News
February 4, 2019This 16-year-old female is burning up the track with her welding skills
When 16-year-old Brittany Celebucki is not racing around the track at Fonda Motor Speedway, she can likely be found practicing her welding skills with her grandfather John or dad Jason.
Celebucki, a junior at Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School, is now honing those skills at Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School, where she plans to earn certifications that will allow her to be a professional welder.
Choosing the welding program at Capital Region BOCES was an easy choice for the young speedster. She first fell in love with the trade as she watched her grandfather fix and manufacture items.
“My grandfather is a welder and I have been around it my whole life. I built my own roll cage for my race car because of what he taught me,” she said.
A driver along with her sister Ashley in the Four C’s race team, Brittany pilots the number 617, a 1978 Nova in the street stock division. Though only 16, she has raced for a couple of years for other teams before getting her car this year. Before taking on the auto racing world, she raced four wheelers with her family “for years.”
By earning certifications in welding, Brittany plans on learning how to do more work on her own race vehicles as well as build a solid career without incurring debt.
“My sister is in college and it costs so much,” Celebucki said. “The welding program (at Capital Region BOCES) allows you to learn the skills you need for a good career without going to college and taking on all of that debt.”
Celebucki plans to join a union upon graduation where she can ply her trade. She also plans to keep on turning circles at a high rate of speed and using those welding skills to keep her on the track – literally.
“Racing is my life,” she said.
