Juggling finishing high school and a professional racing career can present challenges – which Sienna Wildgust knows about firsthand.
Wildgust, a 17-year-old from Ontario, Canada, is completing her senior high school while also driving a Camaro in NHRA’s Pro Stock class for powerhouse KB Titan Racing.
“It is definitely hard trying to manage doing high school and being on a race team and doing (my) social media and all that kind of stuff, but I feel like I have found a pretty good balance,” Wildgust said. “The time I am home, it is gears toward school, and when I’m on the road, I just make time to get it done.”
To make her Pro Stock debut in 2024, Wildgust had to make some sacrifices for school.
“I was doing half my classes in person and half online, but I had to change all my classes to online and redo a whole bunch of the courses from the start online,” Wildgust said. “That was hard to have to redo the classes, but I had to do that because I was away more than half the day, so they made redo it all. I feel like I’m finally catching up.”
Wildgust said she has to finish all her high school classes at St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in Stratford, Ontario, by June 3 to receive her diploma. Stratford is about 90 minutes from Toronto.
“Once I finish high school, I’m going to take a year off and then eventually go to school in college,” Wildgust said. “I want to see how racing is going and I want to take business management in college so it will go hand-in-hand with my racing.”
With the deadline to complete her high school requirements approaching, Wildgust does have to carve some free time on race weekends for school.
“I usually try and finish all my schoolwork on Friday before qualifying,” Wildgust said. “I try and go in the trailer and do a couple of hours of schoolwork and studying. Fortunately, I use the Wi-Fi the crew chiefs use in the trailer, so it is good. I don’t have to worry about losing Wi-Fi right in the middle of me taking a test. Doing school online it is more flexible because I can do things on my time, but I do have a deadline to get my diploma (June 3).”
Wildgust acknowledged this year has been a whirlwind experience.
“It has been insane,” she said. “It is definitely a lot, but it has been very exciting. When I’m at home, I also do all my own social media for my team. I get photos, graphics and put it all together. It also helps me get sponsors for my team. I’m hoping when school gets done things will get a bit easier because then I can just focus on racing, which will be nice. That will be a relief.”
In the highly competitive Pro Stock class, Wildgust has qualified for three of the first five races and she still looking for her first round win. She will get an opportunity to do that when she competes at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by Peak Performance May 17-19 in Chicago.
“I have never been to Chicago, so this will all be new to me,” said Wildgust, who will turn 18 in June. “I give all the glory to my teammates and my tuner. We had to make a lot of changes and get the right people in place, and it has been awesome. It has been crazy to see some people not qualify who always qualify for every event and I get qualified. I give all the glory to my guys. I’m one of their main priorities to get in the field and they definitely give me the race car to do it. If I can show up and drive and do my job, we will have a good outcome. I give all the credit to my guys because they work so hard, especially on my car.”
