Kim Estep: I Bought The Porsche After Two Laps

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Melinda Russell 0:48

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Meeting Kim Estep The Racer

Melinda Russell 3:17

everyone. This is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast. And I have a lovely guest with me today. I'm going to let her tell you all about herself. So, Kim, I want to welcome you to the show. And would you first share a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_05 3:33

Hey, Melinda, thank you so much for having me. It's a delight to be here. And I think it's just great that we even have something to talk about with women in motorsports. I wish there were a lot more of us. But um, so my name is Kim Estep, and um I am Kim Estep Races on Instagram. And you probably want to know how I even got into doing this. Well, as a small child, I loved ponies first, but I realized quite quickly that I was not going to be able to be the jockey on the black stallion, which was my favorite movie at the time because I grew too tall. And so it's funny that between my model horses and my matchbox cars, my parents never realized I actually had an affinity for beautiful styling of cars in general. And so my my most treasured matchbox cars were my Porsches. And I had no idea that, you know, 30 years later, I would be racing poor, 30, 40 years later, I'd be racing Porsches on the racetrack. Like it's just incredible that I even got here. But um, you know, what's incredible is also that, you know, women approach men approached me and they're like, Kim, how the heck did you get into motorsport? And I said, by accident, because we, you know, I was the pra I'm a Capricorn like you. I'm the practical one. I went to college, got good grades, um, got my first job, you know, right out of college. And um I had the practical sedans, like I had a Honda Accord, like it was the practical sedan. And then I met my husband, who was the youngest in his family of a bunch of boys who were drag car racers in the 70s. And so Scott and I think we got together because the shared love of motorsports. So when the time came to upgrade our Honda Accord to something more performance-oriented, I had a little BMW 330 Xi in 2004, and Scott quickly realized that it was probably a good idea to go to LimeRock and teach me how to drive the thing so that I didn't kill myself in the process. So you can imagine how that went down, because I'll bet you a lot of people have this story, and not just women, where they go to the BMW club or they go to the Audi Club or they go to the Porsche Club and they drive their streetcar on the track, and it is like they mainlined whatever the most incredible drug is in the world. And the men that taught me how to drive on track were they were so uh they were so supportive. They said, Kim, you really have an affinity for this, and I think you should continue doing this. And so um I, you know, I had the kids, let me see. So I was on track in 2004 for the first time with the BMW club. My girls were already three and four by then. And so here's Scott hanging out at Lime Rock on the side of the hill with the kids while I'm doing laps at Lime Rock. I mean, beautiful, beautiful park-like setting. It was wonderful. And all of the club members got to learn who the girls were, and they love the cars too, but they like to climb trees even better. So they climbed the the pine trees at the top of the hill. Um, but and then by 2010, we joined the Lime Rock Club because we wanted a lot more track time, and so we upgraded from the 330 XI. We got a little Mini Cooper for a little bit, and then we got a 2009 M3, and that became a track car. But then Scott and I fought over that, and then lucky for me, um, the director of the club, Simon Kirkby, who's still the club director over there at LimeRock, said one day, Kim, there's this car that I want you to look at. It turns out it was a 996 GT3 Porsche. And lucky for me, that day, another club member had the exact same car sitting in pit lane. So I go down to this gentleman and I ask him if he can let me sit in the car just to see if I fit. Because I'm really like I'm tall from hip to knee. And so I don't, if there's there's enough leg room under the steering wheel, sometimes I have problems crunching myself down in there because I'm six feet tall anyway. So, long story short, this gentleman was kind enough to let me not only sit in the car, but literally take it for a spin. And when you break it, you buy it. So I made it two laps and ended up putting it in the air at the top of the uphill at Lime Rock very unexpectedly in third gear with a lot of torque. And um, I ended up buying the car from him and then put it back together. And one thing led to another, and I I found my first race shop. The gentlemen and ladies that basically run, you know, they run auto-body shops or mechanic shops, and what they do is they prep cars for the racetrack. And so um, I don't know how how much you want me to be able to tell people about who all these people are, but um let me just say that I went down to Seabring that January in the Porsche Club and took that car. And again, it it was like it was all over again, like a brand new experience. And so I finished the weekend um having done the high performance driver Z events, telling this this owner, like, I want to race, like I'm ready to race, let's go racing. This was 2012. So I've been, you know, on track for eight years already. And luckily, that guy said, Kim, please don't race this car because you know it's it's he was just afraid. Like he was afraid I was gonna put it in the wall. I was pretty aggressive at that point. And he didn't want to, he don't he didn't want to take my money by repairing cars, he wanted to take my money by helping me be a better driver and racer. And so fortunately, that was around the time that the K-man Interseries was brand new. And so that 996 car became Scott's car. And I got into like, you know, a Cayman Interseries car. I think 130 of them or whatever were produced. And so I raced with Porsche Club in that car for the couple of years that that series was put on. And I ended up with tro I mean, I won my first trophies. I ended up, I think, second in New England that first year and third nationally in the points, never having raced before in a spec series of Porsches. And so it all started there. Like that was, and so that's that's what I did. That's how

From Track Days To First Trophies

SPEAKER_05 9:50

I got into racing.

