LIFESTYLE & ARTS

14 catch the fever

Winnetka native Ann Hampton Callaway dishes on her new tribute to Peggy Lee

16 the man in the basement

A riveting French film explores the complex issues we all face in today's society

17 maybe i do

Celebrities abound in this rom com but it's lacking a solid plot and direction

18 #hashtag

Jenna Benn Shersher of Glencoe, founder of Twist Out Cancer, shares what's trending in her life

20 north shore foodie

Fresh red plums are used to create this delicious galette recipe

21 friends of prentice

The "Celebrate With Friends" benefit raises more than $650,000 for Northwestern Medicine Prentice Women’s Hospital

21 material pursuits

From a decadent new 260-page magazine for Porsche aficionados to a coffee table book about life in a French country house, we present this weekend's must-haves

Last But Not Least

22 sunday breakfast

Seventeen-year run of highly successful Loyola Academy football coach John Holecek ends fittingly—after another state championship

John

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Jennifer Sturgeon

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Dustin O'Regan, Kemmie Ryan, Sherry Thomas

FASHION EDITOR

Theresa DeMaria

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Mitch Hurst, Bill McLean, Rex Reed, Monica Kass Rogers, Gregg Shapiro

DESIGN

Linda Lewis PRODUCTION MANAGER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Chris Geimer ADVERTISING COORDINATOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

PHOTOGRAPHY AND ART

Monica Kass Rogers

PHOTOGRAPHY

Tom Bachtell, Barry Blitt

ILLUSTRATION

Cheyanne Lencioni ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

MITCH HURST

Bryce Aron says it might sound cheesy, but his first words were, “I see car.” Those first words turned out to be prophetic.

Aron began watching Formula 1 races on television at a very young age. He grew up around cars (his family owns a Jaguar dealership in Lake Bluff) and he was always enamored with racing.

“Since I was 6 or 7, I wanted to race go-karts and I eventually thought to myself, ‘how do I pursue this as a career’,” Aron says. “My parents let me start karting at a local place called Chicago Indoor Speedway.”

Aron eventually moved from indoor karting to outdoor karting at a track near Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. By the time he was 13, he was hustling for sponsors to raise the funding to purchase a go-kart and a go-kart engine.

“I wanted to move up to the national racing series, which is definitely a tough thing to do when you’re 13 years old,” he says. “I sent out a lot of letters. For every 100 letters, I’d get 98 nos but then I’d get a few yeses.

That’s the way it works. I got a sponsorship from NAPA which was really appreciated, and they were with me when I started racing cars.”

When he was 15, Aron got his first taste of racing cars with some test runs on a small track in Pennsylvania. He says go-karts are much different than cars in the way they are driven, and while it was a jump, he got on top of it pretty quickly.

After just two days of practice runs in his first car, he competed in his first race and did well.

That same year, he finished third in the championship of Formula Ford—the first level of formula racing in the U.S.—and went off to England to race the British circuit. Initially, he was too young to race but on his 16th birthday he obtained both his driver’s license and his FIA international racing license.

“I was really lucky to be selected by Team USA Scholarship. Every year they award two or three American drivers who then race in the iconic Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy events in England,” Aron says. “When you go overseas you want to make sure you’re going with a good team that’s willing to have you.”

In the U.K., Aron initially raced with Low Dempsey Racing in the British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) Formula Ford Championship, where he finished 5th in a COVID-shortened season in 2020. He joined the Carlin racing team in

2021 and progressed to the British Formula 3 Championship, and in 2022 had eight top-ten finishes with the Hitech GP racing team. As far as his career progress, he’s feeling good.

“I feel like I’m on the right track. I’d like to win some more races, definitely the more the merrier in the case of motor sport,” he says. “It’s really about how you do now before you jump to Formula 2 that matters.”

When we spoke to him, Aron had recently returned from Japan where he participated in a few test days with teams from Japanese Super Formula Light, the Japanese equivalent of FIA Formula 3.

“It was really cool, definitely a big language barrier so the communication aspect was a challenge,” Aron says. “But I really enjoyed it, super nice people, very welcoming, and a cool environment to be in.”

As for what’s next, Aron is being recruited by three different teams for next season. All three are top tier teams that have previously won championships in different series. He’s got some choices to make, but the options are looking good.

“I’ll know what I’m doing in January and the season will start in March,” he says.

Wherever he ends up, his parents will be by his side.

“We always supported Bryce's dream, dedication, and talent,” says Aron’s mother, Alyson Aron. “Bryce made it happen and we were very much supportive, but it was up to him because we didn't have the racing background that a lot of drivers have.”

Jordan Aron, Bryce’s father, says when Bryce moved to the U.K. in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic the situation was a little scary, but each success has brought more opportunity.

“There's a point where it's bigger than you and you just have to let it happen,” Jordan says. “In the U.K., Bryce worked with a well-known Formula 1 coach, and he was faster than the coach and the F1 drivers the coach had been working with.”

“As an American competing and living abroad it can be very isolating, and at young age Bryce has had to fight through a lot of adversity,” Alyson says. “In the end he persevered and proved himself, but it took so much tenacity and drive to succeed.”