Abby Maurer’s Fast Track To A Points Champion in Mini Wedge

Meet Abby Maurer

Melinda Russell 0:49

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SPEAKER_01 2:34

I'm 14. I started racing in 2023, currently in ninth grade. I do volleyball, tennis, and band.

Melinda Russell 2:45

So you're busy all through the school year and the summer.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yeah.

Melinda Russell 2:50

Yeah, for sure. And so 14, what grade would you be in?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I'm in my ninth grade year right now.

Melinda Russell 2:58

Freshman. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Are there any other kids at your school that race?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

I know there's a couple kids that do like demolition derbies.

Melinda Russell 3:10

Okay. All right. What about your friends? What do they think about you racing a mini wedge? Do they understand what that is or anything?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

I think a couple of them do because I've had a few of them like come to a race before this winter.

Family Roots And Ice Cream Bribe

Melinda Russell 3:28

That's good. Yeah. That's fun to have your friends come and come and watch. Yeah, for sure. So how did you get started in motorsports? I'm guessing it was uh somebody in your family.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah. So my grandpa and his brother raced for a long time there. Okay. My dad raced my grandpa's car for a while.

SPEAKER_05 3:51

All right.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

And it just kind of like sat around collecting dust.

Melinda Russell 3:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

And believe it or not, I got bribed with ice cream from the gas station because my mom wouldn't let me walk across the road to go get ice cream. I just did have it sitting next to his bay at the shop. And he's just like, I'll give you five dollars for you to go get ice cream from the gas station if you sit in it and you let me take a picture.

Melinda Russell 4:20

So you did, and the rest is history.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Yeah.

Melinda Russell 4:24

Yeah. That's pretty fun. So had you been had you been to the racetrack where you saw like some of your family race or friends race, or was this still kind of totally new?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

So like I've been to the racetrack for like a long time when I was little. And then like we didn't go for a while before. And then I sat in it and I practiced in it. And then you took me out to watch the mini wedges, the mini wedges race, and the Bowman sisters and Jackson Wheeler were out there racing, and I watched uh the two sisters like battle it out for the lead. So that was really cool.

Finding Support And Getting Sponsors

Melinda Russell 5:02

That is cool. Yeah, for sure. So who helps you with the with the cage with the here I go again, Cage Gar with the Mini Witch? Who helps you with the mini witch?

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Oh, I gotta list right here. I got no limit cards and parts, Dix Auto, Napa Auto Parts of Owasso, Frazy's Concessions, Falcons Plumbing, Gaps and Sowing, Matco's Matco Tools by Chambos, Mosquito Joes of Greater Lancing, Grandma Grandpa Zervaney, Racer Girl Graphics, and Scott and Trisha Fairfield.

Melinda Russell 5:33

Awesome. You and your sister have so many sponsors. Good for you. I I'm glad to hear that that you I think she said that you guys went to ask the sponsors. Was that hard to do? Oh, yes and no. Yeah. If you knew the people, it probably wasn't hard.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

It was a lot easier to like you know the people.

Melinda Russell 5:56

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, do you have a lot of family that comes and watches when you guys race?

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah, I got a good amount of people that come out for it.

Melinda Russell 6:06

Yeah. Do you have you ever had anybody come up and ask you, you know, like, my little girl wants to race like you? What should she do? Can you give her some advice?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I would say definitely try it out. Before you put them on the racetrack, though, like definitely get them to spot the practice. I've seen like parents just like throw their kid in a car the first race and then they get scared, and then they don't want to do it anymore.

Melinda Russell 6:32

Right. Yeah. Good, good, good advice. Practice till the kid is comfortable and then let them start to race.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Yeah.

Melinda Russell 6:43

Yeah. What was the hardest thing for you to learn when you first got into the mini wedge?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

The hardest thing? Probably like the boys, they don't race you like you're another boy. You're a girl beating them in a male-dominated sport. So like they like race you different than the boys, I feel like.

SPEAKER_05 7:06

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Like if they see like another boy on like the inside of them. It's almost like you like let them just go by without much struggle. So like with me in my experiences, I've been like pushed down into the infield and like a bunch of stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 7:24

Mm-hmm.

Melinda Russell 7:26

So do they still do that, or now that you've raced a while, do they realize that that's not gonna fly anymore?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

It depends on the kid, because like some kids I've kind of like whacked a couple back. Good. They kind of like they're like, Why'd she hit me? And then their dad says, Well, you hit her, so she hit you back.

Melinda Russell 7:49

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Like some of them you kind of like gotta do it a couple of times before they understand.

Trophies And Championship Runs

Melinda Russell 7:57

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. The boys don't the boys and the men, as you get older, it'll be men, and some of them will be old enough to be your grandpa, and they don't like when these young kids, especially young girls, beat them on the track. And so once they learn that you're gonna give it back to them, then I think they straighten up a little bit for sure. So tell me about your trophies in the background. I know you've won a lot of trophies, so tell me what those are all about.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Okay, well, sorry, don't look this one is from this year at a boss speedway. I was the points champion, so they gave me a big trophy with my name on it.

