Episode 153: Pauline Dougald has Passion for Helping Racers Get In the Zone
Podcast Published November 18, 2021
RACING GIRLS ROCK: Melinda Russell
GUEST: Pauline Dougald
Hello, everyone.
This is Melinda Russell with Racing Girls Rock podcast, and I am excited to have as my guest today, Pauline Dougald, we met, of course, through social media as I've met 99% of the ladies that have been on my podcast, but I'm excited to have her here today. We did a story about her in one of our recent magazines, so I do know a little bit about her story, but I'm still going to let her tell us in her own words. So, Pauline, first, I'd like you to just share a little bit about yourself where you live, what you do, just some things so we can get to know who you are and then we'll go from there.
Yeah, sure. Melinda sounds great. And it's great to be on this podcast where I am right now. I'm in Canada. I'm in Canada, Ontario, and I have been living here for a while. I originally moved from Russia back in 98, and I have been in Canada ever since. Right now, I live in a rural area and have a dog and a bunch of cats. So the racing background goes back 2007, and how I got to that was like a story in its own, because I was at that time still learning to drive on the streets of Toronto.
I was in a big city and it was so nerve wracking. And one day my work took us to a go car track as a corporate event. And that has changed everything for me. That is how my story begins. I discovered the way to learn how to drive, better to go carts. And then I discovered the racing track, which was used to be called Mossport here in Ontario. And I spent the whole summer there at the Bridgestone Racing Academy, and I was racing rain art at that time, and it was so much fun and it was experienced like no other.
If you are part of racing, you would know that it is. Once you got bitten by that bug, it doesn't go away. And so for me, I completely just quit. My job, went to the track, and I spent the whole summer there racing, hanging out with guys and just wrenching on cars. They learn mechanics. And as a result of that, I was able to be part of the racing teams at some point. And after that, I remained within racing. I didn't race myself, but I was working with a premiere for a number of series after that.
And then I took a break to raise a family. And I just recently kind of been coming back to the sport because I was missing it so much. It is something that is part of me, and I love it so much. And no matter how much time passes between the time, I'm always drawn back to that community.
So when you say you're going back to it, what is it that you're going to do now in the future.
Down the road here? Yes. So this past year, I was actually being able to go back to again supporting the drivers in our local racing series here. And that was great fun, because I love being within the community of the like-minded people. When you don't really need to be told what is going on, everybody knows what is happening the moment they show up at the track. And that is the thing I love the most. So this summer I have been a number of race tracks and materials supporting racing series, and in the future, it depends.
I will likely continue participating in that regard. And I'm discovering and exploring the ways in which I can still go back racing. That is still unclear for me, but somehow in the future, I tried to figure out a way to get back into that.
Yeah. Absolutely. Because once it's in your blood, it never leaves, does it?
Yeah. And I can share a little bit more of my discovery why it is such a way, because as I have been discovering t