Meet Russell Soto of Ann Arbor, MI

Today we’d like to introduce you to Russell Soto

Hi Russell, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Born in New York City and raised in Jersey City, NJ, my journey into motorsports began at the age of 8 years old, when my father brought me to an indoor go-kart track for the first time. I knew immediately that I loved racing: the feeling of adrenaline and of chasing improvement and perfection, as well as the thrill of competition.
My passion for the sport grew, and after winning indoor karting championships I eventually joined a regional karting team created by professional racing driver Stevan McAleer, a good friend and mentor to this day. It soon became very clear that my biggest obstacle in my racing career would be finances. Coming from a family without the money necessary to properly compete in racing, I was always at a disadvantage. While others might start out with brand new karts or new tires every race weekend, my own equipment was always lacking. Despite all of this, I still finished runner-up in the 2017 Northeast Karting Regional Championship.
Still, while many of the people I competed against in karting were able to move up to racing cars, my family had to save money so I could go to college. College was very important to my family, and to myself, so I decided to major in Mechanical Engineering, in order to develop my understanding of the intricacies of motorsports. I became involved with my school’s Formula SAE team, acquiring engineering knowledge as it relates to building race cars. While in college, I never lost sight of my goal and saved my money while using my time to attend some of the best racing schools, like the Skip Barber Racing School and the Bertil Roos Racing School. This allowed me to obtain my SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) racing license, and be ready for any future opportunities to go racing.
The 2020 global pandemic was hard for me as both a student and driver. I could not physically attend racing events or even get on track, so I decided to focus on simulation racing (or sim racing, for short). I was already using sim racing as a tool for my own development as a driver, practicing new tracks and the art of racing alongside others. Naturally, I quickly fell in love with sim racing because it features the same things that got me interested in motorsports as a young boy racing karts.
Of course, the main benefit is that it does not cost as much to participate, and so I acquired a lot of practice using the simulator as a tool to improve my real-life driving. Every time I got onto a real-life track I had practiced on the simulator, I could instantly apply those benefits and skills. Of course, there are key differences between the real experience and the simulated one, but since I have experience in both I could easily treat sim racing as a development tool with this understanding in mind.
After college, I began working in the automotive industry in Michigan, and immediately investigated how I could go racing while living here. I discovered Waterford Hills Road Racing, and began racing there with the help of Alex Della Torre, who had cars I could rent. I began racing in the Spec Racer Ford category there last year, winning every race I competed in. I still continued doing sim racing and discovered a sim racing community in the Metro-Detroit region. With Alex’s help as a volunteer of the Detroit Regional Sports Car Club of America (DRSCCA), I was able to start a sim racing series that brought together sim and real-life racers into one community that could race online weekly. This brought me to the attention of Superlap Drive Studio, a sim racing studio in Berkley, MI featuring racing simulators people can “arrive and drive” on.
At Superlap I became a professional sim racing coach, doing private and classroom type sessions as well as qualifying and competing in any national sim racing event Superlap would host, as one of their official drivers. The highlight would certainly be the latest national event I competed in, called “Sim Racing for the Kids”. This was a charity sim racing event that raised money for the SickKids Foundation Charity. I love being able to give back to the community, and this opportunity was very special because it allowed me to do so through something I enjoy doing. For this event, Superlap collaborated with Thaze Competition, a real-life professional racing team based in the Detroit area. My performance in this race, combined with my initiative and ambition as an aspiring race driver are the elements that I believe brought me the opportunity to join Thaze Competition as one of their sim racing drivers.
Currently, I am competing in the DRSCCA Sim Series with Thaze Competition, as well as in any future notable sim racing events. I am still an active sim racing coach with Superlap, and a regular who competes in their bigger events. With the real-life 2025 racing season coming up, my goal is to elevate my racing career to the next level. The hardest work for a driver like myself happens away from the race track, while looking for financial support to continue moving on in the motorsport world. With the season coming up soon, I am still seeking sponsorship and financial support. Nevertheless, despite the rejection and hardships I’ve suffered while pursuing my goal, I don’t give up. I would say that perseverance has been the overarching theme of my story, and it has gotten me to where I am today.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been anything but smooth! The pursuit of much needed financial support has been the toughest challenge I’ve faced in my life so far. Motorsport sponsorship absolutely has great value for business and marketing purposes, especially with an underdog story such as mine. However, getting businesses to see this value or agree to a commitment is a challenge in and of itself. As a result, I’ve had to pay for my own racing so far. As a kid in karting, this meant family sacrifices to support my racing, and now as a working adult, it means making my own financial sacrifices to keep my racing dream alive. Because of this there’s only so much that I can afford to do, which restricts me to only race at a local or club level for now. The dream is to become a professional racer, but this obstacle is what keeps me at the amateur level, and at a limited capacity at that.
Therefore, despite being rejected more times than I can remember by businesses when asking for sponsorship, I still get up and keep going not matter how hard it can be. I’ve taken the time to invest into my brand, Russell Soto Racing (RSR), creating a package tailored to be attractive for potential sponsors to become a part of my story. From a competitive standpoint, not being able to get as much practice is another result of financial hardship. Unlike other traditional sports like basketball or baseball, getting the chance to practice costs money, and is not as simple as finding a neighborhood court or field. Sim racing has been my main way of overcoming this obstacle, as well as making the most of all the real-life track time I am able to get outside of the races themselves. Every time I’m sitting in a race car, I am learning, and I constantly watch over footage of my driving to see where I can improve. It is very easy to look at other drivers around me and compare my situation with theirs, especially those with stronger financial backing. However, I never let that take away from my motivation. I want to become a professional racing driver, and I’m more determined than ever.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m constantly thinking about how I can improve my performance, and I take every chance to enter the cockpit of a racing car and hone my skills as much as possible. Reviewing my in-car footage, reading books on performance driving, and sim racing are some of the activities that I do to help my performance outside of the race track. Going to the gym and keeping a healthy routine are crucial so that I don’t succumb to the forces inside of the racing car. I’m best known at the Waterford Hills Road Racing track for my multiple victories in the Spec Racer Ford category, and as an instructor for their racing school and open-track days. At the Superlap Drive Studio, I am known as one of their main coaches and as a regular top performer at their sim racing events. As a coach, I specialize in advanced and beginner sim racing instruction. Since I can draw from real life experiences too, I help real-life drivers transition into sim racing and vice-versa. I am best known for winning the DRSCCA Sim Series championship multiple times, and becoming an official sim racing driver for Thaze Competition, a Michigan-based professional racing team. I started my own brand and business, Russell Soto Racing (RSR) to give my racing career a name that I can be associated with from a marketing and business standpoint. RSR’s mission statement is to provide businesses with value via motorsport activities and events. When I’m not driving, I’m making connections, networking and learning about businesses in order to offer them the value that the exciting world of motor racing brings. Overall, my greatest pride is being able to achieve what I have in spite of my limited resources and opportunities. I’m proud of being a diverse person continuing to strive for excellence, and of my devotion to the sport that stems from a pure passion for racing. Moving to a new place can seem intimidating to some people, but I did not let that get to me and decided that I was going to find my way here in Michigan.

