If Your Car Likes To Roll Maybe It Is Time To Move Up with Sophie Anderson

Welcome And Sophie’s Racing Roots

Melinda Russell 0:02

Hello, everyone. This is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast. And Sophie Anderson is my guest today. Sophie, I want to welcome you to the show. And would you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Thank you. I'm Sophie Anderson, and I started racing when I was 14. And now I'm 19, about to be 20, and I have two sisters. My oldest sister is Madison, and my youngest sister is Lily. And my parents' names are Debbie and Keith. And I currently go to school at Wapaton, NDSCS, for Power Sports Technology. And I will be graduating in May and going to work at GoFasters after I graduate. So oh, that's cool.

Melinda Russell 0:48

Yeah, that's very exciting. Awesome. Great for you. Do you have any pets at home?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yes, I have one dog named Rivet. She's a boxer. Okay.

Pure Stock Starts And Hard Lessons

Melinda Russell 0:58

Oh, that's a great name. I love that. That's cool. So, Sophie, you started when you were 14. What did you start racing at 14? What carts, quarter midgets, light models? What were you racing?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

So I started racing a pure stock Montevideo, Wilmer and Madison Speedway. And then actually, the first time I drove it, I rolled it at practice and it started on fire and I hit the wall. And then that whole year was quite a learning curve. But I've always been introduced to the races, I guess, when I was a baby. I don't even remember. I was in a car seat, and my parents love racing, and so they always went. And yeah, and so then after my first year, I went back after my second year, and I actually won my second year in Pure Stocks. And then I got DQ'd the same night. And so, and we didn't even know we were cheating. It was a module in the distributor, and then the next week we changed it out and I got second. And actually, when I got DQ'd, so it is second place. Well, then second place, we flipped spots, and he got first and I got second, and then that's just kind of crazy. And then my third year, it was a pretty good year. I think I had five or seven wins, and then after that, we had I was still in Pure Stocks all the way up to last year, and then my last year in Pure Stocks, I rolled again the same car and got back into it, and then finished off the season. And the last time I drove the car, I rolled it again. So I was like, it's time to move up.

Melinda Russell 2:45

It is time to move up. You should be in that competition, you know. Sometimes on night of destructions at places, they'll have the rollover contest. You should have entered that because that car likes to roll. No kidding.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

And actually, I did end up selling that car, and the people who have it are doing great with it, and they figured it out, so that's great for them.

Melinda Russell 3:06

And then that is great for them, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

And the kid who actually is driving that car drove go-karts, so he definitely had a step ahead of me starting racing, so that's good for him. Yeah, and he's young, he's like 13, I think. So good for him.

Melinda Russell 3:23

Yeah, so you didn't get hurt though, any of those times. No, I'm good. Safety equipment did its job, yeah. And so that's that says a lot for the safety equipment, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

No, okay.

Melinda Russell 3:35

If you can roll that many times, and that car must have been a sturdy car if it went through all that and it's still going.

Midwest Modified Move And New Car

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, it is. It's a very great car. Yeah, that's yeah, thank you. And then I moved up to Midwest Modifieds last year, and it started out really, really good. I was competitive, and then we had issues with the car bending, and it constantly went to the wall about mid-feature race, and we could never figure it out. We changed everything, and then we bring it down to my chassis builder, and they said that it's they don't they don't want to fix it unless we reclip it. And so I just decided to update, get an updated car, and so I have a new car for the 2026 season.

Melinda Russell 4:21

Nice, that's really exciting.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Yeah, new to me. I guess it's not brand new, it's a well no, but yeah, and so tell me about it.

Melinda Russell 4:28

What kind is it, what color is it, what number? Tell me all about it.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

So it's MB Customs, Mars Brothers, and that was my old car as well. My old car was a 2015, and this is a 2025 with 26 updates, and the chassis black, the decking is hot pink, and the body is white. So nice, nice, and I have my same number, 82 Jr. So okay, all right.

Melinda Russell 4:56

Black, hot, pink, and white. That's awesome. So a 2025. Wow, you did upgrade, yeah, a lot. Yeah, yeah. And it's still you still run the it'll be the Midwest Modified, correct? Yeah, okay. And what track do you normally race at?

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Montevideo. I race every Friday, and then I always went to Madison on Saturdays. But since Huron opened up, I want to support their track, so I think we're gonna go down there a few nights whenever Madison doesn't race and try it out.

Melinda Russell 5:28

Okay, so Huron has a new track this year.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Well, they did race many years ago and then they closed down and now they're opening back up.

