Episode 17, Mike. How about that? 17 in the bag. I noticed the other day that we’ve we’ve we’ve broken the 500 subscriber uh mark on YouTube. On YouTube, too. I don’t do all that other tick face and stuff. the YouTube is the only thing I We We had a uh we had a relatively successful short that reached over 50,000 views. It’s over 4,000 likes. Like like it blew my mind. That was a how story, right? No, it was a a gen story talking about the um the tail of the dragon. Oh, okay. That’s right. Yes. Always a popular subject.
Hey, fantastic weekend last weekend at Sebring. I saw you there. Yes. Little little chin track days action. Having a good time out there. Yeah. We won’t mention you wearing that yellow shirt, but it was good to see you nonetheless. You have worn the same yellow shirt on this very broadcast. I don’t know why you’re giving me crap about it. Yes, I have. Uh I did some private instructing. And how did that go? Cuz I know you’ve recently sort of shied away from that. I like getting paid for it. Well, yes. Yes. It’s not a bad gig. It’s a little better when you’re actually getting paid for it. Um, my client who hired me to do so, we were we worked I worked with him for two days this the Saturday and Sunday. We shaved 5 seconds off his lap time. Fantastic. Which he was happy about. Um, I had such a blast and I didn’t even drive and this is something I like to tell people all the time like especially Sebring. Sebring is my happy place. Yeah, for sure. I was there and I was taking pictures of myself. I’m like I’m I’m home. You know, it didn’t hurt that you were driving a Miata either. So the the the you know the risk chances go down dramatically uh when the speed goes down. So and here’s something that’s I think also very interesting. I realized how much more we can push that car just being in the right seat and I wanted to get in the in in the pass not in the passenger seat in the driver’s seat and show him you know because I know like my min speed in my car in the M3 should be like above 80s like 83 84 turn one. Yeah. turn one at Sebring and we were doing like 74. I’m like, “No, man. We can do better than this,” you know? For sure. For sure. Learn something to sit in the right seat. You get a different perspective on stuff. So, I find that it always helps. It’s a good refresher to be in the right seat. Here’s the thing with the Miata. Easy car to drive, difficult car to drive fast. I since I don’t fit in one, I’ve never had the pleasure of attempting to pilot it. So, I will have to take your word for it.
So, speaking of a Miata driver, our guest today is a Miata driver. Our guest today is a 16-year-old that uh is proof that age has nothing to do with talent behind the wheel. She started racing quarter midgets at just 5 years old and 10 years later she’s already competed in national championships, earned her competition license and earned her level two instructor certification. She’s a third generation racer who’s not obsessed with cars. She just loves to drive them fast. She now races Spec Miata with SECA prospect Miata with Farra. trains alongside veterans three times her age and continues to prove that the car is the ultimate equalizer. Joining her is her father, who’s been racing Spec Miata himself and now helps guide and support his daughter’s growing career in motorsports. Kaen and Mark, welcome to the program. Thank you. It’s good to have you guys. It’s great. This is pretty pretty far drive, but I’m glad we made the trip and I appreciate you guys making that drive. There’s some kind Do we have some kind of an award for like the person that’s come the furthest away because they would win so far, right? Couple two, three hours. Three and a half. There you go. It’s It’s going to be It’s Yeah, it’s going to be close. I think uh Todd Boris is up that way as well. We’re We’re about an hour north of Todd’s place. We actually stopped there on the way through. Yeah. All right, let’s get into it. So, let’s start at the beginning.
We’re going to start with you, Kaylin. Um what got you racing at 5 years old? I mean, I can’t imagine a lot of 5-year-olds are thinking, I want to do that. Before I was five, I knew that racing existed because my dad raced and that’s always been a part of my life, no matter what kind of racing. And then when I was about five, he brought me to the quarter track for the first time. I saw them going around in circles. I saw them racing and I was like, I want to try this. So, we found a way to get me in a car, try it out, and I fell in love from then on. Mark, how was how was that? I mean, is that something that you kind of inched her towards or was it just more spontaneous? Yeah. Um, she, you know, we did the normal. Let’s try soccer. Let’s try I think she tried basketball. Um, and a couple of different sports with with the schools. And because of my background and my father’s background with the racing, it’s it’s always right there in front of us. and thought, well, we’ll take her down there and show her, and if she says yes, she wants to try it. I know Pops, my dad, he’s he’s all in. Yeah. So, we went all in. Kaylin, what’s um what’s your fondest memory of racing quarter midgets? There’s too many to count, but for me, I think the best part of it was just spending time with fan family and friends. Like, we traveled across the whole country. We went to Indianapolis, Texas, a bunch of other places. and just traveled with my family, got to spend quality time and met new friends that I’m probably never going to forget and I am still friends with to this day through Quarter Midgets. All right. So, transitioning from Quarter Midgets, which you won uh some championships in as well.
