physical fitness, especially for endurance racing like the 24-hour Le Mans. Petrossi said he also follows a strict diet regiment. Johnston even stopped drinking any alcohol after celebrating his national win.
“He doesn’t eat for pleasure, he just eats to satisfy his nutritional needs for the day,” Petrossi said. “That’s it. It’s like he’s a machine.”
Petrossi said his friend is determined, friendly and talented. In addition to racing, Johnston is a part of an a cappella group and plays the piano. He is the most focused member of their circle of friends, and his life revolves around his passion of racing.
“He’s so focused on becoming a professional race car driver, it seems (like) the bulk of his whole life,” Petrossi said.
The GT Academy competition was a big part of their household and Johnston’s roommates often watched him race. Johnston averaged three hours a day in his homemade racing chair.
“He had his priorities straight … he passed onto the next round, just barely, and got a 2.00 (GPA),” Petrossi said. “He budgeted his time perfectly between school and that. He had to sacrifice a lot of schoolwork to get onto the next round.”
Johnston made the top 32 cut and upped his gameplay to around five hours a day, racing online with competitors he was going to see again in Florida. Then he flew out during spring break, where he spent several days in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, competing with the fastest virtual racers in the country. He was given a video camera to blog about his experience of the whole trip.
Last Friday, he was on a plane heading for Silverstone. Johnston had placed No. 15 in the competition and is now behind the wheel of a race car in the UK, speeding towards his dream.
Erma Stauffer, Johnston’s communication studies professor last fall, noticed the quality of his work slipping during the competition. She said his last speech in her class was about finding your passion and taking the risk to do it. He went to her for advice about how to handle his academics and his dream, and she told him it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he left Cal Poly.
“He has really sort of worked in both keeping himself grounded in reality and trying to allow himself to dream and to think about possibilities,” Stauffer said. “He is so clearly passionate and he really believes that if he trusts that passion and goes for it fully, that it will materialize the way he wants, and that’s great.”