Go for broke
Speed. That’s all I want. For me, fast will never be fast enough. My name is Jamie and I’m an adrenaline junkie. It all started with my dad. He loves all kinds of cars, especially the fast ones. I grew up hearing him talk about Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercs, Beemers, and countless other supercars. He would take me to car shows to marvel at their glory. I would sit behind the wheel and say “Vroom, Vroom!”
One of my brightest childhood memories is going with my dad to my favorite Disney World attraction, Tomorrowland Speedway. While he was my passenger, I would drive us as fast as I could. I needed to beat everyone and would get frustrated when people in front of me slowed me down. As a kid I had Hot Wheels cars that I race around the floor. My favorite car was this gold Mercedes Benz because it was the smoothest and fastest out of all my cars.
Despite loving cars, I didn't know I could race my car or any car. Back then I didn’t think I could become a professional race car driver. I thought it was just the crazy dream of a little girl. I don’t come from a racing family, I didn’t start racing until I was 25 years old, with the SCCA Washington DC Autocross Chapter.
Why do I race race? That is a very loaded question for me. All my life I struggled with anxiety and depression. I hit some real lows in my teenage years and adolescent. I tried to kill myself twice and would constantly hurt myself. I hated myself and didn’t feel worthy of living. Then one day after graduating from college I decided wanted to buy a fast car as a present to myself. I looked at various cars and none of them had the spark I was looking for. Then I went to a Subaru dealership with my hubby and saw a brand new 2009 Subaru WRX. The minute the salesperson turned the WRX over it was love at first sound.
We took it for a ride and when the turbo hit, o…m…g… I was thrown back into my seat. I was sold! I bought the car and the rest is history. Medusa, my WRX, and I have been through some really tough times. Whenever I was depressed and wanted to die, I would take her out and would just drive and drive. The feeling of the turbo, the sound of the exhaust, it made me feel so much better.
I wanted to go faster and faster and decided I wanted to race. If it wasn’t for Medusa, I wouldn’t want to find the root cause of my depression and anxiety. Racing took me on a journey of healing; I found out that I had a condition called MTHFR Gene Mutation that was the root cause of all my mental and physical pain. I was lucky to find the correct doctors to help me crawl out of the darkness and into true happiness. I am still on my journey of healing but I’m in a better place now. Racing made me want to heal myself so I could be the best damn racer possible. Racing is my therapy and my healer.
As I was healing, the more involved I became in the racing community, the more I noticed a huge gender gap in racing. On top of that I didn't see many women that looked like me either. I questioned how I could make a difference in the male dominated sport. I remember vividly one time I got off the track. I saw a little girl tugging her dad and said, "Daddy, Daddy! There is a girl in that race car!" It was then I realized that I could make an impact to girls and women by being more visible.
I believe that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible. I worked incredibly hard to improve my time with every race. I still have a way to go and a lot to learn, but I'm confident I will make it to Pro status!
I hope one day my journey will inspire and empower women and girls to join Motorsports. Or just dare to be different and enter industries that don't seem to represent them.
Please help me to continue to represent women and minorities by buying some merchandise. All the earnings go towards racing costs like entry fees, fuel, tires, and parts. Thank you for reading my story.