Yes, I can you share a few of that. I won several local championships at local tracks and then when we went and competed nationally I got fifth place national and fifth place in Dixie which is like a regional championship. Okay. So going from quarter midgets to spec Miata u was the transition seamless or did it take some time to get used to that? It took some time to get used to because when I started the Miatas, I was 13, I think. And at that point, I never drove a street car before, never drove a full-size car. The quarter midgets, they have two pedals, gas and brake, no clutch, no shifting. So, when I started the Miata, learn how to shift gears. Yep. Had to learn how to shift gears pretty much on the track because I couldn’t get in a car and drive it on the street. Well, legally, you couldn’t legally. So, I went to a NASA HPD event, got an instructor, Jerry, not sure his last name. The Pierro. Yes. Can’t pronounce it. So, Jerry. And he was the instructor that got stuck with a girl that didn’t quite know how to shift a car yet. Oh. But, so it was a bit to get used to, but it was I was in love with it. So, no matter what struggles I had to go through, I just kept pushing to get to where I am now. So besides the uh learning how to shift the car, there’s got to be other components as well, right? Uh the weight of it alone, even though it’s a Miata, going from a quarter to a Miata, it’s got to feel like a refrigerator. Yeah, it felt very different and it was hard to get used to kind of where the corners of the car were, what’s where, right? The mirrors because quarter midgets don’t have mirrors. So I had to get used to that, too. But for me, the hardest part was just the shifting because I think I’ve always had somewhat of a decent track awareness, know what’s around me, and with the HPDE, I was able to like get used to where the boundaries are the car before I’m doortodoor with people, which was the good part. Okay. So, you started with HPDE in the in the Miata at 13. 13. Yes.
Um, tell me a little bit about the first time that you raced a Miata. What was that experience like? The first time I raced was after a SECA competition school where I got Todd Burrus as my instructor. Couldn’t ask for anything better. Yeah, we got so lucky with that. And then so the competition school there was kind of like a mock race. So that was similar to an actual race but still not competition. And then in my first race was at Robing Road the same weekend as the competition school. And it might have been the mock race for the competition school, but there was a fullc course red flag because someone’s car caught on fire on the mock race. So, it was a lot to get used to the normal aspects of a race. And then the first race was pretty much similar to that. Just getting used to people racing you. And how long how long ago was that? Your first race? That was probably two three years two. Yeah, it would have been it would have been when you were 14 because you had to be for CCA, you had to be 14 to get your 14 15 year old um novice permit. You know what’s crazy? I I was, you know, as I was getting ready for for this podcast cuz I’m a big nerd, so I have to write everything down. Um unfortunately, you’re not. I thought you were going to be our youngest guest. You’re not. Our youngest guest was Joseph Saddington at 12 years old. our youngest um student to go through FAR’s competition school and he did fantastic and you guys are racing together now. Yes. How is it like racing against him? It’s he’s overly confident sometimes which sometimes bites him in the butt but he can drive. I was surprised in the first race because he was right up there with everyone and I was surprised. I mean, Mhm. he’s getting used to driving a full-size car, and you can tell, but he’s so confident, which just amazes me cuz that’s one thing I definitely was not when I first started racing. I was way more timid cuz I didn’t want to mess up my car or anybody else’s. I didn’t want to get in anybody’s way. And I’ve started learning that I got to sometimes you got to be up there and fight for it.
But, you know, you know what’s interesting? Um, I think we were having this discussion last episode with Renie Bryant. We’re talking about uh teaching teenagers, you know, um advanced driving techniques, you know, threshold breaking, slalom exercises and things like that. And one of the things he talked about is that uh girls because they’re teenage girls tend to be better students as and they become better drivers rather than than boys because they’re better listeners. Um I would imagine that some of that also has to do with the fact that they’re a little more cautious, right? boys are just like let’s see what happens you know full send right from the beginning right what could possibly go wrong right I am bulletproof you know do you think that’s part of it do you I mean you you’ve been in the sport you know several years now you you probably notice the difference between uh a young male driver and a young female driver most of the time you can see it when you’re driving I’ve noticed that when I’m racing against guys most of the time when they’ve just gotten started they’re way more confident or at least than I was cuz I was very timid to start with. And even with the competition schools, the guys are more out there putting their car to the limit, while sometimes the girls are a little bit more laid-back, but learn faster because they’re not tearing stuff up. That’s Yeah, they get more seat time because they’re not breaking the car. Good point. Um, okay. So, what tell me maybe the biggest difference between racing against kids and racing against adults? Adults have more of an aspect of the fact that the the amount of money and work that has went put into the car because sometimes the kids don’t know the amount of money that a parent has spent on the car. We’ll just send it. Yep. But in fullsize cars, they know how much money they spent. Sometimes it’s probably good to not tear it up and they and I’m assuming also because you know we we go to the track and it’s just there’s a lot of preparation just to get to the track even if we’re not racing. You don’t want your weekend to end early. And I think maybe to your point, adults have that, you know, in their in their the back of their mind is, I don’t I don’t want my race weekend to end on a Saturday. I still want to race Sunday, right? Yeah. Sometimes they get a little bit crazy, but most of the time, Yeah. Okay. So, adults are maybe a little more reserved because they they know what’s what’s at stake and kids usually do not. All right. Um, being a young lady, uh, do other drivers, do you feel other drivers treat you differently on the track on or off? Really, it depends on the person. Some I’ve noticed are like sometimes they’re I can drive better cuz I’m a guy, but most of the time I’ve haven’t noticed that. People that actually drive a car, like, how do I phrase this? They respect what it goes into it. And no matter who it is, they respect the abilities. People that don’t drive the cars are a bit different though. Yeah. And that’s something that I I’m sure I have it listed here that we talk about a couple times is that the car is a great equalizer, right? So when you go out on the racetrack, it doesn’t matter if you’re, you know, tall, short, you know, young or old, girl, guy, it’s really your your skill that matters. That’s why there’s a stopwatch, right? Stopwatch doesn’t care.
