He’s trying to accomplish something that’s never been done: Coronado High School graduate Austin Varco (class of 2017) is gunning to become the first openly-diagnosed autistic driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race.
And he’ll have a chance to do so soon, as Varco’s competing in his first ARCA Menards Series race, the Portland 112, on Aug. 29 in Oregon with Strike Mamba Racing.
Auto racing is in the Varco genetics. Austin’s parents, David and Suzanne, were amateur club racers, and Austin started to drive karts at the age of four. He continued to drive and race through age 12, before quitting to try other sports like mixed martial arts, lacrosse and baseball. It wasn’t until college that Varco decided to get back into competitive racing.
As a sophomore at the University of Southern California, Varco got a part-time job that made him enough money to spend days at local tracks and “exercise the muscle” of driving again. What started as a weekend hobby turned into something much bigger.
In order to race competitively, drivers must attend a racing school to earn their license. Varco earned the Roy Mallory Memorial Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Scholarship, which allowed him to go to racing school while attending USC as a full-time student.
Varco then began racing in the Spec Miata class. All cars are the same – first and second-generation Mazda Miatas – converted for racing with full roll cages. Being a student, Varco had to race on a budget. Though his parents raced and he had connections, he was still financially responsible for his personal racing ventures. At the beginning of his career, he often inherited equipment, like brakes or tires, from other competitors.
“It was a hobby that I enjoyed pouring all of my money into,” Varco said. “And I was doing it on a budget and I think that that’s a formative part of my career … If I crashed, it was going to be on me to repair it.”
The financial burden fueled Varco even more. Good finishes meant more money. More money meant better equipment. Better equipment meant better racing. Better racing could mean making a living from racing. Heading into his first full season in Spec Miata, Varco sold his car to get a better one. The results speak for themselves.
Varco’s first full season was in 2022. He finished the year with three wins, 11 podium finishes, and 14 top-five finishes. The results were good enough to finish second in the Spec Miata Championship and win him the 2022 SCCA Rookie of the Year.
Though racing was what Varco wanted to pour all of his time into, he needed a job post-college – some form of income to help sustain his racing. After graduating from USC in 2022 with a degree in real estate development, Varco got a job with Porsche as a racing instructor. The work was in L.A., and Varco was living in Coronado (he now lives in Chula Vista). He was juggling a job with a two-hour commute and a young racing career. Though he loved coaching, he realized full-time racing was a possibility. He quit his job; he had to go all in.
Varco said the financial aspects of racing make it distinct among sports.
“If you can’t afford to race, then you can’t race,” he noted. “Football, you might be able to go find a field and run drills. In basketball, you can go play in a rec league and probably get really good at shooting three pointers if you do 3,000 of them a day.” But for auto racing, “Even if you have all the natural talent in the world, you still have to have funding.”
Varco’s day-to-day life after quitting his job changed drastically. Instead of working during the day and trying to continue to find time to race, he dedicated a majority of his time to looking for possible sponsors. Even today, Varco estimates that he spends between six and eight hours a day interacting with sponsors and finding new ones.
Over the past few years, Varco has continued to grind away in the Spec Miata class. The jump to the ARCA Menards Series is a big one, to say the least. Instead of the Miata, Varco will be in a Chevrolet SS, a much bigger car than he’s used to. Instead of a 2,500 pound car with 400 horsepower, he’ll be in a 3,500 pound car with 650 horsepower. Instead of racing in the ballpark of 120 mph, he’ll be in the mid to high 100s. Track sizes and shapes vary from race to race.
“That series is kind of like NASCAR’s, their highest level regional touring series,” Varco said. “As a driver, if you want to go run in the trucks or the Xfinity series, you have to first run some ARCA races because the ARCA cars are extremely similar to the Xfinity cars.”
The ascension to the ARCA Menards Series is a natural progression for most NASCAR drivers. The three national NASCAR series are the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. If Varco continues to improve, this should be a stepping stone to one of the three national touring series.
Around the same time he started driving again in college, Varco was officially diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, autism spectrum disorder is defined as “ a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave.” Roughly one in 31 children in the U.S. have autism, and one in 45 adults have it. Varco said his autism has not only motivated him as a racer, but it’s led him to communities he never would have found otherwise.
For Austin, his autism has its benefits and drawbacks when it comes to racing. On the plus side, he hyper fixates on his work and doesn’t experience burnout when it comes to racing. However, he experiences burnout socially, and making constant communication with media members or sponsors can get exhausting.
In 2022, he started a nonprofit organization, Race4Autism. After his diagnosis and a falling out with a few friends, Varco felt isolated for a bit. It was the isolation that inspired him to find and immerse himself in communities of people who are on the spectrum. Varco quickly realized that though he grew up with autism, he had the luxury of having a second home on the track. Many of his peers didn’t have such privilege.
“I realized that a lot of the people that are on the spectrum – and there are tons of NASCAR and racing fans that are on the spectrum – a lot of them can’t go to a race, especially like little kids, they can’t go to a race because it’s just too overwhelming,” Varco said. “The noises, the smells, the fans, the cars coming through the paddock, it’s just chaos. And it’s a chaos that I take for granted because it’s easy for me to manage. I’ve been doing it for 25 years. Race4Autism was a program that I created to bring the racetrack to sensory sensitive people, whether it’s autism or something else.”
Race4Autism hosts between nine and 12 events per year. He brings his trophies, race cars and a driving simulator he uses for training. He even lets children drive on the simulator to see or feel some of the things he may experience on the track.
There’s another motivation for Varco to let them drive on the simulator, though. According to a study from the National Library of Medicine in 2017, only one in three adolescents with autism acquires a driver’s license. If kids can get a feel for driving, like Varco did at the age of 4, maybe they’ll be encouraged to get their licenses.
Race4Autism also has helped Varco expand his fanbase. After a crash late last year, Varco needed a new hood for his car. His next race was only a week away, and Varco didn’t have time to get the all-white hood painted. Instead of repainting it, his crew chief came up with the idea to let fans sign the hood of his car when he signs autographs. So, for a good chunk of the past year, Varco has raced in a car with a signature-covered hood.
As Varco starts racing in a NASCAR-sanctioned series, the two goals for his career remain the same.
“There have not been any drivers in NASCAR history openly diagnosed with autism to win at any level,” Varco said. “That’s my biggest goal is to win a race in NASCAR at some level. My second goal would be to make it to the Cup series or Xfinity, but you know, to be honest, I just love racing and it doesn’t make a difference to me whether I’m racing in the Cup Series or I’m racing in Xfinity. I just know that, that in my life, this is what I’m good at. And this is what I’m so passionate about, I can’t even sleep. I don’t really care where I’m racing. I just want to be doing it.”
The Portland 112 will be raced at Portland International Raceway on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. PT. The race is 57 laps, or 112 miles, on a 1.967 mile, 12-turn road course. It will be streamed live through FloRacing and MRN Radio, and live scoring can be found at arcaracing.com. Varco will be in car number 72 with Strike Mamba Racing.