Melinda Russell 5:37

So oh, that's good to hear because too often we hear that they're closing, tracks are closing, and so to hear that somebody was closed and is opening back up, that's really good news, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah, and so I'm excited to go try out. I've never raced on a half mile, so it's a bigger track, so we'll try it out. That'll be fun.

Melinda Russell 5:56

You look excited to do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Yeah, I'm very excited.

Melinda Russell 6:00

Yeah, and how soon will you start racing?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

May 1st is actually my first schedule date.

Discipline Time And Doing Your Own Work

Melinda Russell 6:05

Okay, so a couple weeks, it's not far away. No, yeah, yeah. So, you know, you've uh you've been racing a few years now. What was the hardest thing, though, for you to learn when you first started racing? Not to roll, obviously, was one of them, but what else?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

The mentality, it takes a very disciplined person to race and keep racing because you are out in the shop 24-7. It takes away opportunities from your life, like family events, friends' events. Like if you're you have to have a lot of dedication and grit and focus to stay in this because there's a lot of setbacks, and if you're not improving, you're honestly falling behind, and you don't want to fall behind, you want to stay competitive.

Melinda Russell 6:52

Yeah, that's right, that's for sure. And it's just like any sport, really, nowadays. You know, you see, like my grandson plays basketball, and he started as a little tiny kid, probably four years old. And if he doesn't stay with it, kids pass him by and he won't be playing as a high schooler. And it and it's true of really racing in all sports. If you don't stick with it, then you're gonna you're gonna be behind the eight ball, as they say, and people are gonna pass you by no matter what age they are. So you do have to, if you're gonna do it, you have to be committed, and and if you don't want to, then that's okay too. But it's a lot of money to spend if you're not gonna be committed.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah, it really is. Yeah, there's a lot of time and effort there to pour into it if you're not gonna be committed, yeah.

Melinda Russell 7:43

And so do you work on your car then? You help?

SPEAKER_01 7:47

I do actually I do all the setup, I do all the maintenance every single week, and mom and dad, they bring the car to the track for me because I don't get off of work till six on Friday, so they always bring it out to the track, and then I meet them there, and yeah, I really enjoy working on my car. I learn a lot, and then I know what to change if I've been working on it and I know how to change it. And obviously, I'm the driver, so I know how it feels, and my parents don't, so like it'd be hard for them to change it because they don't know how it feels.

Melinda Russell 8:19

Yeah, so how did you learn all of that?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Mistakes, lots of mistakes. Yep, like on this B mod, I've never had suspension like this. So, there for a while, I was I have coilovers, so I was turning it the wrong way, and I was doing the opposite of what I wanted, and I was like, Oh my, this is not working, but yeah, you just learn as you go, you keep making mistakes, and then you learn, and eventually you get it.

Melinda Russell 8:43

Yeah, eventually they do get it, yeah. And really, the for me, I learn by doing, so that would be how I would learn is by doing, make a mistake, and then fixing it. Right. And so, you know, some people want to read the instructions or whatever, but not me. I want you to show me, you know, I want to learn by doing it, yeah, for sure. So what's right race day? You work and then you go to the track, so that's a busy day, and then a lot of times you race the next day. How far do you have to drive to to all your tracks?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Every track is at least an hour to an hour and a half away from me.

Melinda Russell 9:20

So okay, all right. So you have to be again dedicated if you want to drive. You know, I have tracks within 20 minutes of me, so that's easy, right? But people drive an hour, two hours, three hours away because that's where the track is. And if they're dedicated and they're serious about racing, how far it is is not gonna stop them.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Correct.

Melinda Russell 9:47

Yeah, yeah. Are there very many girls that race against you?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Not at my local tracks. There's none actually, but like when I race the 100, there's quite a few girls actually out there that I knew.

The First Win Feeling And DQ

Melinda Russell 10:02

Okay. So yeah, and what is that the Wasota 100? Yep, and Fergus Falls. Yeah, I saw that. I've I've I've got that on my like kind of bucket list of one of the races I'd like to go to. So yeah, that's I even said to my husband, hmm, I we might have to go to Minnesota this year. Yeah, he's like, Minnesota. I said yeah. So what's been your proudest moment? You've had quite a number of wins, but is one stick out more than the others?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah, my first win it was in Wilmer Carey Speedway, and the atmosphere was crazy. Like, I actually could hear everybody cheering for me as I came out of turn four. And yes, I got DQ'd, but like in the moment it was the highest of highs, and like I've never felt that before. Like, if I could even explain it to somebody, it would just be like you're at your highest of highs in your life, and you you don't know what to do with yourself, you're just smiling ear to ear. And even though I got DQ'd, it was still amazing. I don't know, and then yeah, I mean, obviously, everything changed after I got DQ'd, but the guy that got second, he actually gave me his trophy, and so that was very nice of him.

