Stephanie Ruys de Perez

 

Stephanie Ruys de Perez raced saloons in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. Although born in the USA, she lived in Canada for most of her adult life.

She first comes to the attention of the media in 1966, when she was interviewed for McLeans magazine for a feature about women in motorsport. She was racing a Sunbeam Imp at the Players 200 meeting and it broke down on the third lap. The writer, Alan Edmonds, was very taken with her blond hair and slim figure, and wrote a lot about how she enjoyed racing as a "sensual" thing. Her husband had taken up the sport that year and it is likely that this was her first season too, although a 1969 newspaper article says that she had been racing for five years by then, "the last two in a full-sized sedan". She is quoted as saying that she would be "very depressed" if she thought she was better than men, and hoped her husband was better than her.

In 1970, she had moved on to a more powerful car and entered the Can-Am Challenge Race for the Labatts Blue Trophy, driving a Chevrolet Camaro. It is unclear whether she qualified. She later raced this car at the Harewood Grand Finale meeting at Harewood Acres, finishing ninth in her race. In July, she did at least one round of the Canadian Touring Car Championship at Mosport, finishing fourth. The first mention of this car was in a June 1969 Ottawa Journal report, where she raced in a support event to the Can-Am Challenge Cup. The car itself is sometimes described as being purple.

In 1972, she was fourteenth in the Sanair Trans-Am race, in a Mini Cooper, driving for the Fossman racing tem. Her name is sometimes associated with works Ford team Comstock, who helped start the careers of many Canadian drivers of the time, but it isn't clear whether she raced for them.

One of her more famous exploits was a Battle of the Sexes match race she undertook against Bob Tullius in November 1973. Tullius had previously said that her Mini could be driven faster by a man, encouraging her to challenge him to the race. The event was a support for the American Road Race of Champions at Road Atlanta, with both drivers in identical Triumph Spitfires prepared to Showroom Sports Car spec.

Stephanie, who had never competed at Road Atlanta before, led for three of the five laps, but was caught on the back straight by her rival, who won by 1.8 seconds. A group of women apparently mobbed officials and tried to claim that there were five more minutes left on the clock. Tullius won a silver pig trophy for his victory in the "Chauvinist Match Race".

Not long before, in October, she had wrecked her Mini in a spectcular accident at Mosport, flipping it over during qualifying.

More detailed information about her career is not forthcoming, although she was quite famous at the time, appearing in TV and print adverts. One of these was for Shell unleaded petrol in 1971. In 1974, she appeared in a TV series called Food for Thought, presenting a fitness segment.

She died "at an early age" from cancer.

(Image copyright McLeans magazine)

Ashley Taws

Ashley Taws made her name as a successful young Canadian Formula Ford driver between 2000 and 2002, recognisable for her pink, "Barbie"-sponsored car. 

She was a race-winner at 1200cc level and scored seconds and thirds in her one season of 1600cc competition. 

She first raced a car in 2000, driving a 1200cc Formula Ford. This followed a karting career which had begun when she was nine. She was 16 at the time. In only her first season, she won two races, and she was second in the championship in 2001. By this time, she had brokered a sponsorship deal with Mattel and Wal-Mart, tying in with a co-promotion for "Be Anything With Barbie". Ashley drove a pink car with Barbie decals and made personal appearances at Canadian Wal-Mart stores close to tracks where she was racing. This was one of the most high-profile and successful female-oriented brand sponsorships in motorsport.

She moved up to the more competitive 1600cc class in 2002. Immediately, she was on the pace, finishing third in Round 1 at Mosport. This was one of two podium finishes she scored that year, on her way to championship fourth. She had tied with third-placed Chris Guerrieri on points, but he got third due to a win.

Her career was almost ended by a serious road traffic accident at the end of 2002, when she suffered injuries to her spine, left leg and internal organs. She had been a passenger in a friend's car. Seven months later, she was back out in the Formula Ford, at Toronto Molson Indy. Despite a cautious drive, she was fourth in her first race back. A third place at Trois-Rivieres helped her to championship seventh, but she dropped out after the fifth round as she was not feeling as comfortable in the car as she would like.

For a while, she stopped competing, bar a single guest appearance in the Honda Michelin Challenge in 2004. She was thirteenth at Mosport, driving a Civic.

She only returned to motorsport in 2007, in a BMW in the Canadian Touring Car Championship, and later, in 2008, a CASCAR stock car. Both cars carried Barbie sponsorship again. Although she showed promise, finishing second in only her third CASCAR race, she did not take to oval racing and quit in 2009. She is now pursuing a business career, working as an insurance broker.

(Image copyright AIM Autosport)

Amber Balcaen

 

Amber Balcaen is a Canadian driver who races stock cars in the USA. She did the full ARCA season in 2022. 

She is from a racing family, but is the first to race on asphalt rather than dirt. Her career began with dirt-track karting when she was 10, in around 2002. As soon as she was old enough to race sprint cars as a senior, she got her own car and started winning.

After two or three seasons in sprintcars, she took part in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity programme in 2014 and 2016, as well as competing in Late Model racing in 2016. She was third in the Whelen All-American Series, with one win and six more podiums. She was the first Canadian female driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned event. 

In 2017, she raced in the NASCAR K&N Series, in a Toyota Camry. She was 20th at New Smyrna in her only major outing. She took part in one race in the CARS Super Late Model Tour series in 2018, at Hickory. However, she crashed out early on. 

In 2019, she made another guest appearance in the same series, finishing fourteenth at Radford. She returned to competition in the 2021 ARCA Menards West Series, driving a Toyota. 

Although she only finished one of her three races, this was an eleventh at Irwindale. 

