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SOUTHLAKE -- Nur Ali was only five years old, watching his dad drive, when he learned that he liked speed.

"I used to sit in the middle of the car," Ali recalls. "He's driving very fast, about 120 or 130 miles per hour, no speed limit, and I used to tell him, okay, pass this car, get in front of him, do this do that."

That was on the Autobahns of Germany.

Today, he drives in the ARCA series, one step below NASCAR's Nationwide series.

Not that unusual, except when you consider where he was born 34-years ago.

"I'm just a little bit different," Alis says. "I was born in Pakistan. I was about four months old when my Parents took me from Pakistan to Germany."

Today he is the only Asian-American driver in stock cars.

Ali Motor Sports

Nur Ali.

"When people say this is the land of opportunity, it is truly the land of opportunity," Ali says. "I have become a race car driver moving my way up to NASCAR."

He graduated from Trinity High School in Euless, studied International relations at American University in Washington, D.C. and says the good old boys in NASCAR have become his friends.

"I've made a transition from open wheel to stock car racing, but they've been very cordial, very professional, I've had no issues. Some of my closest friends are mechanics," he says. "Those guys are from Alabama, Mississippi, but they treat me like one of their own."

Ali has his sites set on landing a full-time job in NASCAR.

He says he the one thing he has learned most about is patience.

"In this business, a lot of drivers don't have patience," Ali says. "You can't win the race on the first lap on the first turn."