Jesse Iwuji is a race car driver, but he's also much more than that.
Before I got a chance to chase my racing dreams I had to handle business for the USA...nothings changed on the business side though, still have to handle it...??? #NAVY #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Ew5B9czosi
— Jesse Iwuji (@Jesse_Iwuji) January 30, 2018
As much as Iwuji loves racing, he always knew that his country came first. As a high school football player, Iwuji was offered a scholarship to play football for the U.S. Naval Academy.
He enrolled in 2005 and played football until 2010, after his football days were over. Iwuji served as surface warrior officer from 2010-2017 until he transitioned to the reserves and is currently stationed in Ventura, CA.
Iwuji raced for three seasons in the K&N Pro Series season and two as a full-time driver. He began his racing career while he was enlisted in the Navy, but now that he's in the reserves he has more time to dedicate to racing. He'll be starting his ARCA Racing Series career in less than two weeks at Daytona International Speedway. He'll continue to race the K&N Pro Series part-time but his main focus in racing this year is the ARCA Racing Series, according to arcaracing.com.
RELATED: NASCAR champ forced to race in lower series because he's too good, too young
"I can't do the second Pocono race or Gateway but all the other speedways I'll be doing Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte, the first Pocono, Michigan, Chicagoland and Kansas," Iwuji said. "I'm going to be running a mix of West and East races but ARCA will be my priority, the speedways and the mile-and-a-halves.
"I want to get that kind of experience to move up the ranks," Iwuji added.
While he loves racing, things are all business when it comes to Iwuji's service in the United States Navy.