Her career took a hit in 2020 when she was injured in a midget car crash in July, at Valley Speedway. Her car turned over and she suffered burns, two collapsed lungs and broken bones.

Following several part-seasons, she put together a deal for a full ARCA programme in 2022, partly assisted by Busch beer’s Accelerate Her female driver sponsorship scheme. She was run by Mark Rette and usually drove a Ford, although this was substituted for a Toyota for a couple of races. When schedules allowed, she also made a few guest appearances in the East and West series, picking up one tenth place at Iowa in June.

It was her most successful ARCA main season ever, with six top-ten finishes. The best of these was a seventh at Kansas. 

A quieter year followed in 2023. She did three ARCA races for Bill Venturini's team, the best of these ending in sixth place at Daytona. She retired from the Talladega and Kansas races. She also made a guest appearance in the NASCAR Canada series. Her car overheated but she was classified in 17th place.

By contrast, she ran a full ARCA season in 2024, driving for Billy and Cathy Venturini. Her best finish was a sixth place at Kansas, one of seven top-tens she earned that year. She also did most of the ARCA East series in Cathy's car, but only finished once from five entries.

She did one West series race, and also made another guest appearance in NASCAR Canada, at Ohsweken. She did not finish due to brake problems.

Away from the driving seat, she has appeared on TV in the USA, most notably in the NASCAR Racing Wives reality series. Despite the title, she was shown as a driver rather than a partner.

(Image copyright Amber Balcaen)

Megan Gilkes

 

Megan Gilkes is a single-seater racer from Canada. She has achieved success in Formula Ford and competed in the inaugural season of W Series.

She has been a leading name in Canadian Formula 1200 since 2017, when she competed for the first of two seasons in the championship. In her debut year she picked up her first win and she was runner-up in the championship and in 2018. Another win came at Mosport in 2018 and was one of seven podium finishes, from nine races.

Her experiences in larger-capacity cars have not been quite as successful, but she has raced both Formula 2000 in Canada and Formula Vee in Brazil. 

In 2019, she was announced as one of the 18 drivers selected for the women-only W Series and shortly after that, began competing in the F3 Americas championship. She was one of the weaker drivers in the W Series and was substituted for one race, in an unpopular move by W management. Her only real highlight was her win in the Assen reverse-grid race, which was not part of the championship.  

She ran better in US F3, picking up one ninth place at Pittsburgh. She also started the Virginia round but crashed in the first race, meaning she was unable to start the other two that weekend. 

Back in a Van Diemen F2000, she did a couple of races in the US championship, finishing seventh at Road Atlanta. 

At the end of 2020, she travelled to the UK for the Formula Ford Festival and the  Walter Hayes Trophy, driving a Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum. Her first run in the Festival started promisingly with a fifth in her heat, then she was twelfth in her semi-final . She reached the final of the Walter Hayes at Silverstone, but was involved in a low-speed multi-car pile-up and was unable to finish. Staying in the UK, she entered the 2021 National Formula Ford championship with the team, earning a best finish of fourth at Snetterton in the penultimate race of the season.

Sticking with single-seaters, she moved over to the F4-level GB4 championship in 2022. Driving for the Hillspeed team, she won two reverse-grid races at Snetterton and Donington, plus another third from pole at Silverstone, on her way to a sixth place in the championship. Formula Ford had not been forgotten either and she did the first half of the National season, plus the Formula Ford Festival and the Walter Hayes Trophy. She scored two fourth places in Festival heats.

At the beginning of 2024, she was announced as a driver for Rodin Carlin in the all-female F1 Academy series. Part-way through the season, she announced that this would be her last as a driver and that she would concentrate on her engineering career at the Aston Martin F1 team from 2024. She was thirteenth in the championship, with a few top tens and a best finish of fifth at the Red Bull Ring.

(Image copyright challengecupseries.com)

Zenita Neville

Zenita Neville  raced in the USA and Canada in the 1920s. She was one of IMCA’s earliest “Champion Woman Drivers of the World”.

IMCA (International Motor Competition Association) was America’s leading promoter of oval racing from about 1910 up until WWII. Many female drivers competed in their events after the “official” US competition board, the AAA, banned women from taking part in sanctioned races and trials. Zenita Neville was one of its earliest female stars.

In 1920, she won her first race, at Combination Park in Massachusetts. The track was a half-mile dirt oval. A couple of weeks later, she won again at Fitchburg Fairground, also in Massachusetts. Her car was a Hudson and this was her regular car between 1920 and 1922. During this time she won at least nine races, all in the northern states and mostly on the East coast. 

In 1922, she also raced a Peerless and an Essex. She travelled to Canada this year, appearing at tracks in Calgary and Edmonton, where she raced against Sig Haugdahl. Photographs show her with a Peugeot at Daytona, but I have been unable to find any results for her in this car. A Canadian paper (the Leader Post from Regina) claims that she won a long-distance race “the Florida beach” the year before. In 1921, Zenita herself claimed to have driven “close to 100mph on the beach at Daytona”. News reports local to Daytona itself make no mention of her at all.

Her normal racing venues were fairground tracks, and she often competed against a driver called Bill Endicott. Their match races would sometimes be preceded by a public disagreement in the local press, usually with Endicott in his capacity as IMCA’s “Dean of Racing Drivers” wishing to bar women from competing and “Miss Neville” defending herself and other women drivers. It was a less well-known fact that “Wild” Bill Endicott, previously known as “Farmer Bill”, was Zenita Neville’s husband.

She was described as the “Champion Woman Driver of the World” and IMCA publicity sometimes claimed she was the only professional female driver in America. 

