Sign-In
Cart
So You Want To Be A Race Car Driver: A Kids' Guide to Motorsports, Racing Tracks, Speed and Strategy, and the Fearless Drivers Who Rule the Finish Lin
Paperback
Series: So You Want to Be A..., Book 9
Self HelpSports & RecreationTransportation
Publisher Price: $19.99
ISBN13: 9781972766156
Publisher: So You Want to Be...Books
Published: Apr 12 2026
Pages: 40
Weight: 0.29
Height: 0.10 Width: 8.00 Depth: 10.00
Language: English
WINNER - 2026 Literary Global Children's Book Awards (Sports Category)
WINNER of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award
From the So You Want To Be A... Series - 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, Grand Prize Winner
Two hundred miles per hour. Forces strong enough to blur your vision. Split-second decisions that separate a podium finish from a wall. Welcome to the real world of race car driving.
So You Want To Be A Race Car Driver is an illustrated nonfiction guide that takes kids ages 10-14 deep inside one of the most thrilling and demanding careers on the planet. It is packed with jaw-dropping facts about the fastest cars, the most powerful engines, and the vehicles that shaped motorsport history - but at its heart it is a book about what it actually takes to become a professional driver, told with honesty, depth, and genuine respect for young readers who want the real story.
Start with the science. Modern race cars are rolling laboratories of physics and engineering. Aerodynamics press them into the pavement. Tires grip and release in ways that change lap by lap. Formula-style open-wheel machines and stock cars demand completely different techniques, and understanding why is part of what separates a talented kid in a kart from a future professional. Young enthusiasts will discover how drivers learn to feel what the car is telling them, translate that into precise language for their engineers, and shave fractions of a second from every corner.
Then there is the human side. Race car drivers are elite athletes. They endure punishing g-forces, extreme heat, and heart rates that spike above 170 beats per minute - for hours. This book explores how drivers condition their bodies, sharpen their reaction times, and train their minds to manage fear and focus at once - the mental preparation that lets a driver stay calm when a race comes apart in the final corner and pure instinct is all that is left.
Inside, young readers will explore what real preparation looks like, from simulator learning to race-day strategy. They will meet the team behind every driver - the engineers, mechanics, strategists, and coaches whose work makes speed possible. They will trace the history of motorsport and the legendary drivers who redefined the limits. And they will find concrete steps kids can take right now to discover whether this might be their calling.
Children drawn to cars and competition deserve a guide that takes their curiosity seriously. This illustrated book does exactly that - honest, specific, and written to light something up in the reader who already feels the pull toward the track.
Some kids watch race cars scream past and feel the ground shake. Others feel something deeper - a future taking shape. This book is for them.
1 different editions
Also available
Also from
Soules, Linda
Also in
Self Help
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women
Cavallo, Francesca
Rebel Girls
Favilli, Elena
Hardcover
You Got This!: Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, and Change Your World
Penn, Maya S.
Hardcover
What to Do When Your Temper Flares: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Problems with Anger
Huebner, Dawn
Paperback
The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World
Price, Catherine
Haidt, Jonathan
Paperback
The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World
Price, Catherine
Haidt, Jonathan
Hardcover
The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs: 100+ Recipes That You'll Love to Cook and Eat
America's Test Kitchen Kids
Hardcover
The Girl's Body Book (Fifth Edition): Everything You Need to Know for a Healthy, Happy You!
Dunham, Kelli
Paperback
We Need to Talk about Cancer: An Important Book for Patients, Family, and Friends
Neon Squid
Juneja, Sanjay
Paperback
Eyes, Knees, Boundaries, Please!: My First Book about Private Parts and Consent
Playforth, Krupa Bhojani, MD
Hardcover
The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs: 100+ Sweet and Savory Recipes That You'll Love to Bake, Share and Eat!
America's Test Kitchen Kids
Hardcover
How to Be an Awesome Toddler: 50 Easy Rhymes to Make Growing Up Exciting and Fun!
Burk, Rachelle
Hardcover
My Bicentennial Summer: True Adventures from the Most Epic Family Road Trip of All Time
Neri, G.