Yeah. It’s whoever crosses the start finish line first does not matter. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. Tell me um I I asked Joseph um the the 12-year-old this the same question because I I’m curious what goes into you preparing for a race, right? As opposed to maybe an adult adult that’s been doing it for years and years. Um when do the nerves kick in? U is it putting on your helmet? Is it waiting at grid? What goes through your mind? For me, racing is when I’m comfortable. So, the nerves don’t really come when I’m in the car putting the helmet on. That’s when the nerves go away. For me, the time that I’m nervous, it’s getting to the track before the track, making sure we have everything ready, the car is ready. Not really so much putting the helmet on and nervous for the actual race because that’s when I’m comfortable. That’s when I feel the most the least stressed and the most like ready to do what I’m going to do. Interesting. I was not expecting that to answer. It’s her happy place. Yeah. You know, it’s her happy place. And I It’s And I I I understand where she’s coming from cuz I’m kind of the same way. And And when how long did it take for you to get there? Was it straight out of the gate or the first time you hopped in a were you terrified? And just over the course of, you know, getting more used to it now, you’re like, “Okay, this is second nature. No big deal.” I was probably a bit terrified at first. I don’t really remember. That was a long time ago. But as far as I can remember, that’s been my happy place. Sometimes I might have been a little bit anxious like when I first started the Miatas about like what if I’m in the way because I was doing HPD with Porsches. So sometimes I might have been like what if I’m in the way but really it’s almost always been when the helmet on is when I’m comfortable. Yeah. And that’s how I started the show. We went to Sebring and I didn’t even drive. That was my happy place. I don’t care just being there. I had a smile on my face, you know. Um, let’s transition over to you recently went through FAR’s instructor school. Um, how did you like that that program going through it? What was your takeaway from it? At first I was very nervous cuz I figured it’d be like almost like a test and in a way it was, but it wasn’t as much as I expected. Okay. Because it felt comfortable simulated. That was the first time I’ve been on the right seat like on the track pretty much with someone I don’t know. So yeah, that was a little bit stressful, but I learned a lot and I was surprised by the different like personalities one would could could become and so different from in the car versus out of the car. It was great to learn all that before I had to like get in the right seat and instruct. And I it was a great experience overall and I was glad I did it. So for people that don’t know, instructor school basically entails somebody that wants to become an instructor for HPDE. They are actually drive. They’re in the passenger seat. Correct.
Yes. All all tied back to the Motorsports Safety Foundation MSF. There’s three different levels. Level one, level two, and level three. Uh level one, you have to be the previous level to get to the next one. Uh level one is simply an online test. Uh it’s open note. you take uh I don’t know it’s 35 or 40 bucks. Takes an hour or two to go through. You have to get a 90% or an 80% or something to pass it. Once you do that, you can then come and join us for an MSF level two. And yes, to your point, it’s a little bit more classroom, a couple of the tests to get you prepared in advance and you actually sit right seat and you get put through the paces, couple different scenarios thrown at you with different personalities just to make sure that when you’re doing it for real, uh sitting with a paid customer, um that you can, you know, you’re ready to handle all the different uh kind of scenarios. So yeah, it uh I’m glad that you enjoyed the experience and you did great. Uh by the way, we heard nothing but glowing commentary uh about your instructing and I know you’ll be great at it for however many years you choose to continue to do it. Yeah, that was a definitely a great experience. Surprised me on the different personalities, but it definitely helped before getting into the right seat with an actual uh student. Great. It’s all those fantastic materials that the person that led it put together. I’m sure the chief instructor at FAR is doing such amazing job. He really is great people. He deserves a raise. Yeah. Right. All right. Um so yes, the the senior instructor that’s acting as a mentor for the instructor candidate has to go through different characters. The the ones you will and likely you likely see on on the racetrack. So you have somebody that’s really shy and reserved and then in the afternoon you start getting somebody that’s a little more I know what I’m doing. I don’t really need you here. And then at the end of the day, we have our favorite, which is Crazy Carl. And it’s just like, hey, I’m going to keep doing this crazy stuff, and how are you going to reel me in basically, right? So, we put you through the paces on purpose because you are going to encounter, you know, a a character like that more than likely on the racetrack. So, my next question to you is, what’s it like teaching a grown man how to drive fast? It’s a bit different. I’ve only done right seat instructing really one full day for HPDE and I kind of expected it to be worse than it was. I expected a grown man to kind of have a I’m a grown adult, why would I listen to you atmosphere. But really, when I got in the passenger seat, it was surprising how much he listened and took into account what I said, which now that I think about it is probably I mean, he’s paying good money to have an instructor have someone helping him. But I was surprised and thankful for how much he listened and how relaxing it was almost. That’s good. Um, I think it was Todd Burrus.