Melinda Russell 8:37

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

I don't know if you can see this one, but this one is from sorry, you're on 2024.

Melinda Russell 8:43

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Corey and Ile speedway track champion.

Melinda Russell 8:47

I like that trophy, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah, this one was one of my first championships that I won. Oh, I don't want it to fall. There we go, that's how she had. And over here, this year's trophy from the grit and grip series, which was like between Alaska Speedway and Alaska Motorsports Park. Okay, just run Alaska Speedway in the morning and then we'd go over to the motorsports park and run at night.

Melinda Russell 9:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Can you see this one over here? Yeah, this one's that one's from Alaska Motorsports Park, and that's just the like points or the points championship.

What Makes A Smart Racer

Melinda Russell 9:24

There we go. Okay, yeah. So you started in 2023, so this will be your fourth year to race. I've got third or fourth year. Yeah, this will be your fourth year to race. So when you won those, when I I know you go you earn points as you race and and that kind of thing. Were you surprised that you were doing so well? Or had you just worked up to it? You know, the first year that you ran, did you win any races? I did not. No, and and Abby, that's normal. Okay, and then you get better and you get more comfortable, right? As you race. Yeah. So what makes you successful? That's a lot of things to win. And I know you've won a lot of just regular races. What is it about your driving, your style, anything that you can think of that makes you successful on the track?

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Well, you gotta have a good crew that like works on your car, and you gotta have like a good support system that shows up, like lets you know that they care about you, and then they're rooting for you. And then it's also you gotta be smart. You kind of just like can't blow it into the corner and just like eh. If I if I get taken out of this race and I get a DNF, it's whatever, nobody really cares. You gotta be like smart, and you gotta like think about like if I do this, what'll happen? How many points could I lose that that night? Right.

Crowd Reactions And Staying Motivated

Melinda Russell 11:01

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, over the weekend there were some NASCAR drivers that should have heard that advice because they made some dumb mistakes and lost points, and and I think the heat of the moment sometimes takes over being smart for sure, yeah. Yeah, so what's something that you love about going to the racetrack? Now you could be playing softball or doing all kinds of things in the summer when racing's going on. What keeps you and your family going back to the racetrack?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

It's just a lot of fun, you know. It's not like an individual sport, like what's an individual sport? I don't know.

Melinda Russell 11:50

I can't like golf or tennis.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, like work as a team. I also like really enjoy hearing like all the little kids because like most of the time they expect a boy to hop out of the car and pull off their helmet. It's one of my favorite things is to hear, oh my god, it's a girl! There was this one time in 2023 at the Awaso Mount Nationals. I think Layla Bowman finished first, Abby Bodie finished second, and I finished third. And there was this little girl up on the fence, and you know, it's all girls in the top three. We all pull off our helmets and get trophies, and I hear her little voice, and she goes, It's a girl! They're all girls, yeah.

Melinda Russell 12:38

Isn't that amazing? And and so, Abby, you do you realize that you're influencing younger girls just by being out on the track? I have noticed that, yeah, and and it'll happen more and more, and and it's hard to say that little girl might be gonna start racing soon just because she saw the three of you set an example for her, yeah. So, how do you stay motivated when you have a bad day at the track? What makes you want to go back?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I just want to like do better and like pre-callers people that like say they're like they say like I can't do it because I'm a girl and I want to go back, and like I want to prove I'm wrong and show them that I can do it, that it doesn't matter if I'm a girl or not.

Melinda Russell 13:28

Right, Billy Venerini said once you get in the car, the car doesn't know if you're a male or a female, and a lot of times the people in the stands don't either, so just get in and just race like you're you know, you're a race car driver, you're not a girl driver. Yeah, so do you like starting from the front or the back?

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Oh I'm gonna have to go with the back because like you can like weave your way through them. And why is that? Uh it's just it's more fun than stand out in front and like just driving in circles, like yeah, you start in the back, you like gotta go through the whole field. That's fun. You never know what's gonna happen.

Melinda Russell 14:19

Yeah, more challenging. Yeah, that's for sure. So, what does it mean to you? You know, if somebody says, Oh, Abby, what do you like to do? And when you say, I race a mini wedge, what kind of reaction do you get? Are they surprised, or have you had any kind of reactions that have been kind of funny?

SPEAKER_01 14:45

I'd say most of the time they're like surprised, or they're like, Oh, good for you, you know, like stuff like that. Okay, haven't had any really funny ones yet.

Lucky Socks And Favorite Tracks

Melinda Russell 14:56

No, not yet. You probably will at some point for sure. Yeah, so did I ask you what you did in school besides uh do you play sports? Did I ask you? Oh, yeah, you did say because I remember you saying that in bed. Sorry, I forgot I asked you that. I'm I'm having one of those days, Abby. You have you ever had one of those days when things just are so confusing? Yeah. So on race day, do you have anything special that you do? Any music you listen to, anything like that? I have this pair of socks.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

I don't know where they are right now. I need to find them. I think they're in one of my drawers in my room. It's like they're these matte co-sacks that the Tony Chambos gave me. It's like on one foot you have like stars on the bottom, and then like once it hits like your ankle, it's stripes, and then on the other sock, it's like stripes on the foot, and then at the ankle it's stars. Um I won the first race last year at Kalamazoo when I wore those. So like I kind of consider them like my lucky socks. Yeah, so I like to wear those. Okay, yeah, I think that's really it.

