Crossword Genius

A type of racing person goes after class at American university after dropping Charlie (7,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

formula one

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a type of racing person goes after class' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'american university after dropping charlie' is the wordplay.
'american university' becomes 'formula' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' becomes 'once' (once can mean immediately after).
'dropping' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'charlie' becomes 'c' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'once' with 'c' taken out is 'one'.
'formula'+'one'='FORMULA ONE'

'at' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for formula one that I've seen before include "Auto racing class" , "sort of GP" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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