'The Challenge' Champion Jordan Wiseley on 'Crazy' Transition to Racing (Exclusive)

'The Challenge' Champion Jordan Wiseley on 'Crazy' Transition to Racing (Exclusive),We talked to Jordan Wiseley about being a race car driver after spending years on MTV.

‘The Challenge’ Champion Jordan Wiseley on ‘Crazy’ Transition to Racing (Exclusive)

Jordan Wiseley is known by many as one of the cast members of the MTV series The Real World: Portland and has won three different seasons of The Challenge. But the 33-year-old is now making the big transition of becoming a race car driver after spending 10 years in the reality TV world. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Wiseley about the transition, and he used one word to describe it.

“Crazy,” Wiseley exclusively told PopCulture. “It’s been so wild because it’s not a transition where one stops and then another one begins. It’s more of a transition of how do I link these together. I step back and I try and plan my year out, right? I’ve got this coming up, I’ll book this then, this then, so I know I’m out of the country here, I know I’m filming here, and so I know when and where I can do anything, vacation or whatever the thing might be. And now it’s like racing is this super finite schedule, whereas filming is kind of, it moves.

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“So it’s been this really crazy limbo of, okay guys, I’m racing this weekend and then I’m leaving straight from Laguna Seca, going to Boston, I’m filming in Boston for eight days, immediately fly from Boston to out of the country, like the UK, I can’t really say, but I go out to Europe and I spend nine days filming in Europe and then come back, I’ve got two days rest and then we’re right back at another race. So that part has been limbo, but it’s the life that I’ve wanted.”

In May, Wiseley competed in his first professional race which took place at IMSA WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the Hyundai team. And while Wiseley had some challenges, he was happy with the end result. “Going out to qualifying, that was when it finally hit me,” Wiseley revealed. “Really what hit me was the question is, are you good enough to be here with these guys? And number two, right on the heels of that question is, am I going to get somebody hurt? And so that’s what I was really thinking about.

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“But then once we started driving, I felt at home. Did good in the race. So qualified P11, which is pretty dang good. We had four cars starting behind us. And then made up two positions during the race, ended up having a blowout on my front left tire. I had the blowout 10 feet past the pit entry. …But overall I went out there and was able to hang with these guys in a very difficult track, in Laguna Seca, one of the worst possible scenarios could happen, having to do a lap with three tires, and was able to bring the car home safe and sound. So I’m pretty okay with that. Obviously, I wanted a better outcome, but all in all, I think it was a great learning experience for us.”

Wiseley’s racing journey began about a year and a half ago when he became an ambassador for Hyundai. He would attend races, including the first race of the 2023 season which was in Daytona. Wiseley then attended driver’s camp and ended up meeting the Deily family which owns Deily Motorsports, which is also a Hyundai team. The Deily family asked Wiseley if he wanted to test one of their cars, and the rest is history.

The next race Wiseley will compete in will be the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut this weekend. Wiseley knows that winning will be an uphill battle because of the youth and inexperience the team has., “Deily Motorsports is a first-year team and we’ve got the youngest driver on the grid, Jake Deily, who’s 17 years old,” Wisely said. “You’ve got me on the team who, this is race number two, we’ve got Cabot Bigham who is a rally world champ, but he’s never raced a TCR car. So Daytona was the first time he even got in the car, the first race of the season. And then we have a fourth driver coming in who’s coming from the GS class. So again, not a TCR driver.

“Our big goal is to learn to face situations and to figure them out and learn and have a good strong showing. Are we going to go out there and win? Probably not. But the simple, easy goals, stay on the lead lap, keep both cars in contention for a top 10 spot. And I think overall, both cars in the top 10, I think those are really good goals for a first-year, very young, very green team.”

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