One of the fantastic things about motorsports is that there is always something to talk about, whether you are discussing technological advancements, on-track skirmishes that lead to fights, or discussing how a race weekend conflicts with following your NFL picks.
In this blog post, we’ll take a flying lap around some of the NASCAR news and notes you may have missed that are important to the sport’s future.
NASCAR Meets Ice and Le Mans
Yes, that title is correct, and not for referencing NFL predictions for games in December. You will actually be seeing NASCAR competing on an ice circuit very soon.
In 2023, NASCAR meets ice for the first time in the series’ history. While this is not the American NASCAR series, NASCAR’s European series just got significantly more interesting with the addition of the first ice race to be held in Rovaniemi, Finland. There are six grand Prix weekends and 24 total championship races on the 2023 European NASCAR schedule, and none will be more focused on by casual NASCAR fans and fans of other categories of motorsports than the frozen non-Championship NASCAR Arctic Ice Race season opener in March 2023.
NASCAR’s continued expansion into the crowded European motorsports scene includes the first Arctic Ice, includes a historic entry into a legendary endurance competition as a part of NASCAR’S 75th-anniversary celebrations. Since 2012, the 24 Hour of Le Mans has reserved a special single-slot class garage (#56) that it introduced and reserved for innovative automobiles. For NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, Le Mans and the FIA have reserved garage 56 for a special NASCAR entry.
Dubbed the “Garage 56” project, Hendricks motorsports are preparing one of the series’ Chevrolet Camaro’s to run out of garage 56 for the legendary 24-hours of Le Mans endurance race. Two weeks after the IndyCar Indianapolis 500 and Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix are run, the final of the three crown jewels of motorsports, the 24 hours of Le Mans will be run with NASCAR participation for the first time in 47 years.
The NASCAR cup series in America is running on the same weekend as the 24 hours of Le Mans, so it’s unlikely that any of the NASCAR cup series active competitors will be available or released for the endurance race. German sports car and Le Mans veteran Mike Rockenfeller is expected to be in the car, alongside IMSA Endurance Racing teammate and NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson for Le Mans. At the same time, team owner Rick Hendrick would like to see NASCAR legend and 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Jeff Gordon fill out the Garage 56 lineup.
A Canadian Indigenous Woman Inspiring the Next Generation of Female Racers
While the likes of Tatiana Calderón returning to Formula 2 and the reigning W series champion Jamie Chadwick serving as a test driver for the Williams F1 team (and hopefully into a competitive single-seater category for 2023), women are slowly making their way toward a seat in the pinnacle of motorsports. Formula 1 has been a male-dominated series, with only two women qualifying and starting a Formula 1 Grand Prix. The same can not be said for NASCAR; another woman is blazing her path in motorsports, leaving a trail for the next generation of female racers to follow.
Throughout history, over 125 women have qualified and raced under the NASCAR banner in many series. Racers like Jennifer Jo Cobb in NASCAR’s Truck Series have carried the flag for women in motorsports for over a decade. At the same time, Danica Patrick switched from a single-seater series (IndyCar) to NASCAR and had a long career on track. Maybe one day, we’ll see the likes of Gracie Trotter, Natalie Decker, or Toni Bredinger racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup series.
In Canada, while many people search the internet for NFL expert picks, an Indigenous woman is blazing her path through regional racing circuits, following the path of other Canadian women who have raced under the NASCAR banner, like Maryeve Dufault, Kat Teasdale, or Sarah Cornett-Ching.
Destiny Klym has Indigenous roots in the Opaskwayak Cree Nation of Manitoba, Canada. However, Klym is originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, where she began her racing career on a rural dirt track. Sure, Klym may only have had three races in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series in 2017, but Klym’s passion for motorsports was borne from a connection to her racing father, and her impact on the sport won’t be measured by on-track success.
Sometimes representation plants the seed of inspiration for the next generation. Klym was the first Saskatchewan and Indigenous woman to compete in a NASCAR-sanctioned event. She currently competes in the International Motor Contest Association and is blazing another path in a male-dominated world as a welder: an essential skill for a racer without the luxury of a pit crew and a desire to fix their race car. Seeing Klym competing on the track or working on her car -or any other woman or marginalized individual, for that matter – could be the seed that plants itself into a young girl’s mind changing her trackside experience from apathy to interest to a desire to be the World Champion.
Destiny Klym may have never had a career on the NASCAR Cup or Xfinity Series as a goal. Still, Destiny’s destiny might actually be to have a significant grassroots impact and inspire the woman who will be the first NASCAR Cup Series Champion.
