The 21-year-old Kansas native spent the early years of his career bouncing from circuit to circuit, piling up time driving everything from dirt go-karts to mini sprints to NASCAR’s Nationwide and Camping World Truck series. But moving to open-wheel racing isn’t the only barrier he’s breaking at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
If he qualifies the No. 75 Willy T. Ribbs car for the Freedom 100 on May 27, he’d be the first black driver to start a Firestone Indy Lights race. Qualifying also would mean he’d be following in the footsteps of one of his team owners, Ribbs, who was the first black man to compete in the Indy 500 when he finished 32nd in the 1991 race.
That’s hardly on his mind, though.
“I don’t really see it from one perspective,” said Austin, whose mother is white and father black. “As far as the color barrier, I don’t really think about that stuff. When I’m on the race track, I worry about racing.”
