IS THERE ANY CORRELATION BETWEEN THE MENTAL PREPARATION OF GOING ONSTAGE AND ENTERING THE GRID FOR A RACE?
There definitely is. When I first got into a car when I was 13, I was not anything close to a natural. It was the first thing that I had really fallen in love with that I hadn’t actually been good at off the bat. That was a big learning experience for me. At 13, I didn’t quite know how to encounter that level of adversity. In the middle of the Skip Barber class, I was actually the slowest out of the 30 students there. For months, my biggest issue was trying to treat the car too much like a machine that I had to bend too my will. I only became quick once I started treated it like an instrument. It sounds cheesy, but I have perfect pitch so I can hear specifically what notes are in random sounds like fire sirens or the engine of a car. I went through video of the Mazda MX-5 that I used to drive, and I wrote down and memorized the notes that the engine hit when it got to redline. For example, I know that in third gear in the Miata that I happened to be driving with that differential, gearbox, or whatever given variables, I had to shift at a C-sharp. For three or four months, I was driving at about 70 percent humming the notes that the car had to be at when I shifted. That was how I learned to drive and how I did drive for the first year or so. I did, quite literally, have to treat my car like an instrument before I got quick.
HAS YOUR INTEREST IN PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING PLAYED A PART IN YOUR RACING AS WELL?
It definitely will. I have never necessarily struggled with math or physics, but I never really fell in love with them until I started racing and noticing the correlation between them. I never really considered being an engineer as a potential career opportunity until I learned how to analyze the data from my car after I got out of a testing session. I didn’t realize until halfway through my junior year of calculus that a lot of the equations I was learning and graphs I was analyzing in class were almost down to a T the same type of graphs I had been analyzing since I was 14. I had inadvertently learned how to read derivative graphs when I was in eighth grade just because I had to in order to get faster.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC RACING GOALS IN THE NEAR OR DISTANT FUTURE?
My biggest goal within the next few years is to get a fully funded ride in WeatherTech. It’s easier said than done, but you never necessarily know when you are going to meet the right person at the right time. I have a huge advantage marketing-wise in the sense that I am a teenager, female, and staying in school. I also care very deeply about getting exposure and being a role model for other girls who are potentially thinking about getting involved in racing or a related subject. My ability to reach out to a demographic that normal racers don’t race out to plays to my advantage, but finding the amount of money that it takes is hard regardless. Right now, I’m focusing on a bunch of different opportunities for next year. Connor and I are probably driving together, and I think we are both open to everything. It really depends on how the next few months pan out.
YOU RECEIVED A GREAT DEAL OF EXPOSURE A COUPLE WEEKS AGO WITH AN ARTICLE ON THE WEB SITE JALOPNIK (“MEET THE 18-YEAR-OLD PORSCHE RACING ACE OUT TO PROVE HER HATERS WRONG”) IN WHICH THE ROLE OF GENDER IN MOTORSPORTS WAS A CENTRAL THEME. WHAT HAS BEEN THE REACTION TO THAT ARTICLE?
I have gotten a lot of mixed reactions. I received a lot of amazing feedback in the sense that I put myself out there and talked about a subject that doesn’t come naturally and people feel a bit awkward bringing up. In a perfect world, I would be treated equally with every other driver, but that’s not how it works. I get added marketing because of my gender, and I also get added pressure. The whole thing is relative. I have also got some tough feedback. Every story is written with a specific goal in mind. Alanis [King, writer] and I, as a unit, wanted to make a point about how women in racing are usually portrayed and how they can be potential role models. There were also some comments on the article about how I don’t necessarily respect my elders and I don’t listen to their advice on how to be quicker on the track. I think some people who have read the article thought I grouped the people whose advice I really value with people who have given me unsolicited, rude advice. It’s not at all true. There have been a whole slew of really, really amazing people who have been nice to me on and off the track who have given me advice that I have really valued and taken to heart over the past few years. They have helped me grow as a human being and a racer. Despite the mixed reviews, I’m super happy with it overall. It got a lot of exposure, and the message was pretty clear.