Finding girlhood between pit stops
It is 9 a.m. in London. A sliver of sunlight peeks through the curtains of my young interviewee, and for a moment, it feels just like another Zoom meeting with my college groupmates.
Except the girl in front of me is Bianca Bustamante, Gen-Z racing prodigy. Life for this 19-year-old isn’t speeding from one class to the next, it’s back-to-back interviews in the morning, launching international brand collaborations, and getting sprayed with champagne every time she ends up with a podium finish.
I ask her if she’s always known that life would turn out this way, to which she promptly replies, “Definitely not.” She recounts getting into motorsport at three, mostly due to her father’s keen interest in the sport. But unlike most successful drivers today, her father was no millionaire. He was just your average motorsport fan.
“We were subject to harsh realities,” Bianca starts. “We were always in debt, so my dad took up three jobs and became an OFW in America. If we were lucky, we could see him thrice a year.”
Critics online have not held back on speculating about her background. “Sometimes, people don’t believe hero stories because they seem too good to be true,” she tells The Philippine STAR.
Though most motorsport hero stories begin in moneyed European capitals, Bianca’s story starts in Laguna. After realizing that studying in Southville was too expensive for her family, she had to drop out of third grade two months into the school year. This was how she eventually ended up at a small school in San Pedro while living with her grandmother in Biñan.
“I used to work out in a bakal gym,” she recalls fondly. “I’d survive on an allowance of P50 every day. People don't realize this is where I came from. I couldn't afford to race, and when the pandemic left my dad unemployed, it soon became one of the hardest times financially for my family.” It also didn’t help that motorsport was not necessarily a popular sport in the Philippines. Asking for support from private entities and sponsors was an added challenge. Not only did she have to prove herself in the world of motorsport, she also had to prove that investing in motorsport was worth looking into in the first place.
It’s hard to imagine how she transformed her life into what it is today in a matter of two and a half years. She attributes this to her manager Darryl O’Young, who helped fund and kick start her formula car career. “Darryl was my silver lining. I couldn't pay to get my braces out so he lent me money. I couldn't even graduate because I couldn't pay for my tuition, and he helped to pay for that also. At that time, merely thinking about motorsport felt selfish.”
She met O’Young at age 11, but only when the pandemic nearly convinced her that her racing career was over did she pitch herself to her now hero. O’Young and Bustamante, then 16 years old, began building the latter’s motorsport empire piece by piece. Darryl reminded Bianca that not only was it safe to dream big, they would also work together to make sure she would be the best version of herself when her dreams came to fruition.
While pursuing a motorsport career had been a shared dream between Bianca and her father, she understands why her mother fervently pushed her to consider other career prospects such as medicine or law. “She wanted me to live quite a normal life. To experience going to college and have a job that makes her less anxious.”
I ask her how she finds “normalcy” in a life full of fast cars and jetlagged interviews. “It's hard to find happiness when all you ever think about is winning. I equated my self-worth to my achievements, so I found creative outlets to find happiness within me, particularly through photography, art, and fashion. I love fashion. I love that I get to be feminine in a male-dominated sport. I love that I can be a race car driver and wear my lip gloss and makeup.”
“Was it ever hard making friends or maintaining friendships in general?” I inquire. She takes a moment before responding. “I’ve been shy my whole life. Earlier in my career, introducing myself and shaking people’s hands would give me so much anxiety. I struggled with my self-confidence. I just didn't like a lot of things about myself. As I've gotten older, I've learned to love every small thing about myself which has helped me a lot, but those insecurities still come, so it's hard when you're meeting new people.”
When asked about what she wishes could have gone differently in her upbringing, she says she tries to make up for childhood experiences she didn’t get to have. She’d recently gone ice skating and visited museums. Making up for a prom that never happened was more challenging, but the next best thing on her bucket list seemed more doable: a proper girls’ night sleepover. “I don't really have a lot of girl best friends, so I’ve never had a sleepover. I've seen it in movies where you get ice cream, braid each other’s hair, watch sad movies, and cry—I’ve never had that.”
I felt a great deal of sympathy towards her because she seemed like just another girl you could easily be friends with. How does one even be a professional race car driver and a teenage girl at the same time?
So, I say: When you fall short of your goals, what reminds you not to be too hard on yourself? How do you remember that you aren’t just a racing superstar, you’re also just a girl still in the process of navigating two worlds: how to be a race car driver and how to grow up?
“It's something I'm still in the process of learning. I wish I could personally grow as fast as my career. I still have to constantly learn under the spotlight, and I make mistakes (that) are subject to the criticism of so many people,” she answers.
“I always do my best to learn from my mistakes, and I always remember my lows during my highs to keep myself grounded. I feel like I was given this life and these challenges so they could mold me into the person I will become eventually.”
When you ask, “What does Bianca Bustamante believe in?” She tells you nothing contributes to growth better than what you believe makes your heart beat. “Motorsport allowed me to be the best version of myself. Once you're a driver, you're supposedly this amazing person (who’s) fearless and strong, but that’s not always the case. Though when you do find what you’re truly passionate about, you optimize your capabilities and become the best version of yourself.”