Melinda Russell 16:08

Do you have a favorite track?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

I like Awasomotor Sports Park, and I like old old Kalamazoo track before they changed it last year, I think.

Melinda Russell 16:18

Yeah, okay. All right, Kalamazoo's my home track because that's where I live, is Kalamazoo. So that's where I go to watch most of the time for sure. Yeah, so do you help with your car, like with keeping it in shape or fixing things, or is that more maybe your dad's job?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

I help him a lot with that most of the time.

Melinda Russell 16:42

Okay, it's good to know how your car works, isn't it? Yes, yeah, for sure. So you're a little bit older than your sister, so I'm gonna ask you have there been things that you've learned because you were involved in racing, like life, I call them life lessons. Do you know what I mean by that?

SPEAKER_01 17:04

I think so.

Life Lessons And Social Media

Melinda Russell 17:06

Okay, so have you learned any life lessons from racing? And I'll give you one example just to give you an idea, like patience. Patience is something you need to develop for life, it's a life lesson. Yeah, have you had anything that you can think of that you've learned because you've been involved in racing that will help you throughout your life?

SPEAKER_01 17:29

I think you gotta be smart and like think about like if I do this, what'll happen? Like, what are the consequences, or like what are the rewards? You gotta be think ahead.

Melinda Russell 17:41

Very, very good advice, and that's definitely definitely a life lesson for sure. Yeah. So, what about social media? Where would I find you or your schedule? How would I know where you're gonna be racing?

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Oh, I have the thread in there. So there's malware racing on Facebook, and then I have a TikTok. I don't remember it. It's like I believe it's like Abby the Racer Girl 91. Okay, your foot races up on that.

Melinda Russell 18:14

Is 91 your number?

SPEAKER_01 18:16

No, it's 911, but they kind of like I think I ran out of characters.

Melinda Russell 18:20

Okay, okay. So I had to drop all right. So is your car number 911? It is okay. How did I know that? I figured that, yeah. So TikTok, that's a fun place to watch racing little videos for sure. So on your Facebook page, I'm assuming your mom probably takes care of that. Does she put where you're gonna be racing? Like once you know your schedule?

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah, she'll usually like put that up. I like earlier, and then like before I say, she'll usually like put something up like, Hey, we're gonna be at this track this weekend.

Big Wins And Moving To Flat Kart

Melinda Russell 18:56

Okay, good. Good, because I want to keep track of you. If I can come to watch you and your sister, that would be a lot of fun for sure. So, Abby, is there anything I haven't asked you about? Any any big race you won, or anything about you or your your racing career that I haven't asked you about?

SPEAKER_01 19:18

I think it was last year I won the Intimidator at Calvin Zoe for the season opener. That was really I started last in that race. And then we had some disagrees with the calls, and they sent me to the back a couple different times. And I still drove up to the front and one hour on the spine.

Melinda Russell 19:43

Good for you. You showed them that it didn't matter, right? Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, the intimidator. I knew that was that was uh there last year. Uh I'm friends with Kenny Head, and so I've been uh trying to watch a little more about the mini wedges and Taylor, Taylor Sexton too, yeah. For them. I watched Taylor race when she was little. I still watch her race, yeah. So that's that's fun. And then she's helping kids get into racing. So I love that she's doing that for sure. So anything else that you'd like to share? I'd love to know more about anything that you want to share.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

I'm gonna begin in a flat cart this year. I drove last year. I got second place my first time, and then I ran it again in October up at Widdemore Chamber. I think I got in that time too.

Melinda Russell 20:39

Awesome. So you're gonna be racing that and the mini wedge? Yeah. And is is Whitemore the only place that runs flat carts?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

The cart track, Austin Motorsports Park, they do. Okay, doing the wedge and the cart out there, okay, Saturdays and some Sundays.

Melinda Russell 21:00

So, what made you want to try the flat cart?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

I don't really know, I just thought it looked fun.

Melinda Russell 21:06

Yeah, and the more racing you do, the better. Yeah, yeah. And and you wanted to make sure your parents had something to do every day of the week.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Oh, yeah, 100%.

Melinda Russell 21:18

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Can't let them like enjoy a weekend at home on the couch.

Melinda Russell 21:23

No, absolutely not. I love that, Abby. That's funny. That's great. Well, good luck with that. That sounds like a lot of fun. And hopefully, I will get to Kalamazoo to watch you uh and and Kate this summer when you're racing, because I'd really like to meet the two of you. As I told her, I'm gonna try to be out there a couple weekends when you guys are racing and do some live interviews with the girls. And so I'd love to have you and your sister do that with me. So we'll try to get that scheduled. Sounds good. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

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