Published: July 31, 2014
Written By: Chris Leone
In the modern era of motorsport, few drivers are able to excel in multiple disciplines during their career. Fewer still are able to compete in two wildly different forms of racing at once and be competitive in both. Enter Austin Cindric—who, at only 15, is proving himself to be a front-runner in both GRC Lites and the USF2000 championship.
Cindric’s first season in USF2000 came last year, where he showed steady improvement and earned three top-10s in his final five starts of the year. In his second season driving open-wheel cars, he has shown more of that consistent form, taking the first podium of his career at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in late May.
Two weeks later, he made his debut in the GRC Lites class at X Games Austin, proving very quickly that his skills weren’t limited to open-wheel racing. Racing an all-wheel drive GRC Lites car for the very first time, Cindric adapted skillfully, beating fellow USF2000 driver Colton Herta in the semifinals to make it to the final. After carefully avoiding trouble in the main event, Cindric came out of Texas as Red Bull GRC’s youngest X Games medalist.
“Just to be an X Games athlete is awesome,” Cindric said after taking home bronze. “It was an awesome day. I was able to pass Geoff Sykes on the inside of the hairpin, and I stayed in third after that, trying to keep up with Kevin and Mitchell. I was happy with my pace too—that was something I tried to improve on throughout the weekend, and it was a lot of fun.”
Despite having no dirt background before X Games, the Mooresville, NC native posted top-three times in both of his practice runs at The Dirt Track at Charlotte before following up with the second-best lap time in seeding. After his home race, Cindric remains in the top five in GRC Lites championship points in spite of a scheduling conflict that kept him out of the previous weekend’s event in New York.
“I’m missing about three races this year, so it might be unrealistic to think I can stay in the top five,” Cindric admitted in Charlotte. “But if I keep up the finishes with solid top threes and top fives, I think I can at least stay up there and have a chance at it.
“I think we’re all on equal ground, like they planned it to be with these cars. I think that’s the best thing about them—they’re all equal, and it’s all about the driver.”