Melinda Russell 11:17

That was very nice of him, and really, you know, you did win the race. Yeah, that one little piece on your car probably didn't change anything about whether you won or not.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

But rules are rules, and I get that part, but yeah, so actually from that moment, they are one of my best friends at the racetrack. Their names are Cody Hatch, and they moved up to Streeters, and they're just great people.

Melinda Russell 11:42

Yeah, yeah, that's nice that he did that because really a lot of people wouldn't even think about giving me the trophy. Yeah, yeah, pretty nice. So, would you rather start at the front, the middle, or the back?

SPEAKER_01 11:58

That's a hard question. It'd probably have to be the middle, middle, because you can see what everybody's doing in front of you, and then you can follow them, but then still make moves to go around them. And then the front, it's really hard actually leading a race because you don't know what people are doing behind you, and they could be finding a faster lane than you are, and that's how you could lose a race very easily.

Melinda Russell 12:21

Yeah, yeah, that's true. I kind of would like to know what other people are doing too, and then once I figure it out, then I'll just pass them all. Yeah, that would be my thought. So if somebody came up to you and said, Sophie, is racing a good sport for a girl to be in, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Absolutely. I mean, yes, you have your ups and downs, but I think girls can do racing just like boys, if not better. I mean, the mentality of it is a little bit harder, I feel. I mean, we take things a little bit more to heart, but I I would uh recommend racing to anybody and everybody.

Sponsors And The Real Cost Racing

Melinda Russell 12:58

Yeah, I agree. So, what about sponsors? Do you have sponsors? Do you go out and get them yourself or or how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yep, so actually I go out and talk to them every single year, and I have sponsor gifts for them and sit down there with them for an hour or two and just talk about how the season went, talk about my plans, and thank them for obviously what they do and explain how much it truly helps. Like I had one of my sponsors and they bought me a motor, a backup motor for me this year, and like that's huge for our program because we had the we had to pay for this new car. And sponsors, if I didn't have sponsors, there's no way I could be in the sport. There's no way. I mean, everything's expensive. The gas, the tires every single week, and you have to keep up on your parts. I mean, if they're bent, you got to replace them, and the racks are expensive, and just getting to the track nowadays is very expensive as well.

Melinda Russell 13:54

Yeah, yeah. Gas at four dollars and something a gallon, it's not, and you're pulling a trailer with a car on it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah, yeah, and then you got gas in the car too. That's like 12 bucks a gallon, too.

Melinda Russell 14:05

So yeah, yeah, wow. Do you want to name any of your sponsors or are you afraid to forget?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

No, I have a list because I don't Okay, good. Go ahead. Debbie Anderson Agency, Helena Egg Enterprises, Wigner Company Excavating, Minnesota Truck Headquarters, MTH, Mahoney Farms, More Sparing and Supply, Larson Farms, Anderson Farms, Strowman Farms, Hawkinson Construction, SJJK Heating and Plumbing, Black Line Seed, Progressive Collision and Glass Center, Westerman Farms, GoFaster's Power Sports and Marine, Bobcat of Morse, Fisher Farms, Jeremy Michelson Tree Service, Ericsson Farms, Restar Performance, Johnson Seed Company, Full Rabbit Egg, Freedom Racelifts, Sorella Sign Works, and Dakota Engine Builders.

Melinda Russell 14:57

Wow, you got a lot. Now I'm gonna ask you. So I don't normally hear so many sponsors that are farms. Are these dairy farms? What kind of farms are they? All kinds of farms.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

They're just farmers like that farm corn and beans around us. Like I just live in the country, so everybody's a farmer.

Race Day Nerves Balance And Wrecks

Melinda Russell 15:16

Okay. I grew up as I'm a farmer's daughter too, Sophie. I grew up in west central Illinois, and my dad grew corn and soybeans as well. So I understand that part. And and farmers support each other, don't they? Yes, yeah, they do. And that's cool that so many of them are sponsors for you. I love that. And then, of course, Freedom Race lifts. We know Josh, that's how kind of I you know re was reminded of you was through him. And so his race lifts are amazing. And yeah, I'm glad, I'm glad he's one of your sponsors too. So that's that's cool. You've got a lot of good ones there, I can tell. Thank you. What does a race day look like? Like, do you eat? Do you not eat? Do you listen to music? Do you want to be alone? Are you out talking to everybody? What's your race night, I guess, look like?