Melinda Russell 9:51

Wow, and it it's it was kind of just like an automatic step from here to here to here, wasn't it? You know, you kind of started here and then you moved up and you moved up and you moved on, and and so um what was it about it?

SPEAKER_05 10:08

It was guided, it was people like I people were so encouraging. The women that I met at the track, the men that I met at the track, they're like, Kim, you're freaking good. Like you're beating me into the corners, you're you know, but you're but you're predictable, you're safe. Like you, I wasn't the, you know, I I think people always you can quickly identify someone on track that's not gonna be someone nice to play with in the sandbox. Let's let's put it that way. But there are plenty of people on track that you would go. I mean, we risk our lives every single day diving into a corner. And now that I'm here in Atlanta, like getting a pass done or letting someone pass you going, you know, at the into turn 10, you know, it you're coming down from it, depending on the car, you're coming down from 150, 160 miles an hour. You got to scrub 100 miles an hour to make that turn. And you want to make sure that you're on track with with people that are considerate and and um you know, we all want to win, but we we know at the end of the day it's really only a plastic trophy and some bragging rights, right? I mean, winning is winning is great, but not at all costs. Exactly. Yes, it's too expensive and it's too much. You you lose too much time and you lose too much confidence by you know having incidents, so it's much better if we don't have those incidents. Right.

Melinda Russell 11:29

So it's the people that keep you going back. What else? Is it going fast? Is it the adrenaline?

SPEAKER_05 11:39

It's so much. It's um like my sister, you know, she rides horses and she trains horses and she teaches people how to ride. I think you just find something in life that you just know is meant for you, and you you just keep doing it. And there's you know, I started, I took my horse to college with me, like I didn't know I'd get in motorsports, like I really thought riding was gonna be the thing, and then it became my sister's profession. So I stepped back and I said, I'm gonna let her have this because there were some disputes. She, you know, I had I took my horse out to Colorado with me, and I was showing out there, and so inside the family dynamic, it's just my sister and I, I needed to let her have that space. So I backed out, and then in Colorado, so I'm like, I'm gonna go ski. So I taught myself how to ski, and then that's a whole long story. Obviously, I was born to be an adrenaline junkie. Yeah, horses over fences, skiing fast, and then competitively skiing in the recreational league. It was as it was an easy segue to race cars, and yeah, I bought the business from my father, and I'm in I'm in um I'm in the multifamily market. So essentially my customers are HUD, uh, they're lenders for apartments and assisted living facilities and nursing homes and stuff that get insurance against those loans from the federal government, and then I help them rate lock those loans, and then they create bonds that get sold to Wall Street. So, like I'm in high finance all every single day. Yeah, and the best part of racing is you can only do one thing at a time. So when I always have 10 balls in the air at work, when I'm on the racetrack, it's actually relaxing because I can only do that one thing, yeah. And I think a lot of racers have said that over the years that it I think so it demands so much focus, it's actually relaxation for your for your system.

Melinda Russell 13:25

Yeah, well, and it's so different from what you do on a daily basis, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:33

You mean I can be dirty and and you know, I don't have to shower and I don't have to put makeup on, or I don't have to look good on a podcast, you know. I can just show up at the racetrack, put my suit on, you know, put my helmet on, jump in the car and go. Right. You know, and like my very good friend and coach, Pippa Man, says, there the car doesn't care that we're a woman, the car doesn't care that we're over 40 or whatever. I'm not gonna say how old I actually am, but you know, the car doesn't care. You just do what you do and just have fun doing it.

Melinda Russell 14:05

Yeah, exactly. So tell me what's what's the typical race day look like for you?

