Senior Brian Watts is not your typical Wake Forest student pursuing a business degree. Instead of working behind a desk, Watts does his best work packed in behind the wheel of a car. Deep in the heart of professional racing country in North Carolina, Watts is making his mark both on and off the track. He recently formed a partnership with The ABW Motorsports and Velocity Motorsports companies, whom he represents in the 2002 Formula Mazda East Coast Series.

Earlier this fall, Watts competed in the Formula Mazda East Championship, at a race track in Summit Point, W. Va. Going into this final race of the season, Watts found himself with an excellent opportunity to move up in the rankings. After struggling in the qualifying race, Watts faced a race in rainy conditions, with which he has had little experience. However, he was able to overcome road conditions and soon found himself in second place under a double yellow flag.

A spin later in the race allowed many of the cars to lap him and forced him out of position, but Watts refused to give in to the road conditions. With the encouragement of his crew, he battled his way back to the forefront of the race. A three-lap battle ensued, finding Watts in second place at the end of the race.

Watts garnered points from this race for the fastest lap of the race and the Hard Charger award, catapulting his final season ranking to fourth. His outstanding rookie season performance merited him the "Rising Star" award from Pi Electronics.

While this may have been Watt's rookie season in professional racing, he has been following his life's passion for race cars ever since he was a young boy following his father's footsteps.

"I got started (in racing) because my father was doing high-performance drag events, which are where you take a street car and an instructor gets in with you and teaches you necessary skills," Watts said. "From there I just kept on spending time around cars and getting more involved." Watts drove his maiden trip around a race track when he was 18, and during his years at Wake Forest he has participated in several high performance driving schools.

Two years ago Watts received his professional racing license, and in October of 2000 debuted in a AMW sanctioned race at Road Atlanta.

He continued to compete in the BMW CCA Club racing, and as he improved has drew more prospects for racing opportunities.

"I have always been into cars as a kid, but never saw a way to get into it," Watts said.

"I have been very competitive for as long as I can remember. Racing requires a great deal of competitive nature as well as the ability to be aggressive and you learn to balance these qualities and combine them to be successful."

When Watts joined with the Velocity Motor Sports team, he switched to racing a Formula Mazda, an economical yet fast racecar. In his professional debut with Velocity Motor Sports at the Petite LeMans, he continued to show impressive skills as he placed 17th.

"It went quite well for what I expected," Watts said. "It rained during the qualifying round and I have little experience in the rain. However I have done well in the few times I have been on a slick track and I ended up qualifying for the pole position in my first pro race."

Watts continues to hone his impressive and promising skills in hopes of ensuring a sponsorship for the 2003 Star Mazda Pro Series.

"This year I have joined team Velocity Motor Sports and it has been great, but it is somewhat limiting in the way of sponsorships and TV coverage," Watts said. "Since last semester I have raced in three races all on the amateur ranks. I will graduate this December with a degree in Business and it is turning out to already be quite helpful. In racing your budget is a big issue as it especially is going to be for me this upcoming year. I have been able to face these challenges much better because of my understanding of marketing and the real world of business."

A replay of Watt's performance at Road Atlanta will appear on the Speed Channel on Nov. 16 at 8:30 pm.