SPEAKER_01 16:09

So I wake up, I go to work, I work four or ten days, so 10-hour days. So I work eight to six, and then I take off. I go to the track and unload the car, and I don't know. I just I get everything set up, I go talk to people to get it off my mind of how nervous I am. And I honestly don't eat that much on race days. I'm too nervous too. Yeah, and then when it's about to be the PIP meeting, then I like kind of just like to be by myself and focus and get in the right mindset.

Melinda Russell 16:45

Okay. Do you have someone that's like your biggest competitor?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

No, I think they're all equal competition. Like, there's some people that I necessarily don't get along with very well, but I still race them and treat them as any other competitor because I don't like wrecking my stuff. Nobody else likes wrecking their stuff. I mean, there's battles and you just kind of have to deal with them.

Melinda Russell 17:11

Yeah. So you you work, you you're done with school, right? So you work and you still have to probably do laundry and do things because you're older now. I doubt if your mom takes care of everything for you. And and so how do you keep all of that in balance? How do you take care of Sophie so that you're good on the racetrack, you don't miss work, and and you, you know, you take good care of yourself. How do you manage that?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

So I do laundry every Sunday after the races, and I work on so I don't work on Mondays, so I work get everything done in the car on Mondays, and sometimes when I wreck, the parts don't come in. Obviously, if I wreck Saturday, they're not gonna be there Monday, and so then after my 10-hour day, then I just go out to the shop and work, and some days are very, very long.

Melinda Russell 18:07

Yeah, how far do you have to drive to go to work? 30 minutes. Okay, and is it towards the racetrack? Not really. I mean, it's not really not really, no, yeah. So when you get out of work on Friday, you gotta put the pedal to the metal and get there.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah, it's an hour away, so yeah, yeah.

Melinda Russell 18:28

Well, I admire you for being able to handle all that and get to the racetrack on time because I'd probably be speeding if I was doing that. Well, I'm not gonna say I don't speed. Yeah, we're not gonna say that on the podcast, at least. No, so you know, you've rolled the car several times and things break and you get wrecked and whatever. How do you handle that at the racetrack? Like after it happens, you know. Are you pretty even-tempered? Do you get mad quick? Do you go and chase the guy down that ran you into the wall? What how do you handle it?

SPEAKER_01 19:03

So, in the moments, I get very frustrated because I do a lot of the work with the cars by myself. So to see all my work kind of just get crushed and wrecked is very, very frustrating to me. And like my weeks are busy, so I don't have the time and the money, like everybody else, like not everybody else, but other guys have to just keep wrecking my stuff. And I treat my car so well, like I don't want to see that happening, and so yeah, but like I know I have a lot of little fans and fans, so I try not to get too mad and too frustrated. And after I sit down and just think about everything that happened, then I just kind of drop it all and talk to my fans, and because I don't want to look like a bad person, and I want them to have somebody good to look up to.

Melinda Russell 19:54

That's good. I'm proud of you for that. So, you know, I I talk to people about life lessons. Do you know what I mean when I say life lessons? Yes. Okay. So what has racing taught you as far as life lessons?

SPEAKER_01 20:12

The people that you meet will never how should I say this? Like the racetrack has its own community. So like the people that you meet is so different, like they're all family to you. And like, yes, you have racing, but like you have the people, so it's like the people that you learn and make friends and family along the way, like that's something that you're gonna always have with you.

More Girls Racing Goals And How To Follow

Melinda Russell 20:40

That's the one that's like a big life lesson that I've learned, and that's the one thing that nobody can take away from you. They can take the trophy away, they can say you're disqualified, they can do whatever, but they can't take that away from you, all those people and those friends you've made. Because when things go wrong, those are the first people that are going to be there. Yes, yeah, I've experienced that myself, and I know that's that's true for sure. So, what about women in racing at your track? Is there or wherever you race in the other classes? Are there a good amount of women that race at your tracks?

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Around me, sadly, no. When I was racing Pierce socks, there was another girl there, and then Strew Socks there was, and honestly, not unless they travel, then there is some, but every night there's no females out there, and it's sad. Like, I wish there was more because I really like seeing girls out there.

Melinda Russell 21:37

Mm-hmm. What do you think we could do to encourage or get more girls to come to the track?

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Well, I think they used to do mechanic races and powder puff races, and they need to start doing that again. I haven't seen one of those in forever, and like it just lets the girlfriends or the wives or the moms or anybody, any girl. drive like a car and like then like as a girl you you don't feel embarrassed to go over there because everybody else is a girl out there so like that's great. Right. And I think the biggest thing is getting the kids to the track. Not necessarily just girls. I think it's the kids because they're the future of our sport and if we don't have them we're not going to have a sport and it's kind of a dying sport and we need to get more fans.

