Aug. 10, 2025

Wrenches, Wins, and Wisconsin: The Kennedy Swan Story

Send us a text Kennedy Swan shares her journey from go-kart racing at age 5 to becoming the only female driver in her modified dirt track division as she builds her racing career while balancing college, work, and maintaining her self-discipline. • Started in motorsports at age 5 when her father chose to invest his sponsor money in her go-kart instead of his own racing • Races dirt track modified cars as the only female among 300 competitors in her sanction • Made history as the younge...

Send us a text

Kennedy Swan shares her journey from go-kart racing at age 5 to becoming the only female driver in her modified dirt track division as she builds her racing career while balancing college, work, and maintaining her self-discipline.

• Started in motorsports at age 5 when her father chose to invest his sponsor money in her go-kart instead of his own racing
• Races dirt track modified cars as the only female among 300 competitors in her sanction
• Made history as the youngest driver and only female to win the Punky Manor championship in its 41-year history
• Does all her own mechanical work on her race car, handling everything from routine maintenance to major repairs
• Named a 2023 Hoosier Hero, selected as one of 12 racers from 2,000 participants across the United States
• Known for her signature French braids, which have become part of her racing identity
• Balances racing with college studies in business management and work to fund her racing career
• Matured faster than peers due to the discipline, dedication, and responsibilities required by motorsports
• Weathering a challenging season with mechanical issues but maintaining a positive outlook
• Passionate about inspiring more girls to enter motorsports and prove they can succeed in male-dominated fields

Follow Kennedy's racing journey on Facebook at 18S Racing, where you can watch live streams of her races, see her results, and find information about her racing merchandise.

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00:00 - Introducing Kennedy Swan

08:30 - Racing Origins and Early Experiences

16:14 - Race Day Rituals and Routines

22:42 - Self-Discipline and Growth Through Racing

27:53 - Overcoming Challenges and Setbacks

30:53 - Racing Achievements and Recognition

WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, the show that puts the spotlight on the incredible women who fuel the world of motorsports, from drivers to crew members, engineers to fans and everyone in between.

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We're here to celebrate the trailblazers, dreamers and doers shaping the sport we love.

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Each episode we share inspiring stories of females of all ages, from every corner of the motorsports universe past, present and future.

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It's a journey through the seasons of life filled with heartfelt moments, laughter and a whole lot of horsepower.

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So, whether you're a lifelong fan, a racer yourself or simply curious about the extraordinary women behind the wheel, settle in, relax and enjoy a fun and uplifting ride with us.

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This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, connecting and celebrating women in motorsports.

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One story at a time.

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Let's hit the track.

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Hello everyone, this is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, and my guest today is Kennedy Swan.

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Kennedy, I want to welcome you to the show and, as we always do, we like to get to know a little bit more about you before we find out about your racing career.

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So why don't you share who is Kennedy Swan and tell us a little bit about yourself?

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Yes, yes, Thank you for having me.

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So yes, I'm Kennedy Swan.

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I'm 18 years old.

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I currently just graduated high school.

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I'm going to CVTC, which is a technical college in Chippewa.

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Well, it's in Eau Claire, but I live in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

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It's about 15 minutes where I'm at.

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I'm going for business and management to really help on the racing side of things.

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You know, behind the scenes, how to manage all that.

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That's what I.

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That's why I wanted to get into it.

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I am in a family of five, and my dad, mom and I have two younger siblings and my brother.

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He also is racing and trying to follow in my footsteps.

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So that's pretty cool.

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But yeah, that's where I am, that's how old I am.

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I am and yeah, so your brothers are younger than you.

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I have a brother and a sister oh, a brother and a sister but yes, they both are they're both younger and your brother.

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How old is he?

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And he's getting into racing.

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He's 11.

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Okay, all right, so he looks up to you, doesn't he?

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yes.

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And how old is your sister?

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She's 13.

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Okay, all right, maybe not as much, looks up to you Are you best.

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Are you best friends?

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Well, no, we're pretty close, but she's not really into the race and things.

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She's more of a dance and other types of stuff.

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Yeah, well, that's good for your mom.

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She's kind of got a good balance there with all kinds of things going on, so that that's.

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That's a good thing.

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Yeah, so, kennedy, how did you get involved in motorsports?

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Who got you interested?

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Yeah, so my dad did.

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He raced back before I was born and then, probably till I was about four years old.

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Five years old, he raced Waseda Modified and Waseda B Mod just around locally where I live.

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When I was about five years old he had the opportunity to take his sponsor money for his car and go and race that year, or put it towards a go-kart and start with me racing.

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So he chose that route and so he bought me a go-kart with his leftover sponsor money and we went over to Thunder Hill in Menomonee, wisconsin.

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It's just a go-kart track which has grown huge now.