SPEAKER_05 14:14

Oh well, Scott and I made a big decision two years ago. The the market in Connecticut, the real estate market was just going gangbusters, and we decided to sell the property. My youngest daughter had graduated from college, and Scott and I said, you know, what do we want to do as empty nesters? And I said, I want to go on track a whole lot more. So we sold the house in Connecticut and moved down. I live 15 minutes of road Atlanta right now. I was on track 50 days last year between racing and um practice and test days, and there's honestly, there's nothing I would rather do. Like I'm so bummed that I'm not at the track today because you know, it's a it's a club day. I'm a member of the prevay club there, and so they're all running on track today, and I'm here working. But um a typical day is you know, you show up early in the morning and your car is waiting. It's it's wonderful to have a team that preps everything for you. You know, I have wonderful support from Kingpin Racing right now, and Tyler does an amazing job. His his guys are just so great, and I always feel safe in the car, and I feel safe on track with the other club members, and it's a it's a really good time. So, but when I'm not practicing and um, you know, learning how to trail break better and better and better. I am getting pitched by lots of endurance teams from you know, Champ Car and AER and Lucky Dog and WRL. Like they're always teams looking for drivers. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people that you know, I've I've gotten enough of a reputation that the guys are like, hey Kim, what are you doing? We need a fourth driver. We need it, you know, it's like some guys hang out and wait on the golf course for someone to ask to be joining the foursome. And I feel like I'm joining the foursome. It's just in a race car. So um, you know, I've raced with David Twadi down at um, well, not down, like he's down in Miami, but I raced with him at Watkins Glen a month ago. It actually snowed on us. I've never been on the track in the snow, like it was so cold it flurried. He's got a great video, by the way. But so, and he just he just pitched me. He's gonna be here at Road Atlanta early August for his Farah series. So I'm thinking of joining that as well. So I will be down at Seabring for the overnight with him um the end of this month in June, uh, with Champ Car. So doing the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. race. We'll just keep a little BMW running nonstop for 12 hours. That should be fun. And in the dark, and it's you know, everyone's like, Kim, why are you doing this? I'm like, because why not do this? Like, who gets to say they got to run Seabring in the dark unless you're doing the 12 hour right? Like, why not? It's just something else I can, you know, I can notch off my list and say I've done it. Yeah. So what else is on your list?

Empty Nest Life And Endurance Racing

SPEAKER_05 16:59

Oh my gosh. So I don't know. Well, you read my book, right? So I wrote a novel last year about a woman who goes racing, and it's the first in a series of three novels. Um, Vivian, she she's she's tough, she's she's amazing, she's my alter ego, but the best thing about being a writer is she can she can be whatever I want her to be, you know. And um, so I am slowly working through book two, and the story of book two is just it's cinematic, like it's awesome. So I can't wait to get that out. So again, and I'm and I'm building an AI intelligence company for my industry that's gonna help people get more loans and learn about. I don't know, we need a lot more affordable housing in this country, so I hope I'm playing a small part to help that get better. Um, but you know that, and then my daughter she'll start her second year at UGA in the fall. She finished she's a social worker, and the other one is an influencer, she's up in Virginia, so I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I'm a business owner, I'm a racer, I'm an endurance racer, I'm a novelist author, and you know, it all keeps me pretty busy.

Melinda Russell 18:13

Yeah, yeah, it really does. Yeah, yeah, and you have so many interests, and they're so varied, you know.

SPEAKER_05 18:21

Um, between the race boring, right? Like you gotta have lots of interests.

Melinda Russell 18:27

You've gotta have a lot of interest. Yep. So I'll share with you a little bit about what I like to do. I'm I've been a crafter, somebody who loves to make crafts since I was a little girl. And I don't know if you know what 4-H is, but I was in 4-H way back in the day. Yep. And I liked the cooking part, but my mom was an amazing seamstress, and so I took sewing. And I will never forget the brown checkered dress with the the plain brown vest over it. That was popular in the 70s, 60s, whatever. And I had to rip out time. I ripped and then I sewed, and then I ripped, and I hated it. I hated sewing. Really? But you were good at it. I was, but I hated it. So I I went on a different path, and um scrapbooking wasn't even a thing when I started scrapbooking. And I looked back at a book I made with colored paper from the office supply store and glue sticks and pictures of my kids and in a three-ring binder way before uh you know, scrapbook stores appeared. But I'm I've been a huge scrapbooker. I also wrote a book about a little girl who races carts. Um I wrote I've written some music, not the music part, but I wrote the words to some songs about women and racing. And yeah, and I love going to the races and all that. There's so many things I don't have enough time in the day. That sounds like you, Kim. You don't have enough time in the day to do everything you want to do.

