A champion Go Kart racer, Forrestdale School fifth-grader Christian Rutty has excelled both in the classroom and on the track.
Press release from Rumson School District
In 2016, Rumson resident Christian Rutty was chosen as a contestant on season two of LifeTime TV’s Child Genius. His family, however, chose not to pursue that opportunity due to scheduling conflicts — among them a commitment to the sport known as “karting.”
A gifted and talented student whose IQ is measured at 147, Christian Rutty is equally at home at a race track as he is in a classroom, science or computer lab. The fifth-grader at Forrestdale School enjoys seventh-grade math, the periodic table of elements, chemistry and string theory physics — and at the age of ten, he also happens to be a champion F1 Sprint Go Kart racer.
Christian began karting at the age of five and a half, after seeing the Baltimore Grand Prix Indy Race — and since that time he’s competed in races in New York, North Carolina, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Florida; winning many regional events and attaining Top Ten ranking in the US.
The F1 Sprint Go Karts (of which Christian has two) are nothing like the ones that the general public rides at amusement parks, being capable of achieving speeds as fast as 70 mph. The young racer has a racing coach/tuner who travels with him to those out-of-state events — and each summer, Christian attends simulator training in Indianapolis, where the Indy 500 drivers train.
“Few people know about karting, yet all professional racers got their start in this sport,” says Christian. “The level of precision, focus and concentration required in karting is incredible.
“Remember, we’re only nine, ten and eleven year olds, making split second decisions at high speeds with laser-like focus,” he adds. “The difference between winner and loser is often less than three-tenths of a second per lap.”
The ten year old’s syndicated web site and social media page, KidzSpeed, features interviews with other kids, professional racers and celebrities. His most recent interviews were youngest Indy 500 racer, Sage Karam and JetManDubai.com.
Christian, who is also a featured character in the Apple Store game Kart Stars, will continue competing on the karting circuit until age 14, where he will likely transition to a Formula 2000 race car — a move that he finds ironic, since by then he will have raced at speeds of over 100 mph, and still won’t be able to acquire a driver’s license for at least two more years.
A strong advocate for STEM education, Christian hopes to major in Engineering at Harvard, MIT or Stanford and one day become a Formula 1, Indy or the new (electric, street class) Formula-E racer when he grows up. His idol is the African-British champion F1 racer Lewis Hamilton, who the Forrestdale fifth grader has been said to resemble.