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But um it and I went over there and since, well, the first time I went out I was scared.

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I wouldn't get in it.

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I was scared.

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It was too loud for me.

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I'd kick, I'd scream, I'd cry and then ended up.

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What happening was?

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My dad wanted to shake down the cart, so we had somebody else get into it.

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Just, you know, make sure it stays together.

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Well, I kicked and screamed even more because somebody else was in my go-kart.

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I was so frustrated.

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I still remember that.

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But ever since that I went back out the weekend later to practice and I've been head over heels since.

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I mean, it's been full throttle and since, you know, I wasn't even my dad likes to say he didn't know if I was just stupid or that brave to go that fast right away, and you know, right away in the first corner.

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But, um, yeah, and then during the winter I actually ice race too, so I take four wheelers out on ice and I started doing that that winter too and it just kind of like put together like this is something that I'm really passionate about, and so I raced go karts, starting at five, and then I slowly moved up from a rookie cage to a junior wing to a 125 250.

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Uh, it's like a sprint car, looking like it's.

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It looks like a sprint car but like a down version of that and then when I was 13, I decided to hop into the b-mod and race.

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It was so to b-mod and, uh, that was a huge jump, but I was very successful my first year.

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And you know these types of cars there.

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I like them way better than the go-karts or sprint cars and yeah.

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So then when I was three years later so I was 16 when I moved into the modified and so now I've been racing that since- and do you like it the best of everything?

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Yes, very much yes.

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I figured as much yeah, for sure, then that's fun.

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So do you still race anything on ice?

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yes, I do so.

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I race a 450 TRX Honda on ice so, like you, like, some classes that we have are studs, like studded classes, which you can run studs in your tires, but the one I run is a rubber class, so I don't have that.

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Okay, and do you love that?

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That sounds like a lot of fun.

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It is.

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It is a lot of fun.

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Um, I do it.

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It's usually January and February.

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Every Saturday it's a NWIRC.

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Is the club that I race for my dad's the president of it.

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Um, we go around.

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You know uh, upper Wisconsin.

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I actually do go up to Michigan a couple times, not with my uh club, but just to go up and race up there, and you know uh, win some money so so where do you go in Michigan to race?

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uh, oh, I can't um that's okay, you'll think of it right now, oh, when it?

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comes back to me, I will, it's yeah, yeah I will.

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It's no, it's a great track up there and it's awesome up there too, but I'll think about it.

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I totally forgot I'm sure, I'm sure you'll think of it.

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So, yeah, that that's very cool.

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What?

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What's the?

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What is the one thing?

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If you, if you had to pick one or maybe two things that you love about racing, you know what is that?

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Because you could be doing a lot of other things on the weekend, but you're at the racetrack.

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So why?

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Why is that?

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Yeah.

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So there's a lot of times, like you know, I'm racing every weekend and you know I'm missing out on things.

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You know, like I went to prom one time I have never been to a homecoming like I'm out racing and it's like it's the, it's the adrenaline that it gives me, like when I get in that car, it's like no other feeling and like I'm so I'm very passionate about it Because I know, you know I put in the time, I put in the effort, you know I can be good.

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And that's one thing.

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And the other side of it would be like I'm able to inspire other kids, and especially younger girls, especially in a male dominant sport that you know I'm a girl and I'm succeeding in it.

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I like you know, especially girls to see that like you can go out and you can do these things, even if it is male dominant, like that's not going to stop you and you're going to be very successful at it if you put the work in.

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So like it's.

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It's those two things that really keep me going for this.

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Yeah, and I like what you said, because once you get in the cart or the car or whatever, you're racing.

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It doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl, it doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl, you know you're.

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You're on a way, more level playing field than you would be if you were playing football or basketball or some other sport, right, yeah?

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So what does race day look like for you, kennedy?

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So you know, you get up in the morning, some people eat a big breakfast, some people don't eat till the end of the day, some people wear the same shirt or the same socks.

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What's your race day look like?

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yeah, so, depending on what day, like, there's some days I race Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, or some days I might just race Friday, but yeah, it all depends.

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Usually, um, I end up loading the car the night before, so that way in the morning I I get up and I like to go to work and get a couple hours, and so I'll go to work for a couple hours, then I'll come home.

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If the car isn't loaded, I'll load the car up, load all the tires, everything that we need, double check everything, and then I wait for my dad to come home from work and we'll hop in the trailer.

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I mean, I don't really have anything.

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Actually that's a lie.

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I wear French braids.

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I have been racing since the age of five and I know, at least in the big cars.

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So the last five years I have never gone to race without my French braids.

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So just two French braids down there.

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So I always get that done in the morning by my aunt or my cousin, whichever one, and I've never not raced without them.

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I don't know what it is, I like them and then everyone knows me by them.

