Michael Lira (born July 16, 1997) is a Peruvian-American professional stock car racing driver.
Early life and early career Lira was born in Daytona Beach, Florida (Volusia County). He began his motorsports career racing quarter-midgets at Little New Smyrna Speedway, in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.Spruce Creek sophomore Michael Lira gearing up for ARCA debut (Daytona Beach News Journal, August 23, 2012) When he turned 12, Lira started racing in the FASCAR Pro Trucks Series. When he was 15, he competed in both the FASCAR Pro Truck and Florida United Pro Truck Series. He was the 2012 New Smyrna Speedway Pro-Trucks Track Champion,Short Track History/Track Champions (retrieved 7/9/2015) and he tied for the Pro-Truck Track Championship at Orlando Speedworld.
ARCA Racing Series Lira began competing in the ARCA Racing Series in 2013, at the age of 16. He drove for Kimmel Racing, making his debut at Berlin Raceway on August 10.16-year-old high school student Michael Lira to make ARCA debut at Berlin with Kimmel Racing (ARCA Racing website, August 8, 2013) Lira competed in a total of four races with Kimmel Racing in 2013, and another 11 races with the team in 2014. His best finish in those two years was seventh at Salem Speedway. His best qualifying effort in those two years was fourth at Pocono Raceway.Racing Reference (retrieved July 9, 2015)
Although not permitted to race in events at tracks over one mile in length due to track age restrictions, Before his 18th birthday, Lira participated in multiple ARCA Racing Series test sessions at Daytona International Speedway16-year-old Michael Lira learns the craft of Superspeedway racing with Kimmel Racing (ARCA Racing website, December 23, 2013)Michael Lira returns to DIS for opening day of ARCA testing (Daytona Beach News Journal, December 19, 2014) and one test at Talladega Superspeedway.Lira heading to Talladega for two days of testing (Daytona Beach News Journal, April 15, 2014)
Switching to his family owned team of Lira Motorsports in 2015, Lira plans on competing in 16 of the 20 races on the ARCA Racing Series schedule. Age restrictions do not allow him to race at four of the tracks that have races scheduled before his 18th birthday. Through the first ten races of the year, Lira's best finish was eighth at Mobile International Speedway, and he qualified fourth at three different tracks (Nashville Speedway, Toledo Speedway and New Jersey Motorsports Park).Racing Reference (retrieved July 9, 2015)Michael Lira Driver Bio (ARCA Racing website, retrieved July 9, 2015)
IMSA and SCCA road course racing Lira competed in a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) road-course event at Daytona International Speedway in May 2014. In his first official SCCA start, he finished eighth overall and fourth in class.Young Port Orange Racer Michael Lira Well Prepared for First ARCA Road Race (Speed51 website, May 30, 2014)
In January 2015, Lira made his International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Tudor United SportsCar Championship debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway driving for Muehlner Motorsports America.Michael Lira Joins Muehlner Motorsports America For The Rolex 24 At Daytona (Catchfence website, January 20, 2015) The car suffered from mechanical issues during the race and was brought to the garage four separate times for more than eight hours of race time. The car finished 17th in the Daytona-GTD Class.Michael Lira Records A Solid Performance In His Rolex 24 Debut (Lira Motorsports, January 26, 2015)
Also in January 2015, Lira competed in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge BMW Performance 200 at Daytona International Speedway. In that race, he started eighth and finished 13th.IMSA race results page (retrieved July 9, 2015) He competed in a second IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge event, the Monterey Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in May 2015.IMSA race results page (retrieved July 9, 2015) In that race, he started 15th and finished 14th with co-driver Nick Galante. Lira's third and final IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race of 2015 was at Road Atlanta on October 2. In that race, Lira finished tenth along with co-driver David Levine.
Family
Lira's father, Carlos Lira, is an accomplished sports car racer. He has been racing since the age of 18. He has earned five national championships in SCCA Ford Mustang road course competition. He also has experience in Grand Am, Rolex Sports Car Series and Pirelli World Challenge competition. Carlos Lira is a native of Lima, Peru.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Xfinity Series NASCAR Xfinity Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts Ref 2016 B. J. McLeod Motorsports 15 Ford DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW DAY KEN NHA IND IOW26 GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM 71st 15
Season still in progress Ineligible for series points
ARCA Menards Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Menards Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pts Ref 2013 Kimmel Racing 69 Ford DAY MOB SLM TAL TOL ELK POC MCH ROA WIN CHI NJE POC BLN12 ISF MAD13 DSF 41st 670 68 IOW18 SLM7 KEN KAN 2014 DAY MOB9 SLM18 TAL TOL9 NJE12 POC MCH POC10 SLM27 KEN16 KAN 20th 1750 69 ELK14 WIN17 CHI IRP12 BLN12 ISF MAD DSF 2015 Lira Motorsports 58 Ford DAY MOB8 NSH9 SLM11 TAL TOL17 NJE19 POC26 MCH CHI WIN24 IOW25 IRP31 POC BLN ISF DSF SLM KEN KAN 23rd 1220 2016 36 DAY NSH SLM TAL TOL12 NJE POC MCH29 MAD WIN IOW IRP POC BLN ISF 58th 415 6 DSF14 SLM CHI KEN KAN 2017 DAY37 NSH18 SLM TAL TOL ELK POC MCH MAD IOW IRP POC WIN ISF ROA DSF SLM CHI KEN KAN 83rd 185 2022 Josh Williams Motorsports 60 Ford DAY PHO TAL KAN CLT IOW BLN ELK MOH POC IRP MCH GLN ISF MLW DSF KAN 66th 50 Chevy BRI SLM TOL
ARCA Menards Series East ARCA Menards Series East resultsYearTeamNo.Make1234567PtsRef 2022 Josh Williams Motorsports with Lira Motorsports 60 Ford NSM FIF DOV NSV IOW MLW 29th 64 Chevy BRI
References
External links