Heyward Wagner was born into an SCCA family. His parents flagged club races and his dad used to autocross. He grew up at Road Atlanta and started working races when he was 18. Leaving the track one afternoon, his Corolla was rear-ended and he replaced it with a 91 Civic Si. A few weeks later he entered an autocross and was hooked. He started competing nationally in 1998, went to the SCCA Solo National Championships for the first time in 2000, and hasn't missed a year since.
In 2004 he started teaching performance driving. First working in corporate programs and then instructing with the Evolution Performance Driving School. In 2010 he joined the SCCA National Solo Staff and in 2012 put all of his experiences together to form the Tire Rack SCCA Starting Line School.