For many young racing drivers, a passion for motorsport begins with watching Formula 1 on television or dreaming of one day following in the footsteps of their heroes. For Jack Beeton, it all started much the same.
Speaking exclusively to Pit Debrief, the Australian reflected on the journey from a young boy growing up on the Gold Coast to becoming one of the country’s brightest open-wheel prospects. While his career has accelerated rapidly in recent years, Beeton admitted his introduction to racing was never part of a grand plan, it simply started as something he loved.
From Cars to karting
Like many children, Beeton’s earliest memories of motorsport came long before he ever sat behind the wheel of a kart.
“When I was a kid, I think like many other kids, I liked the movie Cars, I liked playing with Hot Wheels. I was always a fan of cars and racing. Then at some point, I guess I think I watched F1 and I told my dad I wanted to race and he put me in a go-kart when I was seven, almost eight.
“It started just for a bit of fun, racing once a month, even once every few months, because I have three other brothers. My dad had to have time for them as well. So I raced when I had time. It wasn’t too serious, but I was definitely enjoying it. I was getting better and better.”
As the years passed, racing gradually became more than an occasional weekend activity. Beeton began competing in Australia’s national karting scene before a life-changing opportunity opened the door to Europe.
“Then sort of at 13, I started racing in the National Series in karting in Australia, getting better, taking it a bit more seriously, racing every weekend. Then when I was 14 in 2022, there was this Ferrari Driver Academy scouting camp in Asia, which I volunteered for. Well, I put my hand up for it and I went there and ended up winning the camp and got sent over to Europe.
“Then I went to Europe, didn’t win the World Finals there, but then ended up racing there and the rest was history.
“Everything sort of really got fast-tracked. My whole career sort of felt like it’s just been fast-tracked every once in a while. I never feel like it’s happening slowly. Everything happens fast, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I’m really enjoying it so far. This is what I want to do and I’m very grateful that I have the opportunity to do it.”
When the dream became reality
Despite racing every weekend throughout his early teenage years, Beeton said it wasn’t until he made the move to Europe that he truly realised motorsport could become his career.
“I mean, even still, like when I was racing go-karts every weekend at 13 or 14, you know, I was still going to school every day like a normal kid. It never felt like, ‘Alright, my life is just going to be racing.’
“I mean, I could never imagine my life without racing, but it never realised [clicked] in my head that, ‘Okay, this is actually possible.’
“Then I think once I made the step up to F4 in Europe, I think that was the sort of game changer. It was like, ‘Wow, this really is… you know, I’m sacrificing a lot. I’m moving away to the other side of the world, away from my family. This is it now.’
“Then it became really, really serious. Now, especially since coming over here to America, racing in INDY NXT, it’s one step below IndyCar. That’s the top level, right? So we’re almost there.
“It’s still obviously a dream. I want to make my career as a racing driver, so I’ll do everything in my power to get that.”
A sporting upbringing on the Gold Coast
Away from the race track, Beeton grew up in a household where sport was simply part of everyday life.
“I’ve always grown up playing sports. I come from quite a sporting family. My mum is running every day, training, my dad played rugby and he was rugby captain of his school as a kid. My three brothers were always playing sport. It sort of changed every term.
“I was never amazing at anything else. I think the best sport I probably was at was maybe track or cross country. But all ball sports, I was terrible. I had zero coordination for that. But I always played them and I really enjoyed playing them.
“Nowadays, when I go home, the biggest thing I’ll do is be on my jet ski. I live on the water, so I’m very privileged to be able to have that.
“But yeah, no, I think growing up on the beach, in the sun, it’s amazing. I love it. Obviously it’s very different to being here in Indiana, but it’s all about sacrifice. I’m happy to sacrifice my jet ski to follow my racing dreams.”
Appreciating the sacrifices
Moving to Europe as a teenager required significant sacrifices, not just from Beeton but from his entire family.
Looking back now, he says he has an even greater appreciation for everything they did to help him pursue his dream.
“100%. As I said, I have three other brothers and it must be hard for the whole family.
“You know, it’s split apart a lot of the time, especially my first few years in Europe, I was quite young. My family wasn’t that comfortable with me living alone. So for times it would be my mum living there with me or my dad.
“Sometimes I was alone, but it wasn’t that often, especially in the first year. So it meant that my other three brothers all of a sudden only had one parent at home and one less brother.
“I’m very grateful for the sacrifices they made, and even my brothers for not complaining. I mean, I’m sure they complained a lot, but it’s never… there’s nothing held against me as far as I know.
“But yeah, I think since I’ve been in Europe, my parents are obviously spending a lot of money to support my racing journey. I mean, even from go-karting.
“So I’m very grateful to be given all the opportunities I’m given. I’m just looking forward to the day when I can finally start paying them back.”
Learning from his heroes
Growing up in Australia, Beeton naturally found himself looking up to some of the country’s biggest names in motorsport, while also drawing inspiration from Formula 1’s most successful drivers.
“So obviously, yeah, I grew up in Australia. I think I started, well, I started watching racing with watching F1. And I mean, my dream, like my favourite driver at the time was Sebastian Vettel purely because he was winning when I started watching it, so I supported him all the way through.
“My favourite Australian drivers were always Craig Lowndes in Supercars and Daniel Ricciardo in F1. Daniel’s known for his late braking moves, his divebombs, and I think I implemented that a bit into my driving.
“I’m always braking as late as I can, trying to pass people and being aggressive. So I think that was one driving style that I sort of adapted into. And then, you know, you have the current driving style that everyone wants of Max Verstappen and everyone wants to drive like him right now.
“So I guess you can say that. But yeah, I mean, coming over to IndyCar now, obviously, Will Power is a step above and he’s been like really nice and really welcoming.
“He’s been able to speak to me and I find that I’m very appreciative for it. It’s made a really smooth transition.
“There’s also a lot of Australians that I’m racing against, so I feel just at home here. There’s almost more Australians than Americans, so it’s really nice.”
A career that accelerated quickly
Although Jack Beeton struggled to pinpoint one defining moment that changed the course of his career, he believes the progression came through constant improvement before everything suddenly accelerated.
“Jeez, I don’t know. As I said, everything sort of just got fast-tracked. I think in go-karting it was slowly becoming more serious. So over COVID was when we decided to start racing in the nationals, and then COVID sort of ended it.
“We had this whole dream. We did round one in the Australian Kart Championship and then COVID ended it. During COVID I was driving a lot and practising a lot because Queensland was one of the only states with the borders open. It meant that I got quite a bit of experience.
“I think I improved quite a lot there. You know, we were able to take time, reset. Obviously I wasn’t at school because of online school, so it meant I was able to be in a go-kart much more often.
“Then I just started improving. I went up to juniors, started winning races and getting on the podium quite often. I think that was what gave my parents the trust that it was worth spending a bit of money on it.
“Then we started racing every weekend. I was racing, like I’d go around the country with my mechanic. So yeah, I ended up missing a lot of school.
“I don’t think my school was very happy with me missing every Friday for a ‘dentist appointment’, as we used to call it. But yeah, I think like there’s not really much time to pinpoint it. Everything sort of got fast-tracked with the whole going to F4 thing.
“But yeah, I mean, you can definitely, if you look at it, see the progression, I think.”