SPEAKER_05 20:16

Well, if I so I'm so lucky that my younger daughter finally put um time limits on my Doom scrolling, so on my phone, I now cannot switch between 12 different apps, like jumping from Facebook to Instagram to threads to Twitter to email to whatever, because I could do that all day long too. I could too.

Melinda Russell 20:34

It's uh yeah, that's how I meet people.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

Well, that's how I understand, sure. And that's how we met you and I met, you know, online saying, hey, like how, but you know what? I think there's something to be said for the community that can be built. The problem is, is there are just so many things that demand our attention these days, and it's not um I I've here's another good thing about going to the track is it's one of those things you do in person, yeah. You know, like I can show up and I can see the guys, you know, the guy, and I and I give them a hug, like I'm not even a handshake girl anymore. Like they just give me a big old hug and they're like, Hey, Kim, what are we working on today? And I'm like, I'm gonna I'm gonna work on turn five, and I'm trying to nail this exit, and I'm gonna try to get my minimum, you know, corner speed up by two miles an hour, you know, something like that. And so we all kind of create goals and then share goals and then support each other. But I think that in-person part of what we do is just so refreshing because so many of us can just sit here in an office and just um, you know, be hermits. I think COVID really screwed up a lot of us for four years, especially you know, those of us that are small business owners, right? Where we got to just you know hang out in a little office space in our in our home.

Melinda Russell 21:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:45

So that I mean, I think that's where, and you know what I love about the racing part? And I'm gonna give a shout out to Jackie. And Jackie came and she was introduced to me last year, high school senior, wants to be uh Technician, you know, would love to work on a race team. So she, so I'm gonna I'm gonna find Jackie. And but meeting people and then bringing them into this sport and giving them an opportunity to even just sit in the race car. Like so many people have never even sat in a race car. And my car, you know, my Porsche Cayman is a converted streetcar, but it looks very different than you know, the K-mine that you would see on a used car lot or in a dealership because it's got the roll cage and it's got only one seat and it has this chill out. What is this chill out system on the side? And what is this? What is this V Tech thing in the front? Like, what are all these switches over here? Is that what's the fire suppression for? You know, what's the butt? So I get to go through and explain all of this stuff, and it's a whole different world for a lot of people. And I think there are so few people that get to experience something like that. I I have to keep my feet on the ground some days and just look around and think of just how lucky I am to even be inside the gates of a racetrack and not even like because many people don't even do that. No, you know, they'll sit and they'll watch on TV. And these days, like even I was watching IndyCar over the weekend, and I'm I'm looking at Scott and I'm looking at the way the crew chiefs are working and the and the pit crews and everything, and I'm like, you know, it's not so different from what I do. They, you know, they just have bigger gas tanks and and fuel delivery systems, and they just have, you know, they have the fancy pit carts that have the benches up top and the, you know, and this, whereas, you know, we're wheeling around toolboxes and stuff in a, you know, in a cart. But um at the end of the day, it's just people who love understanding the mechanics of something and then going out and testing that machine to see if their theory about how to make it go fast and and grip a corner well can be proven right, and whether we as drivers can then go make them proud that they've done something well. And so it's not always about who's standing on the podium, you know, a lot of it is just about the whole experience and just being able to say, like, God, I had a great weekend, and we kept that car running for 16 hours, you know, eight hours on Saturday, eight hours on Sunday, and we crossed the finish line and the car didn't break. Like, that is the best feeling in the world sometimes. But yeah, no, my favorite part is definitely cultivating, I think, new fans. So I was even I was talking to my financial advisor the other day. I just picked a new one down here because I hadn't gotten one to sign over my accounts from Connecticut yet. And so I made I made that um introduction. And when I told them what I do, they're like, Well, you know, what do you need your money for? And what do you want to do in retirement? And when I explained to them I want to race cars, they're like, wait, what? You want to do what? So I think that's the fun part. I like surprising people, yeah.

Melinda Russell 24:50

Yeah, and for people who don't really know anything about motorsports, you're not the typical thing they think of when they think of motorsports. No, you know, no, and so that's that's the part of it that's kind of fun. That you know, you're kind you're breaking barriers, you've broken some, and and you're showing other girls, uh younger women, girls that they can do it too. And I think that's a really important part because I interviewed a gal earlier this week, and she's the only girl that races at her track in any division.

SPEAKER_05 25:26

Oh my god.