It is hard to assess how good a driver she actually was. IMCA and other dirt-track promoters were not above stage-managing their events to create more drama and column inches. There are no records of Zenita crashing her car; she seems to have been competent in her handling of it. She often took part in speed trials as well as races, these were harder to influence and may prove a better way of assessing her talent. She won one of these trials at Combination Park, Medford, in 1921, completing two half-mile laps two seconds faster than her nearest rival and appears to have got the better of Endicott over similar distances.

After 1922, she disappears from the entry lists. Her post-motorsport life remains a mystery but we do have some clues as to her previous occupation. Newspaper articles from 1911 talk of a young actress with the same name. The Marshall County News-Democrat described her as hailing from Chicago when she played the lead role in “The Wyoming Girl”. A year later, she crops up in Iowa in the Denison Review, playing the trombone in the Aulger Bros Band. 

(Image copyright Minneapolis Star)

Louise Roberge

Louise Roberge was a Canadian racer of the late 1960s and early 1970s, most famous for her exploits in a Formula Ford car. She was a contemporary and rival of Monique Proulx. 

According to a newspaper interview she gave in she began racing in a Mini in 1968, and was fifth in her first race. She did at least three rounds of the same championship in 1969, scoring a fourth, fifth and sixth place in the Class A series for cars up to 1300cc. All three races took place at the Mont-Tremblant circuit. In the same interview, with the Winnipeg Free Press, she claimed to have done some rallies at high school, which would have been shortly before her early marriage to Matthieu Roberge when she was 18. Unusually, Louise was a married mother of three when her career began and she always described her husband as supportive, even when she crashed the Mini in the early part of her career. 

Few other details of her early career are readily available, although she is said to have picked up her love of cars from her father. According to another 1971 interview in the Brandon Sun, the fifth place was in a racing school event and she did four further novice races in 1969, in order to upgrade her license. Among her rivals in the Mini was Louis Germain, her partner in the design firm she managed, Caractera Limited. The pair often raced together and Louis acted as her mechanic. Louise’s husband Matthieu had no involvement in motorsport at all, other than helping to bankroll her career.

Away from the circuits, Louise was also said to be a skilled driver on ice. The Ottawa Citizen in January 1969 reports that she had run as high as fourth in an Ottawa Winter Carnival Grand Prix, driving a Mini. She did not finish after the exhaust came off. A ninth place in an ice race across the Plains of Abraham is detailed in a 1970 Winnipeg Free Press article and is said to have occurred in 1969. Louise was one of the organisers of the same event in 1970. She must have done more ice races in the early part of her career, as she talks of crashing out of one of them.

In 1970, she began racing single-seaters, after taking more tuition at the Jim Russell Racing Drivers’ School. Her first single-seater car was a Lotus 61, which was replaced by a Lotus 69 later in the season. She did five rounds of the Molson Quebec championship in this car, scoring a best finish of sixteenth at Trois-Rivieres, in the 61. She had some sponsorship from a tobacco company and her car was apparently white with a rainbow stripe detail.

In 1971, driving the 69 in Quebec Formula B, she was sixth at Mont Tremblant in May. Her other known results are two non-finishes. Louis Germain was also active in the series this year, as was Gilles Villeneuve, who finished below Louise in the final standings. She was sixteenth, which suggests that she did finish some other races that year.

It was this year that another female driver, Monique Proulx, appeared on the scene. She and Louise did not race each other directly as Monique was in saloons at this point, but the press was keen to play up any rivalry between the two. In a 1972 interview with the Calgary Herald, Monique stated that Louise “did not like her” and refused to be in a photograph with her. “She’s a good driver, Louise, but she does not push. Me, I push,” she is quoted as saying.

Louise may also have owned or raced a Lotus 51, although further race results have proved very hard to track down. Any results from 1972 are proving equally difficult to find; Monique Proulx’s comments suggest that she was still racing that year.

The 69 was sold in 1973 and she seems to stop competing around that time. Earlier, in the 1971 Winnipeg Free Press interview, she said that she expected to stop racing when she was 30, although she did not elaborate on this. In the same piece, she made a cryptic comment that one of her three children was destined for motorsport fame, but declined to say which one.

In addition to racing cars, Louise was said to be an enthusiast of adventure sports in general, including canoeing, skating and sky-diving. She may also have worked as a model at some point.

She fades into obscurity after 1973.

(Image copyright Ottawa Citizen)

Female Drivers in Touring Cars: Canada

Stephanie Ruys de Perez

Female drivers have been a regular fixture in the Canadian Touring Car Championship during the past few years. Canada has produced a number of other women racers such as Monique Proulx, but it is the CTCC that seems to be their favoured destination at the moment.

Demi Chalkias - Canadian driver who competes in the Pirelli GT Sprint championship. She won the GT4 class of the series in 2018, driving a BMW E36. She has also competed in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in the same car, winning races at Mosport, Shannonville and Calabogie. In 2020, she won a CASC-run GT3 series in the BMW, as well as racing in the Nissan Micra Cup. The year after, she won some races in the Canadian Touring Car Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Mercedes-AMG chose her as part of a three-woman team for an endurance race at Buttonwillow in the USA, alongside Cherie Storms and Nicole Havrda. In 2023, she raced a Mercedes with some success in the SCCC GT4 championship. In 2024, she moved into the GT4 America series, driving a Mercedes. She was third at Virginia, then started from pole in the second race, although she did not finish. the She is from a motorsport background but did not initially try to race herself. She dropped out of a medical degree to work in the automotive world, having been a triathlete earlier in her career.

