Episodes

Send us Fan Mail Dirt tracks have a way of revealing who you are the moment you turn in. Maddy Brook is only 17, but she already talks like someone who has learned that speed is equal parts courage, composure, and community. She joins us from Western Sydney to share how her life as a zookeeper at the Wildcat Conservation Center pairs surprisingly well with weekend competition in Australian speedway racing. Maddy walks us through her start in dirt go-kart racing, from growing up around the pi...

Send us Fan Mail A rear tire flies off on the last lap and you still take the win by crossing the finish line backwards. That’s the kind of real-world racing story we love, and teen driver Jillian Cole brings it with honesty, humor, and a clear look at what youth motorsports actually demands. We sit down with Jillian, a racer from Rio Linda, California, to talk about her path from local track nights and Power Wheels races into seven years of quarter midgets, and now into a 250 outlaw kart. S...

Send us Fan Mail A $5 an hour summer job at a racetrack doesn’t sound like the start of a major motorsports career, but that’s exactly where Lauri Eberhart begins. From Michigan International Speedway to Nazareth Speedway to the NASCAR hub in North Carolina, Lori shows how motorsports careers are built in real time: by taking the work seriously, earning trust, and staying close to where the action and the people are. We trace her journey through sports law and speedway leadership, incl...

Send us Fan Mail A 10-year-old with a trophy shelf behind her sounds adorable until you realize she’s also a serious driver with a clear head for speed, strategy, and safety. We sit down with Laci Mitchell from Victoria, Australia, a fourth-generation racer who started at five and now races both quarter midgets and a junior sedan. Listening to her talk about racing feels like a masterclass in what kids can learn early when they’re given the right support, equipment, and seat time. &nbs...

Send us Fan Mail Most racing stories start with childhood karting, but Katrina “Kat” Gray takes a route that feels a lot more like real life. Kat joins us from Lincolnshire in the UK, where she teaches people to drive for a living and still finds time to chase lap times on some of the most iconic road racing circuits in the country. Her path into motorsport begins with under-17 driver training on a circuit, a uniquely British workaround since learners can’t drive on public roads before 17, an...

Send us Fan Mail You don’t need to start racing at five years old to belong on a racetrack. Melinda Russell sits down with Kim Estep, a Porsche racer who didn’t take her first laps until her 30s, and still built a path into real competition through coaching, club racing, and the kind of community that pulls you forward when you’re ready for more. Kim shares the moments that changed everything: learning at Lime Rock Park, discovering she had a real feel for the car, and the wild “break it you...

Send us Fan Mail Drag racing taught Danica Miles how to perform under pressure, but dirt racing forced her to rebuild everything she thought she knew. Danica is 18, already nine years into motorsports, and she’s not sugarcoating what it takes to grow up around racing, sponsors, and serious expectations while still figuring out who you are off the track. If you’ve ever wondered what real mental toughness looks like, her story lands hard because it starts with anxiety that once made everyday pl...

Send us Fan Mail A dirt sprint car doesn’t reward you for playing it safe, it rewards you for understanding chaos. We’re joined by 17-year-old Florida racer Katlyn Calhoun, who’s making the leap from quarter midgets to a 600 micro sprint and a winged 360 sprint car, and she tells us the real skill that took the longest to learn: trusting the car when the rear starts to slide. If you’ve ever wondered what separates “holding the wheel” from actually driving, her explanation of dirt technique, t...

Send us Fan Mail She was nine years old, terrified on her first passes, and by the end of her first race day she was holding a win and wondering how she ever thought racing was “not cool.” Melinda Russell sits down with Autumn DeRossett, an NHRA drag racer who grew up in junior dragsters, moved into a Super Comp dragster, and built a motorsports life around the track community that keeps pulling her back every other weekend. We get honest about the part of drag racing most people don’t post:...

Send us Fan Mail A 13-year-old micro sprint driver tells the truth about what it takes to get fast, stay confident, and keep learning on a dirt oval. We’re joined by Holly Spake from Southeast Texas, and her racing timeline is wild: eight years in the sport already, a go-kart start, a jump into junior sprints, and now restrictors with real results including an early-season win at her home track, Gulf Coast Speedway. If you’ve ever wondered what youth dirt track racing actually looks like behi...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people think you have to start racing young, have the “right” connections, and already know what you’re doing. Kelly Barr Anderson proves the opposite. She started drag racing at 51, fell in love on her first pass, and found a community that welcomed her in, taught her, and changed her life for the better. We talk about what 2026 looks like when the track that shaped your routine closes down, your car is waiting on a new motor, and family needs rise to the top. Kell...

Send us Fan Mail A mom climbs into a race car, hates it, swears they must be the worst parents ever for letting their teen do this… then takes one more run and falls in love with racing. That turn is the heartbeat of our conversation with Bobby Joe Jernigan and her daughter Riley, part of a Michigan short track family where mom and daughters compete in the sport compact division and push each other to get better. We talk about what it’s really like racing under the same banner when you’re al...

