Racing has helped Oram-Jones on football field as he prepares for CFL Global draft

TORONTO — Samuel Oram-Jones has no regrets about trading in his racing helmet for football headgear but does wonder daily about how different his life might be had he remained behind the wheel.

The five-foot-eight, 195-pound running back is among the Global players participating in the CFL's national combine this weekend. But from age eight until 18, the native of Milton Keynes, England, was heavily involved in kart racing, serving as a teammate with and/or competitor versus the likes of Max Verstappen, George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, all current Formula One drivers.

In fact, Verstappen captured the 2021 F1 driver's title for Red Bull Racing while Leclerc won the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20 for Mercedes. Oram-Jones was part of McLaren's young driver program, did simulator work with Red Bull and even secured racing advice from seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton after twice winning the Lewis Hamilton True Grit award.

"Absolutely, I think about what might've been every single day," said the articulate, well-spoken Oram-Jones. "I think most of the grids in Formula One are made up of guys I raced against or were teammates with.

"When I was teammates with Leclerc, for example, they sent him and I on the track to race one-on-one and I remember he won by a couple of tenths. Now I look at him and I'm like, 'You're Ferrari's No. 1 driver, you just won the Bahrain Grand Prix, and I was right there.' For sure I think, 'What if,' but at this point it's spilled milk under the bridge. I'm certainly doing all I can to make football my life-long dream and goal now and hopefully I can do a good job of it this weekend."

Oram-Jones gave up racing -- he'd been offered an F3 ride -- to attend Durham University in