A young racer's need for speed has him revving up for future on pro racing circuit

Nicholas Rivers has always been just a little bit ahead.

With a professional racing license in his hand at the age of 15, Rivers was soaring around a racetrack at more than 100 mph just a year before he could legally drive down his Wheatley Heights block.

"It was pretty frustrating that I could drive a racecar but I couldn’t drive down the street to go get something to eat," Rivers said, laughing.

Now 17, Rivers is still moving ahead, attempting to jumpstart a career as a professional racecar driver while finishing his senior year at Half Hollow Hills West in Dix Hills. He plans to attend a local community college but hopes to eventually race on the Formula One or IndyCar circuit.

"I love cars and I love speed, so put those two together and it equals racing," Rivers said.

The possibility of crashing is not something that enters his mind. "I do take calculated risks, but I’m not afraid of anything," he said.

Rivers has been in 18 professional races as part of the Formula Four U.S. championships last year, including one second-place finish, placing 8th out of 33 drivers overall.

"I consider him a phenom in racing," said his father, Robert Rivers. "He just has a gift. If he gets there, he’s going to be the best, no question."

Rivers traces his love of racing back to an amusement park visit when he was 7. After a passenger ride in a Go-Kart, he began pestering his dad about when he could drive and soon became a fixture on the national Go-Kart circuit.

But a professional racing career comes at a cost.

"Racing is a rich man’s sport," said Robert Rivers, 61, who retired in 2019 from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department and estimates he’s spent about $200,000 on his son’s pursuit.

The elder Rivers said practice time in a racecar can cost about $10,000 a day, and there are no tracks close to Long Island. Rivers has had only four practice days on a track in Houston, making his racing success that much more impressive, said Ian Brown, a race engineer who has worked with Formula One and IndyCar drivers for more than 40 years.

"He went from barely being able to get into the top 10 to being in the top 3 almost overnight," said Brown, 64, who is trying to get Rivers the needed sponsorships to finance his career.

Rivers is one of the few Black racecar drivers. While progress has been made, racism "is still a huge problem" in the sport, said Brown, who worked with Willy T. Ribbs, the first Black driver to compete, in 1991, in the Indianapolis 500.

Rivers said he is often the only Black driver at races.

"Every now and then I think about it because I realize I don’t see too many people who look like me, but it really hasn’t bothered me and I haven’t really had any incidents in racing, either," he said.

Rivers, who made honor roll last semester, said he’s undaunted by the challenges ahead.

"You just have to take whatever the world throws at you," he said.

Former Formula One driver Allen Berg, 59, namesake of the California racing school where Rivers got his license in 2019, said Rivers stood out to him for his determination, focus and maturity.

"The on-track performance is one thing, but the more important part is the off-track demeanor of the driver, and certainly he has the right approach to his racing," Berg said.

Brown said he sees some of the same talent Ribbs had in Rivers.

"There’s only a handful of drivers like that," he said. "You can’t define it, it’s a gift and I believe Nicholas has that gift. If the stars align for him, he will go really, really far."

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.