SCCA Pro Racing

CHARLOTTE (December 11, 2024) – Radford Racing School and Formula 4 United States Championship (F4 U.S.) joined forces to help three karters successfully transition from go-karts to racecars during the Radford Racing School F4 U.S. Scholarship Award School last week at Radford’s facility in Chandler, Ariz. Taking a three-day course, the students, ages 14-17, learned the basics of handling and car control, while getting acclimated to a Formula 4 racecar. 

“We welcomed another group of talented karters for the Radford Racing School F4 U.S. Scholarship School this week,” said Scott Goodyear, F4 U.S. Race Director. “Watching their progression throughout the three-day course and seeing the smiles on their faces after they got out of the F4 car for the first time—it’s a really special program. The instructors at Radford do a fantastic job at teaching the students all of the basics and giving them the building blocks needed to become successful racecar drivers. I’m excited to see where they go from here, and hope to see them on the F4 U.S. grid in the near future.”

Among the 2024 Class for the Radford Racing School F4 U.S. Scholarship School was the first female scholarship recipient, Sarah Bradley. Nominated by ROK Cup USA, Bradley got her first in-car experience of any kind with the three days of instruction. 

“I had a lot of fun over the last few days, working with the instructors and learning so many new things,” said Bradley. “Getting to test the F4 car, doing work in manual Dodge Hellcats and skid cars, testing and doing a lot drills—it was all new experiences that will help in my racing. The instruction both in and out of the car—doing data work and driving—so much of it was experiences that I probably would not have had without the Radford Racing School F4 U.S. Scholarship School.”

Also completing the course were a pair of drivers from New Castle Motorsports Park, Ty Arbogast and Vaughn Beesley. Nearly 10 years into his karting career, Arbogast entered the school with limited testing experience in the new Ligier JS F422. Meanwhile, Beesley had some road experience in his daily driver at the age of 17, but had yet to step into an actual racecar.   

“This three-day course at Radford Racing School was really helpful,” said Arbogast after earning his competition license. “I learned so much while I was here. We spent a lot of time working on car control, driving the F4 car and getting a lot of good seat time. Most importantly, we got to work one-on-one with the instructors and got a lot of great feedback. I really enjoyed the skid pad and doing some drifting—I’ve never done that before, so it was a great new experience.” 

“I had an amazing time at the Radford Racing School F4 U.S. Scholarship School,” said Beesley. “Throughout the program, we learned a lot about car control and all about the F4 cars, as well. The instructors were amazing; they shared really great insight about how to drive these cars and were really helpful with the data. The cars weren’t necessarily set up to our liking, but they showed us how to make it work in the long run, staying both efficient and quick.”

The scholarship program formulated by Parella Motorsports Holdings and Radford Racing School is a proven path for developing drivers, with first-year graduate Patrick Woods-Toth capitalizing on the opportunity from Motomaster Ron Fellows Karting Championship to launch his career in single-seater racecars. Completing the school in December 2022, Woods-Toth won the 2023 F4 U.S. Driver Championship and a scholarship to compete in Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) the following season. The Canadian went on to win the 2024 FR Americas title, and joined Kyle Kirkwood and Dakota Dickerson as one of only three drivers to win back-to-back championships in the two series.

After three successful days completing everything from ground school, skid control, lead-follow sessions, braking, shifting and handling drills, the students also had the opportunity to work one-on-one with the instructors, who have all been professional racecar drivers themselves, to review data and learn how to improve on the track. The school concluded with standing start practice to further prepare the drivers for their transition to racecars and introduction into F4 U.S.

Successfully completing the course, each driver was presented a Radford Racing School graduation certificate, an F4 U.S. competition license and an Omologato bespoke timepiece.

The 2025 F4 U.S. season kicks off at NOLA Motorsports Park, March 27-30.