Rico Abreu

Rico Abreu
Born (1992-01-30) January 30, 1992 (age 32)
St. Helena, California
Height132 cm (4 ft 4 in)
Weight43 kg (95 lb)
Achievements2015, 2016 Chili Bowl Winner
2015 Pepsi Nationals Winner
2014 USAC National Midget Series Champion
2013, 2016 4-Crown Nationals Midget Winner
2021 4-Crown Nationals Winged Sprint Winner
2014 Belleville Midget Nationals Champion
Awards2012 USAC National Midget Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
26 races run over 3 years
2017 position68th
Best finish13th (2016)
First race2015 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Last race2017 Eldora Dirt Derby (Eldora)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 5 0
ARCA Menards Series East career
14 races run over 1 year
First race2015 Pensacola 200 (New Smyrna)
Last race2015 Drive Sober 125 (Dover)
First win2015 NAPA 150 (Columbus)
Wins Top tens Poles
1 8 1
Statistics current as of June 5, 2023.

Rico Emanuel Abreu (born January 30, 1992) is an American professional dirt track and sprint car racing driver. Abreu won the 2014 USAC National Midget Series championship, and previously competed in the K&N Pro Series East in 2015 scoring one win.

Racing career

Early career and dirt racing

Abreu's 2013 midget at Angell Park Speedway
Abreu celebrating after winning his first USAC National midget car race in 2013 at Angell Park

Abreu first began racing dirt bikes, but after watching an Outlaw kart race in Vallejo, California, started to race shifter karts. When he turned 15, he was given his first Outlaw kart. To support his career, his father built a 18th-mile asphalt oval in his backyard. On January 24, 2009, Abreu made his Outlaw kart debut at Lakeport Indoor Speedway, finishing fourth, and scored his first Outlaw win at Cycleland Speedway. During the year, local driver Kyle Larson met Abreu at a charity karting event held at Abreu's backyard oval and, in 2011, introduced him to sprint cars. During the year, he made his Chili Bowl Nationals debut, along with running his first World of Outlaws sprint car race. He would eventually win the 2011 360 Winged Sprint Car Series Rookie of the Year Award. In 2012, Abreu raced in the USAC National Midget Series, clinching Rookie of the Year, while qualifying for the A-main at the Chili Bowl. The next year, he won his first USAC National Midget race at Angell Park Speedway. Also in 2013, he won the Belleville Midget Nationals, the Johnny Key Classic at Ocean Speedway, the 4 Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway and the USAC Gold Crown at Tri City Speedway. In 2014, he won his first WoO race at the Thunderbowl Raceway and later won the USAC Honda Midget Series national title.

On January 17, 2015, Abreu returned to the Chili Bowl. On lap 26 he passed the previous year's winner Bryan Clauson and held off four-time Chili Bowl winner Kevin Swindell to win. The win was Toyota's first Chili Bowl victory and the first for owner Keith Kunz since 2002. The following year, Abreu repeated his Chili Bowl win after defeating Clauson and Zach Daum.

K&N Pro Series East

On January 20, 2015, Abreu was hired by HScott Motorsports to run full-time in the K&N Pro Series East. He made his stock car debut in the Pete Orr Memorial Super Late Model 100 at New Smyrna Speedway later in the week. On July 4, 2015, Abreu won his first ever race in the K&N Pro Series East at Columbus Motor Speedway after starting from the pole position, setting a new track record.

Camping World Truck Series

During the 2015 season, Abreu made his Camping World Truck Series debut in the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway, driving the No. 31 Chevrolet Silverado for NTS Motorsports. In 2016, he signed a full-time drive for ThorSport Racing, replacing Johnny Sauter who left for GMS Racing.

Abreu almost won his first career NCWTS race at Texas on June 10. He was within a car length of race leader William Byron with 2 laps to go, but scraped the wall and ended up cutting a tire, all but riding the wall for the last lap and a half. He still ended up finishing a career-best 9th place.

On January 11, 2017, it was reported that Abreu would not return to ThorSport Racing due to sponsorship issues. However, he returned to the team for a one-off at Eldora.

Personal life

Born to a Portuguese father and Italian mother, he currently lives in Rutherford, California. His father, David, is a vineyard manager. He has a brother a sister and a dog named Gus. Among Abreu's hobbies is fishing.

Abreu is 4 ft 4 in (1.32 m) tall and weighs 95 pounds (43 kg). He was born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that is the most common cause of dwarfism. Due to his short stature, he needs special modifications to the cockpit area of his race cars, such as foot blocks to help him reach the throttle. The car is also modified for Abreu, such as the pedals and the steering column being lengthened, with the powertrain and a-frame moved 6 inches (15 cm). For stock cars, the steering column, pedals, and switches are moved, while the remainder of the cockpit remains the same.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold โ€“ Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics โ€“ Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * โ€“ Most laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 NCWTC Pts Ref
2015 NTS Motorsports 31 Chevy DAY ATL MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX GTW IOW KEN ELD POC MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO
28
HOM
13
53rd 46
2016 ThorSport Racing 98 Toyota DAY
29
ATL
11
MAR
10
KAN
22
DOV
22
CLT
20
TEX
9
IOW
18
GTW
14
KEN
15
ELD
3
POC
6
BRI
26
MCH
13
MSP
27
CHI
19
NHA
17
LVS
20
TAL
4
MAR
24
TEX
12
PHO
11
HOM
13
13th 395
2017 89a DAY ATL MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX GTW IOW KEN ELD
26
POC MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM 68th 14

K&N Pro Series East

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 NKNPSEC Pts Ref
2015 HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks 98 Chevy NSM
17
GRE
9
BRI
10
IOW
30
BGS
11
LGY
9
COL
1
NHA
10
IOW
4
GLN
12
MOT
2
VIR
16
RCH
11
DOV
3
5th 492

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points


This page was last updated at 2024-02-27 05:06 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari