Bridget Burgess

 

Bridget Burgess is an Australian stock car driver who lives and competes in the USA. 

The Burgess family moved to the States in 2008, when Bridget was seven. Both of her parents were involved in off-road racing and drifting and she grew up working on cars.

She raced in the Lucas Oil Off-Road series from the age of 16, alongside her mother Sarah, before switching to stock cars in 2019. Sarah Burgess remains integral to her daughter’s racing efforts, acting as car entrant and crew chief. The team, BMI Racing, is family-based, with Bridget’s father Adam spotting for her. Sarah is often Bridget’s chief (or only) mechanic during races too.

In her first year, she did two rounds of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series at Meridian and Roseville. Both times, she made her way up from the back of the grid. She was eleventh at Roseville and twelfth at Meridian. This was in spite of her car being an unreliable rented machine.

In 2020, she attempted to run in the ARCA Menards West series, although her season was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic. She did not finish the first round at Las Vegas due to a broken rear gear. In the end, she managed nine races, with a best finish of seventh at Las Vegas.  

She did all rounds of the West series in 2021, driving a Chevrolet entered by her mother. The nine races yielded another two top-tens: eighth at Sonoma and ninth at Colorado.

The BMI team registered for a full season in the West series in 2022 and Bridget had a reliable but slightly inconsistent year. Things started to get going in the fourth round at Portland, where she was seventh, the first of four top-ten finishes. She was seventh in the championship. A single main ARCA series outing at Phoenix led to a 23rd place.

(Image copyright Meg Oliphant/ARCA)