Send us Fan Mail A sprint car at 150 mph is loud, fast, and impossible to ignore and that’s exactly why Natalie Waters uses racing to start conversations most adults avoid. Natalie races 410 wing sprint cars on asphalt, grew up in quarter midgets, and now balances life on the road with a mission that reaches far beyond the track: preventing bullying before it turns into something tragic. We dig into how her racing journey was built through family, grit, and constant learning, from earl...

Send us Fan Mail She loved speed before she could spell it, and she’s still chasing it as a mom, a competitor, and a hands-on racer from Greenville, Michigan. We sit down with Amber Eberspeaker to hear how a childhood around go-kart tracks and family racing stories turned into a life built on dirt track racing, street stocks, and four-cylinder battles, with all the real-world trade-offs that come with grassroots motorsports. Amber walks us through the turning points: stepping into a mo...

Send us Fan Mail A 20-year-old college student lines up on a national short course off-road grid, straps into a Can-Am X3, and expects herself to perform like a pro, because she is one. We talk with Ariel Bayarski about how she got pulled into motorsports as a kid, why one trip to the track can change everything, and what it takes to move from local racing to Champ Off-Road’s pro side-by-side class. We also get into the parts of racing most highlight reels skip: the travel schedule tha...

Send us Fan Mail A family buys a junior dragster thinking it will be a short-lived hobby. A few years later, it has become a full-blown way of life, and for Lindsay Meserve, it starts with a seven-year-old’s first pass and never really lets go. I talk with Lindsay about growing up in St. George, Utah, being the only girl with four brothers, and how drag racing turns into the place where her family hangs out, works, travels, and competes together. We also dig into the part people do not...

Send us Fan Mail Short tracks aren’t just where racing happens. They’re where careers start, families gather, and a whole town learns what a Saturday night feels like. I’m joined by Gina Schild Knowles, a lifelong motorsports pro whose path runs through Texas racing roots, sponsorship sales, and the high-wire act of keeping racetracks alive when the math doesn’t always work on paper. We talk about what it really takes to run and revive tracks like Houston Motor Sports Park and Mobile Interna...

Send us Fan Mail A kid on an ATV can look like pure summer fun, right up until it becomes an emergency. We sit down with Kristen Almer of the Ride Safe Foundation to talk about the reality most families never see: the repeat patterns behind youth ATV and UTV crashes, the heartbreaking cost of “dumb luck,” and the simple decisions that prevent tragedy. Kristen shares the loss of her 11-year-old nephew, Logan, and how that moment led her to spend years researching fatalities, working with agenc...

Send us Fan Mail Your phone is the one thing you can’t afford to lose at the track, on a trip, or in the middle of a packed day, so why do we keep stuffing it into pockets that don’t exist or burying it at the bottom of a bag? I’m joined by Tammy and Elizabeth, the mother-daughter team behind Save The Girls, to share the surprisingly emotional origin of their patented touchscreen purse and why their mission centers on safer, more convenient phone carry for busy women. We also talk about their...

Send us Fan Mail A dirt track career can start with a dream, then immediately test you with fire, rollovers, and a rulebook you didn’t know you broke. That’s why our conversation with young Midwest Modified racer Sophie Anderson hits so hard: she’s honest about the messy parts of racing and the mindset it takes to keep coming back. We talk about Sophie’s early years in Pure Stocks, including the night she won and then got disqualified, and how that emotional whiplash still became a defining ...

Send us Fan Mail You can love racing your whole life and still believe you “missed your chance” to drive. That’s why our conversation with 20-year-old A-class micro sprint driver Kelly Coss hits so hard. Kelly grew up around speed, spent years as a Friday-night fan at Red Cedar Speedway, then made the leap from the grandstands to the cockpit after discovering micro sprint racing at Thunder Hill Speedway. Her story is proof that dirt track racing has room for late starters who are willing to l...

Send us Fan Mail A weekly weather report filmed in the rain probably should not be a turning point in racing culture, but that is exactly what happens at River Cities Speedway. We talk with Brina Sang, a Grand Forks, North Dakota native who grew up at the track, took over its social media, and found a bold voice that fans now recognize instantly. From marketing and sponsorship support to viral-style videos, she shares what actually works for grassroots racing promotion when budgets are tight ...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of racing careers start with a “real plan.” Abby Maurer’s starts with a dusty car at her dad’s shop and a deal for gas-station ice cream if she’d sit in it for a photo. Abby is 14 now, a mini wedge racer with big trophies behind her and even bigger confidence on track, and she joins us to tell the full story from that first moment to chasing points championships at places like Owosso and Kalamazoo. We talk about what youth racing really looks like week to week: b...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people say they love racing. Kate Maurer is 10 years old and proves it by showing up, learning fast, and winning in a mini wedge. I sit down with Kate to hear how she got started after watching her sister race, what it’s like running youth oval track events across Michigan, and why her home tracks at Owosso Speedway and Owosso Motorsports Park mean so much. We talk about what a mini wedge car teaches you early: you can’t stay full throttle everywhere, you have to li...