Nur B. Ali (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

) is a

Pakistani American Pakistani Americans ( ur, ) are Americans who originate from Pakistan. The term may also refer to people who also hold a dual Pakistani and U.S. citizenship. Educational attainment level and household income are much higher in the Pakistani-Am ...

race car driver. He is the first Pakistani to become a professional racing driver, and a former two-time Southwest

Formula Mazda Formula Mazda is a class of relatively affordable open wheel formula racing. Formula Mazda has its own class in SCCA club racing, and there is a North American professional series called the Indy Pro 2000 Championship (formerly the Pro Ma ...

Series Champion. Ali also drove in the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

series for Team Pakistan.

Early life

Nur was interested in racing since he was four years old when he lived in Germany. He moved to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

with his family when he was 8 years old and he currently resides in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

suburb of Irving. Nur graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1998. He was Vice President of Washington, D.C. Federation of College Republicans in 1995 and interned for Congressman

Joe Barton Joseph Linus Barton (born September 15, 1949) is an American politician who represented in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2019. The district included Arlington, part of Fort Worth, and several small towns and rural areas south ...

, R-Texas, in Washington, D.C. in 1995.

Racing career

After graduating from college, Ali pursued a career racing by going to

Skip Barber Racing School The Skip Barber Racing School is an American racing and driving school. Skip Barber founded the school in 1975. History In 1975, Skip Barber started the Skip Barber School of High Performance Driving at Riverside International Raceway. In 1976, ...

. When he completed the course and picked up his racing license, Ali took part in the

Skip Barber Formula Dodge The Barber Dodge Pro Series was a professional Open-wheel car, open-wheel auto racing series from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional One-Design#Motor racing, spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were pri ...

Southern Race Series and becoming the first racing driver from Pakistan. In 2000, Ali and his brother set up Ali Motorsports, so that he could compete in the Southwest

Series which he won in 2001 and 2002. Then in 2006, he joined racing series

where he raced for

A1 Team Pakistan A1 Team Pakistan is the Pakistani team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management In 2008/2009 season, the team is being run by Team Craft, bringing a high level of knowledge and expertise to A1 Team Pakistan. Previously, A1 ...

for a season. In late 2007, Nur decided to switch to

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

, and after a successful test for Cunningham Motorsports, Ali drove in the 2008 Daytona ARCA 200. In 2009, he drove again for Cunningham Motorsports. After joining the

ARCA RE/MAX Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

, Texas Governor

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

presented Ali with an official commendation, and the Mayor of the city of

Southlake, Texas Southlake is a city located predominantly in Tarrant County with minor areas extending into Denton County in the U.S. state of Texas. Southlake is a suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth. As of th2019 census estimateit had a population of 32,376. Histo ...

, proclaimed January 25, 2008 as Nur Ali Day. In 2012, Ali made his debut in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

, driving for

Rick Ware Racing Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the NTT IndyCar Series. History The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing with ...

in two events late in the season, but wrecked 3 cars in his first career start at

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...

and then was not cleared to race in his next attempt at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24° ...

. He currently competes in the

Global RallyCross Championship The TitansRX International Series (formerly known as Red Bull Global Rallycross or Global Rallycross) is a group of rallycross series, currently organised by racing driver Max Pucher and businessman Chip Pankow. The initial series was series ru ...

Lites series.

Racing record

*(1) = Team standings.

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

ARCA Racing Series

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Global RallyCross Championship results

GRC Lites

Race cancelled.

References

Racing backgroundAli's ARCA racing test driveDay named after Nur Ali in SouthlakeDaytona: Nur Ali race report

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Nur Living people 1974 births Sportspeople from Karachi Pakistani racing drivers NASCAR drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers A1 Team Pakistan drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Racing drivers from Dallas American University School of International Service alumni Pakistani emigrants to the United States American sportspeople of Pakistani descent A1 Grand Prix drivers Performance Racing drivers