PROFESSIONAL RACING: Rolling for Red Bull

Faith Lutheran grad gets a shot at Formula 1 glory

Matt Jaskol was on the verge of a breakdown.

The Las Vegas 19-year-old's family sold their home of 13 years to help finance his auto racing career and he and his father, a former boat racer, then lived in a motor home for two years.

Last year, they moved into a studio apartment, which was located between a detached garage and a horse stable near Gowan and Torrey Pines, and shortly thereafter, disaster struck.

As Jaskol, a former student at Faith Lutheran, prepared to travel to a race last summer, a massive flood hit the area and washed away virtually all of his belongings, except for his racing gear, which his father saved.

"It washed away everything we owned. I lost all my pictures, everything. That was hard," Jaskol said. "I had a breakdown. I was leaving for a race that weekend and I knew when I got back, I had nowhere to go."

Fate smiled on Jaskol through the devastating flood, though, when he received a long-awaited phone call from Red Bull, informing him he had been selected for the semifinals of the energy drink company's nationwide search for the next American Formula 1 driver.

"Red Bull called me that weekend and when they called me, I said 'It's about time,' " Jaskol said. "Any young American who wants to be in a race car was hoping to get that call. I couldn't believe it, that I was that close to Formula 1.

"If it wasn't for Red Bull, I wouldn't be racing."

While NASCAR is regarded as the highest level of auto racing in the United States, Formula 1 is considered the pinnacle of motor racing around the world.

Formula 1 drivers are among the highest-paid athletes on the planet, and its cars are the fastest on earth, reaching speeds of 230 mph.

A Formula 1 racing team's budget can top $200 million per season and each race attracts more than 120,000 fans and is broadcast to more than 350 million television viewers in more than 150 countries around the world.

Less than 20 drivers compete for a world title in 18 prestigious Grand Prix events on five continents, including North America, where the United States Grand Prix takes place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Notably absent from Formula 1, though, is an American driver.

Only two American drivers have won a world title since the Formula 1 world championship started in 1950 -- Phil Hill in 1961 and Mario Andretti in 1978 -- and no American driver has even competed in the series since 1993, when Michael Andretti did so.

Jaskol, who was a awarded a sponsorship worth close to $500,000 when he was selected as one of three winners of the 2003 Red Bull Driver Search, hopes to change all that.

"Formula 1 has always been my goal. I'd love to race NASCAR, but there's no Americans in Formula 1 and I want to be the one to make it," Jaskol said. "I want to represent the USA and beat the Europeans. I want to be in Europe and hear our national anthem."

Jaskol, who has spent the last two years racing and traveling in Europe, emerged from a field of thousands who competed in the driver search.

The Red Bull Driver Search, which is starting its third year, is a long-term program designed to find, test and support budding young American racing talent, with the long-term goal to have a steady group of three to six American drivers racing in Europe, groomed to break into Formula 1 and compete for the championship.

Jaskol, who won his first national championship in auto racing when he was just 14, was a scholarship driver in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge National Series last year, when he won three races.

This year he will compete in the United States in the Formula BMW series, with the plan to move up to Formula 2 next year and then to Formula 1.

"I've got to be the best. I pretty much have to win the championship this year (to continue)," he said. "But I'm confident. We have a good team and the best equipment. With Red Bull behind me, at my age and with my talent, I'm very confident. I like my chances a lot. I think my chances are better than my teammates over there."

After getting the call from Red Bull last summer, Jaskol went on to advance to the finals in Portugal, where he emerged as one of three winners, from a final field of six drivers.

After a week of training, Jaskol then set a new track record in Valencia, Spain, in a new Formula BMW, breaking a mark set two years ago by a German driver.

"I'm excited that an American now holds the track record," he said. "It was a confidence booster for me and my new team."

The Red Bull Driver Search started in 2002, when four American drivers were chosen by undercover scouts to race in select European junior racing series. Last year, the search was broadened to give racers in the go-kart community a chance to compete.

A nationwide, grass-roots search for America's greatest racing talent continues this year, with drivers selected from the go-kart community and scouting reports, through a series of indoor and outdoor go-kart events, and then semifinals and finals.

More than 50 indoor and outdoor go-kart rental facilities across the country are hosting open qualifying sessions from March 15 to June 13 for this year's search, which is open to all males and females, ages 13-17. Participants post a fast lap in rental karts provided by a local facility and up to 300 drivers will then be invited to attend runoffs in the second phase of the search, at two outdoor go-kart tracks in July and August.

Locals interested in competing can do so at Fast Lap Indoor Kart Racing (736-8113), located at 4288 South Polaris Ave., near the Rio. The top four times will qualify for the runoffs and it costs $20 for the first qualifying run and $15 for each additional time. There is no limit to the amount of qualifying attempts.


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