We recently had the chance to connect with Frank Nguyen and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Frank, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Something outside of work that is bringing me joy lately has been getting to hang out with my friends and enjoy doing activities such as playing golf, pickleball, rock climbing, or driving together on a backroad. I really enjoy having that mix of being active, trying new things, and just having fun along the way with those close to me. It’s a great thing to help get my mind off work, and I find that it keeps me energized and motivated in my life since I personally consider myself an extrovert-ish that thrives on social connections.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
We are Anteater Sim Racing, a student-run campus organization at UCI whose mission is to provide the UCI community with an affordable and inclusive entrance in motorsports by introducing people — in this case, the campus students — to motorsports using sim racing. The club was established by Maxwell Chen, who is the president of the club, when he first entered UCI as a freshman 2 years ago. Though small in size, all members are intimately connected with one another through our shared love of racing, motorsports, and driving. We’ve done many events in the past, from on-campus meetings at UCI Esports Center where we’ll have fun racing each other, doing challenges, teaching each other high performance driving techniques to improve, to more serious racing at professional sim-racing center (World of Racing), karting tracks and track days, to actual serious racing at 24H of Lemons with our budget Miata race car. But through it all, our ethos of having fun with each other doing things we love has never change.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
Personally for me, the person that has taught me the most about work has been my dad. Though he is VERY strict on me, his teachings of always work hard, pay attention to details in everything you do, give 100% in everything you do and always be honest with yourself and to other people have stuck with me and nowadays I always try to apply those lessons to everything I do everyday.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me that you can’t give up when things go wrong, you just have to adapt and keep finding a way forward. For example, during Anteater Sim Racing’s debut at the 24 Hours of Lemons endurance race at Buttonwillow in 2024, our Miata race car kept shutting down randomly on the track. At first, we thought it was a battery or alternator problem, so we kept swapping parts (to the point where we have to get 3 car batteries and were stuck in the cycle of change the battery, send the car out while charging the other ones, pit after 15-30 minutes or so and repeat), but nothing worked. It was frustrating because the car had run fine leading up to the race, and now we were losing valuable time in the race. Instead of throwing in the towel, we kept troubleshooting until we finally traced the issue back to a faulty ground connection in the electrical system. Fixing that got us back in the race, and despite all the setbacks, we ended up placing third overall for rookies. That experience taught me that when you’re in the middle of a challenge, suffering forces you to be resourceful, creative, and persistent in a way that easy success never does, and when all else fails, how a person respond to obstacles is what defines them.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
Something I believed and committed in no matter how long it takes is believing in myself. I’ve found that self-belief is what carries you through the times when results aren’t immediate or when challenges and setbacks are hitting you hard. It’s easy to stay confident when things are going well, but it’s in the difficult moments that believing in your skills, your ideas, your thoughts and especially yourself really matters. For me, it means trusting that with persistence, adaptability, and a willingness to change and learn to be better, I can eventually overcome challenges and reach any goals I set for myself.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Personally, If I know I only have 10 years left in my life, I would just stop wasting my time on things that aren’t too important like a job that I hate and find boring or interacting with people that I don’t like. Instead, I’d spend those remaining 10 years into doing things I love and surrounding myself with people I love and care about. A lifelong goal of mine has been to go traveling around the world and seeing all that nature and Earth has to offer, so I’ll probably do that (a subgoal of that is to travel to all the National Park around the country with my personal, first and only car, my GTI, so that’d be the first thing I’d do). I’d spend more times with my family, hanging out with them and travel with them to create memories for them (and also for me too before I’m gone). I’d do the same things with my friends too since I valued them highly. I’d also try to check off all the bucket list of things I want to try like skydiving, skiing, bungee jumping, or climbing mountains like K2, Everest, or even lead climbing the Half-Dome at Yosemite. I basically just want to do everything I’ve ever wanted so that when I die in 10 years, I will have 0 regret left behind.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anteater_sim_racing/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franknguyen2407/
- Other: https://youtu.be/xZjFoCxz3NE?si=V3N3AIafJnIPx304 (video of a track day collaboration between 2 of my clubs that I’m Vice President of, REV@UCI and ASR)
My other club’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revatuci/?hl=en (@revatuci)
Image Credits
2nd pic (many cars in the pit before going on track): Hyowon Gu
4th pic (white Miata in pit with driver switch): Ethan Nguyen
5th pic (drivers before the Miata race car): Ethan Nguyen
6th pic (Miata race car on track): Maxwell Chen
all others are uncredited but no copyrights restrictions since those are taken on phones and are personal photos that can be used for this purpose
