Maia Kirk
Cal Club
Autocross
2-year member

Maia Kirk was nominated by multiple people because of her willingness to dive into both the sport and the community. During her first year in the region, she took on the incredibly tough job of organizing the annual awards banquet, despite never having attended one! Her nominators emphasized her great attitude and excitement to learn more and improve her driving skills. According to Maia, her husband had been racing Autocross for 4 years before he finally convinced her to give it a try in their 2002 Toyota MR2 Spyder. Despite spinning out multiple times and not fitting in the seat made for her husband, she was hooked to autocrossing and had a new “quest for speed”. She now races a 2013 Scion FRS, which she coincidently got for Valentine’s Day last year. Most women want earrings for Valentine’s Day, but Maia says she was lucky enough to get both! Maia shows us that Women On Track is more than just getting rough like one of the boys. With her Tiffany blue car wrap and pink Tsurikawa hanging inside, her car brings pizazz and personality to an often male-dominated sport. It’s also notable that she and her husband applied the wrap on their car at the car enhancement company they own together. For her, sharing this sport with her husband has been one of the biggest joys of learning Autocross. Maia has been running in the very challenging ladies indexed class with an SSC index at local autocross events. This class is no joke, with multiple SCCA Nationals ladies running each event. Maia combines her can-do attitude and competitive background in Taekwondo/Olympic Style weightlifting to improve her autocrossing skills. She works regularly with a racing coach, studies race-theory concepts in her spare time, and analyzes her runs after each event. She is learning to improve her cornering speeds and brake points and is looking forward to her first time at Solo Nationals in Nebraska in 2022. As many of us relate, Maia sees the racing community as family. She pointed out that despite being new to the community, multiple people opened their homes to her, Austin, and their dogs when they had to evacuate their home during a wildfire. Maia in turn gives back to the community in many ways. She has learned every work position, even some of the toughest ones, and continues to volunteer her time to give back however she can. She is not only dedicated to becoming a better driver, but also to helping however she can. As her husband states, “I believe she is a good example for all current and future female racers!”

“It is especially admirable when the core values SCCA includes in their mission statement are demonstrated by the amazing women in this community, as it can be very difficult to navigate the challenges generated by such a heavily male – dominated sport. Therefore, SCCA has held a special place in my heart as it honors and appreciates those who give 110% of their efforts every single day, both on and off the track!”