Michael Lira at 10:05 pm ET Photo – Michael Lira Racing facebook page
Michael Lira is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR Hot Topic Sound Off on Monday, October 6, 2014 at 10:05 pm ET. Call 347-996-5176 during the LIVE broadcast with any questions or comments.
Michael Lira, the seventeen-year-old race car driver and high school student from Port Orange, Florida, was given a spot in NASCAR through the NASCAR Drive for Diversity (D4D) program. In recent years, the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program has been a hotbed for some of the most promising young talent in the sport. Drivers like NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Kyle Larson and three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race winner Darrell Wallace Jr. are both products of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, and Lira hopes to follow in their footsteps.
“This is such an amazing opportunity,” Lira said. “I’ve seen how Kyle Larson and Darrell Wallace Jr. have progressed and what they’ve achieved and I really aspire to make it to that level.”
Under the leadership of Rev Racing owner Max Siegel, the Drive for Diversity combine has evolved into an academy-style development program. Lira, a Peruvian-American driver who does most of his professional racing in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, was one of twenty multicultural and female drivers from the United States, Canada and Latin America invited to the Drive for Diversity combine. At seventeen years old, Lira was one of the youngest drivers invited to take part.
“This year’s Combine applicant pool was among the strongest the program has seen, and we continue to see that year over year,” said Siegel. “The program’s visibility and reputation for developing young, female and diverse drivers with talent and growth potential has increased across the board, and we are seeing steady recognition and support from key stakeholders across the motorsports industry.”
Lira has shown a great deal of promise running for Kimmel Racing in the ARCA Racing Series, notching a string of top-10 finishes in his rookie campaign. The highlight of his 2014 ARCA season came in his superspeedway début at Pocono Raceway, where the talented young rookie surprised everyone by qualifying fourth before going on to score a ninth-place finish in the ModSpace 125.
The Drive for Diversity Combine will be held at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia, October 13 – 15, 2014, where drivers will compete for a spot in the 2015 NASCAR D4D Class in partnership with Rev Racing. Drivers will be individually evaluated based on several criteria, such as overall speed, instinctive positioning on various parts of the race track, the ability to communicate feedback to the crew chief and the ability to shift during assessments.
Lira says he basically won his late-model race this past weekend at New Smyrna Speedway, where he has visited victory lane before. He dominated most of the race but ran into some trouble in the closing laps.
“Started 5th and took the lead on lap 5 and never looked back,” Lira posted on facebook. “Had a straightaway lead when a caution came out with 1 to go. Got a good restart, but the car behind me was pushing me all the way down the straightaway and spun me going into turn 1. Car isn’t hurt too bad, but cut down a right rear and limped to the finish. That’s not what my guys busy their butts in the shop every day for, they gave me the best car I’ve ever driven. We’ll get em again next week”
For a live streaming schedule of the Combine, visit FansChoice.tv. For more information on Michael Lira, visit www.MichaelLiraRacing.com, follow Michael on Twitter at @LiraRacing or @1MichaelLira and check out the team’s Facebook page at facebook.com/MichaelLiraRacingOfficial.