Kristján Einar: Jalopnik Adopts A Race Car Driver

Two weeks ago, Icelandic racer Kristján Einar was set to begin the Atlantic Championship season with Newman-Wachs Racing. The Carpocalypse changed that. Now he needs $500,000 in sponsor money. Maybe Jalopnik can help.

Looking at Icelandic race car driver Kristján Einar's racing resume reads like that of a much older driver, so it's hard to believe the 20-year-old fresh-faced kid sitting in front of us here in the Jalopnik office making Ray and I feel insecure in our driving abilities is the same person. But he is. After winning Iceland's karting championship in 2006 he flew to England to test for Formula BMW. A mere seven months later was on the starting grid of his first British Formula 3 race. The team he was racing for? Carlin Motorsport, the winningest team in open-wheel racing outside of Formula 1. Carlin is responsible for the careers of Formula One drivers Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Takuma Sato.

During his first and only season in Formula 3, Kristján, displaying a level of maturity not normally seen in racers at his level of experience, beat out many drivers with three to six years more time behind the wheel to finish on the Podium at Monza. That would have been a solid start to a professional racing career for anyone, but for Kristján, it was just the beginning. He has bigger plans.

Kristján has a dream of becoming a Formula One driver by his fifth season in single-seat racing. For all intents, he was well on his way to accomplishing that goal, securing not only a seat with Newman Wachs Racing — founded by Paul Newman and Eddie Wachs — in the Atlantic Championship, supporting American Le Mans, but also a sponsor willing to foot the $500,000 bill for a year of racing. That's why Kristján boarded a plane to New York to sign the contract.

So why is he sitting here with us today?

Well, it's all the Carpocalypse's fault. The sponsor withdrew its offer, leaving Kristján with a guaranteed seat at one of this country's premier race teams, but without the cash to sit in it.

We want to help Kristján, not just because we want to ride his coattails to Formula One stardom, but also because he's a genuinely nice kid and a talented driver. Although we don't have the cash ourselves to bankroll him, that's not going to stop us from trying to help him while following hm as he attempts to secure that vital sponsorship. Stay tuned to the Adopt A Driver tag for more.

Kristján Einar is known as The Icelander. You can read more about his career at TheIcelander.com

Send an email to Wes Siler, the author of this post, at wes@jalopnik.com.