The African Adventure of William Sawalich: NASCAR’s Charitable Globetrotter

While most NASCAR drivers spent their winter offseason on vacations in resorts or spending time with their families in their million-dollar homes, Joe Gibbs Racing’s prospect William Sawalich spent it in a hearing aid station in Africa.

In fact, for years, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular has taken his winter months joining his grandfather in charity work across the world. Most recently, he traveled to the southern African country of Zambia when he joined the Starkey Hearing Foundation in assisting with providing hearing aids to hearing-impaired children.

“We were there for a few days, and we fit about, I want to say 500-600 people with hearing aids,” Sawalich said in an interview with Frontstretch. “Starkey Hearing Foundation goes to almost any country in the world, I mean, you name it, that isn’t as fortunate as us, and fits people with hearing aids for free.”

Because of his NASCAR schedule, the O’Reilly driver has to meticulously plan which months he’s able to travel abroad, with some meetings taking place in the middle of the season. While nowadays his recent ventures in NASCAR’s second-highest series have allotted him only a couple months at a time to do so, Sawalich has been to various locations around the world including the Middle East and Asia.

However, his most recent trip was among the first in Africa. There, the Toyota racer found himself in a village site fitting hearing aids to kids. It wasn’t the first time Sawalich had done the work, but he’ll tell you it’s one of the most rewarding things he’s ever experienced.

“Usually, the best part is when you get a little kid that has never heard at all in their life, and they sit down at your station, just kind of like mute and like, not a lot of emotion, and then you first put the hearing aid into the mold, and then you see their face just like light up,” Sawalich said smiling. “That’s the best you can get.

“There was this one little girl, she was happy, and then she was running around the site high fiving everybody and just happy and laughing. Before, she was just like, no emotion, because you lose so much of your life if you don’t have hearing. It’s a big deal, for sure.”

And it’s the result of his following of his grandfather, Bill Austin, the co-founder of the Starkey company. For each winter break, the 19-year-old has been joining his progenitors in their ventures around the world, providing free hearing aids.

“That’s what my grandfather has been passionate about his whole life,” Sawalich said. “He will do anything to help somebody. He doesn’t ever care about himself. He’s not selfish, and I love going along with him just to see what he does. It just makes you feel really good as a person to go with and help others, and I really wish I had more time to go on all the mission trips.

Of course, doing charity work doesn’t mean he didn’t get to experience the local fauna. Africa, a continent known for having some of the most unique groups of wildlife on the planet, had plenty there to greet Sawalich. In his Zambian ventures, the JGR driver witnessed elephants, lions, leopards, rhinoceros and hippopotamuses.

One of which, to the horror of the young man, charged him.

“We went on a river cruise and a hippo charged at us,” Sawalich recalled. “They are mean. They’re vicious. They charged at us, and then the guy turned around to go back to see it … I was scared. I didn’t want to go back. But he did anyway.”

For context, hippopotamuses are estimated to kill up to 3,000 people a year annually, making them the deadliest land animal on the planet. Sawalich, who is used to experiencing speeds of up to 180 miles per hour inches away from disaster on a weekly basis, could only watch in pure terror as the near three-ton mammal charged his vehicle.

“You see its head out of water, it waves his ears, and it just looks right at you, and then it goes under,” Sawalich recalled. “You’re like, ‘Uh-oh. Lost it.’ And then you kind of see this wave moving towards you, and then it jumps out of the water and like has his mouth open. Like, OK, we got to go. I don’t want to be here. But the guy was like, ‘No, no, no. It’s OK.'”

A much less terrifying encounter during his trip was when Sawalich met the pope. Being the first pope from the United States, Pope Leo XIV immediately took interest in Sawalich’s NASCAR background.

“We went on to Rome from Africa, and we met the pope through my grandfather’s charity,” Sawalich said. “You get out to the kind of the courtyard area in front of the Vatican, and he’s just kind of standing there giving everybody their blessings, and it’s weird to actually see him.

“But he was really cool. You don’t have much time with him. Security is pretty tight, but I got to tell him I was a NASCAR driver from the U.S., and I drive for Toyota. Then we took like a group picture at the end, and he mentioned he wanted to be by the NASCAR driver. That was me.”

Five months later, Sawalich’s primary focus is on his racing career and most recently won his first O’Reilly race in April at Rockingham Speedway. However, that doesn’t mean planning for this winter’s trip has stalled. The Starkey Foundation has multiple trips planned per year, and most recently, Sawalich’s racing schedule only allows him to travel to Africa — although he might have another option in mind this year.

“The time that I have off from racing, it always falls on that African trip,” Sawalich said. “But I could go to the Dominican Republic in January. So, I might think about that one. I’d have to work it around the media stuff. … But I would go to Africa again. It’s just the best one, honestly. Yeah, I’d go climb Kilimanjaro in Africa.”

But for Sawalich, it doesn’t matter where he is. What matters to him is that he’s following in his grandfather’s footsteps and helping those in need.

“That’s the most important part of life to me is I know if I’m doing all I can to help other people and just be nice to other people,” Sawalich said. “That’s what my grandmother’s always taught me. She goes on every mission with my grandfather. I feel like if I’m doing my part and going on the missions whenever I can, I will feel accomplished in life.”