Melinda Russell 25:27

And she said, I just hope that my show encourages other girls and women to come out to our track and race if they see that there's another woman there, and so by sharing your story, that's another way to encourage women to get involved. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 25:48

I have when I was up in Connecticut, I had friends I brought to the track for the first time, and they didn't it had never occurred to them that they could take their, you know, their little Audi out on track and try it. And they didn't know until they met me that that was even an option. And then so I got them doing it too. Um,

Making Motorsports Welcoming For Women

SPEAKER_05 26:04

I think again, I spend some time on threads. Threads is like my new, like my argument center, right? Because motor sports on threads, it's all NASCAR-centered or F1 centered. And yeah, it's too bad because I think in any sports, anyone that's had children know that, like, for example, like the the what is the big soccer thing that's coming to Atlanta this year? It's gonna be here in a couple weeks. FIFA or whatever it's called. Yeah, but there obviously people know that there are children that start as soccer players that grow to a point where they can become professional soccer players, right? But it's almost as if nobody thinks about what the path is for a child to get to become a NASCAR driver or an indie car driver, an F1 driver. And so those of us in amateur or pro-am levels need to really be more open with what we do on the weekends, more so than you know, than golfers. I think people understand what the ladder is for golf easier than they understand what the ladder is for motorsports, especially women. So it or it's tennis, you know, everybody knows about Serena and Venus Williams and they know how they got there, but no one's asking the question or telling the story of how a woman like me, you know, got my first, I got on track for the first time at 32. But I have arguments with people about whether I could do Formula One if I just worked out in the gym harder. And I'm like, honey, at my age, are you kidding me? Because you know, there are only there are only 20 people that make it, right? This is not of the whole world, out of the whole world. So, you know, you see NBA basketball players, and you know, they recruit in Russia and they recruit in you know in in the Far East, like so those teams, but I think I don't think women are are even looking at that, and and I don't know what my point is. I think my point is let's be better at letting lots of people know that amateur motorsports is not something that's an accident. Like, I think parents could could really have fun getting their kids on track if they just thought I think some parents have fun on track, yeah. I just don't think it occurred to them that they can take the family. I think they all think they have to have a Corvette or they have to have a Porsche or some high performance car. And the answer is they don't. You know, you can do autocross, you can really have fun in a parking lot doing an autocross at 30 miles an hour and still be completely exhausted after an hour or two. Yeah.

Melinda Russell 28:33

Um, yeah, so you know, and there's there's really so many options. It's interesting. Um, you know, Kim, I've interviewed a lot of younger girls, and yet, you know, I remember a lady I interviewed, she was in her 50s, and she said, I always wanted to race, but there was nobody where I live that did that. And my parents discouraged me from doing it. And she said, and then I got married and had a family and felt like I was never gonna have this chance. And then through circumstances that changed, she had a chance to race a local short track, and she's having a ball. And she thought it was something that was never gonna happen because she didn't start as a little girl. Because nowadays, I don't care what sport you're in, whether it's basketball or cheerleading or whatever, if you don't start when you're five or six years old, by the time you're 16, you're too old to start. That's kind of the perception they give you, and that's not true at all. Nope.

SPEAKER_05 29:39

No, really, we're living so much longer as humans, and and this is you know, I think AI, I don't want to go down that rabbit hole, but I am pretty sure that if if society believes that we're all gonna pass away in our late 70s or early 80s, like I'm Gen X, like I think we're gonna live well past 100, and we're gonna live well, well past 100. You know, we're we're we're not gonna we're not gonna be out there with crazy. Like, there are guys I compete with or I or I'm teammates with. I would never in a million years know some of these guys are in their late 70s, like they're in their late 70s, but they look like they're in their mid-60s or early 60s, even. And so I think having the passion and the just going out and being in the fresh air and being around people that love to do what you love to do, there's nothing better to make your life enriched and and worthwhile and and give it purpose. And so I think motorsports is a great is a great way, you know, to get there. But on your point about the women, boy, we we gotta have like some big club or something where we all get together and and just share stories, I think. And I'm so lucky when I race WRL, you know, I'm out with with Aaron Vogel's team and the ladies that are just kicking tail out at the front of the pack. And they're just amazing. All I can do is look at them and go, I want to be like them someday, you know. So um, no, so it's great to see their success, but you know, I I wish, gosh, the and the problem with being women is there are so few women like me that were able to make the kind of money that allowed me to go pay for it myself. Most women, if they're starting the family and raising the kids and staying home, it's really, really rare for them to have a husband that could like Scott, my husband, that was the stay-at-home dad that could take care of things so that you know I could have my hobbies and run the business. So women just don't get the shot. And so we need we need more help. We, you know, we need and we need more help, we need more finances, we we need shift up now, and we need, you know, the entities to just raise a lot more money to get all of us at every age out there because it's just good for society, I think. It's good for it's good for communities, and it also helps, I think, men realize that we are very capable. Yes, you know, because you know what I mean about that. Like, we're not supposed to be home barefoot and pregnant and rain raising kids. Like, no, there are a bunch of us that have proven you two that we can go out there again. The car doesn't care. No, there are only four sports I've identified that women and men can compete in equally. You know what they are? I would say golf would be one. Well, no, because we hit from the ladies' tee. Well, that's true. Okay, we get a handicap, so it's not golf. Okay, so motorsports is one, motorsports, equestrian is number two. Okay, I think I don't know. Is number three. Oh, bowling, yeah. Someone else brought bowl and four is sailing. Oh do you notice like the themes of all of these things? Uh-huh. Like they all require, they require a skill, but they require another mechanical instrument that's you know, it's it's not direct physical force, right? Right, that that lets you win or lose, and so that's why the men don't necessarily have an advantage.