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Like when they see like the pigtails, they know, oh, that's Kennedy swan.

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So like that's really the only thing that I like do religiously.

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Otherwise, you know that's really it, but those braids are just something.

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There's something about those braids.

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That's interesting because that's you know, not very many girls have told me that particular thing.

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Sometimes they have a special thing on their dash or they wear the same shirt or something, and some don't do anything but, um, I like that because that's kind of your, your sign.

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You know that.

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That's who you are.

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So and your hair is really long, so that keeps it out of the way and probably keeps it cleaner too yes, like it, it sucks.

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I've never not raced with braids in, but I have put my helmet on before without them and my helmet's actually too big without them and it just your hair gets in the way and I have such long hair.

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It's so much easier and like I can go out in public.

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I could go to the racetrack and people might not even recognize me unless I have my braids, like that's how crazy, it is.

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That's fun.

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Yeah, that's fun.

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Do you wear bows in them at all at the bottom or anything, or just braid them?

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No, I don't.

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I don't wear bows in them.

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Okay, no, I didn't know how much of a girly girl you were.

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You know you can still be a girly girl and race, so I was not sure about the break about the bows.

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So so, do you eat?

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Do you eat a big breakfast?

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Do you eat later?

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What?

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What's your eating plan?

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Yeah, so, um, in the morning I usually eat, you know I'll just like a normal breakfast, either cereal, or I'll make a protein shake in the morning to just take with me to work.

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And then I get really busy during the day, whether it's at the racetrack, and sometimes I'll eat like I'm very.

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I have a very high metabolism, so I do eat like a lot, like every like two hours, like I need food, otherwise I get in pain, because that's how much my metabolism is just so high.

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But on race day it's different.

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Sometimes I won't eat for like numerous hours just because I'm just so busy and focused, and also sometimes I just get nervous, so like I just can't eat, but like it's only on like race days.

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Otherwise, during the week I have to eat like every two hours, but during race days it's different.

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I think it's just the nerves built up, so yeah, yeah, I think that's probably part of it for sure.

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So you work and you just did.

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You just graduate from high school.

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Yes, I did.

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I just graduated from Chi High.

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OK, so you'll be going to school, probably, and you're working and you're, you know, raising and you're doing all those things.

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How does McKinney, how does Kennedy, take care of Kennedy?

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How does Kennedy take care of Kennedy, making sure she's got good sleep and all that?

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Or is that kind of your mom's job to make sure you're doing what you should do?

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And physical health?

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I'm very like I need to do this to do this.

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You know I go to the gym when I have the free time, which gets busy, but I try and go there to keep, you know, my physical health good and mental health.

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You know.

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I know that I shouldn't be staying up till three in the morning, knowing I got to get up for work at six and then I got to go race Like I'm very good about that.

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But yeah, my mom behind the scenes she's always making sure, you know there's food on the table meals plan.

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You know we're going gone for a whole weekend and we have the camper you know the campers packed with a whole bunch of food.

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My mom is the rock behind the scenes, so I can't thank her enough for all that.

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Yeah, that's nice to hear that for sure.

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So who works?

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on the car.

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That would be me.

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Um, I do all the mechanical work on the car, whether it's just, you know, non-bolting lubing, you know your air filters, or you know, when you break things, change the entire rod, your uppers, your lowers, whatever it is, I do it.

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Um, my dad, he'll help me if I need it, but otherwise I don't really ask him for help and I like to just do it on my own.

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He is the tire guy, so basically he'll we have a sight machine, he'll put them on, they'll sight the tires and then he'll grind them and then, if we need to flip them, take the rims off.

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I'll do that too.

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But he's the tire guy, he's very picky about the tires.

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I let him do that, he lets me do that, and that's just the way we work, because otherwise we bet we butt heads and then it's just not good yeah, so how did you learn to do all those things on your car?

00:14:13.966 --> 00:14:14.246
yeah.

00:14:14.246 --> 00:14:21.690
So obviously, right away I didn't know like anything, especially with the b mod or modified, so he was a big help in that teaching me.

00:14:21.690 --> 00:14:22.932
But I also had a pit guy.

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His name is William, he races now himself, but before the first three years he helped me and he showed me everything and he still helps me till this day and he actually works at SSR race cars, which is my chassis builder.

00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:39.471
So like he's able to like tell me, like this is this, this goes where this does this.

00:14:39.471 --> 00:14:41.696
It's really helpful actually.

00:14:41.696 --> 00:14:43.788
So yeah, but he's still around and does that.

00:14:43.788 --> 00:14:47.315
But yeah, he taught me a lot yeah, that was.

00:14:47.456 --> 00:14:50.326
That was good, and I love hearing that you do the work on the car.

