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Nissan Micra Cup competitors and friends speak out about anxiety, autism
MicraCup racers form major friendship
BOWMANVILLE, ONT. “Breathe.”
It’s advice any race car driver-in-training is reminded about on a by-lap basis, and it’s not uncommon to spot dashboard stickers conveying the same reminder on stock car, LeMans and IMSA race cars.
It’s also basic instruction for anxiety sufferers or those experiencing a panic attack.
Anxiety is an inherent part of taking a race car to its limits, and it’s how the driver who deals with that pressure the best often climbs the podium at race end.
Anxiety is something Austin Riley has dealt with most of his 19 years. He was diagnosed with high-functioning autism when he was 12.
Postmedia readers are well versed in this incredible young hot shoes’ improbable racing career, chronicled first by Lorraine Sommerfeld in an October, 2016 story about his karting prowess, and in May of last year by David Booth detailing Austin’s jump into the Nissan Micra Cup series.
Now in his second season in the spec series, Austin was comfortably in the mid-pack of the season standings heading into the seventh and eighth races in the 12-race schedule two weeks ago at Circuit Trois-Rivieres.
But during the first practice session on the Friday night of race weekend, he had a major bout of anxiety — so bad his father Jason packed up the Racing with Autism trailer and headed out into the dark night for home in Ontario.
“For me to pack up and go home, it wasn’t because Austin didn’t want to race, it was because he was dealing with a lot of anxiety,” Jason told me in the Micra Cup paddock following qualifying at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. “And it’s not that I didn’t trust him behind the wheel — in fact, quite the opposite as that would have been the best place for him.
“However, the way he was dealing with the anxiety was the problem that I had as a parent.”
Jason said he felt bad for the series organizers, as that race weekend is the biggest one on the Micra Cup schedule, and Austin is one of the drivers they have used in promoting races.
“But I had to do what is best for my son. It might not be the best right now, but it will be in the long term.”
The Racing with Autism trailer made the trip to Mosport for races nine and 10, and Austin took to the track for qualifying.
He placed 19th on the 20-car grid, hampered by a tire issue.
But it’s what happened in the two weeks between races that is really important.
Micra Cup driver Jake Exton and Austin hit it off last year, a season in which Exton captured the rookie of the year title. This year, their trailers are side by side in the paddock.
So for Exton, the events of that Friday in Quebec struck a chord.
“We were just shocked to see him leave on the Friday night at TroisRivieres,” Exton said.
“I’ve suffered from anxiety myself so I felt really bad for him.”
He also has a cousin with autism, and the head chef at the pub he owns also has it.
Exton would place second on the Sunday Trois-Rivieres race, and during the post-race interview with RDS turned to the camera and said, “Wherever you are Austin, that one was for you mate. We all love you, we’re all thinking of you, you’re going to come back stronger than ever.”
Said Austin: “I saw it on TV and I was blown away. He knows what I go through day to day.”
Exton finished the interview by saying: “Anyone out there with anxiety or depression, that one’s for you. Believe in yourself, talk about your feelings, it will get better, stay strong.”
Austin’s parents called Jake to tell him how much his words meant to them and their son, and the story took on a life of its own on social media.
“That really put a spring in my step the next morning, and I started to think about how I could use racing as a platform for this cause,” Exton said.
That Monday morning, he called the Canadian Mental Health Association and by the time he got off the phone he was an ambassador for the group and had laid the groundwork for a fundraiser to be held at his pub, Canoe & Paddle in Lakefield. That fundraiser was well attended by fellow racers, including Austin, Nissan Micra Cup officials and friends and family of the race teams.
The events of that Trois-Rivieres race have also prompted the Rileys to bring something called the Autism Reality Experience to Mosport this weekend.
Calling it “one of the things we’re most proud of,” Jason says the VR system allows people to experience what it is like to have autism, albeit for just a few minutes.
During a 20-school tour of England talking to students and educators about autism and Austin’s journey, the Rileys met people from a company called Training to Care who had developed the Autism Reality Experience.
“Both my nephew and I went through it and we were very emotional coming out,” Jason said.
“People look at us, based on the numerous talks we do about Austin’s life, as experts. We’re not experts on autism. I’m an expert on Austin.”
But after going through the Autism Reality Experience, Jason said, “It changed everything that I knew in fifteen minutes.”
Jason says he and his nephew agreed they needed to bring this experience to Canada. They did a cross-Canada tour — from Victoria to Charlottetown — in March of this year.
Teachers who did the experience were all changed, he said, and the consensus was that all first responders, anyone who deals with someone with autism, needs to do it to better understand what they are going through.
And now they have it in the paddock so all the Micra drivers and crew can get a better understanding of what their fellow competitor deals with every day of his life.
For Austin, he’s looking forward to his buddy Jake doing it.
“I can’t wait to see how Jake reacts after going through the autism simulator today,” he said.
“I think it’s going to open his eyes and give him a better understanding of what it’s like.
“We want to show the people that I race with how I struggle with day-to-day tasks so they have a better understanding of what I go through.”
Austin said he’s put the last weekend in the rear-view and is totally focused on this weekend’s two races and the final race weekend at Mont-Tremblant later in September.
“Racing has always calmed me down. You’re focused on one thing and one thing only, which is being in a race car. That’s where I am most happy.”