Many racers, but not all. A schoolmate of mine got pretty far in his racing career after doing well in the local cart circuit. He wasn't dirt poor, but not rich

Many racers, but not all. A schoolmate of mine got pretty far in his racing career after doing well in the local cart circuit. He wasn't dirt poor, but not rich by any standards. It did involve a lot of work by his father, and finding a patron in the country's rally car circuit: Spain had few success in F1, even though there were big names in other motorsports. Good results in lower formulas brought sponsorships. Ultimately get got a seat in a back maker team because of those sponsorships: One of those drivers that pay for their seat. Fernando was apparently pretty good though, so he got into better teams. I hear he has a decent career. The difference talent detection isn't just about money though, but general interest and how difficult it is to detect the talent. I bet there are a lot of people that could be great at baseball in Europe, but surprisingly, nobody there plays baseball. The best possible soccer players in India are probably not playing soccer either... and the issue in those two isn't money. Starting training early at the right thing is often more crucial than talent outside of, say, basketball and volleyball, and when your father is already in the sport, it's far more likely that you'll try from a young age, get good coaching and access to sponsorships. It's more that than, say Carlos Jr's father being rich because of his continued Rally driving. There's a lot of people that are more than rich enough: they just don't try.