Niceville Graduate Races Toward a Professional Motorsports Career

A former local high school student who once dreamed of working in professional racing is now accelerating toward that goal — one certification, one degree, and one major internship at a time.

Jackson Shirey, a graduate of Niceville High School and the Automotive Technology program at Okaloosa Technical College, has built a résumé that blends technical skill with business savvy — a combination that recently earned him a coveted motorsports internship.

Shirey first enrolled at Okaloosa Technical College during his junior and senior years of high school, focusing on automotive technology with a clear long-term goal: work for a professional race team. After graduating, he returned to the program as an adult student to complete his training, ultimately earning the distinction of ASE Master Certified Technician — a credential that signals advanced mechanical knowledge and hands-on expertise.

He later enrolled at the University of North Florida, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. While there, Shirey serves as treasurer of the university’s Formula SAE racing team, a role that allowed him to bridge engineering and finance.

In that position, he helped negotiate a $100,000 partnership between the university’s racing team and The Brumos Collection — a milestone achievement that demonstrated his ability to connect education, industry, and motorsports.

Now, his childhood dream is moving closer to reality.

Shirey was recently accepted into the SPARK (Students Preserving American Racing Knowledge) Internship Program, where he will intern with Lone Star Racing during the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway — widely considered North America’s most prestigious sports car endurance race.

Each step, educators say, reflects the power of career and technical education pathways that allow students to gain industry certifications while still in high school — and then continue building on that foundation.

For Shirey, the journey from a Niceville classroom to pit road at Daytona represents years of persistence, education, and passion coming together at full throttle.