Neil Alberico embracing Filipino roots while grappling with financial side of IndyCar racing

Neil Alberico is the son of a Filipino mother and a father who has always been obsessed with going fast. It's led Alberico on a lifelong pursuit of also going fast, all while trying to slow down enough to get a better understanding of who he is, where he came from and how to move forward. 

For the last 15 years Alberico has been perfecting the art of racing. He's good at it too. At just 18 years old while he was finishing high school, he won a scholarship allowing him to race competitively in Europe for a year. Despite not wanting his career and life to be in Europe, it was his first real taste of professional racing, and it fuelled Alberico's desire to make this his life. 

He made his pro racing debut at the 2012 US F2000 National Championship. The last couple of seasons, Alberico has been racing in Indy Lights for Rising Star Racing.

He's poised to become the first-ever Filipino driver to race in the Indy 500. 

"I've always loved the adrenalin stuff and obviously it evolved to a much bigger part of my life," he said. "I get to race cars for a living and that's pretty cool."

The 25-year-old race car driver who was born and raised in California is in Toronto this weekend for the annual Honda Indy race, however, he won't be racing. In fact, Alberico hasn't been on the track since March. The harsh reality of racing is that it's expensive. Very expensive. And this season has turned into months of painful lessons Alberico is meeting face on.

"I've leaned on my sports psychologist more the last six months than I ever have in my career," Alberico said. "The business is real. It's the difference between being in a car or not."

There hasn't been much in Alberico's life that has stopped him in his racing tracks and made him sit with his thoughts. He gets on a motorcycle, bicycle, race car, go-cart, anything really and goes fast. It's all he's known. 

But now he's having to endure the strenuous side of the sport trying to secure funds and while he'd much rather be on the track racing this weekend (and the past number of months), Alberico is using this time to connect with his Filipino heritage and get a better understanding of who he is. 

"This is the first time I haven't had the schedule where next weekend I'm focused on a race," he said. "I'm more self-aware than I've ever been."

Filipino roots

While growing up, Alberico would travel back to the Philippines with his parents to visit other family. He recalls travelling to his mother's home island, a small place that didn't have electricity when he was a kid visiting. 

"My mom's island is five miles long and seven miles wide," Alberico said. "When I was 10 years old we were pumping water out of a well."

Alberico loved to visit and remembers fondly all the trips they would take back there. He would help his uncle catch fish on their family's fish farm. They would have family BBQs. His mother was one of 11 children, and so when the family got together, it was a grand affair. 

"Family is everything. We have each other's back," he said. 

He didn't know it then but Alberico is starting to realize now how much those childhood experiences in his mother's homeland shaped who he is today. Alberico says there are so many values he learned and continues to learn from his mother that has served him in racing — hard work, humility and surrounding yourself with a team of people who love and support you.

Rising star in the race world

Alberico continues to visit the Philippines regularly today and is quickly becoming a star back home for his racing prowess. This time away from the track has allowed him to better understand how to market himself to potential sponsors — the Filipino market is a place he hopes to make inroads. But he's not on this finance-seeking expedition alone. 

Five years ago, Alberico was approached Art Wilmes, a man who at the time was just a big fan of racing who wanted to help the next generation of racers succeed. 

Alberico and Wilmes met at a race event in Houston. The two talked about the financial challenges of the sport and from there the racing organization, Rising Star Racing, was born. This program, led by Wilmes, aims to target up-and-coming racing talent and help them brand themselves into marketable racers who can garner enough funds to race competitively.

Wilmes will never forget his first meeting with Alberico and knew very quickly this was someone he was ready and willing to support.

"We want guys who light up the room when they show up and he's one of those guys. He knows everyone," Wilmes said. "What you see is what you get. He has that charisma."

Wilmes and his team, alongside Alberico, are working tirelessly trying to secure enough financial support to have Alberico on the track for the entirety of the 2019 IndyCar race season. It's an arduous process, one Alberico admits he couldn't do alone.

"I can't do this all by myself. It's too easy to give up. You need people on your team every single day to pursue something," he said. 

For as difficult as this racing season has been for Alberico, he's keeping it all in check right now. He's using this time to reflect on all the people who have helped him get to where he is today and is mapping out what his future looks like. 

In a lot of ways, having to put on the brakes is allowing Alberico a perspective about life and racing he may have never had. 

"There's a lot more to life than winning races. Don't get me wrong, I race to win. I have that fire and drive to win. But I do have that perspective," he said. 

"I love what I do and I might not be making money right now but I love what I do."