Like many sports sometimes there is always a debate about if racing is a true sport, specifically if racecar drivers are actually athletes. I can tell you first hand that drivers are athletes! Let’s get some boring stats and studies out the way. Studies have shown that on yellow a racer’s heart beat and respirations are at a normal number. However upon seeing the green the driver goes into that “fight or flight response” where even their vision is keener, while their heart rate and breathing increases.

I do have an exercise program that my sister, Alexis, has set up. Being a top performing athlete herself she has created a personal exercise for me that not only keeps me shape but doesn’t get boring. I work out consistently five days a week. I love to swim so usually twice a week I am at the Y doing laps for cardio. Swimming to me is so relaxing. Like many people that meditate or do yoga I find that swimming is the best way to clear my mind and relax while getting a good workout. Because of the split second responses I need to make and the mental toll my mind experiences during the race I find that swimming is a great way to train my mind to focus. My favorite strokes are back and breast but I do a 400 fly for my upper body and core.

My sister also works with me on upper body strength. Along with hand weights she has created a small program on machines that I can use when I am at the gym without her. For me these are done for about 30 minutes, using six upper body machines and alternating repetitions. Three repetitions of 12 on each machine using various pounds usually around 40. My core training is different from others because I have two titanium rods in my back from Thoracic 1-12 scoliosis surgery when I was 15. I don’t have much mobility in my back so I can’t do a backbend or a very good sit up. So my core exercises center on plank holds, reverse crunches and scissor kicks.(...)
Read the rest of Are racecar drivers athletes? You decide.

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Post tags: cassis gannis, Drive for Diversity, k&n series west

This week NASCAR’s at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia for the annual Drive for Diversity Combine. The event brings together some of motorsports best young female and minority drivers to compete for a small number of spots in NASCAR’s D4D program. This year the class includes 26 drivers from 10 states, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The drivers, according to NASCAR:

“will be evaluated by a select committee on multiple fronts including on-track performance, marketing and media aptitude, physical fitness and personality.”

The ultimate goal for the drivers is of course a ride, in this case for the NASCAR backed Revolution Racing, while for NASCAR it’s to attract more minority and female drivers and fans.

This season the program has been among the most successful with prospects Sergio Pena and Darrell Wallace Jr. winning a combined six Pro Series races. It’s the most NASCAR wins of any D4D class to date.

Even with the success, NASCAR is now finding the limits of the program. Pena and Wallace, both in their sophomore year of the program, are reaching the end of what they can do in the series. Both are conceivably ready for opportunities in ARCA or the Nationwide or Truck Series but with a stagnant sponsorship market and shrinking teams, finding a ride independent of NASCAR is no easy feat.(...)
Read the rest of NASCAR’s Ongoing Drive For Diversity

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Post tags: Drive for Diversity, revolution

Drive for Diversity is a NASCAR diversity program that gives minority and female drivers, that otherwise would not get the opportunity, the chance to compete in the NASCAR Whelen Series and the K&N East Series. The instruction, seat time, experience, knowledge, and direction that these drivers get can be the catalyst for leading to bigger and better things at the upper levels of Stock Car Racing.

25 drivers are chosen out of several hundred applications to go to the combine and compete for 6 to 8 positions on the team for 2012. Some of these drivers will be slated to drive K&N East cars and others will be chosen to compete in the Late model NASCAR Whelen Series. The three day combine will take place at Langley Speedway on October 18th, 19th, and 20th. The drivers will be tested on a number of things that include but are not limited to, car knowledge, instructability, consistency, speed, car control,marketability, and attitude. All of these are necessary components of a successful racer.

Amber has shown high levels of competence in all of these categories and promises to set a high bar for the other invitees to reach. Amber has demonstrated excellent car control and competitive abilities, while also showing tremendous maturity on and off the race track. This test is sure to be one of the highest pressure situations that Amber has ever face in a race car but is one that she should handle well. Amber has always been an underdog in all levels that she has raced at and is used to dealing with pressure in stride.”I have been waiting for this announcement all year” said Amber, “Now I get a chance to display all that I have learned and my ability to continue learning”.

(...)
Read the rest of Amber Colvin selected for 2012 NASCAR Drive 4 Diversity Combine

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Post tags: amber colvin, Drive for Diversity, K&N East, langley speedway, late model series

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.(...)
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Post tags: beatrice raceway, Drive for Diversity, eagle raceway, I-80 speedway, lacey tuttle, Revolution Racing

Carson City’s Mackena Bell will participate in the Drive for Diversity Combine next week for a shot at her dream — a ride in NASCAR’s developmental series. Bell will be one of the 37 drivers, who range in age from 16 to 24 and hail from all forms of racing, who will showcase their skills to NASCAR and Revolution racing officials.

Based on their overall on- and off-the-track performance, 10 drivers will be awarded one-year contracts to drive for Revolution Racing in the sport’s lower-level divisions in the 2011 season.

Revolution’s drivers for the 2011 season will be determined following the Drive for Diversity Combine presented by Sunoco Oct. 19-20. The on-track portion will take place at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., on Oct. 19-20.

[News Source]

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Post tags: Drive for Diversity, mackena bell, Revolution Racing

By Wyndam Makowsky

Julia Landauer ’14 will compete in the Nascar-sponsored Drive for Diversity Testing and Evaluation Combine this weekend in Radford, Va., for a chance to secure a yearlong spot with the Revolution Racing team. It’s an opportunity that she says could “jumpstart” her professional driving career.

