The name Nik Romano may be new to the stock car world, but this 20 year old from Atherton, CA is anything but new to racing. Romano is getting ready for his first season in a Late Model at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, driving for High Point Racing.
Nik started racing when he was 9 years old in the quarter midgets at Baylands Quarter Midget Association in San Jose, CA. He has made a steady climb up the ranks, from quarter midgets to micro sprints, then Formula Fords to Ford Focus Midgets. After finding success in each division, he found himself racing modifieds last year, and is now making the step into the Auto Club Late Model division. Nik has earned the Rookie of the Year award 3 years in a row and is excited to be going for his 4th.
Romano competed in the final Late Model race last year to get ready for the 2011 season. Quite a few drivers who compete at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale have lengthy trips to get to and from the track, and Nik is no different. Living in Atherton, about an hour away from Laguna Seca, means Romano has a 6 hour drive one way in order to reach his racing destination.
Nik currently attends De Anza College, majoring in Automotive Technology. “Cars are all about my life”, Romano said “I eat, sleep, and breathe cars, be it working on them, working on performance, just everything.” Right along with his love of cars, is what he refers to as an “old habit” of buying old cars and fixing them up. His goal in racing is to make a career in NASCAR, which would certainly help support this “old habit.”
One thing people will find interesting about Nik is that he enjoys playing the tenor saxophone in a Jazz band. He also claims he is “completely awful at NASCAR video games.” The car Nik will be piloting is the #51 HPR machine. This car has some history at the track, being the car that RJ Johnson drove to the ACLM Championship in 2010. The cars name is “Mach 5.0”. For more information on Nik Romano and High Point Racing, please visit www.highpointracing.com.
