Katlyn Calhoun Explains Why Racing Is A Way Of Life

Safer Lifts For Race Shops

Melinda Russell 0:48

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Dog Lover Gifts And Bundles

Melinda Russell 1:42

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Welcome And Meet Caitlin

Melinda Russell 2:30

Hello everyone. This is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast. And my guest today is Caitlin Calhoun. Caitlin comes to us from the sunny state of Florida. So Caitlin, I want to welcome you to the show. And would you first tell us a little bit about yourself?

How She Started Racing

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Hi, it is so great to be here. I'm 17. I started racing when I in 2017. I started off in quarter midgets. We went to the track one day, New Summer Speedway, to watch the big cards, and they had the quarter midgets and the bleachers, and I sat in one, fell in love with it. We went to an event after called a Arrive and Drives, where I can sit and drive the car for a couple laps and see if I like it, and I loved it. So I fell into love, fell in love with the sport, and then we started building my 600 micro dirt sprint car in mid to late 2023. My first race was March uh 2024, and we decided that that summer it would be best to fully retire the quarter midgets and focus on the bigger car. And then in the end of 2024, I was offered a full ride in a Anubis Motorsports 360 sprint car.

Melinda Russell 3:55

Pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Oh yeah.

Melinda Russell 3:58

Oh yeah. So um let's let's back up just for a second. Um about about Caitlin. Do you have brothers, sisters, pets, anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

I have two older sisters and one cat.

Melinda Russell 4:13

Okay, all right. And you live in Del Tona, Florida, so I'm sure the weather is hot and is it muggy there? Humid?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

It's it's very humid, it's been very rainy recently.

Melinda Russell 4:25

Yeah, yeah, but still, Florida's a good state to live in, sunny and most of the time, even though I do think it rains almost every day somewhere in Florida, but it does, it does.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Oftentimes in Beltona, yeah.

Melinda Russell 4:42

So um dirt sprint car. How did you um did you and your dad build it? Did you buy one and then you fixed it up? How did you get your first car?

SPEAKER_01 4:54

So we bought one off of Neil Potter at Potter Motorsports, and we built it in his race shop together, and then just we've been figuring out the the flaws and gremlins until I flipped it and I got a new car.

Building The Micro Sprint

Melinda Russell 5:13

That's

The Flip And Quick Rebuild

Melinda Russell 5:14

not a good thing to do, is it? No, no, and were you okay after you flipped it?

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah, so I rode the wall for a couple seconds, and then my left fear hit the dirt and it threw me about 20 feet into the air, and I just came crushing down on the nose of the car. All my CTs and stuff came back there, though. So we rebuilt a new car as quick as we could and got back on the track.

Melinda Russell 5:42

Okay. So do you race two different things?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

I do. I run a 600 micro sprint car and then a winged 360 sprint car.

Melinda Russell 5:52

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. You ran a couple things. So, um, which one do you like the best?

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Oh, that's that's a rough question.

Melinda Russell 6:04

Are they so different that they each have their goods and bads?

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Yeah.

Melinda Russell 6:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

The the 600 I'm a lot more comfortable with, while the 360, I'm still trying to figure out the comfortability and getting more and more competitive with it. Okay.

Melinda Russell 6:20

So do you race at the same, do you race both of those at the same track?

SPEAKER_01 6:25

No, I race the micro at the bull ring. We are planning on venturing out a little bit at some point. And then with the 360, we race Alttech up in North Florida. We race Belusha Speedway Park and Hendry Motorsports Park.

Melinda Russell 6:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Okay.

Melinda Russell 6:45

So do you have the same number for both? What are your numbers?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

I I do. My number is 68C.

Melinda Russell 6:52

And how did you come up with that number?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

When I got into the micros, we couldn't figure out what number I wanted to do. So we went to my sponsor, my main sponsor, being Central Florida Forklift Supply, and asked them what they should what they thought my number should be. And they went for 68C because it's a lucky number for them.

