20/26 Vision: Meet Doctor Turned O’Reilly Series Rookie Patrick Staropoli

What’s Happening?

After earning a degree in Neurobiology and Neurosciences from Harvard in 2012, Patrick Staropoli competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and West from 2013 to 2015, scoring his first career win at Irwindale Speedway before disappearing from the sport.

Last season, to the surprise of race fans, Staropoli returned to the sport after graduating from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in 2017 and working as a Vitreoretinal Surgeon for the better part of a decade.

This year, the 36-year-old is chasing Rookie of the Year honors as he tackles his first-ever full-time season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, after taking over the popular No. 48 for Big Machine Racing.

Was a Return to NASCAR Always in the Works?

• “I was a development driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, and then when MWR went away, so did sort of my path for continuing to move up the ladder. I was already in medical school at the time, so I went back and finished all of my training on that side, but I kept racing. I was still running late models, I did little tour type modifieds, just whenever I could for the last decade. . . like three to five races a year, whenever I could get in a car, I was still competing and hoping that one day I would get another shot on a national level.”

How Has the Sport Changed Since You Left?

• “There’s quite a bit of difference. I would say that the data side of it is just so much more and is playing a bigger role in your preparation and your debrief every week. I mean, we didn’t have the SMT back in the day, so a lot of it was just like looking at onboard cameras and watching people on track and talking to a lot of people to get those tips that you need for each racetrack.”

Who Are Some Drivers That You Talk to For Advice?

• “I talked to Austin Hill a lot. With Big Machine, we have the RCR alliance, so I see Austin every week at the debrief meetings, and he’s been really helpful with any questions I have. He’s gotten me up to speed at some of these places I haven’t seen. I’ve talked to Parker Kligerman a lot. He’s, you know, driven for Big Machine in the past, so he knows the whole crew here, he’s driven the same cars that I’ve driven. Then my buddy Joey Coulter. Obviously he has a lot of NASCAR racing experience. We’ve been friends since we were kids and even though he’s not actively racing I still lean on him pretty frequently.”

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