ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When you think of motorsports in New Mexico, you may think of names like Al and Bobby Unser but a young racer is trying to make a name for himself.

When Isaac Trezza-Alamond was 12 years old, he caught on to the Forza games after a friend introduced him to them. Eventually, he wanted to test his skill on the sim in real life.

“I convinced my mom to go-karting, and it was for all of us,” Trezza-Alamond said.

Trezza-Alamond said with the help of his family, who invested as much as they could into his racing, even going into debt, he found success. As he did, he also found sponsors to support him and attracted the support of former NTT IndyCar Series driver Jim Guthrie. 

Like Trezza-Alamond, Jim Guthrie grew up in the Albuquerque metro. Guthrie graduated from Eldorado High School in 1979 and attended UNM in the 1980s, before pursuing his racing dreams. From 1996-98, he made 15 IndyCar starts, from 1996-98, collecting a win against Tony Stewart at Phoenix Raceway in March 1997 and racing in the Indianapolis 500 three times.

A New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Guthrie still calls the Albuquerque metro home as the owner of Car Crafters body shop and as a mainstay at tracks like Sandia Speedway.

Sandia Speedway was where Trezza-Alamond met Guthrie and approached him.

“When I started go karting out here, I think he noticed me. I was the new kid, no one else saw me. I was a 16-year-old kid who wanted to get into IndyCar,” Trezza-Alamond said. “He decided to invest in me personally, so that’s why I’m racing these cars for free from him. He’s been helping me connect me with race teams on the road to Indy and all around the country. It’s been a huge help.”

Now, Trezza-Alamond is in his first year of racing in the Lucas Oil Formula Car Series. It’s just a few steps away from IndyCar and comes up with coaching from drivers he looked up to.

“RC Enerson, he’s a part-time IndyCar driver. I’ve been able to be coached by him and drive with on-track, which is such a surreal thing. Juan Pablo Montoya’s brother, Fredirico Montoya,” he said.

Trezza-Alamond sits third in points of 17 drivers and is looking at moving up a step to USF Juniors next year. in many stick-and-ball sports, that type of skill would make a move like that inevitable. But, racing takes money – a lot of it – and it only gets more expensive as you move up.

“It seems like a far-fetched dream, because even for karting, you’re trying to come up with like $5,000 a weekend. It’s ridiculous money,” he said. 

Trezza-Alamond is looking for sponsors to move up to USF Juniors. He is also continuing his education. After graduating from V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, he plans to study business at CNM.

His experience of having to find sponsors and understanding the economics of a business, like racing, will be valuable.

“It’s intense being a 17 year old in a boardroom,” he said. “You just have to recognize that they’re all human. They’re all here for the same reason. it’s a business negotiation.”

Trezza-Alamond is confident he can use all of these tools to achieve his dream, especially when there’s nothing else he’d rather do.

“There’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be than a racetrack,” he said. “The fact that two years ago, I had no idea if I’d ever get the opportunity to drive go-karts, and now I’m in race cars actually talking about being on the road to IndyCar, it’s surreal. And I’m so blessed to be here every day.”

Note: We talked with Isaac Trezza-Alamond before his spec Mazda Miata race Saturday at Sandia Speedway. During that race, he passed Guthrie on the final lap for his second win of the season.