Melinda Russell 7:14

Okay, good reason to choose that. And what color are they? Are they different colors?

SPEAKER_01 7:20

They are different colors, but I am planning on getting them the same color once we can get the 360 wrapped.

Melinda Russell 7:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So right now it's like a black turquoise in a hot pink.

Melinda Russell 7:31

Okay. All right. What's your favorite thing about going to the racetrack? Because you're in Florida, you're right by the beach. You could be going to the beach every day, but you go to the racetrack and race two different cars. Why is that?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Because it's my life. Racing isn't a hobby, it's it's a way of life, at least for for me and my family. My favorite part about going to the track is probably being able to spend so much time and build relationships and friendships and just be where I'm comfortable.

Melinda Russell 8:07

Yeah. Are there a lot of other girls that race against you?

SPEAKER_01 8:13

There's a couple. Um, I know there's Cheyenne Potter and Autumn Christ, who are both on the same team as me in the 360. And there's Paige Moss and a couple others. Okay.

Melinda Russell 8:29

And are you girls pretty competitive on the on the track and then friends off, or are you do you oh yeah? Yeah, that's what girls usually are. They're usually competitive on the track and friends off. That works pretty well, doesn't it? Oh, it does. Yeah.

Learning Dirt And Trusting Grip

Melinda Russell 8:48

So what was the hardest thing to learn going from quarter midgets to the micro sprint?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Trusting the car. Trusting the car to let the rear slide out. And okay.

Melinda Russell 9:02

And how long did that take to till you got comfortable with it?

SPEAKER_01 9:06

A couple races ago.

Melinda Russell 9:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

I when we got the new car, we got the setup on it. We've been doing adjustments as the track allows. And it's just taken me a minute mentally from going six, seven, eight years on asphalt to dirt to trust the car that it's not gonna spin. Because on asphalt, you want it to stick.

Melinda Russell 9:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Or dirt you need it to slide out, or it's not gonna go anywhere.

Melinda Russell 9:35

Right, right. And that's such a big difference. I mean, it people would be like, oh, it doesn't sound like that big a deal. It's you know, it's a circle, you're turning left. Well, okay, but yeah, go back to go left, exactly. And and so the you know, asphalt is one one thing, but dirt, there's a lot of technical things that you have to learn to do to slide and everything. So um do you like do you like racing dirt or would you like to go back to asphalt?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

I love dirt. I don't I don't think I could go back to asphalt on my own.

Melinda Russell 10:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Unless it's like an asphalt sprint car, then I'm I'm down for that.

Melinda Russell 10:21

Okay, what's the um what's the thing you like most about driving on dirt?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

You have to drive the car. There's more experience that you're getting driving a car than there is with asphalt. From what I know from asphalt, it might be completely different than bigger cars. I'm not sure. Where quarter midgets, you just pretty much held the wheel and there was no fighting the turns or actually, yeah.

Melinda Russell 10:55

And and dirt, you have a lot more control, I think, over where it goes and the sliding of it.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Yeah, yeah.

Working With Dad On Maintenance

Melinda Russell 11:06

So, um, who helps you with your car? Cars, you got two cars.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

So it's mostly me and my dad, but recently I've had Mike Lee helping me with what we can do setup-wise and my own driving to help me get better. And my dad is he does a lot of the the maintenance stuff with the big car, he does the valves, which is a very, very big thing with keeping the motors happy while I'll do the injection, the torsion bars, all the other maintenance stuff like that.

Melinda Russell 11:41

Okay, so he's taught you your dad's taught you how to do all that. Yes, yeah, and when you were on the quarter midgets, did your dad pretty much take care of everything?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, I was I was too young and didn't have much interest in working on them. Yeah, but once we started building the micro, I was like, Oh, this is really fun, I want to learn all of this.

Melinda Russell 12:05

Yeah, that's good because the more you know about your car, the better you can tell them what it needs to do to be better, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. So,

Why Women Belong In Motorsports

Melinda Russell 12:20

do you think that motorsports is a good sport for a girl to be involved in?