We were talking. We you you somebody brought you up and they said that they were so proud of you cuz just on the distance they saw you talking to your student and I think must have been a taller guy and you were just like doing one of these. We couldn’t hear what was being said but you were just like teaching him and we’re like yeah you do you do that. Yeah. And and you know, that’s the difference between an instructor that’s just doing it for the free track time and somebody that’s passionate about it, right? Somebody that’s doing it just for and look, I was one of those people, right? The first time I ever did it, I was just like, I can’t afford to come to the track eight times a year. Oh, if I instruct, it’s free. Perfect. Let me do that. Um, but I quickly just fell in love with it. But it somebody that’s doing it for the love of the hobby and the love of the education will spend time either before or after or both with their student sort of helping them along where somebody that’s just there for the free track time will hey great job and they hop out of their car and off they go. So yeah, it was great to see you embracing that uh so early on. Yeah. I mean, I I know that you’ve only done it one time right in the right seat, instructed from the right seat, but was there an incident or something funny or awkward happened at that, you know, during that session or that day? I mean, he was driving a Porsche. I’ve never drove a Porsche. I drive Miatas, only Miatas. I’ve never drove anything like a Porsche. And it was a bit different cuz I had to get used to a Porsche. So, and he was a bit erratic as a student would be in a Porsche, I would assume. So, I had to get used to it. But besides that, it was decently normal, I think. I would imagine then, and I I always try to put myself in like the shoes of somebody doing something for the first time and what that was like for me to go through that. I would imagine that for you, having been racing for at that time, what, eight years now? 10 years, something along those lines that you get in the car and that first time that somebody would just kind of yank the wheel, I’m sure you were like, whoa, okay, what what are we doing here? Right. Definitely. Yeah, that was a big be smooth. Let’s be smooth. It’s probably one of the first things you you tell them, right? Smooth. Smooth. That was probably the biggest thing I kept repeating cuz I am one that loves when people are smooth with the steering wheel, with the throttle, everything. So, yeah. Yeah. You can always tell somebody that’s come up through a carting experience cuz they try and throw the car into a corner and it just doesn’t work in a 3,500 lb street car with street tires on it. Mhm. Okay. Um, as a young woman teaching older men how to drive, what’s been your biggest lesson about confidence, both theirs and yours? For me, I had to learn to speak up. Cuz when I first started racing and instructing, I was very closed off. I didn’t like talking to people. I wasn’t bold. And I’ve kind of learned that they’ll listen as long as I speak my mind, speak how I feel, and speak the right decision. I have to learn to be confident in myself no matter what I say. So that’s the biggest thing I learned overall. And I learned that they’ll listen to me as long as I’m confident with what I say. Yeah. Even Yeah. If it sounds like you know what you’re talking about. Yeah. even if they, you know, the good part about it is if you if you’re, you know, when you first get out, start out instructing, we do our best to pair a beginner instructor. Yes. With a beginner student. So, if we put you with somebody that’s never been on the track before, even if what you’re telling them makes absolutely no sense at all, they have no frame of reference. So, as long as you say it with some sort of authoritative, you know, confidence, they’re going to do whatever it is that you that you say, and they’re going to be thankful for it. And here’s the the main point about that, right? Even if the information you’re giving them is wrong, but if you’re portraying confidence, then when it’s time to lay down the law on the track, when you’re like, “Hey, slow down or break break.” They’re going to listen to you because you already established that you are the authority figure at that time in in that car. But if you start off with, you know, I don’t know, I guess maybe this is what we’re going to do and kind of mumbling, they’re like, “Oh, I’m not going to listen to this person, you Well, the truth of the matter is every instructor uh whether that be a at the time 15year-old girl that has 10 years of experience all the way from racing or more of a beginner inexperienced instructor that may have only had 15 or 20 HPDE days, they absolutely know more than somebody that’s coming for the first day. So 95% of what they’re going to say is good advice to keep the person safe and keep a smile on their face, which is really all you’re looking for uh for somebody on their first day. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. All right, let’s transition over to I know you’re looking at my notes. You’re cheating.
Personal life outside the helmet. Um, how do your classmates react to having a racer in their school? At one point, most of my classmates didn’t know cuz I didn’t really talk about it cuz I kind of keep to myself in school. But once somebody knows, it’s it it’s like a wildfire, right? Especially in a small school. Once somebody knows, everybody knows. You’re in high school. I’m in a high school now. Yeah. So, it was kind of different because at first people are like, “Oh, she races. That’s different and unique.” So, some people are like, most guys especially are like, “I’m a guy. I’m better. I could drive better than you. I’d beat you in a race.” But some people respect it. The hard part is most people that have never driven a car think they can drive better than someone that has. No matter what, no matter who they are, what age they are, a lot of people think that way. And that’s kind of the challenge with especially younger people is they always think that. Well, it’s kind of the same as fighting, right? Like I’ve never been in a fight, but I’m sure if I got into a fight, I’d be all right. Like, oh, I don’t feel that way at all. I would get my ass kicked. Yeah, I have no desire to try that at all. You don’t want to put that like a giraffe out there with gigantic limbs flailing around. It would be awful. You got the reach advantage of Well, that is true. Yeah, maybe. Um, well, it’s funny that you mentioned uh young boys because that was actually my next question. Are the boys intimidated or curious by, you know, your racing? Not really. Many are intimidated. Some are curious about it, but yet again, most are like, “Oh, I drive better. I can drive a street car. I can beat you just cuz I’m a guy.” Yeah. So, that’s how most people are. Yeah. I would think that most would be intimidated until you put them in the right seat with you or tried to go, “Oh, you know what? Hey, let’s I tell you what, I’ve got my Miata. You’ve got your, you know, your Mustang or your Camaro or your your Civic Type R or something. Why don’t we go out to the track and we’ll do lead follow? And my car has, you know, 150 less horsepower, so we’re just going to do a lead follow. So, you’ll be able to keep up with them without any problem. And by the time you get to the third corner and they’re 500 ft and fading back, my guess is that would change their attitude very quickly. Yeah, definitely. They don’t realize what it takes until they get in a car. Yeah. You know, I love giving away free track days, free far track days, cuz I like laying down challenges. So, why don’t we lay down a challenge right now? We’re going to call it the Kalin challenge. All right, for high school students, if you think if you’ve never done a track day before and you think that you can be faster or you are faster than Kalin because you’re a guy, come out to the track. If you lay down a faster lap than Kayn in her Miata, you can bring whatever you want. I’ll give you a free track day. There you go. Fair enough. Sounds that sounds awesome. Yes. All right. So, you can tell your friends at school like whenever they say, “Hey, I can drive, you know, better than you or faster than you.” All right. Bring it to the track. I’ll pay for your I’ll pay for their track day if they beat you. So, it’s on you if they beat me. The pressure’s on. Yes. Yes. But we know how that happens. Like they’re gonna be absolutely lost out there. Yeah. No chance. Doesn’t matter what car they bring. All right. Um, how do you balance school racing and just being a teenager? For me, school’s always been an easy thing for me.
