Courtesy of Omaha.com

LINCOLN — It was the soft blip of her computer’s e-mail indicator that got Lacey Tuttle out of bed. It was late at night, but sleep was coming hard for the 21-year-old from Elmwood, Neb. She, like hundreds of other young race car drivers across the country, was waiting for news.

Sleep didn’t come any easier after reading the message, but that was fine with Lacey. She was already dreaming.

The e-mail said Tuttle had just been named one of 37 young drivers accepted into NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity combine, a program that works to develop promising female and minority drivers from across the country.

“I couldn’t sleep, I was so excited,” she said.

Tuttle, who races in the modified division regularly at Beatrice Raceway, Eagle Raceway and I-80 Speedway, heads to Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., this week for a two-day combine where racers will receive instruction from a committee of NASCAR professionals on everything from driving skills to media relations and sponsorship brand management.

After the combine on Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 of the drivers will be chosen to get spots with the Revolution Racing team and run on a pair of NASCAR’s lower-division touring series.

Max Siegel, CEO of Revolution Racing and organizer of the Drive For Diversity program, said Tuttle’s impressive racing résumé made her stand out among the approximately 200 applicants.

Tuttle finished in the top 10 in points at Beatrice, Eagle and I-80 even though she has been racing modifieds for just two years.

“Her finishes were impressive,” Siegel said. “Those kind of things are indications they’re competing at a high level. You look back at her passion and how she got started, and it shows a commitment and a progression.”

Tuttle got into racing relatively late compared with many drivers who are behind the wheel in some form in elementary school. Her father, Brad Klein, a regular at Eagle and Onawa, Iowa, returned to racing after a brief hiatus when Lacey was 13, and his daughter quickly became a fixture around the track.

“I always went in the pits and helped him,” Lacey said. “Well, at that age I don’t know if you could call it ‘helping.’”

Whatever you call it, she had caught the racing bug. She was behind the wheel herself at 15, running in the sport compact division. One year later, she began a four-year stint running sport mods before advancing to the IMCA modifieds a year ago.

This summer she finished in the top 10 in 10 of 22 starts, including a season-best fifth-place finish in Beatrice on June 26.

Tuttle will have to adjust to driving on asphalt for the first time at the combine. She said the extent of her preparation for the new surface has come from watching races on YouTube and listening to in-car radio conversations.

“You don’t throw it into the corner like you do on dirt,” Tuttle said. “There’s not as much steering.”

Tuttle learned about the Drive for Diversity program from Omahan Kortney Kosiski, who was selected for the program in 2008.

In addition to learning how to drive on a new surface, Tuttle will be grilled in sessions with combine officials on how to handle questions from reporters, how to maintain sponsorship relations, and even how to define a personal marketing brand that will attract racing fans.

“I would tell you unlike most professional athletes, racers — especially NASCAR — become brand extensions of their sponsors,” Siegel said. “There’s extra pressure for them to be media savvy and brand ambassadors.”

Until recently, Tuttle didn’t know how much longer she would be behind the wheel competitively.

But that’s the whole point of the Drive For Diversity program: giving young racers like her the chance to turn a dream into possibility.

“(Racing) is definitely my passion, my hobby, something I do for fun,” Tuttle said. “I’ve always wanted to keep racing, but never thought I had the opportunity. That’s what makes this so exciting.”

Contact the writer:

444-1201, sports@owh.com