My name is Felipe Pérez Heredia, I’m 19 years old, born in Bogota, Colombia. My dream is to be the first foreign driver to win the NASCAR CUP championship, so I want to tell my story:
When I was just a little kid I always had cars in my room, I played with them all the time, it was my perfect toy. When I got older my dad took me to go-karts for the first time, it was one of the best moments of my life, so when I got out from that go-kart, I decided that racing was going to be my whole life; I started watching NASCAR and I just couldn´t miss a race, so I promise myself that somehow, I would be the one inside the race, instead of being the one who watch it.
I started racing in our native go-karts school “Escuela Colombiana de Karts” when I was 11 years old, I made the best lap time in my category (was the childish division) of the school, so 1 year later, my teacher in go-karts helped me to start in the professional go-karts division in Colombia; I made 2 appearances with a 3rd and 4th place finishes in each of the races.
Then, when I was 14, I had the opportunity to compete for rookie of the year having the best lap time in qualification and second best in practices, we didn´t make a race because the winner was determined by their skills and knowledge on track; I didn´t won but I learned a lot.
Moreover, I made the school of driving with real cars at the age of 17, which was the “Escuela Renault Sandero” in the “Autodromo de Tocancipa” (our biggest race track in Colombia); alongside with many professional drivers of Colombia, I learned a lot because it was a new world of racing for me, but I knew that in Colombia, racing is more a hobby than a profession, so I decided to look in the USA, for NASCAR.
I started making my own investigation about the path to follow to reach NASCAR, and I found LEGEND CARS, where many NASCAR drivers started, so I contacted the US LEGEND CARS, and they offered me the chance to visit the fabric and tell me more about the division, so I talked to my parents and they agree with me to make the trip to United States of America.
We met Ashley Garret and Devo Keith ( my coach), I made the Legends school, I felt good driving the car and they told me that they were willing to help me in the project, the only thing is that obviously it requires money, and with the help of my parents we created a portfolio, a web site, facebook page, youtube page, we have been in important TV channels to promote my project, as well as companies in my country to find sponsorship, but haven´t been lucky with them. Races are from July to November in LEGEND CARS, we already have the car, the equipment, but we need the money to maintain myself in USA, maintain the car (tires, gas, oil etc), the coach, transportation of the car.
I´m here to ask for your help, we don´t have a lot economic power, but we have faith, we have persistence, and we believe in this project, thanks to my family I know the English Language, so the language isn´t a barrier; for all the people interested in the project it´s possible to be sponsor with just $173 USD monthly, and to be my principal sponsor for $2949 USD monthly , driving in at least 20 races, some of them in race tracks like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, I would like to offer back (depending on the amount of money donated) space in my car, equipment, social media, media, and web site to promote companies, slogans, advertisements, that want to be involved in this dream with me, if we don´t get the money needed we plan to start next year (2019). Thanks for reading and I hope you could join us in this adventure!
You can look for me in:
Facebook: Felipe Perez Racing
Youtube: Felipe Perez Racing
Web: www.felipe-perez.com
