(Sun Sentinel, February 1 2015) — Patrick Staropoli thought he would start 2015 with an agonizing decision: Quit medical school or give up his dream of becoming a NASCAR driver.
“The cards that were on the table made the decision for me,” Staropoli, of Plantation, said last week.
After a deal to race on NASCAR’s lower levels fell through, the Harvard graduate and past valedictorian at Plantation High is back at the University of Miami. He began his fourth semester of medical school in January, resuming his studies to become an ophthalmologist after a year off.
For now, he’s trying to get his head back into school. But his heart is clearly with racing.
“I still think there’s a chance there,” Staropoli, 25, said. “I give myself an A-plus for effort.”
I followed Staropoli and wrote about his strange detour last year (a feature project entitled “DRiven.”) His wild ride began when he won a reality TV competition for aspiring drivers, beating a field of 700. Then he was given a chance on NASCAR’s lowest rung, and he won a race in California last March. He spent the second half of 2014 as a marketing intern for Michael Waltrip Racing in Charlotte, N.C., trying to land a sponsorship deal.
In late October, he told UM he’d be coming back in 2015. If he didn’t, he’d forfeit his spot at UM for good and would have to start medical school from scratch.
But all through November and December he kept searching for sponsors. At Christmas, he thought he had a deal with a main sponsor and was on the verge of signing a contract. But things fell apart. On Jan. 5, Staropoli returned to class, on the hook for another semester of student loans (on top of the $60,000 previously taken). He’s back living at home with his parents in Plantation.
“My head’s been in a million different places,” Staropoli said. “I’m just trying to get back in the rhythm of school.”
As we sat outside UM’s Bascom Palmer eye clinic last week, he fretted about an upcoming test on infectious diseases and looming board exams in June.
But he hasn’t kicked the racing habit yet. He’s hoping to land a spot in a big televised race at Daytona International Speedway later this month, the ARCA 200, a warmup race to the Daytona 500.
If he had landed a driving deal, Staropoli said he would have given up medical school and gambled on a few years at NASCAR’s lower levels in the hopes of climbing the ladder to the top rung, the Sprint Cup Series. But he didn’t realize how tough racing’s business side is, and how hard it is for outsiders to break in. Drivers need to line up their own sponsors before team owners will give them a spot. It usually takes at least $1 million in funding to run a full season, even on the lowest levels. Having a compelling story and being smart, talented, articulate and good-looking isn’t good enough.
“It’s frustrating,” Staropoli said. “If you win American Idol, you don’t need to find someone to sponsor the microphone before you can sing and record a song. But in racing, it’s different …The story is there, the performance is there. I just need a certain amount of time, and a certain amount of luck. I’m not giving up.”
That someone like Staropoli can’t get a chance doesn’t reflect well on the sport. NASCAR likes to talk a big game of broadening appeal and hitting the mainstream, but recently has seen ratings and attendance sag.
In December, Staropoli got a last-minute call to replace a sick driver for ARCA testing at Daytona (ARCA is a developmental circuit that’s not part of NASCAR). He drove through the night from Charlotte, arrived at 4 a.m., and peeled off the fastest lap of the day among 39 drivers. That might get him a spot at the ARCA 200 on Feb. 14, but he’s waiting to hear back from a prospective sponsor.
Staropoli still hopes for a break. He has taken to using the hashtag “#Willwheelforfood” on social media. If anyone has a spare million or two lying around, he’d love to hear from you (email: 97patrickstar@gmail.com).
But he knows it’s getting late. Racing’s lower levels are populated by kids in their late teens, and drivers usually hit the top Sprint Cup level by their mid-20s. Staropoli turned 25 in November.
“I keep telling myself everything happens for a reason,” Staropoli said. “If nothing else, the last year has been a pretty cool journey.”
His dream finish: He gets a spot in the ARCA race at Daytona, wins and lands a sponsor to race full-time.
Or maybe he’ll just find a cure for glaucoma.
mmayo@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4508.