A few years from now, when your buddy asks if you’ve heard about the 4-foot-4 NASCAR driver who regularly wins races, you can smile and pat him on the back.
Uh, yeah. You heard of Rico Abreu way back in 2015, when he won his first stock car race in just his seventh start.
Abreu is on the fast track to NASCAR’s national series, and his win Saturday night in the K&N East Series race at Columbus Motor Speedway showed why. The 23-year-old Californian, who uses longer pedals and moves his seat closer in order to race, didn’t even start driving competitively until he was 15 (most pro racers start before they’re 10). Abreu, who stands 4-foot-4, was born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that is a cause of dwarfism.
He became a standout in the sprint car world — he won January’s prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals — then made the jump to NASCAR’s development series.
There’s been a steep learning curve — he hadn’t finished better than ninth until Saturday — but he’s clearly getting the hang of it. He led a race-high 86 laps and won from the pole at Columbus.
“I just keep learning and learning, which I’m happy with,” Abreu said. “Every race we’ve gone to, we keep showing big improvements and that counts in the end of these races.”
What’s next? More seat time, more experience and more opportunities. If he keeps this up, he’ll move up the NASCAR ladder quickly.
So when your buddy asks if you’ve heard of Abreu in 2018, feel free to roll your eyes and say: Who hasn’t?