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Oh, yeah, 100%.

Melinda Russell 12:27

And why would that be?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Because it's being a male-dominated sport, it's better for the sport itself to have the women in it to make it better. Where there could be a little girl in the sands, and all she sees is the men, and then there's that one girl that gets out of the car, and that's like her inspiration to want to get into the motorsports.

Melinda Russell 12:55

Yeah, absolutely. If she can see somebody else doing it that looks like her, then she's more likely to be interested, right? Yeah, so when you first started though in quarter midgets, did you see little girls? And is that kind of what really gave you the inspiration?

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yes, there were a couple. I don't I don't remember their names that much anymore, but Cheyenne Potter, Kaylin Kinley, um, Taylor Watson, a couple, a couple others.

Melinda Russell 13:27

Okay, yeah, because it's important to see other girls to know that you know it's something that everybody can do, right? Right. So um when you're at the track, what's your day look like? Like, do you try to get everything ready the day before? Your dad takes care of that. What's your typical race day or race weekend look like?

Race Day Prep And Butterflies

SPEAKER_01 13:53

So we try our best to have the cars ready and loaded the night before, like throughout the week, I'll I'll work on them and get them ready, body on them. And we'll load up typically the night before. Some days we have to do it the day or the morning outs, and then we try our best to just sit and relax until we're at the truck, and then I do basic stuff like nut and bolting, wiping the car down, and just basic stuff like that.

Melinda Russell 14:23

Everything to just get it ready. Right now, are you nervous before you get into the car? Is it do you have those butterflies every time you get in or have those gone away?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

I I get the butterflies every time. Yeah, mostly sitting in the grid, strapped in, just waiting to be allowed on the track.

Melinda Russell 14:46

Yeah, would you rather start from the front, the middle, or the back?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

It depends on which car in which class, because in the micro I run two different classes. Okay, I run a stock class and a non-stop class or an A class. Okay, and in the A class, I would much prefer being in the middle of the pack, while in the stock class, I would prefer to be more in the front of the pack. Okay, because there's a different level of drivers there.

Melinda Russell 15:19

Okay, that's what I was gonna ask you, and why why is that? So there's more experienced drivers in the one in the A class, yeah. Uh that's interesting, and then what about your other car? Front, middle, or back?

SPEAKER_01 15:36

I've been liking the back.

Melinda Russell 15:38

Yeah, you like to pass?

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Yeah, I've just been trying to get more comfortable with driving, learn throttle control, and just overall get better. So that has been the best for me because I'm able to get racy with a couple others by not overdoing it and overwhelming myself, okay?

Don’t Quit When It Gets Hard

Melinda Russell 16:00

Yeah, so um, if you had a little girl come up to you and her mother said she wants to be just like you, what would be some things that you could tell that mother that you've learned or grown somehow by being involved in motorsports?

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Don't give up. That that is the biggest thing, and we watch people all the time that get into it, they have some issues and gremlins in the cars, or their driver doesn't have the experience for some stuff, and they just they give up. I there was one moment when we were ready to give up racing, and our friend Neil Potter told my dad, don't give up, work with her, work with your driver, get her comfortable, and we can thank Neil Potter for where we are now.

Melinda Russell 16:56

That's nice. He's gonna be glad to hear that, isn't he?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Oh, he is.

Melinda Russell 17:02

You know, the thing is, everybody has a bad day if you're a race car driver because you're gonna lose more than you're gonna win. So, you know, on those days that things go bad, you just have to suck it up and be like, okay, this is only one day in one race. Um how do you kind of handle it yourself, like if you've had a bad day?

SPEAKER_01 17:27

I'm really good at beating myself up when I have a bad race or a bad day, so I try not to get into my head too much, and I'll do all the maintenance stuff on the car and pretty much learn from my bad days for the next race.

