Jackson Shirey has wanted to work for a professional race team for as long as he can remember. 

• That dream pulled into focus recently when the Niceville High School graduate earned a spot in the SPARK Internship Program, landing him on pit road with Lone Star Racing during the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway — North America’s most prestigious sports car race.

The internship is the latest milestone in a path Shirey has been charting since high school. During his junior and senior years at Niceville High, he enrolled in the Automotive Technology program at Okaloosa Technical College.

After graduating high school, he returned to OTC as an adult student to finish the program, completing it as an ASE Master Certified Technician — a distinction reflecting advanced technical knowledge and hands-on expertise.

From there, Shirey took his skills to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration. At UNF, he has served as treasurer of the university’s Formula SAE racing team, a role that blends his mechanical background with the business and leadership skills he’s developing in the classroom.

That combination has already produced results. 

• In his role with the Formula SAE team, Shirey played a key part in negotiating a $100,000 partnership between UNF Racing and the Brumos Collection, connecting industry, education and motorsports.

The SPARK program — Students Preserving American Racing Knowledge — gave Shirey his closest look yet at the professional racing world he’s been working toward since he first walked into an OTC shop classroom as a high school junior.