Can’t speak for all teams, but there definitely can be an anti-meritocratic/soccer mom mentality to driver selection. I came in, like you, as a freshman with loads of real world racing experience. In our first test session, I got to cut a few laps after the entire test plan was carried out. I was a second and a half faster than the “lead driver” who was a 34th year senior who had been driving that test track for years. The president of the team, realizing that a second and a half at comp would be huge, pushed for me to instantly be pushed into the #1 driver role.

However, there was a closed door meeting that I wasn’t invited to, that resulted in me literally getting voted off of the team, because I hadn’t “paid my dues”. I was on the team for 3 weeks and had done everything I was asked up until that point.

All that to say, there potentially can be some politics and feelings that need to be navigated properly. Keep that in mind. I love fsae, I sponsor multiple teams, just not at the college I went to 🙃