00:14:50.326 --> 00:15:02.452
I mean, you know some girls just with the circumstances it doesn't work out for them to do it, but you're going to be so much better of a driver if you know what's making the car go and and what.

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Oh, this doesn't feel right and you're going to know right away.

00:15:06.235 --> 00:15:07.615
I like being able to like.

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You know, oh wait, the car's too tight, I need to loosen up.

00:15:10.577 --> 00:15:12.899
Well, I know what I can do and I can do it myself.

00:15:12.899 --> 00:15:17.442
You know my dad, I mean he's going to be around, but he's not going to be around forever, and I mean I'm 18.

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You know, I'm eventually going to have to move out.

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Take my own car.

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You know it's better that.

00:15:30.576 --> 00:15:34.370
I know girls well, they don't work on their cars, they have to have someone else do it.

00:15:34.370 --> 00:15:36.513
Well, that's not true, because I'm here to prove that.

00:15:37.284 --> 00:15:38.850
Yeah, I love that too.

00:15:38.850 --> 00:15:39.472
That's good.

00:15:39.472 --> 00:15:40.691
Good for you, Kennedy.

00:15:40.691 --> 00:15:43.633
So everybody has a bad night.

00:15:43.633 --> 00:15:47.735
What do you do when you have a bad luck or a bad night at the racetrack?

00:15:52.664 --> 00:15:53.148
How do you handle that?

00:15:53.148 --> 00:15:54.113
Yeah, no, I've been experiencing those a lot.

00:15:54.113 --> 00:15:55.057
This year has been really rough for us.

00:15:55.057 --> 00:15:57.005
We've already went through a whole car, three front stubs.

00:15:57.005 --> 00:15:58.789
We've had to take weekends off.

00:15:58.850 --> 00:16:08.427
I've had a really bad year so far and it's been hard, like mentally, to be like I don't like there's some days where like I don't want to go racing because I'm just going to get wrecked.

00:16:08.427 --> 00:16:13.255
And there's no, and I have to stay up all night and fix that, just to go out the next day and get wrecked again mentally.

00:16:13.255 --> 00:16:16.028
It is very, very hard and can be very draining.

00:16:16.028 --> 00:16:20.177
But I know that if I keep pushing and be like you know what I'm gonna.

00:16:20.177 --> 00:16:23.453
Still, I'm gonna stay up, I'm gonna fix this, I'm gonna go back out there, I'm gonna keep trying.

00:16:23.453 --> 00:16:24.306
I'm not gonna give up.

00:16:24.767 --> 00:16:30.554
The things do eventually come to you and you can get a little bit of good luck out of it, and you know you make your own luck.

00:16:30.554 --> 00:16:31.937
So it's hard.

00:16:31.937 --> 00:16:36.769
I mean some nights, you know I just I don't want to be talked to, you know like I just need me by myself.

00:16:36.769 --> 00:16:41.349
And then the next morning I'm like all right, we gotta get this back on, we're gonna go out there and we're trying to do better.

00:16:41.349 --> 00:16:44.657
It's this, especially since it's only like.

00:16:44.657 --> 00:16:53.126
I mean, you have guys behind you, but you're the only one in that car, so you can only blame yourself, like it's not a team sport, it's just you, so I.

00:16:53.447 --> 00:16:59.833
It's a very it can be very hard, but there's there's multiple ways to you know, help with that, and I've been able to figure that out, especially this year.

00:16:59.854 --> 00:17:11.153
It's been a learning year, so yeah, yeah, because I know in the past you've had a lot of success yes, and this year it just went downhill and I mean, but everyone's going to have those years.

00:17:11.192 --> 00:17:13.672
You know you're going to have, you know, five really good years.

00:17:13.672 --> 00:17:15.145
Then you're going to have that bad year again.

00:17:15.145 --> 00:17:25.287
You know this is my first time really experiencing like a bad year, so, but I'm learning a lot from it, though, and so hopefully I could put that together for next year and be like you know I'm strong.

00:17:25.287 --> 00:17:27.834
You know I stayed through it, I didn't give up and I kept pushing.

00:17:27.854 --> 00:17:30.099
Well, and I, and I think you learn.

00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:37.897
Unfortunately, you learn a lot of things when you have to go through adversity, for sure, and so that's part of life, isn't it?

00:17:37.897 --> 00:17:43.798
Life doesn't go, life doesn't go perfect for any of us, and you have to learn how to handle it.

00:17:43.798 --> 00:17:51.251
So what are some things maybe you've learned from being involved in motor sports that maybe you wouldn't have learned by this age?

00:17:53.074 --> 00:18:06.204
I would say I've matured a lot, a lot sooner than others, like my, like when I was, you know, 16,.

00:18:06.204 --> 00:18:06.967
I'm thinking about my future.