Melinda Russell 17:46

Yeah, you know, that's kind of a uh people hear me say this all the time that listen to the podcast, but life lessons. I love that motorsport teaches life lessons, disappointment, overcoming adversity, you know, um, finances, all kinds of things that most people don't think about that motorsports teaches, especially a younger person. Right. That um and and especially, you know, when you start something, just because it's hard doesn't mean you should give up. You need to work, work at it. And not to say, not to say you couldn't ever give up. You know, sometimes things just don't work out, but yeah, you've got to at least give it a chance. Right? Right, right.

Social Media For Racing Growth

Melinda Russell 18:44

So um how do you use social media, Caitlin? Do you have a Facebook page, Instagram? Where where are you on social media?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

I have a Facebook, Instagram, and a TikTok page that I mostly post on. I have a Snapchat, but that's that's more of a personal thing. I don't really do much on there.

Melinda Russell 19:04

Okay, I think TikTok's a great platform for racing because short little clips of you racing your car can get people interested in you and in your car. And you know, I've had people say, Oh, TikTok, you know, because it was in the news and it's owned by the Chinese and all this stuff. Well, if you're a race car driver, um, I think that tick tock's great because of what I said, you can post little videos of your car and are you driving, and that might get somebody interested, you know, in being on uh being a race car driver themselves. So I love TikTok. Um, is it is it just your name or how do we find you?

SPEAKER_01 19:55

So my TikTok and Instagram are both Caitlin Calhoun Racing68C while my why while my Facebook is Caitlin Calhoun Racing.

Melinda Russell 20:06

Okay, all right. So easy to find find you on there. And do you do most of the posting yourself?

SPEAKER_01 20:13

I do, I handle all my social media.

Melinda Russell 20:15

Okay, all right. So, how does your mom feel about her daughter being a race car driver?

SPEAKER_01 20:22

She loves it, she's she has been one of my biggest supporters so far, and I I love her.

Melinda Russell 20:30

And you're the youngest in your family? I am okay. So, um what does she how does she support you? Like she encourages you, she fixes the food for the track. What does she do to help?

SPEAKER_01 20:43

She does a lot of the food for the track, she uh encourages me to not give up and to keep pushing me in myself to get better, and she's at the track every race, supporting. She's she's one of the best, she's the best mom I could ever ask for.

Melinda Russell 21:02

Oh, that's nice. I'm glad to hear you say that. So, do you have other people then um that help you on race day, or is it pretty much just your dad?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

So Neil Potter helps us a lot. We have there's Neil Potter, there's a couple people out the track that if we ever need help, we can we can ask them and they would be happy to help.

SPEAKER_05 21:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

And Mike Lee's has been a big one as a driver coach and helping us learn more with setup. Okay.

Sponsors And Getting Support

Melinda Russell 21:33

So do you have sponsors for your car?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

I do. There's Steve Stone, Anubis Motorsports, Kevin Martin and Tien at Central Florida Forklift Supply, Potter Motorsports, Real Kids, Real Racing, EMS Fabrication and Restoration, Exquisite Pool and Swamp, HJ Constructs Corpse, Wix Filters, SSS SS Skateworks, JC, Custom C Machining, The All Right, The All Rising, My Amazing Parents, and Mike Lee's.

Melinda Russell 22:06

Okay. You got a lot of good sponsors there to help.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

I do. And they're all, I'm very thankful for all of them.

Melinda Russell 22:15

Yeah. You can't do it on your own. I mean, that's just so hard. And it's good advertising for them, especially to be on the car of a girl, because in my experience, sometimes the girls get a little bit more um attention from the PA guy or whatever. And you know, if there's 10 boys and one girl, then the crowd's going to be interested to see how that girl does, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Right.

Melinda Russell 22:41

Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

Dream Tracks And Travel Reality

Melinda Russell 22:45

So do you have a a track that you would really like to race on at some point?

SPEAKER_01 22:51

I would really like to go to Eldora.

Melinda Russell 22:54

Oh, that's a great place to go. You should do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Even if it's not on the track, I would I would still love to be there and watch and experience it.