The event takes place over a three-day span—from Sunday to Tuesday—with the goal of identifying young, up-and-coming minority and female drivers. Thirty-six athletes will participate; 10 will ultimately be chosen to move to North Carolina and joinRevolution Racing for a year. If selected, it’s an honor with far-reaching implications.

“It’s a huge in with Nascar,” Landauer said. “You’re provided with so many resources that otherwise you’d need a lot of connections to get. They can really open the door for a driver.”

Participants are judged not only on their driving, but also on their “off-track” qualities, such as their stability and media savvy.(...)
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Post tags: Drive for Diversity, julia landauer, Revolution Racing

Mooresville, N.C. (Oct. 14, 2010) – Thirty-Five drivers from 18 states, Mexico and Puerto Rico are prepared to showcase their skills at the seventh annual Drive for Diversity Combine presented by Sunoco Sunday through Tuesday at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va.
The drivers, ranging in age from 16 to 26, hope to earn a spot on the Revolution Racing team that will again field teams in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Drivers on the 2010 Revolution Racing team enjoyed the best on-track season in the history of the Drive for Diversity program, earning four victories, 42 top-five finishes and 80 top 10s in 141 starts. Included in that number were impressive results in the highly competitive NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Ryan Gifford, Sergio Pena and Darrell Wallace Jr. each competed in all 10 Series races, while Mackena Bell (six races), Michael Cherry (three races) and Mark Davis (one race) each took turns driving the fourth Revolution Racing car. These four teams scored two wins, 10 top fives and 15 top 10s.(...)
Read the rest of Drive for Diversity Combine Set for Virginia’s Motor Mile Speedway

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Post tags: Drive for Diversity

By: Mark McCarter, The Huntsville Times

ARDMORE – Her dad has spent thousands of hours in a race car. But watching his little girl Brittany – oh, OK, so she’s a grown woman of 24 now – on the track “my heart hasn’t slowed down beating 90-to-nothing when she’s out there.

“And,” Dale Finley said, “I think she forgets to breathe sometimes.”

This weekend, it’s really time to hold their collective breath.

Brittany Finley can win the Gresham (Ga.) Motorsports Park season title in the Truck Series. She has a 75-point lead after winning twice and finishing in the top three two other times in her six starts there.

Beyond that, there is potential for even greater things.

(...)
Read the rest of Brittany Finley chosen for NASCAR diversity program combine

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Post tags: brittany finley, Drive for Diversity, gresham motorsports park, Revolution Racing

Sloan has been invited back to Drive for Diversity (D4D) for this years Combine. Please go to her D4D.tv page and join!! 

 http://drivefordiversity.ning.com/profile/SloanHenderson

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Post tags: Drive for Diversity, sloan henderson

A few weeks ago, Caitlin Shaw got a most-welcome, but unexpected phone call. The call was from NASCAR officials, inviting her to join the Drive for Diversity Combine.  For the aspiring race car driver, it was music to her ears.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” said Shaw, an 19-year-old who graduated from La Cueva in the spring and is attending Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, studying motor sports management. “This is a great opportunity to me.”

The Drive for Diversity Combine will bring 24 young drivers from across the country to the South Boston Speedway in Virginia on Monday and Tuesday, competing for one of the 15 spots in NASCAR’s Developmental Series. The winning drivers will land berths in either the Camping World Series or the Whelan All-American Series.

The drivers will be showcasing their skills in front of NASCAR executives and team owners in two days of competition. The participants also will undergo media training and evaluation.

Shaw and the others will be behind the wheel of closed-wheel, late-model stock cars, pushing 3,000 pounds of power around the track. This will be quite a change for Shaw, who’s used to open-wheel, midget racers that weigh 900 pounds with horsepower of about 400.

“There’s a big difference in the type of racing,” she said. “There’s a lot more power.”

Drafting, braking and powering through the turns are the biggest difference, Shaw said.

“When you’re coming through a turn, in a midget, you hit the gas at the apex of the turn to keep your momentum,” she said. “With the stock cars, you roll through the turns.”

Another big change is the midget drivers sit in the middle of the vehicle while in stock cars, drivers sit in the traditional left-hand side of the car.

Shaw has had some experience testing the stock cars, as well the trucks from the Craftsman Truck Series, so she’s not entirely unfamiliar with how they handle.

And she’s confident once the executives get a good look at her ability, she’ll open some eyes.
“This fits right in with my goals for my driving career,” Shaw said. “Within five years, I plan to get into the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.”

Shaw has been gearing toward a driving career since she was nine, racing quarter-midgets. She moved up to mini sprints at 14, winning a number of local championships at the Sandia Motorsports Park. As a 16-year-old, she moved up to the USAC Ford Focus Midget Racing Series, then onto the USAC National Series as a K&N Development Driver.

This has already been a busy year for Shaw. In addition to beginning college, she’s also attended driver’s school with Brad Noffsinger at Lowe’s Motor Speedway; was a Mazda Miata road course instructor at the Sandia track; attended the Lyn St. James Driver Development Program and tested trucks at the Pocono Raceway in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Now she’s studying in a renowned program for developing students in all aspects of the racing world.

She’ll have to miss two days of classes next week to be in the program, but Shaw isn’t too concerned.

“The professors are all pretty willing to work with you,” she said. “Particularly since I’m pursuing my professional career.”

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Post tags: caitlin shaw, Drive for Diversity, midget racing