I’ve always gotten through school, little studying, and been able to pass tests. So the school’s not really the hard part because I just get it done, make time, find time, and just figure out a way to get it done. The being a teenager part’s a little bit different because it’s kind of like it’s hard to balance all the time that racing takes, school takes, everything takes. So kind of have to make a schedule, be very on with the schedule and being on time to things. So then I can make time to have fun, be a normal teenager sometimes. Yeah, being a teenager is difficult enough as it is, you know, and in fact that’s my next question is uh do you feel that racing has forced you to grow up a little bit faster than your friends? My intuition is probably because you have to be a lot more dedicated to something rather than anybody else that’s not doing anything whether it’s sports, racing, or whatever. They can just go home and just hang out. Yeah, it definitely sometimes makes me grow up a little bit faster, but I’m very happy that it has. Yeah, it I actually have to have a schedule. Most teenagers go to school, go do whatever they want after school, but having a schedule is great. Even though, yeah, it takes away from some of the normal stuff. It makes it so much better. Can imagine maybe your conversations are like, “Hey, Kaylin, what are you doing after school? I want to go work on my Miata.” Like, what? Go spend a couple hours in the sim. What are you doing? Yeah. Yeah. What are you I have a question curious. Uh like aspirationally, right? So you’ve gone from to Miata spec Miata. Is it are your long-term plans more along the sports car route? Any interest in like a formula Farra getting in an open wheel car? What what do you see is you know where where are you two or three years from now? I really would love to drive anything I get the chance to drive, but really I hope to move up with the Miatas, maybe MX5 hopefully one day. Just stuff along those routes. If I get the opportunity to drive it, I’d love to no matter what it is. Interesting. That was one of my questions, Mike. Thank you. Now I got to skip around. Well, you know, it’s a valid question. Every once in a while you struggle over there, so I gotta, you know, prop you up a little bit. Does it look like I’m struggling today? Fine. All right. Um, Mark, I’m going to turn it over to you. I want to get your the father’s perspective, you know, of watching your daughter race. Um, what’s it like to watch a race? Do you ever get nervous? What? Walk me through that. I have an 8-year-old daughter. Um, Mike has two daughters, so I I try to put myself again in in other people’s shoes. I whenever my my little one does like a little flip or something, I’m like, “Oh, careful, careful.” What’s that like to watch her out there on the race? So, really, because I’ve been in the sport for so long myself, I I’m 56 now. Um, started when I was 15, so I’ve crashed quite a few cars myself and know that it’s safer inside that car than it is probably walking through the paddic, right? So that part of it never really um concerned me um that you get hurt in the car. Um I can tell you there was a very proud moment. Um I had the opportunity to race with my dad on the same track at the same time at Newsome Speedway and that was kind of my goal was to be able to to be on the track with her and the first time we went to Daytona and we were both on the track at the same time. Um, she doesn’t know it, but I actually when we were bump drafting and I was behind her, I got teareyed. I It was It was just amazing um time. I mean, I’m tearing up now just thinking about it. Um, so yeah, it’s I’m just amazed at what she’s been able to do um from when she was five till now. You know, it’s interesting. I had a very similar reaction when I was talking to Peter Saddington asking him about, you know, watching his son race. Peter was also a a racer and he he there was a video of Peter talking about not even talking about he was showing how emotional and excited he was to watch his his son at 12 years old go out there and raise. And he’s he doesn’t have to raise because he’s vicariously living, you know, that excitement through his son. And I right now I think we felt that with you. I can only imagine I I’ve been trying to plant the seed with my daughter. You know, I take her to school every morning and I’m you know I tell her like you know hopefully in a few years we’re going to be racing together and so when you telling us that story I just like man I my heart would just be pumping through my chest. You ever take her to school in the M3? I haven’t yet. See, that would really get her going there. I mean, she’d be the talk of the class. What grade is she in? She’s in third. Oh, yeah. There’d be third graders running around all over the place. Very envious of that situation. They wouldn’t be able to hear. They’d be forever damaged. But to her and she’s starting to get into that age where she’s self-conscious. Like, what are other people going to think? And so, she was like, “No, no, no. I don’t want other people other kids to be looking and stuff like that.” Right? It’s cuz you’re driving a BMW. If you had a Porsche, she’d be proud to be dropped off. But no, I like the way you interjected that one in every time. Yeah, I like it. I like it. All right, let’s get back to you, Mark. Um, this is not a cheap sport.