Melinda Russell 23:05

Yeah. Well, the King's Royal would be one of the top events to go to there. They have some other really good ones too, but um uh I've been there and it's uh it's a great, great track. And so I would encourage you to go there for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Okay.

Melinda Russell 23:23

So how far away is the track are the tracks that you go to now?

SPEAKER_01 23:29

So for the little car, or not little, but the smaller car, it's about an hour and a half drive. For Balusha, it's 30 minutes, I believe. And then for Hendry, it's a three and a half, four-hour drive.

Melinda Russell 23:46

Oh wow, yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot of of driving, especially with gas the way it is and everything.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Yeah, yeah.

Melinda Russell 23:56

So when is your next race?

SPEAKER_01 23:59

We're not quite sure yet. We're thinking about doing a race at all tech on the 20th of this month, and then I believe August 19th. Okay, all right.

Melinda Russell 24:16

So you get time in between. So you have time in between to fix work on your car, do whatever you have to do in between, and not racing every weekend, then you don't get burnt out either. Because I know some kids that race Friday night and Saturday night and every weekend, and you know that's great if that's what you want to do. I'm all for it. But um, everybody can't do that. Sometimes you got to take a little break in between, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

So we normally do have a race every two weeks to every week, but because summer and it being so hot and rainy, we don't really have any on the schedule, right?

Melinda Russell 24:55

Yeah, that makes a difference there. See, in Michigan, we can't wait for the warm weather to come and the sunshine, and it's rained here it's at the beginning of the season, it rained out quite often, but we've had some beautiful 75 degree and sunny weather. So um, hopefully it sticks around for a while because racetracks just can't make it if the weather doesn't cooperate.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Nope.

Melinda Russell 25:18

No, so so Caitlin, um what have we not talked about about you or your racing that you want to share?

SPEAKER_01 25:30

I'm not sure. I think we I think we've gotten

Goals Without Point Pressure

SPEAKER_01 25:33

it all.

Melinda Russell 25:33

What are your what are your goals? Do you you know, do you race for points? Do you race in a series? Are you racing, you know, more for fun and not worrying about points?

SPEAKER_01 25:45

So we don't try to focus on points as much because it can very easily make the score unfun. Yeah, because you're just pushing and pushing, and if something goes wrong, then it's oh shoot. Yeah, there goes our points, right? Um, for the 360 I race in the Top Gun Sprint series in Florida and just the southern area.

Melinda Russell 26:11

Okay, yeah. So takes a little pressure off if you're not worrying about the points. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah. Well, I've enjoyed talking to you today, Caitlin. Tell me um anything else that you want to share before we hang up.

Final Advice And Budgeting

SPEAKER_01 26:29

If you're looking to get into motorsports, just don't give up, keep pushing.

Melinda Russell 26:34

Yeah. Good advice.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Finances budget the best you can with it.

Melinda Russell 26:42

Right. And get out and ask people, especially if you're a younger person. You know, um, businesses like to help kids do things and be successful. So, you know, get out there and and find some sponsors and don't be afraid to go talk to them and tell them what you're doing, and and that helps your racing.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

It does.

Melinda Russell 27:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

The more people in the sands and in the pits, the better the racing goes.

Melinda Russell 27:10

Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Well, Caitlin, thank you for being on with me today. And I hope you have a really successful season in all three of your cars, and uh keep keep uh keep in touch with me so I know how you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

I will, thank you.

Melinda Russell 27:28

All right.

Thanking Sponsors With SendOutCards

Melinda Russell 27:33

Your sponsors feel your season. So show them some love with send-out cards. Snap a race day photo, write a quick thank you, and send a digital card straight from your phone, tablet, or laptop. It's personal, professional, and just ten dollars a month for unlimited cents. Gratitude goes a long way, especially in racing. So get started at sendoutcards.com forward slash five three two four zero. That's sendoutcards.com forward slash five three two four zero.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

Start your engines.