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From a young age, Josh Wilmerding has loved the world of NASCAR racing. Wilmerding, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, spent the summer as an intern with Penske Racing and worked with two-time 2022 IndyCar race champion Josef Newgarden and Team Penske president Tim Cindrik, a Rose-Hulmann alumnus . The internship solidified his goal of working in the field of racing.
Wilmerding’s internship included data-driven projects related to racing, as well as strategy planning. He worked on rearranging the data to make it more visible and easier to navigate, using filtering methods. Wilmerding also used coding to help Penske develop an applet that used real racetrack data to create a racing simulation. One of his projects examined data and tire degradation.
“You can look at that data at certain racetracks and then filter it down to the cars … tracking where they were on the track, temperature and external factors,” Wilmerding said. “You can then use that to predict racing conditions. That’s what makes this type of data so relevant and important.”
The internship provided Wilmerding with many valuable opportunities, but his most memorable was attending a race at Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis, where Team Penske won.
“I was able to be part of the pit box, wear a headset and listen to the radio communications, and stand next to Tim,” Wilmerding said. “We got to be part of victory lane [NASCAR’s post-race show], And I built good relationships with the people on the 2-car team, including the data engineer.”
Wilmerding credits Rose with helping prepare him for the internship experience.
“I think I stand out from most with my academic background and because I was involved with the Grand Prix engineering team at Rose,” Wilmerding said. “I took a vehicle dynamics seminar daily which helped because it gave me familiarity and confidence going into my internship.”
Wilmerding’s love for car racing began one childhood afternoon when his father was watching it on television. The Fairfield, California, native began obsessing over sports and noticing number patterns. He began helping out at local kart racing shops and go kart tracks in the neighboring cities of Sonoma, Auburn and Napa.
He knew he wanted to attend college in one of America’s two racing centers: Indiana or North Carolina. Wilmerding participated in Operation Catapult on the Rose–Hulman campus between his junior and senior years of high school. While participating in the catapult, he encountered a display featuring Cindrik, a 1990 mechanical engineering graduate. Wilmerding was acquainted with Cindric through racing; Upon discovering that she is an alumnus, Rose seals the deal for making her college choice.
He had the opportunity to meet Cindrik when Cindrik was visiting Rose as a commencement speaker in the spring of 2021. Wilmerding gave him a tour of the campus and they got to know each other over lunch. Wilmerding got in touch with Cindrik, who promised to keep future internship opportunities in mind. Their connection is representative of how Rose-Hulman alumni often interact with students.
Wilmerding, who is also a Noblet Scholar, plans to work as a data strategist in the racing field after graduation. He is also working in data science to further this goal and expects to return to Team Penske next year to intern again.
“I’ve always loved math and using data to see what others don’t,” Wilmerding said. “There is a huge statistics and data science revolution happening in the racing industry at the moment and it is really exciting.”
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