Melinda Russell 22:22

Yeah more fans because there's so many things that can take their attention away from the racetrack first of all on Friday and Saturday nights. And then I agree with you about the kids kids are excited to go to the races you know and normally kids are the ones that say they to their parents we want to go to the races because if they if you can get them there once they want to go back. Yeah and that's that's what we have to do. We have to get those people there once do you do you ever take your car anywhere like in town or to the school or anything I know you work that makes it hard but to try to show kids especially little girls that hey this is motorsports and girls can do it too. Right. Yeah I take it we do parades town parades every summer and this year I'm going to take it to our local fair and we're going to have like a meet the driver's night at the fair so I'm looking forward to that yeah that'll be fun that'll be a lot of fun to do that yeah for sure so you know when little girls see you racing that gives them the encouragement to do it is there a place close to you where you know they could start as a little girl like do they race quarter midgets or in wedge wedge cars?

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Is there any place close by to you where there are you know opportunities for little girls to get started sadly no but all of our pure stock drivers are normally go-kart drivers and they all come from Atwater and they all travel so everybody kind of just travels when they want to get into cars.

Melinda Russell 24:08

Okay. And that that's that's good.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

I mean I like the travel series but it's also hard on the local tracks yes very hard yeah yeah so who's been the biggest impact on you as far as racing do you have somebody you really look up to or honestly I really look up to Shane Zabraski because he is the most humble guy out there and he has won so many races like I cannot believe it. And he still goes out there and he just keeps his nose to the stone and he just keeps grinding and he's humble and he incorporates his fans all the time he's just really awesome to look up to yeah things that you that he does that you can say I want to do that too because it's yeah and he probably has a lot of fans if that's the kind of guy that he is yes he does yeah yeah for sure what goals have you got for moving forward are you happy where you are do you want to move up to a different kind of car what are your goals because you're only 20 years old or not quite right are you going to be 20 yeah I'll be 20.

Melinda Russell 25:17

You'll be 20. So what are your goals moving forward?

SPEAKER_01 25:21

I eventually want to get a full ride into a late model but as of right now like for this season I want to get at least five to ten top fives or tech sheds and I want to pull off a one this year.

Melinda Russell 25:36

Yeah I think you're gonna do it you know what it feels like yeah so you've got to get yourself in that mindset that I want I want that feeling again I want to go through that yeah yeah that's that's so exciting I I hope you I hope you win more than one and I think you will for sure thank you do you have a favorite track because you go to a few different ones yeah um I think my favorite track would have to be Oaklevy Minnesota I've only raced there once but their track is wide it's banked it's just a different kind of dirt that I'm normally racing on and I think they do amazing track prep yeah that's good we always everybody has a favorite track usually but then once you get your win that's your favorite track right yeah for sure so Sophie how can we follow you on Facebook Facebook Facebook I'm sorry it's late in the day I'm tired Facebook Instagram how can we follow you so we know where you're racing and what you're doing and how you you know how the racing came out you can follow me on Facebook Instagram I post every week on Facebook I would recommend following me on that it's just Sophie Anderson82JR and Instagram it's the same and yeah okay no tick tocks huh well I do have TikToks but I just started the count last week so I don't know how that's oh that's great you know I know TikTok's gotten a lot of you know good and bad whatever but for racing TikTok is great because you can just have short little videos on there of you during a race or what doing whatever even working in the shop whatever you're doing and I think TikTok's great for racing kids or people not just kids but racing people because it's fun to watch those it is yeah yeah yeah it is so you'll be probably Sophie Anderson 82JR hopefully on there too right yeah so we can find you yeah all right anything sophie that we haven't talked about that I should have asked you about or that you want to share no I don't think so we covered it all yep all right so promise me when you get that win this year that you're gonna text me okay I will and let me know if you ever want to do something live from the track I'm always open to that we can do some kind of a live you know short little thing on Facebook that would be kind of fun to do or even a little tick tock or something I'm kind of adding that to the ideas this year to do some live things I think that'd be kind of fun to do and if I get a chance and I know you're racing there I'm swear I'm coming to Minnesota South Dakota somewhere because I've interviewed a couple gals from that area so I could watch more than just you so yeah yeah for sure I love I love being able to do the you know stream yard and and get to know you basically it's like zoom but there's nothing like watching you race in person so right yeah that's gonna be my goal this year is to do a little bit more of that okay well you let me know I will I will for sure well Sophie thank you so much for being on and you have a great rest of the week and good luck this May 1st is your first race. Good luck and you show those boys how it's done thank you for having me I appreciate it you're welcome