Henry Drury

To me, racing has always been the pipe dream I couldn't chase.

Born
May 12, 2000

Current Residence
Tampa, USA

Hobbies
Working too much / Reading / Time with friends / Attempting to learn the piano!

Licenses
•  SCCA National Race License

Experience
•  2020 eSports World Champion
•  2-day Racing school
•  The PT Autosport Driver Shootout!

Unique Note

I’m determined to use my career to prove two things:

  1. That you can still become a professional racing driver, even if you don’t have family funding and you didn’t start karting at 3-years-old.

    2. &nbsp

  2. That if you have a spine-injury, chronic pain, or some form of disability, that there is still hope, and you can still chase your dreams.

Personal Approach

As someone who has always been told that my racing dreams are impossible due to funding, I’ve sacrificed everything to chase them, and I’m incredibly grateful to be in the position that I’m in.

Competition is what I live for, whether it’s training for a shot at the 2018 Winter Olympics, competing in eSports, or the PT Autosport Driver shootout, it’s the relentless pursuit of perfection that gets me out of bed and pushes me to a new level every day!

Biography

The Origins / 2006

My story starts like every other racing-mad kid. At six years-old I would sit with my parents every Sunday to watch the grand-prix, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with my life.

My genius plan to tell them this was to sit in bed at night and wait for them to come in to say goodnight, which was when I proudly announced that I wanted to spend my life driving a bomb on wheels in circles for a few hours each week.

Understandably, they didn’t like this announcement.

I think their exact words were: It’s too expensive, and it’s too dangerous.

Where it all went wrong / 2014

So now I’m 14 years old – and whilst my racing dreams are written off, I’ve followed another passion; I’ve become a 2-time national champion in figure skating, represented Great Britain internationally, and I’m planning a 2018 Winter-Olympics run.

One day, I’m training with my partner and we’re attempting a new lift on-ice for the first time. As I lift, I arch my back, force her up over my head, and lock my arms. As I lift, my back explodes in pain.

2 MRI’s and 6 doctor’s appointments later, they told me I had ruptured the two lowest discs in my spine. This is where it all goes downhill!

My lowest point / 2016

The years following my injury are the most difficult thing I’ve ever experienced.
From my first diagnosis I was told the best case scenario was a 2 year recovery time, and in an instant all of my career plans were gone – from Nationals to the Olympics, all of it was slipping away.

Injuries are common in every competitive sport, and you feel like you know what to expect, but you’re never warned about the mental impact. In an instant, I went from committing myself every day to chasing a goal, to suddenly being confined to a bed, barely able to move. As the weeks, months, and then years went on, my mental health plummeted and soon I couldn’t even bring myself to try to get out of bed. Even as my injury healed, I was in a constant fight against pain, with nothing to fight for.

Turning things around / 2018

Finally, my luck started to change. I underwent a Spinal Biacuplasty and Stem cell treatment in 2018, and they paid off, lowering my pain to a manageable level. But I’m lower than I’ve ever been, and I need to turn things around.

Over the next few months I came to a realisation. Life’s short, things go wrong, and nothing is guaranteed. So why wasn’t I chasing my biggest passion, my pipe dream, the thing I think about every minute of every day?

Sometime in 2018 I was introduced to GT3 driver George Richardson, and I told him about my desire to finally chase this dream. He introduced me to sim-racing, and suddenly the competitive fire that I’d been missing since I’d last skated was back! For the next two years, I threw myself into eSports, learning everything I could from everyone I could, and working my way up the sim-racing ladder until I finally found the opportunity to show my skills in the real world.

Racing Debut / 2019

The first time I ever sat in a racing car was at a racing school in Sebring, Florida. I couldn’t afford both 2-day schools, so I skipped the basic school using a loophole and threw myself in at the deep end. After clinging on for a few terrifying laps, my confidence started to build, and soon I was pushing.  After starting day one four seconds off the pace, I ended day two 0.002 seconds faster than the Indycar driver setting the reference laps.
I was ready.

A month later, I flew to Mid-Ohio for Round 1 of the racing school championship.
 I jumped on the plane with less than half of the budget for the race weekend, and no idea how I was going to make this work. I scrambled together my pitch in my iPhone notes, and when I arrived I pitched and begged with everything I had.

Somehow, they let me race. I jumped into the car elated, signed damage waivers I couldn’t afford to pay, and cleared my mind of everything except racing. I studied every lap, harassed coaches for feedback, and analysed other drivers. This was the chance I had worked for, and I wasn’t going to waste it.

Crashing back down / 2019

In my first race weekend I qualified 11th, 6th and 6th, and finished 4th, 2nd and 12th (gearbox issue).
I fought like hell for every second I spent in that car, and I flew home with a trophy to show for it.

I had made it. I was a racing driver.

Until 2 days later, when my season fell apart. As I couldn’t afford to keep racing, I tried to strike a deal with the racing school owners, but nothing came of it. With my back injury worsening and an empty bank account, I was resigned to the sidelines for the rest of 2019.

For the next 3 years, I worked like hell to get back to racing. I started businesses, looked for sponsors, and built my network. I was committed to building the foundation and the brand to launch a long-term racing career, but I still couldn’t find the money.

During this period I started Sim To Real Racing, a business committed to using eSports to provide an equal, accessible, and affordable entry level training ground for aspiring young racing drivers around the world, no matter your gender, race, or socioeconomic background.

PT Autosport Driver Shootout / 2022

In August of 2022, the chance I’d been waiting for finally came, in the form of the PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout.

For 73 days I committed myself entirely to winning this shootout, going as far as to condition my body specifically for the cars we were using, tracking down the very cars we were running, and even forcing myself to learn to run again, almost 9 years after my injury forced me to stop running forever.

On November 8th, 8 finalists gathered at New Jersey Motorsports Park for 2 days of gruelling testing, both on and off-track. Over the course of the event we were evaluated on our fitness level, marketing and promotional abilities, mindset, race craft, pace, setup feel, consistency, and more, I was crowned as the winner.

As winner of the shootout, I was awarded a scholarship and a Driver Development contract with the PT Autosport team, giving me the opportunity not only to race consistently in 2023, but also learn from the team’s professional driver in Porsche Carrera Cup.

I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity PT Autosport have given me, and suddenly the future looks brighter than ever.

Bring on 2023!