Alissa Geving is the 2008 Petaluma Speedway track champion

16-year old third generation driver becomes youngest female to ever win a sprint car championship title

PETALUMA, CA - Alissa Geving grew up in the sport of sprint car racing. On Saturday nights she sat in the grandstands near turn four with her mother Melissa and cheered her father, the competitive Gary Geving, to numerous wins and championships at Petaluma Speedway. When she wasn’t at the track she was helping her hero work on his #3x sprint car at their family home. Since those early childhood days Geving dreamed of one day becoming a sprint car champion like her father. Saturday night, Geving’s dream became reality when she officially locked the 2008 All Pro Points Series championship at Petaluma Speedway. [Read more]

Geving Completes Weekend with Chico Double Header and Advancement in Civil War Series

PENNGROVE, CA (5-25-08) - Sixteen year-old Alissa Geving returned to the likes of Silver Dollar Speedway for two consecutive nights of racing over the Memorial Day weekend. The double header event took place beneath the backdrop of the annual Silver Dollar Fair, an event Geving and the Chicko Motorsports team all look forward and concluded their weekend with a 13th place finish and advancement in the competitive Civil War Sprint Car Series.

After using Saturday’s non-points event to test and tune her new 2008 Pit Stop USA, Matt Cordeiro Enterprises Maxim Sprint Car, Geving’s highlight of the two day weekend was Sunday’s Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Sprint Car Series event, the fourth segment of a 15-race series that competes at six different California Speedway’s throughout the season.

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16-year old Alissa Geving rallies back to third place feature finish

PETALUMA, CA (3-29-08) - Penngrove’s Alissa Geving returned to her home track of Petaluma Speedway Saturday night for the opening round of the 2008 All Pro point series at Petaluma Speedway. Despite a number of adversities in preliminary competition, Geving used patience and skill to charge her way to another impressive top three finish at the conclusion of the night aboard the Chick-O-Motorsports - Pit Stop USA #3 sprint car…. [Read more]

Penngrove’s Geving receives sprint car honor

 

Her ascendancy continues. Penngrove’s Alissa Geving was given the prestigious Paul Tyler Rising Star award Wednesday night by the Motor Sports Press Association (MSPA) for her achievements during the 2007 Sprint Car season.

Geving, 16 and a junior at Ursuline High School, won four main events on dirt tracks in 2007, her first full season in Sprint Cars. Winning two events in Antioch, Geving finished the season in second place there, just eight points away from winning it. She won two main events at the Petaluma dirt track. She also won five heats and a top five season-ending placement at Petaluma. She was named Rookie of the Year at both Antioch and Petaluma tracks.

The highlight of her 2007 season, however, was not finishing first but finishing ninth out of 45 drivers last July at the half-mile Calistoga track. Calistoga runs only two races a year there, as drivers reach 150 miles an hour down the straightaway. It is regarded as the fastest dirt track in California. It is an intimidating track that has attracted and challenged veteran racers for years. Geving managed to win the B-feature event and finished ninth in the A-feature.

In order to win the award, named after a legendary motor sports photographer who befriended countless young racers, the qualifications were simple. The nominee had to be 18 years of age or younger and, according to MSPA by-laws, had to achieve something “phenomenal” during a race season. Did she?

“Oh, my, yes,” said Beth Gribbin, MSPA president of the state-wide organization that honors dirt racers along with motorcycle and open-wheel drivers.

The awards ceremony — the MSPA’s 45th annual postseason Awards and Green Flag dinner — was held at an Oakland restaurant and featured nine other award winners. None, however, were women, just as Geving was the only female competing in Sprint Cars in 2007, as has been her usual experience.

Fifteen at the time Geving is the youngest female driver ever to win a Sprint Car feature event.

Geving, who maintains a 4.14 grade point average at Ursuline while taking all Advance Placement courses, will now step up to the ultra-competitive Civil War Series. The Civil War Series offers bigger, faster cars, 360 cubic sprints. More than $100,000 is available in combined winnings and championship funds at six different tracks for a total of 15 events.

The Civil War Series allows Geving to maintain her Petaluma Speedway weekly schedule, the Civil War Series’ 15 events run on different weekends. One of 40 drivers to compete in the Civil War Series, Geving would like to win Rookie of the Year honors, an award almost as significant as winning the series.

Geving’s first Civil War series race is March 15th at Placerville Speedway.