Maddie Aust

Maddie Aust is a rising American racer who traded championship cheerleading routines for racing apexes, becoming the first woman to win an SRO America race since the series was founded in 1995. A TCU student juggling college and competition, she’s already swept weekends and set her sights on racing’s most intense overseas circuits.

EARLY YEARS

The pandemic has a lot to answer for—canceled proms, Zoom graduations, sourdough bread phases—but for Maddie Aust, it triggered something else entirely: a full-throttle pivot from cheerleading mats to race tracks. Around age 16, while the world was stuck inside, Aust was out running hours on local tracks, plotting a racing career that would’ve seemed impossible just months earlier. She’d been a competitive cheerleader since age 8, racking up multiple national and world championship titles, the kind of athlete who knew what winning felt like and wasn’t about to stop chasing it just because the venue changed.[1][3]

Her father saw the shift coming and leaned in hard, purchasing a BMW that became her ticket into the sport. That car wasn’t just transportation—it was an invitation. Aust started driving it, fell for it, and connected with Fast Track Racing, the team that would give her first real racing opportunities.[1][3] No silver spoon here, no karting career since toddlerhood. Just a teenage girl who turned 16, got behind the wheel, and decided she wanted more.

OTHER INTERESTS

Before racing took over, Aust lived and breathed competitive cheerleading for nearly a decade. Starting at age 8, she climbed to the top of one of the most demanding athletic pursuits out there—the kind where you’re flipping, flying, and holding formations that require strength, precision, and zero room for error. She collected championships on national and world stages, learning early what it meant to perform under pressure and trust your body to do exactly what you trained it to do.[1] That foundation—the endurance, the mental toughness, the ability to execute when it counts—transferred straight into the cockpit. As she put it herself, cheerleading gave her personal endurance that translates perfectly to multi-hour race stints. She can go all day on track, no problem.[1]

By 2023, Aust was balancing racing with being a full-time student at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, navigating sophomore year while chasing podiums.[2][3] Details on hobbies, downtime, or what she does when she’s not studying or strapped into a race car remain a mystery—she’s either very private or very, very busy.

EARLY SUCCESS

Aust’s racing education happened fast. She started in open-wheel competition, logging 21 starts in Formula 4 and scoring two wins—solid results, but just the beginning.[2] Then came endurance racing. “Sometime last year I did a WRL (World Racing League) event with Fast Track Racing,” she explained. “I knew I wanted to do endurance racing as I developed. I am good to go all day track. I have personal endurance. You can put me out there for two or three hours at a time and I’m going to be fine.”[1] That event wasn’t just for fun—it led directly to her father buying the BMW, which led to more seat time, which led to Fast Track offering her a spot in TC America powered by Skip Barber for 2023.[1]

Her first two TC America races were learning experiences—getting acquainted with the BMW M2 CS, figuring out the car, the series, the competition.[1] Then she showed up at Circuit of the Americas in Texas for her first real SRO series outing and immediately grabbed second and third-place finishes.[1] Not bad for someone still technically a rookie. But the real statement came at Virginia International Raceway in June 2023, in her sixth TC America start. Aust didn’t just win—she swept the weekend, taking both TCX class victories and becoming the first woman to win an SRO America race since the series launched in 1995.[2][3]

That second win at VIR, on Father’s Day no less, was a masterclass in racecraft. She surged from the outside, overtook Colin Garrett, and held him off to take the checkered flag.[3] The history-making part? She downplayed it. Speaking at BMW’s inaugural Women in Motion Conference in March 2023, Aust made it clear she wasn’t interested in being defined by her gender—she was there to race, period.[3]

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2023: First TCX class win at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), TC America powered by Skip Barber[2][3]
• 2023: Second TCX class win at VIR on Father’s Day weekend—first woman to win an SRO America race since the series founding in 1995[2][3]
• 2023: Swept VIR weekend in sixth TC America start[3]
• 2023: Second and third-place finishes at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in first competitive SRO series outing[1]
• Pre-2023: Two wins in Formula 4 across 21 starts[2]
• 2024: Joined BSI Racing for Toyota GR Cup season in No. 09 Endava Toyota GR86, beginning April 5, 2024 at Sonoma Raceway[2]
• Pre-racing: Multiple national and world championship titles in competitive cheerleading[1]

INSPIRATIONS

Aust hasn’t publicly named racing heroes, role models, or the drivers whose posters hung on her wall—if there were any. What’s clear is that her father played a pivotal role, not just financially but as the person who recognized her hunger and gave her the tools to chase it.[1][3] Beyond that, her inspirations remain her own.

REPUTATION

Shea Holbrook, Team Owner at BSI Racing, didn’t mince words when she brought Aust onto the team for the 2024 GR Cup season. “Maddie is a competitor through and through,” Holbrook said. “She’s gotten a lot of seat time since she moved to racing, and it shows… excited to see what she does.”[2] That assessment tracks—Aust’s competitive DNA was forged in cheerleading and refined on track, and the results speak for themselves.

Media coverage has been consistently positive, framing her as a trailblazer without making her entire identity about breaking barriers. She’s been called a “humble trailblazer,” someone who made history at VIR but didn’t need a spotlight to validate it.[3] At the BMW Women in Motion Conference, she downplayed the significance of being a female driver, making it clear she’s focused on the racing, not the headlines.[3] Her peers and competitors see her as someone who’s put in the work—lots of seat time, lots of learning, and an appetite for more.

Her overtaking at VIR, where she surged from the outside to grab the lead and then held off a determined Colin Garrett, showcased racecraft that goes beyond raw speed.[3] She’s not just fast—she’s smart, aggressive when it counts, and knows how to close the door. The cheerleading endurance she mentioned isn’t just physical; it’s mental toughness, the ability to stay sharp for hours, to hit apexes the way she used to hit routines.[1]

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

Aust isn’t content staying stateside. “I am hoping to get over to Europe just because it is a bit more intense over there with the style of racing that I’m doing,” she said, eyes already on circuits overseas where the competition is fiercer and the stakes higher.[3] It’s the kind of ambition that makes sense for someone who’s already rewritten SRO America history books before finishing college.

As of the latest available information from 2024, she was running the Toyota GR Cup with BSI Racing, piloting the No. 09 Endava Toyota GR86 and learning yet another platform.[2] “I am thrilled to be running the GR86 Cup with BSI Racing this year,” she said ahead of the season. “With this incredible team, I know I will have the support necessary to succeed on track and enhance my skills as a driver. I can’t wait for the season to begin!”[2] No updates on 2025 plans, contracts, or next moves have surfaced, but if her trajectory so far is any indication, Aust isn’t slowing down. She’s still a student at TCU, still stacking seat time, and still hungry for the next win—preferably on a grid where the racing is “a bit more intense.”[2][3]

References:

Maddie Aust and Building Blocks – TC America
BSI Racing Adds Maddie Aust – GR Cup Series
Passing on the Outside – TCU Magazine, Winter 2024