Crystel Charest - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2016 and 2017. Her car was a Mini Cooper run by Octane Racing both times. Her best result came in 2016: a fourth place at Trois-Rivieres. Previously, and alongside her CTCC events, she raced the Mini in the Super Production Challenge in Canada. She was a career-best sixth in the 2017 championship, after an eleventh place in 2016 and twelfth in 2015. She only managed one appearance in the series in 2018, at Trois-Rivieres. She did not finish the first race and could not start the second. In 2022, she reappeared in the Mini for the Canadian Super Production Challenge Series. Crystel has been working as a dentist in Quebec since 1992.

Marie-France Gagné – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014. She drove a Mini Cooper in the Touring class. It was her first season in the series, and she acquitted herself well, with a best finish of sixth, and tenth in the 22-driver Touring class. She was competing with her husband, Éric Lacouture, as a team-mate. They are both dentists.

Nathalie Hénault – raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014, after several years of regional and club competition. She was racing in the Super class, and her car was a Subaru WRX. Right from the first round, she was on the pace, finishing eighth. Her best finishes were a pair of third places, both at Calabogie. She was fifth in the championship, and probably would have been higher without a string of DNFs near the end of the season. A second season of the CTCC ended quite similarly in 2015; Nathalie was more consistent, and had a better finishing record, and was fifth again, with a best finish of fifth at Shannonville. Her car was the Impreza. She raced in the Subaru in at least some rounds of the GT Challenge in 2016. In 2017, she was third in the Super Touring class of the CTCC, driving the Impreza. She scored two seconds and two third places.

Marie-Soleil Labelle - races in the Nissan Micra Cup in Canada. 2020 was her first season of competition and she is the championship’s youngest ever entrant, aged 16. Her best result so far has been fifteenth at Calabogie at the end of August. She was 21st in the championship. In 2021, she was 23rd overall in the Nissan championship, eleventh in the Micra class. This improved to third overall in 2022, with three third places. She moved up to the Sentra one-make championship in 2023. She did the Sentra series in both Canada and the US in 2024. Before switching to cars, she raced karts in Canada up to international level. She intended to race single-seaters and was on a development deal to race a Formula Renault in Europe in 2021, taking part in the Ultimate Cup.

Nicole Martin-Favreau - Quebecois driver who raced in Canada in the 1960s and possibly into the early 1970s. She mostly raced in the sedan categories, often against Francois Favreau, whom she married in 1966. Her cars included a Lotus Cortina and a Shelby Mustang which she used in Production Sports races in 1965. The Cortina was probably her most successful car and she raced it from 1966 onwards. Among her results were a fourth and fifth place at Mont-Tremblant in the 1967 Quebec Group B Sedan series. She started an all-female racing team in 1968, in the Quebec Formula B single-seater championship, although details of this are hard to find.

Lindsay Rice - raced in the CTCC in 2017. She scored two fifth places in the GT Sport class at Mosport, but the rest of her part-season was affected by a string of DNFs and a non-start. She had attempted to make her CTCC debut at Trois-Rivieres in 2016, but was unable to start. Her usual car is a Porsche 911, which she also used in club racing in 2016. She was more successful there. As well as racing the Porsche, she did some Nissan Micra Cup races in 2016, at Mosport. In 2018, she drove a different car, an Audi RS3 LMS, but only entered one race at Mosport, finishing sixth. She completed most of the 2019 championship in the Audi, finishing fifth in the TCR class with five top-tens, the best of these being a fifth at Calabogie. Lindsay does not have a motorsport background and did not start competing until she was in her mid-twenties.

Stephanie Ruys de Perez – raced saloons in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1972, she was fourteenth in the Sanair Trans-Am race, in a Mini Cooper. She is best known for racing for the Comstock team, one of the first commercially sponsored racing teams. She also raced a Sunbeam Imp in 1966. Among her other cars was a Chevrolet Camaro. More detailed information about her career is not forthcoming, although she was quite famous at the time, appearing on TV adverts.

Ashley Sahakian - raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2017. This was her rookie year in the series. She drove a Ford Mustang and was fourth in the GT Sport class, two places below her team-mate and brother, Chris Sahakian. Ashley’s best finish was third, at Mirabel. She made some more appearances in the Mustang in 2018, earning a best finish of seventh at Mirabel. Prior to the CTCC, she did part-seasons in the Nissan Micra Cup in 2015 and 2016. She was not among the front-runners but did improve in her second year. As well as motor racing, she plays football and is a former model.

(Image copyright Getty Images)

Samantha Tan

Samantha Tan (right) with her ST Racing team-mate, Aurora Straus

Samantha Tan is a Canadian driver who races in the Pirelli World Challenge in the USA. She has made her way through the Touring classes to the GTS class.

She raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014. Her car was a Mini Cooper, and she was fifth in the Touring class, and ninth overall. Her best finish was fourth, at Mirabel, and she was usually in the top ten. This was quite remarkable, given that she was only 17 years old, and in her first full season of motorsport.

Previously, she had only done a little NASA stock car racing in 2014, with some success. She had been interested in cars from a very early age and was one of the youngest people ever to take part in the Ferrari Driving Experience at Mont Tremblant.

In 2015, she raced in the Pirelli World Challenge for the first time. She was driving a Kia Forte Koup run by Kinetic Motorsport. Despite a bumpy start at Circuit of the Americas, where she did not finish any of her three races, she had a decent season, with fourth spots at Mosport and Miller. She was sixth in the championship.

Mid-season, she also found time for some rounds of the CTCC, in a Mini, scoring one third place at Toronto from three starts.

Most of 2016 was spent in the Pirelli World Challenge, where she drove a Honda Civic in the TCA class. She was sixth in the class championship, with a best finish of sixth and a consistent finishing record. Her form was slightly better in the early part of the season.

Late in the season, she made two guest appearances in the CTCC, and was fifth and seventh at Bowmanville.