So, how do you manage the financial and emotional side of it as a family? It’s it’s tough. Um, probably the biggest help we have is my dad, her grandfather. Um if it wouldn’t be for him, none of this would be happening right now at the at the pace that it’s going. Um mom, you know, her mom lets us do whatever we want to do. She’s proud of us. She thinks it’s really neat that what what we’re doing together. Um she stays home and takes care of our farm, we call it. Um but financially wise with with we pay attention, of course. Um, that’s kind of why I’ve kind of stepped away a little bit and we’re focusing on Kayn on on where she’s going with this on her racing. On her racing. Um, and then we’ve got some we’ve got some people in the background. Um, you know, if we didn’t get hooked up with Todd Burus, um, it’s it I don’t know where we’d be right now between Todd and and the and the family that he’s brought us into. Um the center the center Smith um Lewis Bastini with um LTB Autoports um all those guys have actually in the background been helping us out and it’s they really all those people really have a lot of respect for what Kalin’s been doing and what we do as a family. Um so they’ve been able to step in and help also financially. Um but it it’s it’s a lot. Yeah. You know, it this is this is a as you guys know um the motorsports it’s it’s it’s a lot. Yeah. And campaigning a car is very expensive. And we’re actually we’ve got two. We’ve got mine that I’m running as we use that as a backup. Uhhuh. Um we’ve sent you some pictures of what happened earlier this year and um where where that car we had to kind of retire as and we had to put a you know go in and finish up the new car that she’s driving now. Right. Um but yeah, it’s it’s it’s a lot. If anybody doesn’t think it’s a lot, it’s a lot. Yeah. No, I don’t I don’t think that there are any misconceptions as to that. Even just running HPDE, like regular track days, that gets expensive real quick. You’re talking about a set of tires, $1,600, $2,000. Campaigning a car is, you know, you you’re going to have issues. You’re probably going to have some bumps here and there. Other cars are going to hit you. You might go off track and hit a wall. Like, these are things you got to repair and get ready for the next the next race. And it adds up. Yeah. We have the benefit in HPDE, right? We can run the same tires for h five, six weekends, right? If you want to be competitive in wheelto-heel, like you can’t get away with that, you know, every day, every every track day you lose a couple of ten a second, right? With your tires, you know, that just doesn’t fly if you’re doing if you’re doing competition when everybody else is buying a brand new set of $1,500 or $2,000 tires every single day, bringing multiple sets to the track. Yeah, it get that adds up uh quick. Want to drive on a real racetrack but don’t have a car? Velocity Track Experience offers track ready car rentals for HPDE and racing. Whether you’re flying in from out of state, out of the country, or you want full track support without worrying about prep, maintenance, or transport, this is your arrive and drive solution. From an agile Mazda MX5 to a fully prepped BMW race car, Velocity provides everything you need to hit the track with confidence, including expert support and optional coaching. Just book your favorite track car, show up and drive. Go to velocityexperience.com and start your track adventure today. And and the other aspect on my part is I I we do everything in our own shop. You know, we repair the cars ourselves. I mean, when when she crashed at Daytona, we cut the front off, had it back on before Homestead and um you know, that’s one of the benefits of the mechanical ability that I have cuz I’ve spent 27 years in a Lincoln dealership twisting wrenches. Mhm. So, that takes a little bit of the bear burden away that some of the other fellas, hey, they’re paying people to put their cars back together for them. Um, so that’s that’s been a big big thing for us as a as a race team. Kaylin, let me uh let me bounce this topic back to you, listening you having listened to your dad talk about, you know, that it is expensive. Walk me through what what it’s like listening to that. maybe if you feel pressure or you know maybe not to you know crash the car and then I want you to walk me through what happened at Daytona. Mark just mentioned that you you crashed it.
Talk to me about what like leading up to that crash, what happened, how it happened, and then what was going through your mind afterwards. I’ve always known it was expensive. I always knew it put a burden on us with the amount of money it took. So, I’ve always been, “Yeah, I can make this tire stretch for another weekend cuz let’s save a little bit of money money when we can.” She’s mindful. Mhm. Yeah. So, it always hurts me when I crash a car mentally because I’m like, “Oh, here’s a bunch of money going down the drain, but I just know it’s part of it.” So, like the last wreck at Daytona, that was with my new car. That was the first wreck I ever the first crash in that car. So, we just put that car together at the beginning of the season was when we built this car because my other one got crashed, too. So, that wreck after watching video, I was upset about it because I was like, I just crashed another car. Now, we have a bunch of work, a bunch of money that has to go back into it to get it fixed. But watching video time and time again, trying to think, is there anything else I could have done to save it? But it was just an unavoidable wreck going into turn one with 60 cars at Daytona, stuff happens. And sometimes someone turns in front of you and there’s no way to avoid it. This is an SECA race. Definitely. Yes. SECA race. Um I believe there was 60 cars. 63 cars. 63 cars. Yep. For that for that race going into turn one. You ever watch the start of a Miata race? It’s the craziest thing. Yeah, it is insane. It’s like an ant farm. Yeah. Like stuff going everywhere. You got to turn the TV down or the the monitor down a little bit. It just sounds like angry bees. But watching them all going to turn one is insane. Mark, I wanna I want to rewind because I think we kind of skipped over this and and I and I I don’t mind putting you on the spot again because I think it was such a great moment and I can only imagine what it was like when you were out there racing with with Kayn. I would imagine that it was almost like maybe you start seeing tunnel vision like you realize this is the moment. this is what I’ve been looking forward to. And at that point, it’s you checked it off the list, right? You’re like, it was fulfilled. You’re a happy person. As a father, I probably I would have been like, I can die right now. Happy. Is was that kind of like your your thought, too? Yeah, it was um like I said, I I I cried for the whole lap. Yeah. You know, when the checker came out in the cool down lap and you were behind her and I was behind her. Yeah. Um and and I and it seems to be a going trend that I always seem to be behind her. Um she’s she seems to be faster than I and it frustrates me a little. Um because hey, I want to beat her. I I I do want to beat her, but I also want her to outrun me also. Um but yeah, it was it was like, okay, we did this and if it doesn’t happen again, I’m I’m okay with it. Yeah. And so I’ve I’ve stepped back a little bit more out of the car um because of that because hey we I fulfilled what I wanted to do and it was pretty cool and even we we just ran a 4h hour 4 hour yes 4 hour 4 hour enduro at Daytona together um end of the night with SECA and she took the first stint I took the middle stint and then she finished off and we won the pass um ita in my car. Uh and again that’s another thing that’s you know that was another one of my what you say dreams to be able to run these enduros with her and part of a team and part of a team. Um so it’s been it’s I can’t even I can’t even express the feelings that you get. It’s just it’s just overwhelming. And now when you’re out there and and you’re driving and she’s in the paddock, uh is it frustrating to hear, you know, the your team uh come over the radio and be like, “Dad, why are you slower than Kayla?” It must be frustrating, right? Yeah, I would think so. Yeah. I’ll get they’ll pops will be on the radio and and there’ll be some giggling going on, right? Like something wrong with the car. We don’t understand. I don’t think I ever said those words. I think it was just, “Hey, you you can get out now. There’s enough fuel to make it. She’s talking. I never said those words. Talking a little smack like, “Yeah, you’re What are you doing to my lead, Dad?” Like, “I worked hard for that first 45 minutes scent. It’s gone.” Kaylin, how um how does it feel to like listen to to your dad, you know, go through those emotions, you know? It’s it’s hard, I think, for children to understand like what a what a father goes through. But I’ I’d like to hear your thoughts. It kind of makes me emotional the emotions, but like I don’t really know what to do with it. So, I kind of just try to like not quite think about it, but yeah, it makes me a bit emotional hearing that, too. So, makes me feel those emotions almost just as much. Sure. Sure. That’s awesome. That’s awesome that you guys get to do that together. I’m I’m hoping to be able to do that as well. If if you get the opportunity, it’s you’ll when you if you get the opportunity and it happens, you’ll I’m gonna think about it. You you’ll you’ll know what I’m talking about. This is what Mark was feeling, right? I put my girls in the cart once or twice and they were really good at it, but they sort of completely they never really picked it up.
