{"id":24005,"date":"2019-03-08T15:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T21:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=24005"},"modified":"2019-03-09T19:46:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T01:46:01","slug":"rising-talents-deegan-daniels-and-oleary-are-carrying-the-torch-for-women-in-motorsports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/08\/rising-talents-deegan-daniels-and-oleary-are-carrying-the-torch-for-women-in-motorsports\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising talents Deegan, Daniels and O’Leary are carrying the torch for women in motorsports"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Hailie Deegan\u2019s season-opening victory in NASCAR\u2019s K&N Pro Series West at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend was that she doesn\u2019t consider the victory big news just because she\u2019s a young woman.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hailie Deegan, driver of the #19 NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota, is awarded the Rookie of the Year award prior to the start of the NASCAR K&N Series West NAPA Auto Parts Idaho 208 at Meridian Speedway on September 30, 2018 in Meridian, Idaho. (Photo by Loren Orr\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To Deegan, the achievement is important because of the strong statement it makes about the season to come. She\u2019s there to win. And she\u2019s already shown she can.<\/p>\n

Today marks International Women\u2019s Day \u2013 and in the sporting world, in particular, it\u2019s appropriate to look at how women\u2019s roles have changed with a concept so basic as opportunity.<\/p>\n

Deegan, and many women involved in the competition side of NASCAR, continue to carry the torch forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the great thing about NASCAR,” Deegan said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much room for a girl to come in and take over the sport, do things no one else has done. In the world now, there\u2019s not a lot of areas to do that and I think NASCAR presents a lot of opportunities for a girl to come in and to really do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly that\u2019s been the case in ways both ordinary and high profile. The NASCAR industry has women in major leadership positions \u2013 from Lesa France Kennedy, who is CEO of the International Motorsports Corporation and Vice Chairperson of the NASCAR Board of Directors to Julie Giese, who oversees this week\u2019s race venue, ISM Raceway in Phoenix, to Jill Gregory, who serves as NASCAR\u2019s executive vice president & chief marketing officer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brehanna Daniels. (Photo by Blaine Ohigashi\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the sport also has women working hard on race day in other varied and innovative ways \u2013 driving cars like Hailie Deegan, and working on pit crews like Brehanna Daniels and Breanna O\u2019Leary and serving as race engineers such as Angela Ashmore and Andrea Mueller \u2013 all roles even recent generations didn\u2019t necessarily foresee. Ashley Partlett Malec was among the pioneers who worked in the garage for Chip Ganassi Racing for years.<\/p>\n

Both Deegan and Giese were just named to Forbes Magazine\u2019s prestigious Women to Watch in 2019 list. The recognition is well-deserved and something these women are glad to embrace. And best of all, they aren\u2019t alone in their endeavors.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I\u2019ve worked for and everything I\u2019ve planned to accomplish, I\u2019ve wanted this all to happen,” Deegan said of her increasing success in NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brehanna Daniels and Breanna O\u2019Leary.
(Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think I just put the most pressure on myself. There is other pressure, but mostly from me wanting to perform the best I can, not just going out there and being the best of a couple girls, I want to be the best driver out there.”<\/p>\n

Both Daniels and O\u2019Leary share the same kind of sentiment in terms of working hard. However, they were both college athletes and neither says they had even considered working in the NASCAR industry until rather unlikely paths were established.<\/p>\n

Daniels still laughs telling the story of when the game announcer the Norfolk State University girls basketball team she played for, stopped her one day at lunch \u2013 mid-bite \u2013 to encourage her to attend an on-campus tryout for the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Pit Crew Development program.  <\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me, I feel like you\u2019ll do a really good job because you do good at anything you put your mind to,” Daniels recalled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brehanna Daniels. Photo by Mike Haag \/ Raceday San Antonio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShe pulled out her phone and showed me a video of a pit stop and my reaction was, \u2018dang that\u2019s fast\u2019. Not knowing much about anything, I was just fascinated by it all.”<\/p>\n

Daniels vividly remembers an unlikely source of motivation she gained while attending the tryout. She was the only woman among four men at this particular stop and one of the other male students participating told her, \u201cgirls don\u2019t really make it in this\u201d \u2013 that this line of work was not for women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat just gave me that extra motivation to make this happen,” Daniels said. \u201cI\u2019m going to score, I\u2019m going to be that change, that difference.”<\/p>\n

And she has been. The rest of the story is both \u201chistory\u201d as the saying goes, but also the future.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Leary agrees and shares a similar story of NASCAR origin. As with Daniels, she hadn\u2019t been a particularly robust fan of the sport. She was a college softball player at Alcorn State University in Mississippi and working a job as a graduate assistant in the school\u2019s strength and training program.<\/p>\n

She tried out for NASCAR Drive for Diversity in 2016 and, following a national combine, was selected for the program and began working with race teams. O\u2019Leary credits the hard work and mental strength she developed as a college athlete to help her in this completely new venture. It was admittedly outside her comfort zone, and a personal challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is shocked at first then thinks it\u2019s just the coolest thing ever,” O\u2019Leary says of the reaction she gets from friends and family about working in the NASCAR pits. \u201cI think of course women are probably thinking, \u2018it\u2019s great to see women out here,\u2019 and the reaction I\u2019ve gotten from men, is at first maybe disbelief then followed by, \u2018that\u2019s cool.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI never would have imagined the impact that has come from this. And that\u2019s the most rewarding part of it, being a role model for younger girls who thought this was something they couldn\u2019t do or maybe were scared to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope I make them proud and set a good example so it\u2019s always looked at in a positive manner. Looking at the bigger picture they would see my whole story, of working hard to learn something brand new that can get you somewhere regardless of gender.”<\/p>\n

Last month Daniels and O\u2019Leary pitted together on Rick Ware Racing\u2019s No. 52 car in the Daytona 500 \u2013 the first time female graduates of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Pit Crew Development program went over the wall in the Great American Race. This weekend Daniels will once again be on the No. 52 car in the Cup Series and O\u2019Leary will be pitting the No. 77 car in the ARCA Menards Series race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI receive messages, pictures and videos on a daily basis of parents showing me their little girls trying to change a tire,” Daniels said. \u201cYoung people, old people, everyone reaching out.”<\/p>\n

And, she happily reminds us, her ability to achieve this goal is also a reminder for others what devotion and pursuit can achieve no matter the hurdles you must overcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Hailie Deegan\u2019s season-opening victory in NASCAR\u2019s K&N Pro Series West at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend was that she doesn\u2019t consider the victory big news just because she\u2019s a young woman. To Deegan, the achievement is important because<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":24009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-24005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-6fb","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/KNPSEW-Meridian-Deegan-SROY-092918.jpg?fit=3355%2C2237","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24005"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24010,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24005\/revisions\/24010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}