00:18:06.967 --> 00:18:08.529
Like you know, I want to do this for like a career.

00:18:08.529 --> 00:18:09.432
So, like I know, I got to work.

00:18:09.432 --> 00:18:13.239
You know I got to work not only in the car, but work and get the money to do this as a career, where a lot of those kids didn't have a job.

00:18:13.305 --> 00:18:15.851
Like I think about the people at my high school.

00:18:15.851 --> 00:18:24.075
You know they go out and party and you know they have fun and I'm just like that is fun and it's good to be like that, but at the same time I'm not, you know, I think I have a.

00:18:24.075 --> 00:18:30.885
I have grown to have a lot of self-discipline, discipline.

00:18:30.885 --> 00:18:31.871
So it's like you know they can go out and party.

00:18:31.871 --> 00:18:33.700
Well, I'm going to either go racing or I'm going to take the day and I'm going to go work.

00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:36.429
I'm going to, you know, build up my savings so that I can actually afford this.

00:18:36.449 --> 00:18:46.133
You know, not when I'm 40, 50, but when, you know, late 20s, 30s, definitely self-discipline, and I've been able to like with the racing community.

00:18:46.133 --> 00:18:52.527
It's like a family around here and so I've been able to like I used to be very shy so I wouldn't talk to anyone.

00:18:52.527 --> 00:18:55.093
But now I'm thrown out of that bubble and I'll go out.

00:18:55.093 --> 00:19:00.663
You know I'll talk to people and I know what to say and how to say it, especially with sponsors and stuff like that.

00:19:00.663 --> 00:19:10.749
I just I feel like I've grown really mature in the earlier ages than other people yeah, I find that to be pretty much the rule for girls in motorsports.

00:19:10.788 --> 00:19:28.012
They mature much, much more quickly than kids who are not involved, because it does take a lot of money, it takes a lot of discipline, it takes a lot of hard work and you're thrown into that when you're 10, 12 years old, you know, or younger, and you learn as you grow.

00:19:28.012 --> 00:19:30.231
So I can believe that's true.

00:19:30.231 --> 00:19:33.070
So what about marketing partners?

00:19:33.070 --> 00:19:33.913
Do you have any?

00:19:33.913 --> 00:19:36.448
How do you get them you know?

00:19:36.448 --> 00:19:37.792
Do you want to mention who they are?

00:19:37.792 --> 00:19:39.148
Anything along that line?

00:19:40.113 --> 00:19:46.557
Yeah, so a lot of my marketing partners are a lot of family friends of my dad.

00:19:46.557 --> 00:19:50.991
My dad he knows a lot of people, but there's also some where know we've.

00:19:50.991 --> 00:20:09.895
You know we post on social media and you know they've contacted us or we've heard about them and we go up and talk to them and I just tell them you know, this is what I do, this is when I do it, how I do it, and you know I'd like you to be a part and you know some people say you know no, like they don't, they can't, or which you mean you got to go up there and you're going to, like God, be confident.

00:20:09.895 --> 00:20:11.337
And if they tell you no, they tell you no.

00:20:11.337 --> 00:20:12.679
And if they tell you yes, then that's great.

00:20:12.679 --> 00:20:20.250
But yeah, I have about I think I have about 28 sponsors on my car and I can go through them If that's up to you.

00:20:21.449 --> 00:20:22.593
I'll, I'll name my it's.

00:20:22.593 --> 00:20:24.145
It's important to name them off.

00:20:24.145 --> 00:20:27.147
Yeah, they, they're very important.

00:20:27.147 --> 00:20:30.671
They're not just sponsors to me, they're part of a family.

00:20:30.671 --> 00:20:33.372
So, yeah, I'd like to name all my sponsors.

00:20:33.392 --> 00:20:34.173
Yeah, go ahead.

00:20:34.192 --> 00:20:36.535
Okay, superior Choice, credit Union.

00:20:36.535 --> 00:20:42.098
Meg Stainless, greenwood Equipment, greenwood Concrete, excavating, snow Away.

00:20:42.098 --> 00:21:13.347
Ht Automotive, collin Brothers, towing Shooter, guy Photography, ssr Racecars, southwest Chevrolet, interstate Batteries, hooker Design and Photography, powder Plus, augur Electric, cornell Lake Campground Drifters, trucking, polish Enterprise, jake's Gym, town Inn, dave Michaels Materials, Tim's Automotive Machine, ace Media, montney Farms, airtech, sports, augur Express, brad's Affordables, anderson Enterprise and Clearview Auto Glass.

00:21:13.347 --> 00:21:15.834
So those are my sponsors on the car.

00:21:15.834 --> 00:21:26.592
And then there's a whole bunch of people behind me that you know help me to get to where I am today and like I mean, this isn't just a one person job, it's, I mean you can, but it's very hard.

