POUND RIDGE, N.Y. - Nate Cicero has had the need for speed for as long as he can remember.
The 19-year-old Pound Ridge resident said his love of cars began simply with collecting Hot Wheels and other toy autos. But over the years that passion has led to Cicero clinching the Mazda MX-5 Cup Rookie of the Year award last month outside Atlanta, and winning the $80,000 in prize money.
Cicero just finished his second year of pro sportscar driving, after having been the first-ever two-time Mazda scholarship winner in 2021 and 2022.
“When I was about 2 or 3 years old, I loved seeing the different cars on the road and started collecting Hot Wheels and other toy cars,” he said. “I would go up to anyone who had a car and ask to see their keys so I could guess what kind of car they had!”
Cicero’s first time behind the wheel in a competitive setting was at Grand Prix New York, the mega-entertainment complex in Mount Kisco where he was part of a go-kart league from 2015 to 2020.
“I won eight championships during that time,” he said. “We had a competitive group and a lot of us are still racing. It pushed us to be the best we could be.”
Cicero attended and graduated from the private Fusion Academy in New York City because the class schedule there was more flexible, and it allowed him to focus on his racing career.
In 2016, he started outdoor go-karting competition at Oakland Valley Race Park (OVRP) in Orange County.
“It’s quite a bit faster and [the karts have] less bodywork,” he said. “It’s actually a fast kart at a more competitive level. In 2019, I won my first championship called the New York State Championship, and later the OVRP Junior Championship.”
Cicero said at that point he was trying to figure out what his next step should be to move up the ladder in competitive racing. The answer sort of fell into his lap.
“It was a combination of luck and success and timing,” he said. “I won a national championship and had joined the right team at the right time—they had had a successful year. That got me nominated for the Mazda scholarship [for emerging drivers].”
Cicero said about 40 drivers nationwide receive the nomination and then must send in a video in which they explain why they should be chosen. Nine are then selected to come to a track and drive a racecar—a step up from go-karting. The most recent event was held at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.
“It’s for transitioning from karts to cars,” Cicero explained. “They look at not just how you drive, but how you handle yourself off the track, things like giving interviews, socialization, [receiving] coaching. They want you to be yourself and not be phony.”
In 2021, Cicero was one of two scholarship winners. He received his for the spec MX-5 (Mazda Miata). In 2022, he was the sole winner.
“It is a lot to take in,” he said. “It’s a ladder system and [as you go upward] the cars get faster and there is a higher level of competition.”
Cicero said he will continue to compete for the MX-5 cup again this year—the season begins this month in Daytona, Fla., and ends in October in Atlanta with the winner receiving a $250,000 grand prize.
Cicero said that he had no real muse growing up that inspired him to become a driver (“It was just me liking cars”), but cites his coaches and mentors Steven and Stuart McAleer, who are brothers, as one of the main reasons for his early success.
“They started with me with the karting now MX-5 and are building my journey with them,” he said. “I am following in their footsteps.
“To make it in racing, you can’t just be a good driver,” he continued. You have to be a coach too. On the weekends, if you are not racing, you can be a coach. So, that is what I am trying to learn from them. They are always doing something—coaching or driving or running the go-kart team. And that is what I am now trying to do.”
If he keeps hustling, Cicero believes, there will be plenty more checkered flags in his future.
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