Building a Steady Track Record

Photos of Ashley Donald #3D on track at Winnipeg's Red River Co-op Speedway by Tim Johnson www.motorsports-addiction.com

Petite and soft-spoken, Ashley Donald hardly fits the stereotypical stock car racer image with her bright eyes, curly brunette hair and demure business casual outfit. At 22 years old, she's young, she's competitive and she's a woman in the traditionally man's world of stock car dirt track racing. But that's nothing new to Donald.

My mom said the first time she knew I was interested in cars, I was under the race car in my pink and white frilly little dress she had bought me covered in grease stains! Donald laughs at the memory. It is fairly common in the sport to pass the racing bug on from generation to generation Donald's father raced stock cars off and on before she was born and during her childhood. 

After convincing him to take her to her first race at the ripe age of four, she's been hooked ever since, helping work on the cars and traveling to the states for races during the summers.

Even though her father wasn't always racing, Donald was always a fan and started driving herself and her friends to the track when she got her license. After approaching him about buying and building a car of her own to race, they quickly bought a used car and a roll cage kit, put it together in garage, painted it and brought it out to the track.

I was terrified, recalls Donald of her very first race at the age of 17. My goal for the night was just to finish the race in one piece. At the Red River Co-op Speedway (Donald's local track), races run for 15 laps with each lap being 3/8ths of a mile long, with an introductory heat race of eight laps. During her second last lap in her introduction to the sport, another driver spun out in front of her and she never did finish that first race.

It wasn't that bad but it was interesting! she recalls. I think I was more excited than anything to be out there. It was a lot more fun than I expected and a lot more competitive. The adrenaline really kicks in and you really feel the need to beat someone!

Most fathers would not want to see their daughter in a car crash, but with the roll cage, five point harness, fire suit and helmet, Donald points out that the sport is definitely a lot safer than it looks.

Everyone is blown away that I'm the one interested and not my brother, says Donald of being the sibling who really took to the sport.

Everyone assumes that it's a father/son deal and not a father/daughter deal. So it's been really nice being able to spend a lot more time with my dad. 

Racing is a community that looks after its own, a group of people who have welcomed Donald into their world, in part through the legacy of having a father who raced.  “He’s been around racing for so long that I know so many of the racers going into it, she says.It's almost like a family tradition that is passed down through the generations. A lot of guys I knew growing up, their sons or cousins are now racing.

For Donald, the reward is really in the hours of effort put into the car and preparing for the race. And then the adrenaline rush that follows when her hard work places her in the top of the pack.

The racing season runs from April until the beginning of October, and is jam-packed with racing in the city, traveling to compete in the States, regular maintenance on her car, every night spent out in the garage prodding out dents and taking care of it. During the off-season she is busy stripping the car down, putting on new body, and getting the motor freshened. It doesn't leave a lot of time for the usual 22-year-old activities, like dating.

I think they really have to understand what you go through and how much time it needs to take up of your life, she says of being single and trying to date while maintaining her hectic schedule.

The commitment and dedication involved doesn't stop at the personal aspect, since racing can run upwards of $20,000 per year. Once you start adding up buying and building the car, parts, maintenance, gas, tires, entry fees for races, sanctioning body membership and travel costs to all the various races, you could wonder how anyone could afford it. But it's almost a business and Donald makes over 50 per cent of her costs back in sponsorship agreements.

You're constantly trying to market yourself and get your name out there and get the big companies to see you, she says. She was fortunate enough to have some of her father's past sponsors carry on to her but she still has to prepare and pitch sponsors herself.  Besides maintaining a personal website, attending charity events and displaying decals on her vehicle, she brings the car to various sponsor events and represents the sport to the general public.

Living at home helps with costs and Donald has been working part time at Safeway since she was seventeen. She just graduated from Red River's marketing program and the combination of business education and managing her racing business has given her hands-on work experience most teenagers don't ever get. 

You're always in the eye of the public and you always have to portray a good image.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone, male or female. It's so much fun and it opens so many doors. I can't say anything bad other than the fact that it's expensive.

I would love to see more females in the sport, says Donald. Because it's not something only men can do. Look at Danica Patrick. It just shows that we can be competitive too.

Where to Race
The Red River Co-op Speedway is the only local dirt track and it is located just five minutes south of Winnipeg on Pembina Highway outside of St. Norbert. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors and $5 for children. Spectators can watch the races, enjoy the full concession and bar and talk to the drivers afterwards in the pits.

Donald says this is the best way to learn about the sport and see if it's something you want to pursue. Everyone's always looking for an extra hand in the pits, the more cars - the more competition and the more fun it is.