I started racing when I was 16 years old so I don't have the traditional story of grandpa
passing the wheel down to dad and dad passing the wheel on to me.
I started at an age where I had to pick up a lot very fast and that's what I was determined
to do.
I started from a water skiing background and went on to hold numerous state regional and
national titles and so determination was never a question.
And when I got into the seat of a race car, everything went out the window.
I found a love for the sport, I found a love for the people that I was surrounded around
and it became a passion that has now become a career and professional race car driving
is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I race for a cause and my cause is Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
It hits close to the heart and home for me.
I have two cousins who have Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is affected in the X chromosomes and only affects young boys.
They're typically diagnosed around the ages of three and life expectancy is up until their
early to mid twenties.
There's no cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and it is my goal to raise awareness and funds
at race tracks with race fans support and end Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Matthew and Jordan, my two cousins have Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Matthew passed away in 2008 at a very young age and something came across me that I had
never felt in my life before.
Growing up with Matthew, I always looked at it as he was ill and it was just the way his
life was going to be and it wasn't until I got older that I realized that not only was
he ill, but he was terminally ill.
When Matthew passed away, I promised my family and myself that I would do something to help
end Duchenne muscular dystrophy and so here I am today racing for a cure to end Duchenne
and to help save other boys, young boys that have Duchenne muscular dystrophy and my cousin
Jordan so that one day they can grow up and possibly be race car drivers.
What does racing mean to me?
Passion, commitment, dedication, and perseverance.
When I first started racing in 2007, I found a quote, fear is a state of mind and will
is an action taken and ever since then I really lived by this quote because I think it greatly
expresses exactly what motorsports takes.
It's a big pool with a lot of fish in it and everybody wants to succeed, everybody wants
to win, but there's so many things that incorporate a winning team and a lot of people don't realize
that this is such a team effort.
So what racing means to me is all those things combined with team effort because this is
not an easy sport, it's very hard to excel and there's so many people that have the drive
and the passion that you do, but yet you have to stand on top.
I've never felt as much gratification as I do now with the motorsports industry and
what it offers.
The fan support is like none other.
I have fans that practically break their backs just to come to races, to show their
support, to even help fund my racing career.
It's the best experience that I've ever experienced and this is why I want to race for the rest
of my life and racing means so much to me, to my family, and to all the race fans that
I want to bring home wins every time I get off the track.
My greatest memory, which really has put, you know, I have so much heart in what I have
done is winning the Grand Prix along beach with World Challenge.
I can't tell you the emotion that was pouring out of the car from me, from my team, from
the fans, from the series.
If I was going to win one professional race and if it was going to be my first professional
race, I wanted it to be the Grand Prix along beach and with hundreds of thousands of eyeballs
looking at you and the feeling that you get from Long Beach is like no other and to be
able to say that I won the Grand Prix along beach and I am now a professional race car
driver that has started her footprints in making history as a female is absolutely incredible.
