Excerpt Courtesy The Wall Street Journal

By Scott Cacciola

The Long, Arduous Road to Indy

As a young boy growing up in France, Georges Forgeois came from limited means—"we had no money," he said—but he had a passion for racing. At 18, he finally had saved enough and entered himself in a "rally," an off-road race. It was a disaster. "My car had no suspension, no shocks," he said. "I almost killed myself."

Years later, after moving to New York, he put young Luca in a go-kart. Luca was hooked. He slowly advanced through the karting ranks, where almost all youngsters learn to race, then made his open-wheel debut last year, winning six races. He still doesn't have a driver's license. "I'm a New Yorker," said Luca, who lives with his family on New York City's Lower East Side. "I take the subway."

Though he's a good student—he said he has a 3.6 grade-point average at Brooklyn's Bay Ridge Prep—almost everything in his life is geared toward racing. To improve his coordination, he trains with Christophe Mendy, a former Olympic heavyweight boxer. "He's always like, 'You're a champion! You're a champion!'" Luca said.

Full article: http://on.wsj.com/N55Fxh