I am a Mechanical Engineering Technologist, which is a three year program at my local crackhead community college.

There is a lot of good info in this thread, but I am more impressed that a kid in high school is asking adults for advice. I was an adult in my late twenties before I actually cared about anything besides partying.

I work as a machine designer, which means I sit in front of a computer and basically draw shapes around car parts for 8 hours a day.
I currently have been working on fixing a Chinese designed welding cell in China for an American company (I live in Canada) who is selling parts to an Italian car manufacturer since the first week of December. Nothing as exciting as racing may be! I make a good living and really enjoy what I do. I usually work on the same project for 3-4 months at a time. Some projects take a year or longer.

I would go to a University for Mechanical Engineering and definitely look at one that specializes in motorsports. I have been fortunate to get my racing fix through photography, but would love to work in the industry for my 9-5'er.