Also called: Race Car Engineer, Performance Engineer, Data Engineer (Motorsports)
Engineers and tunes race cars for NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, or Formula 1 teams.
During practice you study data from 200 sensors on the car, talk to the driver over the radio, and adjust the setup. Race weekends are intense; in between you're in the shop and wind tunnel.
Estimated; top F1 and NASCAR engineers earn much 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 engineering; Formula SAE is the classic path in.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Motorsports Engineering, Aerospace Engineering.
Growing about average. Small, very competitive field.
Low risk for 10 years. AI crunches telemetry and simulations; working with drivers and making race-day calls stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Auto tech CTE.
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.