First Fil-Am NASCAR driver races for glory

Don Pastor in work clothes./ CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

DALY CITY, California — The first Filipino American NASCAR driver, Don Pastor, is heading to the Philippines to complete his pre-qualifying testing day for the next and final phases of competition on April 4-6 in Batangas, Philippines.

Pastor will be testing at the 2014 Asian V8 Championship, which is a NASCAR development program.  This event invites all national competitors to the Philippines for a pre-qualifying date on Saturday, March 1 to determine which division the racers will compete in.  Don hopes to compete in the Pro-Class Division.

“Last year, I went to the UK to test for a GT3 Porsche cup team and right after that, I went to France to compete in the Euro NASCAR series,” Pastor recalled.  “At this competition, I placed number 13 out of almost 50 drivers.  I was then named the First Fil-Am NASCAR driver in France.”

He will be arriving a few days early for his upcoming race — for the official media and press launch in Manila and to meet with sponsors before driving up to the Batangas Racing Circuit.

About precision

Some of his previous sponsors have included Petron Gas and Bench.  Whoever wins the competition will be fully sponsored by the Asian V8 Organization to go to the USA NASCAR, Pastor’s ultimate goal for his racing career.

“Racing is all about precision,” Pastor explained.  “It makes me feel at peace and it’s also about glory for our country, the Philippines.  I want to promote the Philippines through my racing. Hopefully through success in the sports, business and arts we can become a thriving nation and improve our position in the world.”

A native of Southern California, Pastor was born and raised in Glendale. The son of two full-blooded Filipino parents, Pastor developed his interest in racing at the age of four. His family moved to the Philippines where he spent most of his childhood and teenage years.

“Under the Federation of International Automobiles (FIA), the committee that approves racing licenses, I received my license to race when I was 15 years old,” Pastor said.  “The legal age in the Philippines to start driving was 16, but I had been using a big bike to get me to and from my high school since I was 13.”

First taste

Pastor began his racing career in 2000, training until his first competition in 2002, in the Philippine Touring Car Junior Championship, going up against veterans nearly twice his age.  This was his first taste of the competitive nature of the sport.  The ex-champions and professional drivers had 20 to 30 years more experience than the novice Pastor.  His age notwithstanding, he qualified for first place and was the season champion of his division.

“I was competing in local Philippine races at the time and there was a weekend that our series shared a race track with the Asian Touring Car Championship drivers,” recalled Pastor.  “Throughout that weekend we used the same track and they approached me out of all the other drivers.  They came up to me and my dad and invited me to fly to Spain for an official tryout for the Foreign BMW Scholarship Program,” he added.

When Pastor arrived in Spain, he was surrounded with international champions with decades of practice.  Each represented his own country, and it was a dream- come-true for him to be there with them.

In the big league

As a beginning racecar driver who had been competing at local races, he realized he was now in the “big league.”  He considered himself a “nobody” next to these world-renowned champions, who had big corporate sponsors. But he trained with them for over a month.

“They trained us in all aspects from our reflexes, physical condition, driving abilities, and emergency situation reactions,” Pastor said. “After all this training and testing, during the finals days of training, they held a mock race and out of twenty-two representatives I was the fastest one.  I was named the top choice under the BMW Scholarship Program and was awarded $50,000 for the first year and to race under them.”

To date, Pastor has been in eight race organizations and has competed in approximately 96 races in his career.  His favorite race organization is the Europe Formula BMW.  However, he strongly believes that the upcoming Asian V8 Championship is going to be more exciting because it is launched in his native country.

Pastor will be competing and representing the Philippines, armed with a humble and open-mindedness instilled while growing up in the Philippines.

“Growing up in an amazing country, an amazing neighborhood, and an amazing school, I knew that when I finished my education there I wanted to take everything my homeland taught me and use it to build my character,” he said.

A proud Filipino, he promotes his heritage within his chosen field. “I get involved with charities and make sure to give back to my community for my blessings and talents,” Pastor said.

“I am a part of the Philippine Autosport Foundation Inc., a program that supports drivers in the Philippines to make it to any international racing series,” Pastor said.

“I also donated a sum of my sponsorships to the Red Cross for Typhoon Haiyan. During Christmas time in the Philippines, I helped feed the poor and packaged food for them.  I am also involved in fundraising and promotional work for a church in Daly City,” stated Pastor.

Pastor is thankful for all of his own opportunities.  He continues his charity work, for both natural disaster and religious efforts, because of one life changing experience.

“My favorite racetrack, no doubt, was back in 2003 when I competed in Malaysia.  It was very dangerous and a risky track—it was also the one where I almost died,” Pastor recalled.

Nearly died

“I was in my car going more than 200 kilometers per hour when my steering wheel got loose and I had no control.  I was spinning at this speed and didn’t know what was going on.  I knew I was inching my way closer to a cliff, which was 10 stories high, and I was only a few inches short of falling over,” said Pastor.

Pastor returned in 2005 and 2006 to the United States to pursue his degree in computer science.  Although he thinks this background has helped him personally, he didn’t have enough passion to turn it into a life-long career.

In 2007, he went back to the Philippines again to race, and in 2009 he became the overall Touring Car Champion.  He was also elected by FIA that Driver of Year and Philippine Endurance Champion.

Pastor launched my own racing school in 2009.  “I wanted to share my talent and knowledge of racing to beginners,” he explained.  “No one ever taught me and I have no formal racing background except for the experience I gained from jumping into the competitions.  People like racing, but they don’t have the same opportunity as I did, especially coming from a country without the means to support racing.”