Also called: Race Car Engineer, Performance Engineer
Works with a race driver to set up the car and plan strategy for NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA or F1 teams.
During practice you study data from 200 sensors on the car while the driver tells you over the radio that it's sliding in turn 4. You change the wing angle and tire pressures, and on race day you call pit-stop strategy from the pit wall.
Pay varies hugely: junior series engineers earn modest pay; top F1 and NASCAR engineers earn far more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in mechanical or motorsport engineering; Formula SAE experience is a big plus.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Motorsport Engineering.
Growing about average. Very small, competitive field.
Low risk for 10 years. AI crunches telemetry and strategy faster; working trackside with drivers and making split-second calls stays human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Auto shop, Computer science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2141.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.