So, I’m obviously have failed terribly in a father, but I’m going to bring them to the next FAR event. Take them uh take them around for a few laps. Is that the one coming up in October? Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. They’re they’re going to come down on Saturday afternoon. I’m going to carve out some of the the advanced sessions in the afternoon uh to take them out for a ride. Nice. Nice. All right, let’s uh jump ahead because we’re starting to run out of time. Um let’s go to Legacy and the road ahead. Mike already stole one of my questions, so we’ll skip that one. Third generation racer. What does that mean to you? Um do you feel you have to carry this legacy or are you wanting to kind of carve your own path? I don’t feel pressured to carry the same legacy because they both did circle track and now we’re transitioning to road course, but I want to continue the family family legacy because it’s just something that’s important to me and I feel that it’s important to the whole family. Well, it’s great that you also clearly have a natural ability to do it, you know, like the fact that you’re at the age you are that you already feel most comfortable when the helmet goes on. You’re, you know, it’s in the genes clearly born to do it. Yeah. I still get butterflies when I’m sitting in the car. Yeah, for sure. I started putting on the helmet and like that’s why she’s a better driver than both of us very clearly. Well, I didn’t start, you know, at five, right? Yeah. I mean, this is like second nature to her now. We had to kind of like grow into it. Um, do you have any advice for young racers, especially girls that who may want to follow your path? Sometimes it may seem hard to do what I’m doing. It may seem like it’s a long ways away, but I cuz I know when I started at 13 and got into a HBD car and could barely shift. I knew it seemed like a lot to learn and that so many people are so much better. And I still feel that sometimes when I’m driving, I’m in the back and it’s like so it hits me cuz it’s like why am I not that good yet? But you just got to keep pushing through those thoughts of how much it’s going to take and just keep pushing through if that’s what you truly want to do. Yeah. And again, just to reemphasize the point that the car is a great equalizer, right? It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl, boy, young or old. You just got to, you know, you got to stick with it and you got to start, you got to keep working on that, you know, that task, you know, cuz nobody’s going to jump in a car and just be Mario and Dreddy. It’s just not going to happen. So, definitely. It’s been a hard thing to learn, but you have to learn it eventually. Yeah, good advice. All right, we’re going to jump into my favorite segment, which is the rapid fire question segment. So, um, buckle up. Are you familiar with the rapid fire segment? We’ve I’ve watched a few podcast a little bit here. Awesome. Most of these are going to be, uh, for you. I’ll open up the questions when it’s appropriate for the two of you. So, here we go. Are you ready? Yes. All right. Rapid fire questions. Number one, who’s harder to teach? Men or women? Men, definitely. always. Why is that? They’re more stubborn, hard-headed, don’t learn as easy, and just aren’t as focused. We are problem. All of that. Yes. Right. And worse, probably. Yeah, I know.
