5 Questions with Nick Almada

Esther Rodriguez, Parents & Teachers Section Editor
December 3, 2014

For the past two years, senior Nick Almada has been following a family tradition by participating in off-road racing. During the weekend of Nov. 13-15, he raced in the Baja 1000, a 1,000-mile race put on by Score International in Baja California, which took him 36 hours to complete.

Q1: How did you get involved in racing?

A1: My family. They have been involved in off-road racing since before I was born. They’ve been racing longer than anyone can remember.

Q2: What do you feel your greatest accomplishment or your favorite part of racing?

A2: Finishing a race. It’s not the easiest race in the world, so finishing is great because I feel like I survived. We have about 10 races a year, and there’s a lot of competition around each race. Just finishing a race is a great accomplishment-so is winning. The rush is definitely one of my favorite parts. It’s hard to explain, but the rush you get from racing is like nothing you’ve ever felt.

Q3: Is racing something you see yourself pursuing as a career?

A3: I can make a career out of it. There are people who race for a living. If I continue to get better, I’d make it my career.

Q4: Is there someone in racing who inspires you?

A4: Probably the one who inspires me most is BJ Baldwin. He’s a seven-time champion. He is someone who I looked up to growing up, and now I’m racing with him. It’s sort of tough because I want him to win the race, but I want to beat him as well because he’s someone I look up to.

Q5: How has racing impacted your life?

A5: It had introduced me to many other people. I know them from racing, and they know me. It’s also affected me at school because when I have races, I sometimes have to miss school. It hinders me from learning in school, but I also get to learn out there.

About the Contributor

Esther Rodriguez, Parents & Teachers Section Editor

Entering her second year as a writer for The Downey Legend, senior Esther Rodriguez has high hopes. As a sophomore, she heard about joining Newspaper during the morning announcements and her English teacher, Mr. Kraus, encouraged her to fill out an application and display her knack for writing. This inspired her to apply and see if she could make it, which she did. Rodriguez joined in hopes of improving her writing skills, becoming less shy, and learning to write in more detail. To her, the best part about being on the newspaper staff is finding out about interesting, random things going on around the school. “There are things you would not know just coming to school, but being in Newspaper you learn things that aren’t common knowledge,” Rodriguez said. “We are the eyes and ears of the school.”

In her down time, Rodriguez enjoys reading young adult literature, writing fictional stories, and spending quality time with her cell phone on websites like YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter. Besides being in Newspaper at school, she is also a new tutor at Downey High’s Writing Center. Writing as much as possible is important to her because she dreams of one day being an author. Along with chasing her aspirations of writing for a living, after she finishes high school, Rodriguez also looks forward to attending a university such as UCLA, San Diego State, or UC San Diego and obtaining a degree in English. Next summer, she will also be going on a missionary trip with church to Japan. Although her head is full of thoughts about the surreal future, for now Rodriguez is focusing on her schoolwork and activities and soaking up her last year as a high schooler.