What were you like growing up?
I’m forever grateful to my parents, Luis and Maribel Soto, for raising me and giving me a great childhood. I was born in New York City but I grew up just across the Hudson River in Jersey City, NJ. My father was a racing fan from before I was born, but I never really caught onto it until my parents brought me to a go-kart track in upstate New York and I fell in love with the sport and kept at it. In school I was always considered unique for being a racer, because most of my neighbors wouldn’t ever consider doing something like that. Most kids have that crazy dream when they’re younger, like becoming an astronaut or president, but for me, that dream became a pro racing driver since my first visit to the go-kart track, and I’ve kept it alive ever since. Once I got into racing, I quickly became a fan of Formula One. I draw inspiration from Lewis Hamilton, whom I consider my idol even now, because of how he carries himself as a good sportsman and respectful guy, on top of being an incredible driver. His story as well feels relatable to mine, and his choices to give back when he’s able to inspires me to do the same. In a lot of ways, I always tried to emulate him in how I carried myself growing up. Ayrton Senna was also an inspiration, with his devotion to giving back to the children of his home country of Brazil, as well as his determination to become the very best.
While racing was always the main focus, theatre acting was also something I really enjoyed doing as a child, taking on the lead roles in my elementary school drama programs. I do believe it’s that experience that has helped me with my presentation skills to this day. I always enjoyed engineering-related projects as a kid, too, starting with Lego building blocks (which I do still enjoy!) and leading to cool science fair projects that placed third at Hudson County Science Fairs. In racing that would be considered a podium, and that’s certainly something I’m proud of! That experience and interest for creation, as well as design work, definitely helped in me in engineering school and in my current role as an automotive engineer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.russellsotoracing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/russelltsoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/russell.soto.77/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russelltsoto/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@russellsoto4628
• Other: https://www.twitch.tv/russelltsoto