00:21:26.592 --> 00:21:35.810
So, like my dad, my mom, my sister, landon, Aaron, will, and then you know my friends, you know any help that I can get.

00:21:35.830 --> 00:21:36.271
I appreciate it all.

00:21:36.271 --> 00:21:36.613
Yeah, it takes.

00:21:36.613 --> 00:21:41.288
It takes a whole village if you really want to do well yeah yeah, you can't race.

00:21:41.288 --> 00:21:47.159
You one person cannot have a race team as a one person.

00:21:47.159 --> 00:21:48.967
It just does not work.

00:21:48.967 --> 00:21:52.433
You've got to have other hands to help for sure.

00:21:52.433 --> 00:22:03.972
Yeah, so do you think motorsports is a good sport for you or other women to be involved in, and would you recommend it to other little girls that want to get started?

00:22:04.855 --> 00:22:05.675
Yes, for sure.

00:22:05.675 --> 00:22:09.269
I mean, if this is something, this is the motorsports especially.

00:22:09.269 --> 00:22:23.982
It's amazing, Like, no matter what racing motorsport you're in, they're going to have a family, Like I have, like it's like a family there and they're all very welcoming Some not not as much, because you know you're a girl and they don't like getting beat by girls.

00:22:24.002 --> 00:22:27.113
So you know some are like you know snobby and don't like that.

00:22:27.113 --> 00:22:38.872
But the, the other men who are like you know what you're doing, something good, those are the.

00:22:38.872 --> 00:22:40.857
Those are the people you know that are like the with the arms open and welcoming.

00:22:40.857 --> 00:22:43.164
But yeah, for sure I would love to see more girls in motorsports like I'm the only with soda modified.

00:22:43.164 --> 00:22:53.445
That's a girl like there's 300 of us in my sanction and I'm the only girl, and so it'd be so cool to see more girls come in and do like this stuff.

00:22:53.445 --> 00:23:01.846
I mean, you're not going to be great right away, but you know, after time and hard work, which I feel, like us girls, there's some of us that really have that passion it would be really cool to see.

00:23:01.846 --> 00:23:04.791
But no, I really hope I can see some more in the future.

00:23:06.055 --> 00:23:11.112
I'm surprised there's not more than just you out of 300 there.

00:23:11.172 --> 00:23:18.192
So that's just my class, but, like the b mods, I think there's a couple more, maybe like five, six.

00:23:18.192 --> 00:23:22.628
That's still not a lot, and there's like 700 of those, if there's not many.

00:23:22.628 --> 00:23:36.875
But no, it sucks to see, like you know, there's not many girls out there, but it's hard, it's really hard, it's hard work, so I could, I could understand why yeah, yeah, and they have to have somebody behind them to help and encourage them to.

00:23:36.976 --> 00:23:43.137
You know, I mean boys do too, but, um, and if they don't have that it's, it's makes it harder.

00:23:43.137 --> 00:23:52.517
Your, your whole family has to buy into it, pretty much really yeah yeah, so are you a role model, do you think for other girls?

00:23:52.517 --> 00:23:55.689
Do they look up to you and say, if she can do it, I can do it?

00:23:56.411 --> 00:24:01.167
Yes, I've had, you know, multiple girls, or just fans in general, general.

00:24:01.167 --> 00:24:06.489
Come up to me, you know, after a race in the pits and just like, tell me, like you're my biggest fan, I want to be like you one day.

00:24:06.489 --> 00:24:10.477
I want to race, race car, you know, and I sit there and I tell them, yeah, you will do that, you know I would.

00:24:10.477 --> 00:24:12.385
I want to see that, like, you go, do that, you can.

00:24:12.385 --> 00:24:14.554
You can do anything you put your mind to and it's really cool.

00:24:14.554 --> 00:24:16.451
That's definitely one of my favorite parts.

00:24:16.451 --> 00:24:20.074
You know, whether, whether I go out and I win or I say dead last.

00:24:27.192 --> 00:24:34.300
I still have fans come up to me and tell me you have any advice or have you gotten any advice that kind of sticks with you.

00:24:36.211 --> 00:24:40.569
That's a good question, um, I guess.

00:24:40.569 --> 00:24:48.980
I guess not really anything related to you know me being a girl in the sport.

00:24:48.980 --> 00:24:50.329
It's just more of the like, the hard work aspect.

00:24:50.329 --> 00:24:51.415
Because you know me being a girl in the sport.

00:24:51.415 --> 00:24:57.454
It's just more of the like, the hard work aspect, because you know you win races in the garage by working on your car.

00:24:57.555 --> 00:25:00.028
It's not you just show up to the racetrack and race.

