Last night for racing and fireworks I returned to Irwindale Speedway ( now Toyota Speedway of Irwindale. .ugggh ) I used to be involved with that track but haven't been for a couple years now but my brother and a bunch of good friends continue to be.. Anyway one of the people that was included in are VIP section ( which we reserved for the event ) was a young and up coming female driver named Lindsey King, admittedly I"m not usually impressed with female drivers but this one is different, beyond being a cutie, after talking with her for a good part of the night I found her to be one of the sweetest down to earth people I have meet on or off the track, very humble and thankful for everything everyone has done for her to this point, her entire family are all great people as well and her father inperticuler was an outstanding guy.. but I wondered if she really had any talent and wasn't just another pretty face being promoted.. well I had the chance to see for myself later that night when she raced in the Late Models 100 lap event.. I was very impressed, this girl can flat out drive, she finished 7th in a large field of some very top notch drivers..it was a hard fought battle from beginning to end and she never backed out or appeared to be intimidated, she went door to door with the best all night.
Do I think she has a shot at making it to the cup level.. I do and here's why I say that.. If she was a guy I'd say her chances were limited but being that she is a female NASCAR wants her there.. They have even included her in their Drive for Diversity program. Meaning she has sponsorship by NASCAR in hopes of helping her develop further.
Here's a short article on the NASCAR Diversity program..
DIVERSE GROUP: An eight-driver lineup was announced Monday for NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program, which is beginning its fifth year developing minority and female drivers.
The new group includes Kristin Bumbera, Michael Cherry, Paul Harraka and Lindsey King, who will all race in the Whelen All-American Series, and Michael Gallegos, Jesus Hernandez, Lloyd Mack and Jonathan Smith, who will race in the NASCAR Camping World East or West series.
In the first four years of the diversity program, sponsored by NASCAR and overseen by Access Marketing and Communications, the participants have won 14 races, posted 94 top-five finishes and finished in the top 10 235 times.
NASCAR chairman Brian France said everyone needs patience as these young drivers mature and find their place in the stock car sport.
"Everybody wants this to be a success as fast as possible," France said. "But it takes time, it takes time for drivers to get the opportunities, it takes time for them to prove that they have the skills and talent.
"But we will have a breakthrough, I'm convinced of that; a breakthrough in diversity at the highest level, at the Sprint Cup level. It will take time. This is a long program. We never got into this thinking that two or three years would get us there. It's a long commitment and we're making progress and seeing results."
Don't misunderstand NASCAR's level of sponsorship by the above article it's far from being enough to cover the total cost to race.. Her dad's far from a wealthy man and still has to account for about 70% of the cost either by local sponsors or out of pocket funds.. I for one hope she makes it because (A) I was that impressed with her as the complete package and ( B) Jeff will be retiring about the time she'll be ready to step up to the NASCAR level... I would never have thought that I would consider a female racer as my favorite at the cup level but in this case I would make an exception.. check out this link below and you may understand why..LOL
http://www.racingwest.com/news/stor
y.php3/17189/index.htm