A third season in the World Challenge in 2017, driving a BMW, proved difficult. Her best finishes were two fourteenth places at Circuit of the Americas and she was 29th overall. This was her first year in the TC class and was a step-up in power. TCA is a lower horsepower, “limited preparation” class, while TC allows cars up to TCR spec to compete.

In 2018, she decided to remain with ST Racing, her team from 2017. She drove a BMW M4 in the GTS class of the World Challenge with Nick Wittmer. They were fifth and third in the first two races at Circuit of the Americas, their best results of the year. Samantha was 16th in the championship.

She stuck with BMW power for 2019 but moved up to the GT4 class. She was second in the Pirelli GT4 America West Pro-Am class with two seconds and four thirds, partnered by Jason Wolfe. Driving solo, she was 19th in the Sprint category, after one fifth place at Long Beach.

Her GT4 adventures continued in 2020 with her first trip to Dubai for the 24 Hour race. The event was red-flagged and stopped after seven hours due to the track being flooded. Samantha and her three ST Racing team-mates were running seventh in the GT4 class at the time.

Coronavirus put paid to a good proportion of the 2020 season, but Samantha still managed to race the M4. She entered the Pirelli GT4 SprintX America championship, racing in the Silver class. ST Racing's drivers were crowned Silver champions at the end of the year, ahead of Andretti Autosport, with four wins. Samantha and Jon Miller were third in the SprintX drivers' championship with two seconds and four thirds. One of these was at the Indianapolis eight-hour race, where she was second in the overall GT4 class and third in SprintX.

The ST team went worldwide in 2021. Their first race was the Dubai 24 Hours, the first big race of the year. A team of Samantha, Jon Miller, Chandler Hill and Nick Wittmer were 15th overall and first GT4 car, driving the BMW. 

The Abu Dhabi 6 Hours was also in January. Samantha and Jon Miller were fourth overall and won their class after a close battle with the Sally Racing Cupra. 

Through the Hankook 24H GT Series season, Samantha and her team won their class four more times at Hockenheim, Catalunya and the Hungaroring. That, plus second places at Mugello and Sebring, was enough to bring home the GT4 championship.

She raced two cars in 2022, the BMW and a Ferrari. She used the BMW for endurance racing again, entering part of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America and the GT Intercontinental Challenge as well as some 24H Series races. Her best finishes were a fifth and fourth at Sonoma in the Fanatec series. Her 24H Series successes came in Europe, with a combined GT3 and Pro-Am win in the Mugello race being a highlight of her year, after another finish in the Dubai 24 Hours. 

She racked up another Pro-Am win in the Ferrari Challenge at Circuit of the Americas, followed by a second place at Daytona.

Most of 2023 was spent racing the BMW in the Fanatec GT Challenge America. She and her ST Racing team-mate Neil Verhagen won the Pro-Am class once at Road America and Samantha scored four further podiums, on the way to fourth in the championship. The Ferrari was stationed in Europe for the GT Challenge Europe and ST Racing's results were similar. Samantha, assisted by Lorcan Hanafin and Isaac Tutumlu Lopez, won the final round of the season at Catalunya. The team finished on the Pro-Am podium in all five races. 

With all this action, she still had time for a few races in the NLS, driving a BMW M240i in the one-make series for it. She won round six with her two team-mates and finished on the podium in the other two races.

ST Racing's main challenge in 2024 was the GT World Challenge America. She shared an M4 with Neil Verhagen and was second in the Pro-Am class, by just five points. The team was second overall at Circuit of the Americas and won their class twice. In Europe, she and Jon Miller entered the Spa round of the GT4 European Series, finishing 17th in once race. A five-driver team of Samantha, Neil and John, plus Pippa Mann and Fabian Duffieux, tackled the Barcelona 24 Hours at the end of the year, coming fifteenth.  

(Image copyright Sean Krinik)

Valérie Chiasson

Valérie Chiasson is a Canadian driver who is now based in Luxembourg and racing in Europe.

She began racing in 2007, after five years of karting from age thirteen to eighteen. Her family background is not motorsport-related, but her father encouraged her in karting anyway especially as it kept her from taking up motocross.

She started in the one-make Toyota Echo Cup, and was second in the rookie standings in her first year despite a huge learning curve. She raced the Echo again in 2008, although she did not run a full season.

In 2009, she moved into the American Canadian Tour series, a stock car championship. She was 19th overall in her Chevrolet Impala, and second in the Rookie championship.

She continued to compete, on and off, until 2012, when she left the motorsport world for a year to concentrate on her other sporting interest: equestrianism. She entered the 2013 Canada Games in dressage.

In 2013, she started planning a comeback, and funding for a part-season in the 2014 Canadian Touring Car Championship was available. She joined the Lombardi Honda team for four races in their Civic, and was fourth and fifth at Montreal and tenth at Trois-Riviéres. One of these races was a Grand Prix support race; she became the first woman to take a (class) podium position at the Grand Prix meeting.

She intended to carry on part-time in 2015 and did continue to race, although in the one-make Nissan Micra Cup rather than the CTCC. Her final position was sixth overall, with one podium finish. She was second in the ladies’ standings, behind Valérie Limoges.

In 2016, she raced both the Micra and a Porsche 911. Her sponsor for the Micra Cup, Nissan Gabriel, was able to arrange her Porsche seat. The Porsche was the better car for her, and she was eighth in the Canadian Porsche GT3 championship. Her best finish was sixth, which she earned three times at Bowmanville and Montreal.

She was eighteenth in the Micra Cup. This was only a part-season. She managed three top-tens in the early part of the year.

At the end of 2016, she was elected Canada’s representative to the FIA Women in Motorsport Council.