00:25:00.028 --> 00:25:12.655
So like definitely, which I learned from my dad, and my dad always tells me that you know, hard work is what's going to get you somewhere in life, and that's what sticks with me and that's why I am the way I am and why I put so much work into things I love.

00:25:13.297 --> 00:25:19.772
Yeah, I just it's funny you said that about the work is you know, the races are won in the garage.

00:25:19.772 --> 00:25:26.253
I just had somebody tell me that almost exact wording yesterday in an interview, and it really is true.

00:25:26.253 --> 00:25:26.935
It's.

00:25:26.935 --> 00:25:28.278
It's so, so true.

00:25:28.278 --> 00:25:33.195
You can't wait till you get to the racetrack and worry about what's going on with your car.

00:25:33.195 --> 00:25:36.772
Yeah Right, so what is your favorite memory?

00:25:36.772 --> 00:25:39.893
Or do you have a couple good memories that you want to share?

00:25:40.555 --> 00:25:44.692
For sure, definitely one of my biggest wins that I had.

00:25:44.692 --> 00:25:50.414
I was a 2021 Punky Manor champion and I ended up winning it, but I won it at my home track.

00:25:50.414 --> 00:25:58.086
So being able to win, you know, a huge race and I was the only girl who's ever won that 41 years and the youngest driver to only win that.

00:25:58.086 --> 00:26:01.575
I was 14 years old and you know it's something different.

00:26:01.575 --> 00:26:06.855
Not only winning that big race, but at your home track you have like all like the crowd went nuts.

00:26:06.855 --> 00:26:09.467
They know who you are and you know they were cheering for me.

00:26:09.467 --> 00:26:10.388
It was awesome.

00:26:10.388 --> 00:26:11.830
One of my favorite memories.

00:26:11.830 --> 00:26:14.255
I still get goosebumps when I talk about it.

00:26:14.796 --> 00:26:28.071
That was definitely one of my biggest and favorite memories I've had yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a big deal and that's one of those things you'll never, ever forget, and you may hold those records for a long time.

00:26:29.315 --> 00:26:32.339
So far still am, so far yes, yeah.

00:26:35.047 --> 00:26:39.782
Have you ever had anything happen that you know like?

00:26:39.782 --> 00:26:40.324
Have you?

00:26:40.324 --> 00:26:44.532
You haven't rolled a car or anything terrible like that, right?

00:26:45.181 --> 00:26:49.625
I have rolled a car, actually my third year in the B model.

00:26:49.625 --> 00:27:07.710
That's in Superior, at Gondig Bluff Speedway, and there's a car on my inside and a car on my outside and the car from the inside wanted to race dirty and he pushed me up and there was a car on my outside and we both locked tires and we both ended up flipping barrel, rolling like six, seven times down the front stretch.

00:27:07.710 --> 00:27:10.174
Car was destroyed.

00:27:10.174 --> 00:27:13.949
I was, I was just in like shock, like this is like never.

00:27:13.949 --> 00:27:16.804
I mean these cars are, but you know the size of an actual vehicle.

00:27:16.804 --> 00:27:20.013
You don't expect them to flip, but they do and it was.

00:27:20.013 --> 00:27:24.336
Oh, I hate, I didn't like that at all no, I guess not.

00:27:24.457 --> 00:27:29.388
But you didn't get hurt just sore, probably bumps and bruises, yeah just just sore.

00:27:29.429 --> 00:27:34.990
You know the equipment in there, like my helmet, my hands, my belts, they I'm safe in there.

00:27:35.070 --> 00:27:50.263
So yes, I was, I was all right yeah, yeah, but the body doesn't like barrel rolling, no it doesn't Not at all, and so have you won any awards or any other besides that race?

00:27:50.263 --> 00:27:54.007
Have you gotten anything else that you want to share about?

00:27:54.007 --> 00:27:55.689
Like you know what you've won?

00:27:55.709 --> 00:28:10.563
Yeah, so in 2023, I was the WSOTA Modified Rookie of the Year, so I was a rookie going into the mod and I ended up winning that, so that was also pretty cool.

00:28:10.563 --> 00:28:17.874
2025, I became a Hoosier Hero, so this is one of the shirts that they ended up giving me, so that was awesome.

00:28:17.874 --> 00:28:18.835
That was really cool to see.

00:28:18.835 --> 00:28:30.340
There was 2,000 participants and they narrowed down to the top 12 and I was able, and these were all over the united states and I was able to be chosen for one of them and it's really cool.

00:28:30.381 --> 00:28:32.906
There's 12 of them, but they're all completely different.

00:28:32.906 --> 00:28:41.289
Motorsports, one's drag racing, you know, sprint cars, my type of cars, like pavement all over and they're all over the uh us.

