From the Track to the Arts
Sep 15, 2020
The Racing to End Alzheimer’s/BimmerWorld team is comprised of a diverse group of individuals who’ve come together to pursue success on the racetrack. While an IMSA championship is the ultimate goal, we love to see members of our team doing amazing things off the track as well. This week, we’d like to highlight Nick Galante, driver of our #80 BMW M4GT4 – and a seriously talented sculpture artist.
From adversity to victory
Flash back to 2009, when Nick was competing for the masters’ championship in the Jim Russell F3 Championship series. His fledgling driving career showed promise, but the funding required for each race presented a significant financial burden. Despite the added stress, Galante was driving well and had a real shot at winning the championship. Then disaster struck.
Hot on the heels of the leader in a mid-season race at Sears Point, Nick crashed going into turn two, completely wrecking the LOLA F3 racecar he was driving. Although he suffered only minor injuries, the financial consequences of the crash were potentially devastating. Galante exhibited his trademark determination, convincing the series to give him some leeway on the payment schedule for the crash damage so he could continue driving. He came out of that season with a championship – and the costly remains of the crashed LOLA F3.
The art and spirit of racing
Fast forward to 2020. Galante had a few more championships under his belt and was driving the r2endalz/BimmerWorld #80 racecar in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Out of nowhere, disaster struck again – this time in the form of a season-halting global pandemic. With a newborn daughter and paused income stream, Nick was forced to once again tap into his reserves of resourcefulness and grit. And much like the 2009 Jim Russell F3 Championship series, what has emerged from this period of uncertainty is triumph.
Fittingly, Nick has used the saved wreckage of the crashed LOLA F3 to create an artistic homage to the wonder and beauty of racecar aerodynamics. Each of his one-of-a-kind sculptures is made from a cross section of the LOLA FJR-50 F3’s wing – enclosed in carbon fiber, set at its precise racing angle and connected to a concrete base with race grade stainless steel hardware.
These pieces are not made in a factory; they are crafted by the caring hands of a driver paying tribute to his car. Each painstaking detail, each bump, bruise, and battle scar, tells a story. Beyond their unique beauty, every sculpture represents the relationship between man and machine – and the spirit of pushing past adversity in pursuit of victory. For us here at Racing to End Alzheimer’s and BimmerWorld, that’s what motorsports is all about.
Thanks, Nick.