To Tyler Clary, race car driving is no joke. The Olympic gold medalist takes his race car driving nearly as seriously as he takes his swimming.
Most recently, Clary had the opportunity to compete in the Skip Barber IndyCar Academy, where he finished 13th out of 33 racers, he said during an interview with Swimming World TV.
Next, he’ll drive in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race, he said, and when he’s finished swimming he hopes to make a new career of race car driving.
“It’s the next step I want to take after I’m done swimming,” Clary said during the interview with Swimming World TV. “It’s interesting hearing people ask me certain questions about it, because I can tell some people think it’s almost like a publicity stunt, but that’s not true at all. I want to take a serious step toward making it a serious venture once I’m done.”
Before he can do that, though, Clary wants to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In London, the 23-year-old swimmer won gold in the 200-meter backstroke. He finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly.
Clary plans to make training for Rio de Janeiro his priority, but he believes there will be chances for him to further his driving career in that time as well, he said.
“The plan for the next three and a half years is to fully focus on Rio, but I think there are opportunities during the year to actually get in some races and develop as a driver. I think it’s going to work out in everybody’s best interest if I can pull that off correctly, and I think I can,” Clary said during the interview. “I’ve got things scheduled for post world championships and in the off season that really won’t take too much away from training.”
He added: “Either way, the years are going to be very action packed and a lot of fun.”
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