00:28:41.289 --> 00:28:53.269
So we all got to meet down at pri and indiana I believe yeah, and so it was so cool to go through all that and I got to, you know, take pictures, get interviews, do autographs, all that down there.

00:28:53.288 --> 00:29:01.763
That was really cool so yeah, I, I knew that I was trying to lead you, lead you there, kennedy, just in case you didn't mention it.

00:29:01.763 --> 00:29:08.449
Yeah, you know, it's funny, I've I've interviewed Lizzie recently oh, little Lizzie yeah little Lizzie.

00:29:08.869 --> 00:29:09.892
She's cute as can be.

00:29:09.892 --> 00:29:17.936
I interviewed her recently and also um, oh gosh, I always forget her name.

00:29:17.936 --> 00:29:19.380
She lives in California.

00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:24.211
I she's gonna kill me because I did this the last time, anyway.

00:29:24.211 --> 00:29:31.294
So I've interviewed several of the women that were chosen for that, which was really cool.

00:29:31.294 --> 00:29:42.344
I met you actually at PRI that weekend, but that was really nice to watch all those women get that recognition from Hoosier.

00:29:42.344 --> 00:29:43.228
That was a big deal.

00:29:43.228 --> 00:29:51.547
That was a really big, really big deal that you were one of those to win.

00:29:51.547 --> 00:29:52.128
What about social media?

00:29:52.128 --> 00:29:52.328
How?

00:29:52.328 --> 00:29:52.851
How do you use it?

00:29:52.851 --> 00:29:54.214
How can we follow you to keep track of um?

00:29:54.214 --> 00:29:58.028
You know your racing, where you're racing, how you did all those things.

00:29:58.592 --> 00:30:01.422
Yeah, so our number one platform would definitely be Facebook.

00:30:01.422 --> 00:30:11.692
Um, usually my mom or my dad will go live for every heat race and every feature that I'm at, and we'll always post, you know the week of, like, hey, we're going to this racetrack, this racetrack, etc.

00:30:11.692 --> 00:30:15.267
It's called 18S Racing and we post all our lives.

00:30:15.267 --> 00:30:21.111
You know where we're going to be, where I finish, and you can also contact us for you know, apparel, shirts, t-shirts, etc.

00:30:27.400 --> 00:30:28.561
Okay, it us for you know apparel shirts, t-shirts, etc.

00:30:28.561 --> 00:30:30.025
Okay, it's 18 s's and sam, yes, racing.

00:30:30.025 --> 00:30:31.788
Okay for swan s's and swan, yes, okay, awesome.

00:30:31.788 --> 00:30:41.861
And do you think, uh, do you think facebook helps maybe with your, you know, people getting to know who you are and maybe even some sponsorships, does that help you?

00:30:41.861 --> 00:30:43.061
Yeah, when you're out there.

00:30:43.742 --> 00:30:44.463
Yes, for sure.

00:30:44.463 --> 00:30:47.125
I mean, social media has gotten huge these days.

00:30:47.125 --> 00:30:49.328
You know, especially you know I have a lot.

00:30:49.328 --> 00:30:57.116
I have a lot of followers, so being able to you know when they're not there, you know they're able to watch me, or you know sponsors like to see that they're being posted.

00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:10.867
So like when I, after every race, I go through and I say thank you to all my sponsors, they like to see that and get their name out there Also.

00:31:10.867 --> 00:31:12.011
It's really big these days and it's very helpful.

00:31:12.011 --> 00:31:25.143
Yeah, I agree, as long as you stay positive, social media can be a huge help and it's a great way for people like me who live in Michigan that I can follow you and when you're in Wisconsin or somebody who's in California, and it just it just makes us all a little more connected, I think, which is great.

00:31:25.584 --> 00:31:26.346
Yes, I agree.

00:31:26.365 --> 00:31:26.686
Yeah.

00:31:26.686 --> 00:31:34.451
So, kennedy, is there anything we haven't talked about that we should, that I completely overlooked about you or your story.

00:31:37.760 --> 00:31:38.803
I don't think so.

00:31:38.803 --> 00:31:41.847
I think we've covered a lot, most of it.

00:31:42.410 --> 00:31:43.531
Okay, all right.

00:31:43.531 --> 00:31:45.013
And so when is your next race?

00:31:45.901 --> 00:31:49.388
It will be Thursday in Ashland, Wisconsin.

00:31:49.950 --> 00:31:50.932
Okay, all right.

00:31:50.932 --> 00:31:53.849
How far do you have to travel to go to a racetrack?

00:31:55.501 --> 00:31:56.224
It all varies.

00:31:56.224 --> 00:32:11.242
So, like my local track, menominee is about 30 minutes from me, rice Lake gets an hour from me, but like we like to go, we ended up going to Canada this Wednesday.

00:32:11.242 --> 00:32:11.924