Hardcover
My First Mom and Daughter Journal: An Activity Book for Girls and Moms Together
Clemons, Katie
Paperback
What to Do When You Worry Too Much, 2nd Edition: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety
Huebner, Dawn
Paperback
How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn Before You're Grown Up
Newman, Catherine
Paperback
Marie's Magic Eggs: How Marie Procai Kept the Ukrainian Art of Pysanky Alive
Wallace, Sandra Neil
Hardcover
Breathe a Rainbow (an Interactive Board Book): With 8 Calming Textures to Trace with Your Finger
Koon, Julie
Hardcover
The Big Book of Birthdays: How Birthdays Are Celebrated Around the World
Feunekes, Anna Lena
Hardcover
Private Parts are Private: Learning private parts are private and what to do if touched inappropriately
Sanders, Jayneen
Paperback
How to Survive an Apocalypse: The End of the World Doesn't Have to Be the End of the World
Coonradt, Coby
Hardy, Cameron
Hardcover
Taylor & Travis Forever Ultimate Fan Edition Little Golden Book Biography: Bonus Wedding Planning Pages! Stickers!
de Las Heras, Nicole
Hardcover
The Boy's Body Book (Fifth Edition): Everything You Need to Know for a Healthy, Happy You!
Dunham, Kelli
Paperback
The Girl Who Changed Little League: The True Story of Maria Pepe and Her Battle to Play Ball
Pepe, Maria
Patrick, Jean L. S.
Hardcover
Letter Tracing and Handwriting Practice Book: Trace Letters and Numbers Workbook of the Alphabet and Sight Words, Preschool, Pre K, Kids Ages 3-5 + 5-
Trace, Jennifer L.
Press, Diverse
Paperback
Time for Kids: Your Hot Job Field Guide: A How-To Book for Exploring Your Future Career Path
Singer, Allison
Time for Kids
Paperback
The Patriots and the Pox: George Washington's Battle to Save the Continental Army
Anderson, Beth
Hardcover
A Doctor at Heart: The Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas
Schoettler, Joan
Hardcover
How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers): Remembering Slavery and How It Shaped America
Smith, Clint
Hardcover
Auntie Kristina's Guide to Asian American Activism
Wong, Kristina
Chao, Theodore
Wang, Anna Michelle
Hardcover
How We Love (a We Celebrate Book): A Board Book
Little Feminist
Douglas, Kati
Jefferson, Ashley
Hardcover
André André Leon Talley--A Fabulously Fashionable Fairy Tale
Weatherford, Carole Boston
Sanders, Rob
Hardcover
A Supreme Friendship: The Unlikely Bond Between Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia
Murphy, Debbie Rovin
Hardcover
A Place to Dance: How Richard Lamberty Brought Change to the Ballroom
Lamberty, Richard
Rosswood, Eric
Hardcover
Fight for the Right to Read: Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Sit-Down Strike for Library Reading Equality
Gottesfeld, Jeff
Green, Michelle Y.
Hardcover
Indestructibles (the Original): Sesame Street: Let's Take a Bath!: Chew Proof - Rip Proof - Nontoxic - 100% Washable (Book for Babies, Newborn Books,
Pixton, Amy
Sesame Street
Paperback
Indestructibles (the Original): Al Bebé Le Encanta La Biblioteca/Baby Loves the Library
Workman Publishing
Paperback
The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II (Scholastic Focus)
Fleming, Candace
Hardcover
Sam's Neighborhood: How One Deaf Neighbor Transformed a Community - Includes More Than 20 ASL Signs
McCormick, Patricia
Hardcover
The Feelings Activity Book for Toddlers: 50 Fun Activities to Identify, Understand, and Manage Big Feelings
Spensley, Stacy
Paperback
When Someone Very Special Dies: Children Can Learn to Cope with Grief
Heegaard, Marge Eaton
Paperback
A Smart Girl's Guide: Friendship Troubles: Dealing with Fights, Being Left Out & the Whole Popularity Thing
Kelley Criswell, Patti
Paperback
Friedel and Gina: A True Story of Sisterhood and Survival During the Holocaust
Dronfield, Jeremy
Hardcover
Secrets and Surprises: Learning the difference between secrets and surprises
Sanders, Jayneen
Paperback
My Body! What I Say Goes!: Teach children body safety, safe/unsafe touch, private parts, secrets/surprises, consent, respect
Sanders, Jayneen
Paperback