Melinda Russell 33:06

Yeah, so wow, that's pretty interesting when you think about it that way, isn't it?

SPEAKER_05 33:12

It's interesting stuff, yeah.

Melinda Russell 33:13

Yeah,

Favorite Tracks And Commitment Corners

Melinda Russell 33:14

it really is. So, you know, you love what you're doing, you you typically race at road atlanta now, and that's where you go most of the time, or do you travel, Cam? Where else do you oh I travel?

SPEAKER_05 33:28

Oh, people can like I said, I'll be at Seabring the end of this month. I was at Watkins Glen last month. I just got asked to do well, there there is a it's easy for me to race at Road Atlanta because it's so local to me. I'm 15 minutes away. So anytime there's a race at Road Atlanta, if someone wants me to participate, I'll usually join that team. Um, but I love I haven't ever made it to the West Coast, so I'd like an opportunity to go out to like Laguna Seca or something. That would be Noma, that would be really cool because I haven't done that yet. But I've done Circuit of the Americas. I did that 2014, 2013, 2014, somewhere in there. Um, you know, I love Lime Rock, I love Watkins Glen, I love um VIR. Gosh, I mean I I love VIR, it's such a great track, and so people need to understand that there's probably a racetrack within an hour of where you live. Except Jackie, who lives in in western Kentucky and she's like three hours from mid-Ohio, and she's I think the closest was was N NCM, the National Corvette Museum, is the closest track to Jackie. Um, which is just tough because if you don't live close to a track, you know, and it requires you know a long drive, then you know, a lot of parents won't do an overnight to take the girls to the or even the boys, you know, to the racetra just for fun. But certainly, you know, Daytona, Seabring, Homestead in Florida, and you've got um Carolina Motorsports Park, and you know, and then up northeast you've got you know New Jersey, and you know, you're like I raced all these tracks. It's so yeah, it's so cool.

Melinda Russell 34:58

You could you could spend almost every day all summer long when the weather's good going to a different track and racing, you know, wouldn't that be fun?

SPEAKER_05 35:09

That is the goal, yeah. There you go. There you go. This is the goal. Although I wonder if I'd tire of it if I had to do it every weekend. If it's an obligation, it probably would be a lot. But for me to race once a month makes me super happy. If I can race twice in a month, that makes me really, really happy. Yeah, yeah.

Melinda Russell 35:30

So yeah, you know, uh, mid-Ohio is a great track. I've been there several times to watch the motorcycle races. Okay, so um, love going there. Do you have a favorite track that you just would go to over and over if a distance was no object?

SPEAKER_05 35:49

Every time I think I have a favorite track, then another one excites me even more. Like I start moving down here, it was my first time trying barber. Barber's a tricky track, but I feel like like that's a track that when you get it right, it's because your car is set up really well, and you know, your your mind frame is in the right place. It's a very different kind of track than Road Atlanta, which is just all cojones, right? I mean, there are just certain tracks where it's just you just don't lift. Oh, and seabring. I mean, god, like seabring is another one of these that there are tracks that are super scary because they require high commitment, and you're not going to be fast if you don't commit to those big, you know, scary turns. You know, seabring's one of those. Um, I mean, even Barber has a lot of high commitment turns, but there isn't a lot of room for error. And so, like, I've raised Moss Sport up in up in Canada. Um, it's a Canadian tire motorsports park now, right? I believe the name has changed a few times, but it's another one of those traditional F1 tracks that with all those concrete walls and very few tire walls, like if you go off, you're you're smashing the car up. And so yeah, I I really god, I haven't driven that one either since 2014 or 2015. I need to go back up there. Yeah, it just hasn't been on the schedule, but I I love I love little Lime Rock, like I have hundreds of hours at Lime Rock because it's my home track, but I love Watkins Glen too, and so I'll always take the opportunity to go to the Glen and Mid Ohio. I've not done yet, so that that'll be a new one. I'll have to try that one.