All right. Number two. If you could, who would you rather race, your dad or your grandpa? I love racing with my dad, but I would want to race against my grandpa once because I raced with my dad now. I want to know what it’s like. She’s like, racing against dad is clearly no challenge. So maybe grandpa needs to Maybe. Right, Mike. Just rub it in. My goodness. No love here. Use our guest as often as possible. I apologize for my co-host, Mark. All right, number three. What’s scarier, a wet track or a teenage boy trying to impress you? Teenage boy. Always. Definitely. I figured once you told us that you were comfortable once, you know, in the car, I’m like, I already I already thought of that question. I’m like, I know what she’s going to say. All right, number four. So, teenage boy is the scarier part. Definitely. I think that would be the scarier part for me, too. Number four. Would you rather? I’m I’m with you, Carlos. I’m I’m with you. I can imagine as a father, right? I’m with you. Oh, yeah. Like, it’s probably easier to take her racing than to have a young boy show up to take her out on a date. Definitely. 100 Yeah. Oh, 100%. You don’t want that guy not What are your What are your intentions with my daughter? Right. All right. Number four. Would you rather spin in front of your dad or your classmates? My dad always definitely trust them more than my classmates. They probably can’t drive very well. Yeah. All right. And number five. Uh, what’s more satisfying? Passing an adult on the racetrack or teaching one something new? Depends. Sometimes I love passing adults on the racetrack because it like it’s like, “Oh, I just got beat by a teenage girl.” But teaching them stuff is always fun, too, because I get to learn from it and they’re like, “She knows a lot. Maybe I should listen.” Yeah. So, and that’s something that we actually talk about, too, right? The uh the car culture versus the track culture where the the car culture is like, “Hey, look at me. Look at me.” And the track culture is more like, like, you said it. Oh, Look at you. Like, you’re turning some fast laps. Let me learn. Yeah. All right. Uh, number six. What’s more nerve-wracking? the green flag or a math test? Well, I’m good at math and I like math, but definitely math because green flag is not really that nerve-wracking for me. Even though you’re good at math, you’ll still say that one’s more nerve-wracking. Interesting. Okay. Seven. If you were not racing, what would you be doing on the weekends? Fishing, probably. That’s like pretty much the one thing I do other than racing. You’re a very outdoors girl. Yes, definitely. I’d like to discuss trading both of my daughters for Kayn cuz she sounds better than both of mine. My goodness. What do you think? It’s two for one. I’m hanging on to this one. I hope your daughter My goodness. I kid. I kid. All right. Number eight. Um, what’s your go-to hype song before a race? I don’t really have one. I’m like I’m not specific about music. I kind of just listen to whatever and like I’m too lazy to make a p a sp podcast Spotify playlist. So like I kind of just listen to whatever it gives me. Oh man, that’s kind of a disappointing. I was writing these these questions and I was like I could see her with her little, you know, iPods and everything, you know, like no no music, nothing. Like I listen to music but I nothing really specific. Kind of just random stuff. Okay. Uh, number nine. Which wins in your book? Bravery or patience? Patience. Always. It’s gonna win no matter what. Because covered that girl. Yes. Yes. Smart, right? Yeah. All right. Wise beyond her years. Correct. Number 10. More comfortable. What’s more comfortable? At school or behind the wheel of a race car? We already know this. Behind the wheel. I hate school. I’m good at it, but I hate it. that when she talks about school, she’s AP classes up across the board. We just got the grades. They’re all hundreds and 98s. I mean, so when she talks about when you asked about the schooling Yeah. Um it she’s a natural. That’s all. I’m going to leave it. I’m going to leave it at that. She just she’s good at it. God bless mom cuz Right. It didn’t come from me. It’s so funny cuz as I’m writing these questions, I’m like it makes sense. Like high school was rough, you know? like everybody’s like, you know, kind of coming out of their shell or like learning who they are. So, but you’re just so comfortable behind the wheel that it’s just I think any question that I would put it doesn’t matter behind the wheel. That’s where that’s my home, right? Yep. Definitely.
That’s the one place no matter what I want to be there. That’s where I’m comfortable. I think that’s something that all drivers, racers or just track drivers like us have in common. You know, we’re just that’s our happy place. Yep. Definitely. If you’re paying that much, it better be your happy place. Otherwise, why would you? Yeah. Right. All right. Um, next segment, last segment is going to be our guest challenge. This is where you guys, both of you, have a chance to challenge two of your friends to come on the podcast. So, if you want to look straight into your respective cameras and lay down the challenge, this is the floor is yours. I nominate Nicole Hecker and Cole Lucas to come on this podcast and speak their story. All right, Mark. Do you have two? if I can pronounce their names correct. So, it’s Mike Hitch mem and we all know that him from Spec Miata and Nat Skipperoni when now we understand why it was such a challenge to get the pronunciation right. Scapertini. Scap Scapertini. He’s another prospect Miata guy. Okay, those two guys and they’ve got they’re they’re pretty cool. They’re pretty cool guys. All right, they got some good stories. I believe they’ve got some good stories. Natt, he’s actually ran quite a few champ car races. Um, I think Mike has also. All right, there you have it. The challenge has been laid down by Kalin and Mark. If you guys are interested in coming on the podcast on Off the Racing Line, simply go to offtheracingline.com, fill out the form and let us know when you want to come in. Uh, just be aware that we are fully booked 3 to four months out. I was actually talking to the somebody at at Sebring last weekend and uh and I was like, “Hey, we’d love to have you on the podcast and they said, “Yeah, let me check my schedule. I’d love to come.” I was like, “How does April sound of next year?” And they’re like, “Are you serious?” Yeah. Built a quick little thing here. I got recognized twice at the track last weekend. It’s funny, right? Yeah. You were there the one time I didn’t even know what the guy was talking about. It was the first time it’s ever happened. He’s like on the thing and I was like, I don’t I think you got me confused with somebody else and you’re like, “You’re an idiot. He’s talking about that. I be like, “Oh, yeah, that was me.” Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We’re We’re getting uh we’re getting to be known. You’re getting some traction. That’s good. Um it’s been great having you guys on the show. Uh Mark, Kalin, it’s been really fantastic talking to you guys. Hopefully, we get to do this again. Mike, thank you for being here once again. It’s always a pleasure seeing you. And remember, everything interesting happens off the racing line. See you guys next time. Everything interesting happens off the racing line. I took the hard road. I’ve earned these stripes. The road I’m dreaming ain’t always kept my head down feel. I lost some time but my name crush made a diamond out of me. I see so much between [Music] where my story begin. [Music] Where my story begin. [Music] Where my servant with the green brick I burn past the cone behind me focused on the next turn I’ve crossed the path where none existed from the bruises most people resisted now every mile is proof I’m alive [Applause] still chasing the line and I roll my Between the stars [Applause] [Music] where my story begins where my story begins. [Music] Where my story begins. [Music]
