It all started last year. A young man with aspirations to become a doctor entered a contest to do something that is just as risky as performing surgery. Hailing from Florida, this man has gone from the classroom to the race track – excelling in both extremes with amazing grades and some great runs with the team that took a chance on him.
Patrick Staropoli, 24, edged out over 700 drivers to win the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge in 2013. Michael Waltrip Racing signed him as a development driver after a fifth-place result in his NASCAR K&N Pro Series West debut in conjunction with Bill McAnally Racing. Ever since, Staropoli’s stock has risen at an abundant rate.
“The PEAK challenge gave me an awesome opportunity to get my foot in the door in NASCAR and really turn a lot of heads to get people to notice the career that I have had, which has been mostly in Florida and on the side from the main priority, which was school,” Staropoli said on “The Speedy Digest” Wednesday evening.
During the second race of the K&N Pro Series West season at Irwindale, he drove the No. 99 Toyota to Victory Lane for the first time in his career. He followed that up with the top qualifying position in an East/West combination race at Iowa Speedway in May. In five races in 2014, Staropoli piloted his car to four top-10s and a pair of top-fives.
But the biggest challenge for Staropoli isn’t racing. It’s going to college – medical school to be specific.
After graduating from Harvard University with a 3.94 GPA – putting him in the top 10 percent for his graduating class – he moved over to the University of Miami to pursue a PhD. Adding those degrees to impressive resume, Staropoli nearly gave up his dream of becoming a racer. Fortunately, things have changed to where he can pursue both.
“Up until this whole competition took place last year, that (school) was my main focus,” said Staropoli on his outlook for school compared to racing. “I was 100 percent heading into that direction. I still race my Late Model all of the time. It was always a dream for me and it never really seemed like it would come together.”
“Once the opportunity was there and I have been able to capitalize on some of the chances that I have gotten so far, everything kind of flipping upside down and now – this is what I’m shooting for,” he continued. “Could you launch a career off of it? I think that was the biggest question out of it was. PEAK got behind me and gave me five high-exposure races. The win at Irwindale really sealed the deal and put me where I am now.”
Yet even with his success, there is a lot of uncertainty for his racing future.
With his hard work on and off the track, Michael Waltrip Racing wanted to capture his full potential. In doing so, they hired him as a marketing intern. Moving to Charlotte to chase his dreams, he understands that it might take away some time from school, but that’s fine for him with this once in a lifetime opportunity.
“I haven’t had to get coffee as much as I thought I was going to,” he joked. “They have been great to me over there. I spend my time split between learning how they approach sponsors, how they talk to them, the specific presentations and materials that they use for potential partners. It’s definitely a change of pace from being in med school. You don’t have to go see patients, but it is equally challenging. You have to go cure someone for a disease or sell sponsorship for a race car.”
The internship should help him land some sponsorship for next year. Well, that’s what his goal is. Staropoli believes the extra races on his record have put him in a better position, but he understands that you can’t do much without funding in this business.
If the opportunity comes along, you might just see the Plantation, Florida-native racing more frequently in 2015.
“My school has been working with me the entire year – giving me the space that I need to pursue this opportunity,” said Staropoli. “We’ve had some discussions about next year to see if some things fall into place – I can take time off. Medicine is an incredible field, and I love every second that I have studied to become a physician. I have no doubt in my mind that is where my path can take me, whether that is sooner or later.”
Whichever path he chooses, Staropoli’s level of dedication will surely lead him to a great amount of success. When he becomes a doctor, he’ll either be a neurologist, which he majored in and followed around some doctors to do research, or he’ll become an ophthalmologist.
With support from team owner Michael Waltrip and other team executives, he might just have a future in this sport. However, the clock is ticking. He’s hoping to announce his plans for next year in the coming weeks, but nothing is set in stone as of yet.
“The racing has a stopwatch on it and I know it is now or never to make it happen.”
Joseph has been covering NASCAR since 2011 for several different websites. Recently, he was named as one of two lead NASCAR columnists for Rant Sports after working for the site for over one year. Working with Rant Sports for approximately 14 months, Joseph has covered New York City area sports teams such as the New York Giants, New York Mets, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and more.
Through his passion is for NASCAR, Joseph has adapted to changing times and realizes that he has numerous opportunities in the journalism work. As one of the top young sports writers, his goal is to become one of the top motorsports writers of this new digital media era. However, he also believes that it’s important to stick to the traditional routers of print publications after seeing his high school newspaper dissolve due to a lack of funding.
Currently, besides his duties with Speedway Digest, Joseph is a columnist with Fronstretch.com, Motorsport.com and has a weekly article in NASCAR Pole Position's digital version - ROAR! Weekly Race Preview Magazine.
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