Shortly afterwards, her career went international. Valérie began dividing her time between Canada and Luxembourg. She signed up for the Canadian and Benelux Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series. She ran better in Canada, earning two runner-up spots at Montreal during a guest spot. Her best result in the Benelux series was a twelfth place at Zandvoort. Her programme was a part-season, and she was 24th in the championship.

Away from the track, Valérie has business interests in both Canada and Luxembourg. She has her own automotive marketing company and collaborates with others.

(Image copyright Dario Ayala)

The Women of NASCAR: the 21st century

Natalie, Paige and Claire Decker

Below are profiles of some of the female NASCAR drivers who have tried to make their mark on the ovals, and began their careers after 2000. Earlier drivers can be found here. Leilani Munter, Toni Breidinger, Amber Balcaen and Bridget Burgess now have their own posts.

Mariah Boudrieau - stock car racer who entered her first Menards ARCA Series races in 2021. She was competing in the West series. Her first race was at Colorado and she was thirteenth overall, having started in eleventh. A start from 17th then gave her another thirteenth place at Irwindale, but her next race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ended in a crash. Before moving up to the ARCA championship, she raced Late Models and was eighth in her local championship at Colorado National Speedway in 2021. In 2023, she did the Las Vegas round of the ARCA West series, finishing 15th in a Toyota. She has raced since the age of eleven, beginning in midget cars.

Mandy Chick - races in the ARCA Menards Series, beginning in 2022. She entered the Indianapolis Raceway Park and Milwaukee rounds, finishing 16th at Milwaukee after a DNF at Indianapolis. Her car was a Toyota run by her family team; she is the third generation to compete. She and the team did four more ARCA races together in 2023. Her best race was the season opener at Daytona, where she was fifth. She was also ninth at Kansas. In 2024, she did three more ARCA races, with Kansas being her best track again. She was eleventh. Previously she raced Late Models and had an extensive career in midgets on dirt, beginning when she was six alongside karting.

Amber Cope - occasional racer in NASCAR and other stock-car series, always alongside her twin sister, Angela Cope. Between 2006 and 2008, she competed in three ARCA races in a Chevrolet. Since then, she has raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Nationwide series, averaging one race per season. In 2012, she finished 26th at Loudon, and got involved in a row with Kevin Harvick after he accused her of pushing him off the track. Prior to her NASCAR activities, she raced Late Model stock cars from the age of 15, and before that, karts, with some degree of success. She and Angela are also models, and use their profile to promote themselves as drivers.

Sarah Cornett-Ching – Canadian driver who races in both ARCA and NASCAR junior series events. In 2015, she achieved five top-ten finishes in the ARCA Series, the best of these being two eighth places, at Talladega and Chicagoland. She was seventh in the championship. Driving the same Chevrolet, she has had less success in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, with two DNFs from three races. In 2011, she raced in the Canadian NASCAR series, and before that, in Sportsman events in Canada. In 2015, she was selected for the Race 101 team on a multi-year contract. Her 2016 season was partly spent in ARCA, where she earned a ninth place at Pocono, plus six other finishes from eight races. Again, she did not perform quite as well in the K&N Pro Series, with an eleventh at Mobile the best result from her five races. She had to sit out the last part of the season due to suffering a concussion in September, picked up in a crash at Kentucky. In 2017, she returned in March and did some local-level Late Model racing. She did one major Late Model race in 2018, the CARS Super Late Model Tour event at Carteret County Speedway. Her final classification was tenth, although she crashed 25 laps from the end. In 2019, she entered the Hickory and Rougemont races, with a best finish of 15th in the latter.

Erin Crocker - took part in ARCA and Craftsman Truck races between 2005 and 2007. She was quite successful in ARCA in 2005, with a best finish of second and five top tens from six starts. After a couple of Busch Series outings, she moved full-time to Trucks in 2006. Unfortunately, she did not do as well, and was only 25th at the end of the year. She returned to ARCA and achieved one pole position, but could not convert it into a race result. Her NASCAR career ended badly after a series of allegations made against her team manager, who later became her husband. Prior to her stock car career, she was a multiple race winner in World of Outlaws sprintcar racing, and she made a low-key return to it in mid-2010.

Claire Decker - sister of Paige Decker, who also races in Craftsman Trucks. She took part in two races in 2016, driving for Jennifer Jo Cobb’s team, and finished one, at Martinsville. She was 27th. In June, she also attempted to qualify for the Iowa Xfinity race, but did not make the final cut. Paige was in action too, making them the second sister pairing to race against one another, after Amber and Angela Cope. Claire began, like her sister, by racing snowmobiles, and on short tracks.

Paige Decker - raced in Craftsman Trucks in 2015 and 2016. Both times, she entered the Martinsville rounds. Her best finish came in 2016, when she was 25th. That year, she also did two Xfinity Series races, at Iowa and Road America, finishing 31st both times. Previously, she raced in the Whelen All-American Series, and in short-track stock cars in 2010 and 2011. Her earliest motorsport experiences were racing snowmobiles, from the age of three. She is from a motorsport family, and has a sister, Claire, and a cousin, Natalie, who also race.

Gabi DiCarlo – began her stock car career in ARCA in 2007, driving a Ford. She did well in her first year of major competition, finishing eleventh in the championship. In 2008, she gained sponsorship from Great Clips, a hair salon chain, and raced a Chevrolet in the ARCA Series. She scored three top ten finishes, at Pocono and Kansas, the best of these being a ninth at Kansas. She was fourteenth overall. In 2009, she was approved to race in NASCAR-sanctioned events, and Stringer Motorsports contracted her for a seven-race deal in the Camping World Truck series. Unfortunately, her programme was cut to three races, early in the year. Her best finish was 19th, at California. For the rest of the year, the team ran her in selected ARCA races. Her best finish was eleventh, at Salem. After a part-season, she was 31st overall. She does not appear to have raced at all since then.

