Joey Brienza races at 160 miles per hour, with a suit, helmet and car adorned with Indiana University logos and colors.
IU’s Kelley School of Business is Brienza’s sponsor as well as his academic home as a finance and accounting major.
Brienza, a rising senior, is in his second-year racing in the USF Pro 2000 series. It is two rungs below IndyCar and one below INDY NXT. He raced last month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and will compete this month at Road America in Wisconsin.
Brienza aims to advance to INDY NXT in the next year or two and then IndyCar.
“Right now I've positioned myself, in my thinking and in my life, to where this is the only option for me, to do well,” he said. “I have to succeed and I have to excel at what I'm doing.”
Brienza’s racing career started when he was 10 years old at an indoor go-karting track in Colorado, his home state. His dad took Brienza and his siblings. Afterwards, on the back of a scorecard with Brienza’s results, there was an ad to join a competitive karting program.
Brienza said he didn’t hear anything about it from his dad for a few months.
“One day after school he was like, ‘come with me,’ and I was misbehaving that day,” Brienza recalled. “I probably didn't do my dishes or something, so I thought I was in trouble. He took me into Denver to the go-karting shop, got me a go-kart, and it kind of all started from there.”
Brienza started racing locally in Colorado, then regionally and nationally at 12 years old. At 13 years old, he moved to Europe for a year and raced in Europe. When he came back to the U.S., he did two more years of karting at the highest level in the U.S.
He started to transition from karting to cars and at 17 years old he signed with Exclusive Autosport.
Growing up Brienza loved football, basketball and hockey, but his passion was racing.
“When I'm racing, it's very locked in, very focused, very dialed in, because in these things you're going 160 miles an hour on the knife's edge, and any little mistake can (cause a) crash,” Brienza said.
He said crashing is always in the back of the mind, but instead of worrying about spinning out in a corner, he prioritizes technique.
“Let's go and make sure that my throttle technique is perfect, that my line is perfect, and that I maximize the corner and do the best I can, because if I do that and I drive to the limit, but not over it, I'll have a good outcome,” Brienza said.
Off season for Brienza is December and the first two weeks in January. After that, there’s pre-season testing in Florida and the season from March to September. And there’s academics.
Brienza said he’s grateful to his professors understanding his sport and being flexible with him on deadlines. He said what’s key for him is time management and organization. He said he plans his schedule from a week to a month ahead of time.
“When anything in school arises, or I need to do edits, make a little change here, study a little more for this test, I'm already so far ahead that it's not a big tax or a big stress on me,” he said.
On Brienza’s team there are two other racers who are university students. Brienza estimated that 10 percent of racers pursue degrees, while the others do home-school or solely focus on racing.
When Brienza was deciding on a college, he said his dad kept telling him he needed to visit IU. He wasn’t a big fan of college visits but after he visited IU he committed immediately.
“I'm going to a top 10 business school in the country … while being an hour away from anything I could possibly need with racing, and (with) much better location centrally to all the tracks,” he said. “I was like, if I don't go here, I'm a complete buffoon.”
The IU Kelley School of Business sponsored Brienza after the first race of this season. He said he’s honored to represent IU and the Kelley School of Business while racing.
This year’s USF Pro 2000 series season consists of 18 races, including multiple races at the same track. He is currently 19th out of 26 drivers in the points standings.
Before each race Brienza eats a cake pop and listens to rap music.
“I gotta get fired up,” he said. “Some people say that I'm a pretty tame and calm guy out of the car, and yeah, when I get in the car, you have to be a different animal.”
When he gets in his car he prays.
“I’m not a big superstition guy,” Brienza said. “I think that I control what I can control.”
After each session on the track, Brienza reviews video and data from the car to know what to fix and what to keep doing. The data provides throttle pressure, break pressure and speed so a driver can see exactly where they are losing time.
Each race has its own set of challenges, from brake zones to throttle application and changing the balance of the car.
“The sport's really brutal,” he said. “It'll take you to the highest of highs, but also the lowest of lows, and you got to make sure that you're mentally prepared for everything.”
Brienza said striving to become an IndyCar driver requires little things like having to go to bed early at times but he’s still able to have a normal college life.
“I love what I do and I don't feel like I'm sacrificing anything,” he said. “I'm just doing what I can to perform at the best level.”
