While most high school students look forward to going home, relaxing, and taking a break from the whirlwind of education, senior Bryce Warren has his eyes on the finish line.

At the young age of 17, Warren is on track to become a professional athlete in the racing field. His journey is something that has never been private, but now as his senior year is coming to an end, the true potential of his skill is finally at the starting line.

Warren initially began his racing career by accident. Unintentionally, Warren found that he had a special skill in racing after going to a go-kart track. After realizing that racing was something he wanted to do long term, Warren joined a racing league to better build upon his skill. This led to Warren creating an Instagram profile in order to spotlight his racing career.

“Whenever I was in my league, my best friend and I tied for third,” Warren said. “The top three went to state, so we both got to go. At state, I started from 20th place and got to third, right in front of my best friend. From there, I kept racing, posting on social media, and eventually got to drive my first race car when I was 14. I realized then that I’m not really scared of racing as long as I [am] in control.”

Since then, Warren’s career and preparation for being a professional athlete has only grown. His growing numbers on social media and his consistent improvement in race rankings have pushed him toward more opportunities to gain experience behind the wheel.

“[The] farthest I’ve gone for racing was Las Vegas,” Warren said.  “That’s where I got to race an Audi R8+ and an Acura NSX. I got first [place] by 32.4 seconds, which is a lot of time. I was about a third of the way ahead of second place. I got a plaque with my face on it from the race and a certificate for having six hours on a race track in a race car, which is important because some leagues don’t allow you to race unless you have a certain amount of hours.”

Warren has since received offers and invitations from around the world, but is choosing to finish high school and earn his diploma before taking his career to the next level. This has given him an abundance of time to train and work out to better himself for his races. Part of his training and commitment includes a multi-thousand dollar racing simulation set up, a strict regime, and a lot of physical conditioning.

“I lift five days a week. I have one to two days a week to work with specific muscle groups used particularly with racing. I watch what I eat, still having one or two cheat days a week. I eat healthy, eating lots of fruit, low carb and high protein,” Warren said. “I have to maintain a certain weight during the racing season. I have to stay around 155 pounds, because if not [I] could put [my]self or others in danger. Being lighter can make you faster.  I also have my simulation racing, which is around $12,000 worth of tech to make sure I can practice from home. I go at it six days a week and try to hit 15 hours. It’s all practice, whether it’s finding new tracks or races. It can be painful after a little bit. My hands can hurt from driving for so long.”

Warren plans to continue his education at Weatherford College to get his mechanic certification so he can work in his field of interest while training to become a professional racer. Until then, Warren is still accepting any opportunity he gets to improve upon his skill and better himself for his career.

“I have about 10 hours worth of professional hours in a race car, not including simulation racing,” Warren said. “I need 36 hours to race certain lengths, and I’m going to get more once I graduate. But, I recently signed with GridUp BlackHawk Racing. That will help me get recognized a little bit more, and is definitely the most competitive racing I’ve done because of the skill level.”

As he works hard toward his goals, Warren continues to be driven everyday by his faith, confidence and self-trust that all that he has worked towards will become a reality.

“A lot of people ask me, ‘How? How do you do it?’” Warren said. “I don’t have a direct answer for that. I will myself to get behind the wheel, and remember the younger version of me who wanted this so badly.”