Maryeve Dufault - Canadian driver who switched to stock car racing full-time in 2011. She drove a Dodge Charger in the ARCA series, supported by Mad Croc and Dodge Motorsports. After seven top-twenty finishes, she was sixteenth overall, with a best finish of tenth at Chicagoland. She also secured entry into one NASCAR Nationwide race, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In 2012, she put together a budget for three ARCA races, driving a Dodge for Carter 2 Motorsports. She finished two of them, with a best result of 19th, at Kansas. In 2013, she drove in one NASCAR Nationwide Series race, finishing 31st, at Chicagoland. Previously, in 2010, she competed in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Much earlier, she raced karts and snowmobiles, and motocross bikes. She is currently better-known as a model. In 2014, she did three Nationwide Series races for Team Stange, in a Ford. Her best finish was 17th, at Mobile. She did not race in 2015 or 2016.

Allison Duncan (Bormann) - has been working her way through the NASCAR ranks since 2003. Although she has shown considerable pace, and achieved top-five finishes, her big break has yet to come. Her early racing experiences were in sportscars, where she won SCCA championships in a Mazda RX7 and drove in the WGGTS. She was Daytona’s youngest female driver at the 2000 24-Hour race, aged eighteen, and she and her Chamberlain team-mates were sixth overall in their Dodge Viper. After that, she was co-opted into a NASCAR driver development programme, and subsequently, she has driven Craftsman Trucks and Late Model stock cars. Her best result in NASCAR is probably her fifth place in the NASCAR Late Model Division cahmpionship, which came in 2004. In 2005, she recorded two wins in this championship. She has not raced since 2006, and now works as a precision driving instructor.

Cassie Gannis – active in NASCAR-sanctioned events in the USA. Her first NASCAR outings were in the ACDelco Super Late Models series; at sixteen, she was the youngest driver to hold a full NASCAR competition license. After a break, she moved up to the K&N Pro Series in 2011, for three races. The best of these were at Colorado and Spokane, where she was sixteenth. In 2012, she did five races in her Ford, and was fifteenth in one, at Havasu. Although she was not able to mount any championship challenge, she was voted the “Most Popular Driver” in the series. Prior to this, she had been part of NASCAR’s much-vaunted “Drive For Diversity” programme. Another break from competition followed. Cassie entered the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge, attempting to win a race seat with Michael Waltrip’s team. She was a finalist, but did not win. In 2015, she tried to get her career going again, signing up for the Camping World Truck series with Mike Harmon Racing. Sadly, her one race with the team led to a non-qualification, at Phoenix. She picked up another ride in ARCA, with the Carter 2 team, but the same thing happened, at Daytona. She was linked to another Truck drive for 2016, but this appears to have fallen through. In 2018, she made a small comeback, entering three K&N Pro Series races and finishing one at Tucson. She was 16th. At the start of 2019, she tried out for the all-female W Series but was eliminated after the first driver selection.

Holley Hollan - former junior sprintcar racer who began her senior stock car career in 2020. She combined midget racing with entries in both the East and West divisions of the ARCA Menards Series. She was fifteenth in the first round of the Eastern series at New Smyrna. She did slightly better at Las Vegas in the Western division, picking up a twelfth place in her Toyota Camry. Her career was stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, but she was able to continue in the West series and only missed one race. Her best finishes were a pair of sixth places at Roseville and Evergreen.

Johanna Long - drove in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series in 2011. Her best finish was eleventh, at Texas Motor Speedway. In addition to this, she was raced in other Truck races at her home tracks of Five Flags and Mobile, with five top-ten finishes to her name: two fifths and three ninths. She made her NASCAR Truck debut in 2010 and earned three top-twenty positions, alongside a string of excellent results in regional series, in a truck and in a Late Model car. Previously, she raced Late Models, since the age of fifteen, and is the only woman to have won a Late Model race in her local series. She also won the 2010 Snowflake Derby off-season race. In 2012, she raced a Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. She managed a large proportion of the championship - 21 races - and had a best finish of twelfth. She was 20th in the championship. She continued with the ML Chevrolet in 2013, with another best finish of twelfth, plus a few more top-twenty positions. She was 23rd overall. At the end of the season, the team folded, and Johanna did not have enough sponsorship to continue in top-level stock car competition, despite a win in the Snowball Derby. She returned to Late Model competition locally, and was the points leader of her championship for much of the year. In 2015, she made a small comeback, taking part in one NASCAR Xfinity Series race, at Iowa. She was 27th. She also entered the Richmond race, but did not qualify.

Logan Misuraca - races stock cars in America. She did her first ARCA race in 2022, finishing seventh at New Smyrna Speedway. This was a Menards Series East event and followed a couple of cancelled entries for Lira Motorsport in ARCA and the NASCAR Truck series. In 2023, she moved into the national ARCA series and did three races in a Chevrolet. Her best finish was 18th at Daytona in the opening round of the season. Another ARCA race at Bristol followed in 2024, but she crashed out. Previously, she raced in sprintcars, karts and Legends, having begun competing at the age of four.

Stephanie Moyer - races in the ARCA Menards Series in the USA. She moved up to the championship after winning a local Factory Stock championship in 2020. In 2021, she did six of the eight Menards Series East rounds, finishing in the top ten twice. She was eighth at Pensacola and tenth at Nashville. Her four main series outings gave her two finishes, the best being a 15th place at Pocono at the start of the season. Reliability has been a problem for her in 2022, with only one finish from five races in the East series, a ninth spot at New Smyrna. Pocono has been her best circuit again in the main championship, giving her a 19th place. She did a few more races in 2023, scoring one tenth place at Toledo in the Menards series from three finishes.