Melinda Russell 37:30

Yeah, that's a that's a nice place to go.

SPEAKER_05 37:32

Vir, I love I love it. I love the S is going up the hill, and I love South Bend, and I love just trying to figure out how to get out of Oak Tree fast, yeah. Like it's and I mean, in even hog pen, like it's god, I don't know.

Melinda Russell 37:48

Every track it seems like every track has its specialty that makes you fall in love with it.

SPEAKER_05 37:57

They're diverse, so it's not like, and I'm sure again, golfers probably have the same opinions about certain golf courses, they love certain golf courses because they love certain holes of certain golf courses because they know if they're on their game, they're gonna nail that hole well, and that will leap them into you know having a good run. So I think certain tracks are like that too, that if if you're having a good day and you're you in the car just feeling good, um, and again, it's all about that minimum corner speed. So if you look at your tape and and your data and you realize like you you are up on that minimum corner speed, you just know it's gonna be a good weekend. And so and I'm really good at starting. So when that green flag flies, I don't always qualify the best, but you know what? The past few races, I've been able to pick up six spots at the start. Wow, I just go for the gap. I don't know how I do it, but I'm usually able to pick up six spots at the start, and that you know, that's a difference. Moving from 12th to sixth, you know, that's a pretty big deal. So I pride myself on that because I can that's where my bond math comes into play because I can do the calculus in my head and I can kind of imagine where someone's gonna go or where they're gonna lose traction, and then I go take advantage of that and I tuck in under them, knowing that they're gonna slide out a little bit, and then I'm past them and I'm just waving, and sometimes they catch me back. But it's it's fun to get to get by them in that first lap.

Melinda Russell 39:20

Yeah, yeah. I think um motorsports brings you joy, Kim, because when you talk about it, your eyes light up and you lose your smile.

SPEAKER_05 39:32

And that, you know, my husband says the same thing. He's like, honey, I just want you doing whatever it takes to make you smile. And so, you know, motor oh, motorsports has its share of frowny moments for sure. Oh, I know. But um, as long as the good days outweigh the bad days, I think you know, that's that's that's the goal. That's what you know. I I I actually I sat one day and I just journaled for a little bit. I wanted to think about what I would say to my grandchildren when we were sitting like near the Christmas tree or something on you know, Christmas Eve, or you know, when they're like, you know, grandma, tell me about your racing. And I like, I want to cry because I'm already projecting what I've done in the future and it hasn't happened yet. So there's a lot more to come. Like, I I have big plans still.

Racecraft Goals And How To Start

Melinda Russell 40:17

Yeah, there is. So, what's the best way for someone to follow you and see what you're up to? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 40:24

Okay, so I post a bit on Instagram, which also goes to my Facebook, and it is Kim E step races, K-I-M-E-S-T-E-P-R-A-C-E-S. Okay. And you can follow me there. Um, I probably should do more work. I also have kimestep races.com, which is my website, which I'm not great about keeping up with or adding content to because social media is just easier. But um yeah, so anyone that wants to hit me up there or or you know, or just reach out on you know, threads, I think, is linked to Instagram. So yeah, we can start a conversation there as well for anyone that wants to learn about I don't know, being an empty nester. Like, you want to go to the track, you want to meet me at Road Atlanta, and let me just give you a tour and kind of show you what it's all about. I am happy to do that. That would be crazy fun.

Melinda Russell 41:15

That would be crazy fun. And I encourage anybody that's listening that's always had that deep down desire to maybe try it, yeah, to just don't put it off. Get a hold of Kim, find your local racetrack. There isn't anybody that goes to a racetrack that I know, if someone reached out to them and said, Hey, how do I get started? that wouldn't help you because we all want to grow whatever part of motorsports we're involved in.

SPEAKER_05 41:43

Yeah, we all we all were a first timer at some point.

Melinda Russell 41:46

Sure, right?

