Rajah Caruth is breaking barriers and driving change in Nascar

Rajah Caruth is breaking barriers and driving change in his field, from his humble beginnings on a simulator to racing against the crème de la crème in motorsport racing.

Making a name for himself in motorsport racing

“I’ll be on the other side of the fence someday.”

That was the caption of a 2017 Instagram post by avid NASCAR fan and Student-Athlete Rajah Caruth while at a Dover Motor Speedway event in 2017.

Caruth was 15 then and couldn’t get enough of race car driving. His passion for the sport started from a tender age, and his parents nurtured his interest by purchasing his first book about the sport: NASCAR: The Complete History. He was always engrossed in the book. His obsession was evident with signs of wear and tear on the book.

How Rajah Caruth got his start in motorsport racing

Unlike other race car drivers, Caruth got his start on a simulator and tested his skill against other racers on iRacing.com.

He said: “You need connections and
individuals that will get you to practice to get into race. I didn’t have any external funding or connections. But I had passion. I used my school laptop and a $80 wheel from Best Buy. I learned how to configure the computer’s hard drive to set up the program. The rest is history.”

Competing professionally

Fast forward from his days on the simulator, Caruth competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and part-time in the Xfinity Series. He is also a full-time student at Winston Salem State University, majoring in Motorsports Management.

But how does one go from virtual racing to competing professionally? Caruth explains:

“My passion for this sport drives me every day. It’s the first thing I think about in the.morning and the last thing I think about in the evening. I love it with every bit of my mind, body, and soul”.

Rajah Caruth also has a passion for fashion

Caruth loves to express his creativity through fashion outside the race.

Caruth is one of the drivers in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Development program and is the 8th Black Driver in NASCAR history to compete in a race.

In 2023, he raced full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for GMS Racing and Chevrolet, earning 4 top 10s and finishing 16th in the final standings. On March 24, Rajah Caruth became the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race in Las Vegas.

For further information, visit: https://www.rajahcaruth.com