Molly Rhoads - raced in a number of US series on and off in the 2000s and 2010s. She began competing seriously at Raceway Park in Minnesota in 2004 and was Late Model Rookie of the Year. Two years later, she was fourth in the Raceway Late Model points and ninth in the Minnesota Late Model Challenge, leading to a spot in NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity programme. In 2007, she raced on the ASA Midwest Tour, alongside her brother. She competed on and off in this category until 2011. As well as driving, Molly has worked as a crew chief for Bryan Roach, who raced on the ASA Midwest Tour. She now devotes most of her time to animal care.

Kenzie Ruston - raced in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East between 2013 and 2015. During this time, she did three full seasons, and scored top-five finishes on seven occasions. The best of these was a third at Greenville, in 2013. It was one of four top-five places, and Kenzie was sixth in the championship, in her Chevrolet. In 2014, she was ninth, and she did not do quite as well in 2015, in a Toyota. She did get into the top ten four times, the best of these being a sixth place at Smithton. In 2016, she returned to short-oval competition.

Kristi Schmitt - raced in NASCAR’s regional and entry-level series between 2001 and 2005. She raced in both the Southwest and Northwest series in 2001, starting three races overall, with a best finish of 18th, at Irwindale. She was fourteenth at Evergreen in 2002, driving a Chevrolet, but it was the only race she qualified for. 2004 was the last time she qualified, in the K&N West Series this time. She was fourteenth again, at Mesa Marin. She attempted to qualify for the same race in 2005, but did not make it.

Amber Slagle - made her ARCA debut in 2021 after some time racing in Late Models. Her first race in the ARCA Menards West Series at Irwindale. She qualified fourth and finished fourteenth. A non-finish at Las Vegas followed due to a broken radiator, but she was then tenth at Roseville, her best finish of the season. She is also a NASCAR mechanic for the Cook Racing Technologies team. 

Rita (Ritamarie) Thomason (Goulet) - races in the ARCA Menards Series. After not growing up in a motorsport family and enduring financial hardship, she first competed in autocross in 2018, driving a Mazda Miata. She used this car in SCCA events the following year. Using an Alex Clubb-run Chevrolet, she made her ARCA debut in 2022. She was classified 12th, although she did not finish. Neither the Chevrolet or a different Ford got to the end of any of her four races. In 2023, she did four more Menards Series events, finishing all four wiht a best finish of fourteenth at Elko and Toledo. This was combined most of the Eastern series, in a Chevrolet again. She only finished three races. In 2024, she managed to finish twice in ARCA, including a thirteenth place at Salem. She had more luck in the East division, scoring four to-twenty finishes from seven starts. The best of these were two more thirteenths at Nashville and Pensacola. Away from the track, she is a serving police officer in Alabama.

Gracie Trotter - began racing as a senior in the Menards ARCA Series in 2020. Her first race in the main ARCA championship was at Phoenix, and she was thirteenth overall. She has also competed in both the East and West divisions, finishing 16th at New Smyrna (East) and a promising fourth at Las Vegas (West). She was one of three female drivers at Vegas and there were 17 entrants. Her career in 2020 curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic, but she ran a full season in the West series and impressed greatly. She scored her first win at Las Vegas, having already come third at Irwindale and second at Douglas County. Her final championship position was third. She did nine rounds in 2021, with some guest appearances in both the East and West series as well. Driving a Toyota, she usually qualified well, in the top ten, although she was not always able to convert that to good results. Her best one was a third at Elko, and she was later fifth at Salem. She is a former junior karter and has also raced Legends and Late Models.

Chrissy Wallace - raced in the second-tier Nationwide NASCAR series in 2010. She competed in the Daytona 500 and Talladega Superspeedway rounds, with a best finish of 24th at Talladega. This followed part-seasons in Craftsman Trucks in 2008 and 2009. She was usually driving for the Germain Racing team in a Toyota and managed three top-twenty finishes in 2008 at Martinsville, Milwaukee and Gateway. The following year, she improved this record with a thirteenth place at Talladega, driving a Rick Ware-run Chevrolet. She also made occasional ARCA appearances in 2008 and 2011, earning a ninth place at Talladega in 2008, driving a Germain Toyota. Early in her career, she raced at her local Hickory Speedway in North Carolina and won her first race in 2007. She is a member of the noted Wallace NASCAR clan.

Dominique van Wieringen - Canadian driver who has mostly competed in Late Model stock cars. In 2012 and 2013, she won both races and championships in Late Models. In 2014, she set her sights on NASCAR. In preparation, she did some ARCA races, achieving one second place at the Lucas Oil I10 Speedway, and another fifth, in 2015. In 2016, she took part in the NASCAR K&N Series East, for Rette Jones Racing. Towards the end of the season, she recorded two third places, at Greenville and Dover, and was ninth in the championship. She also made a guest appearance in the Camping World Truck series at Phoenix, but she did not finish. She raced in Trucks again in 2017, but only made one major appearance. She was third at Langley.

Jolynn Wilkinson - began racing in ARCA in 2021, aged 17. Her best finish was her first one, at Colorado, where she started and finished in eighth place. She was then 17th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and fifteenth at Roseville. Previously, she raced in Late Models from the age of 13, with a year in Super Late Models in 2020. She was the youngest female driver to do so. In 2019 she had to take a break due to concussion and other injuries sustained in a crash. As well as cars, she also raced karts. She is from a racing family and her father John Boy Wilkinson competed extensively in Late Models.

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