SPEAKER_05 41:47

I mean, it's sure it's intimidating because it's an environment that very few people have ever been to. But if I can walk you through, like first you go through the gate and you sign the liability waiver, and all you're saying is if anything happens to you, you're not suing the track. Like every track requires that, okay? Right. It's no different than Disney or or you know any other amusement park. So if you think of it like that, yeah, you know, and then it's like it's this, it's this big massive space, and you know, you're following some like VIR, it's oh, it's so special to drive down that that driveway to VIR because you're doing these little back roads, and one minute you're in North Carolina, the next minute you're back in Virginia, and then you turn into the gates and you still have to go like half a mile before you get to a paddock. Like it's just it's magical. It's magical. You're in another world when you're at a racetrack. Barber, you know, going past all of the get just the stuff like the spiders and and the lady in the lake, and like they're it, they're just we're such quirky people, you know. All of us in motorsports, we have to definitely have this huge screw loose in our head. I mean, oh, but Island Man was last weekend. I, you know, what one of my guys was there and he he's showing video of these motorcycles going by him at like 180 miles an hour on a back road, you know, and he's he's this far from them, like he's and he's just boom, you know. So there are people more psycho than I am. And one thing I will not do is jump out of an airplane. Like you mean I'm a Capricorn, I will not jump out of an airplane.

Melinda Russell 43:21

I will not do that. Some lady that just turned 99 was on the news, she jumped out of an airplane. Oh god bless her. Oh, heck no. No, you know, I'll a man, that is my husband's bucket list trip. Is it really?

SPEAKER_05 43:35

Well, what are you waiting for?

Melinda Russell 43:38

I don't know. Next year. I guess you know what they say. If you don't schedule it, it'll never happen.

SPEAKER_05 43:46

Exactly. So I say you and I schedule it now, and I'll go with you because that would be so much fun to go watch. I would love to go watch that.

Melinda Russell 43:53

He would he would love to go there and see that race. And you know, people die every year. Year at that race. It's crazy. And the pe like you said, the people are standing like right there. Yep.

unknown 44:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:08

It's kind of like the old Formula One races. Yeah. And I remember my first coach was Peter Argit Singer. And you know, the Arget Singer family brought F1 to Watkins Glen. And so I remember Peter showing us pictures from his dad's stash that showed, you know, the hay bills were the protective barrier between the cars and the spectators. And I remember there was an incredible conversation I had with Brian Redmond one night. It was a whole other story. I drove a Formula One car. Like I'm one of the at the at the time, I tested one at Monticello. It was a crazy experience. But at the time, Brian said more women had been in space than had driven an F1 car. And so I got to do that. But then after that event, uh Scott and he and I hung out and he told us about his time in F1 and how so few of the families got to know each other because any one of them may not have made it by the end of the weekend. You know, and it's not that they didn't make the end of the race, it's that they were no longer living. And so I think we've come so far, and we have to show gratitude also for all of the engineers that help keep us safe from, you know, the, you know, I I Porsche Cup car, like a factory race car is now so protective and so so good. Um, but not just that, but John Fitch and the people that helped create the barriers so that you know, when you watch IndyCar and you see the cars going to the wall on the track and they're doing eighty miles an hour, those train walk away alive and they walk away from it. And then you look at F1 and you see, you know, even Grosjon practically on fire able to get out of the car and survive. And here he's an IndyCar racer now. So I think I'm so fortunate to be living in this era of racing because the girls, you know, everyone says, Why didn't Scott race too? And the girls made us promise when they were young that we wouldn't do that because they were so afraid that we could take each other out and just not be there.

Safety Progress And Closing Thoughts

Melinda Russell 46:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:06

Um so you know, the Hans devices and the seat belts and you know, and the and the flame-retardant suits that we wear, like it's all it adds to the expense, but it also adds to our safety.

Melinda Russell 46:16

So well, Kim, this has been a joy to speak with you. We could talk for hours. I know. You're gonna have to we're gonna have to do another one of these in a few months. Well, let's do that. Yeah, because there's a lot of things that you can share, and especially like maybe when uh you're d when the racing is kind of tailed off, it'd be a good time to do another one and you can kind of tell me what you did all summer, and that would be a fun show as well. I would love to do that. You just let me know. Okay. Well, I appreciate you being on today, and I hope you have a great summer and that you'll stay in touch so I know what you're up to. You too. I will certainly stay in touch.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

I will send you my uh gosh, I don't know. First, it's yeah, seabring, it's road atlanta, it's I mean, I have I have options, you know. I have I still haven't committed to a lot of stuff, but I'll keep you informed, no problem. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 47:19

Start your engines.

SPEAKER_02 47:22

This is the Women's Motor Fun Network to the bright race lights from the garage to victory lights.