MIT will have to wait for JR Hildebrand

JR Hildebrand

Indy Lights driver Hildebrand enjoys physical training and is an avid mountain biker, although he misses the mountain trails of Northern California. He's a sports fan and played varsity baseball as a sophomore at Redwood High School in Corte Madera before giving it up to concentrate on racing.

He was also an excellent student in high school with a 4.12 GPA and graduated a semester ahead of the rest of his class. He was such a good student, in fact, he was accepted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, although he has deferred enrollment as his racing career has developed.

"(MIT) is certainly something I hope to take advantage of someday," he said. "But I'm in a situation where I'm not going to do anything that will put my racing career at risk. I'm hoping at some point to be able to figure out a way to take some classes."

An MIT education would certainly help Hildebrand with the technical aspect of racing and his ability to give accurate and detailed feedback to the team engineers.

"Racing has a highly technical side," he said. "It's important as a driver to understand those things. – Having the technical understanding – definitely gives you a leg up."