They say that racing starts in the South, but for Mandy Chick, her roots are strong in the Midwest. The pride of De Soto, KS, Chick has quickly made a name for herself in the ARCA Menards Series, earning 2 top 10’s in her first 6 starts, highlighted by a 5th place finish at Daytona in just her third career series start while driving for her family-owned team, Team Chick Motorsports. Chick maintains a busy workload, as she is wrapping up her bachelors and masters degrees at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, not to mention the blossoming racing career she is in the midst of. Seemingly, she balances it all. We sat down with Chick and had the chance to discuss her career in racing, how she prepares for a race, advice she has for young racers and what her future plans are, both on and off the track.
Q: So, we’re going to start at the very beginning. Where are you originally from, and how did you first get involved in racing?
A: That’s a great question. I am originally from a small town outside of Kansas City called De Soto. I’m super proud of my hometown. I’ve lived there since I was two years old. I’m a third-generation racer. I started racing when I was six years old. My dad and my grandpa raced before I did, and they owned a NASCAR Truck Series team from about 2001 to 2005. I started showing interest at a young age and then they sold the truck team to focus on my racing, which was the best sacrifice that I could have asked for, that was so nice of them. But the rest is history: started racing at a young age and really have been in the racing industry for about 15 years.
Q: Growing up, who was your favorite driver as a kid?
A: Oh, that’s a tough question. I always really liked Clint Bowyer. I felt like he’s, you know, a Kansas native. I felt like he really channeled those Kansas values and stayed true to his roots. I know that my dad is friends with Clint, and they’ve done a lot of crossover in their careers, with my dad getting to work with him some. And so, I just think that I always kind of looked up to Clint Bowyer, knowing that he was from Kansas, and able to do just such awesome things and really stay true to his roots.
Q: Did you play any other sports as a kid growing up? Or are you just strictly racing?
A: So I did a lot of different things. When I was really little, I did some cheerleading, I did some dance. Those didn’t last long. {Laughter} I drive racecars for a reason. I also played basketball and volleyball all the way up until high school, and then got to the breaking point where I could have gone out for those teams in high school. But really, my racing started picking up and that was always my primary. So I had to give that up. And that worked out for the better because really, racing is what I’ve always been best at. So yeah, I’ve never regretted that decision.
Q: Do you think having that exposure to different sports growing up made you a better athlete?
A: I think so because you have a little bit of different skillsets. I think with basketball, you have some endurance running up and down the court. I think with dance, you have to focus more on balance. And so I think with those you build some core muscles, and then also some cardio and endurance. And so I think all of those kind of played into helping me become a better racer.
Q: You’ve raced in a handful of different series over the years as you’ve been making your way up through the ranks. Can you go over some of the different series you’ve been in and what some of the major differences are between them?
A: Yeah, absolutely. So, when I started racing, I was in quarter midgets. They’re small, open-wheel cars built for kids, ages 5 to 16 years old. And I raced that all the way up until I was about 11 or 12. Then, we transitioned to a USRA dirt modified when I was 13 years old. And that was a big jump from quarter midgets to full-size dirt modified. I raced that against mostly grown men in the Kansas City area for several years and that really helped me get some good car control. That dirt aspect is – you’ll see that in a lot of drivers in the NASCAR ranks that it’s really beneficial for learning about the car control and car balance. I think that that is one of the best things we could have done in my developmental years is kind of getting me that experience so that I could understand how to control a car on asphalt. That was great. After that, we did a little bit of double duty as well with the dirt modifieds and then asphalt late models, which was really beneficial because you see a lot of drivers up in the top levels of NASCAR doing some double duty between Cup and Xfinity. And so learning how to transition those learning styles at different tracks, and with different types of cars, that was really helpful. The late models were a lot heavier. So, I could understand what that momentum looks like as you’re, you know, driving the car off into the turn, you can’t quite do that as much in an asphalt late model as you can in a dirt modified. So, there’s some differences and changing driving styles. I only raced the dirt modified for a few years just to get that experience. And then we focused full-time on asphalt late models. So, we did that all the way up until last year, which was really great because I got a lot of time to really understand what the cars are like. They’re similar, not the same, but they’re similar at least in body style to the NASCAR series, the main ones that you see with Cup and Xfinity and then ARCA. So, I feel like that was really valuable. I did a couple of races in a dirt midget as well. Those are wild. {Laughter} Learning that car control at such a high speed and on a small track was really important as well. A much different driving style because you’re really kind of living on that edge of, I don’t want to say wrecking the car, but like spinning the car out, and you’re pushing the car to its absolute limit. And that was really important for me to learn. And then now I’m racing ARCA. They’re much heavier than the asphalt late models. So I think the biggest thing for me to transition into is, first of all, they have much more horsepower, so more power when you go into the turn. And they’re a lot heavier, so you have a lot more momentum going into the turn. So sometimes you have to back up your turn, not overdrive it, and of course overdriving the turn is my bad habit. So it really forced me to learn quickly.
Q: How did the ARCA opportunity come to be?
A: We had been in late models for many years, and we started racing late models when I was 13. I was one of the last ones to get specially approved for NASCAR competition. We did that all the way up until last year when I was 20. So, we had a really long late model career, I suppose. And really started finding that we wanted to keep moving our programs forward, and really happened upon this opportunity. Honestly, we had kept our eyes out on opportunities to move up into higher series, but when we saw an ARCA team for sale, we knew that it was perfect for us. We knew there were a lot of logistics in the late model world at the time with higher costs and changing things over and competition with changing equipment and changing rules, all of that. And so, we really just decided if we’re going to make the investment, we might as well just make the investment where we could continue developing our team at a national level and have national exposure that we can offer our marketing partners.
Q: So far, you’ve had a brief ARCA career, but you definitely have been making waves. You’ve had a top five at Daytona, you had a couple of top twelves at Kansas. What’s the whole experience been like so far?
A: Yeah, the experience has been incredible. I always say that I feel like I’m living my dream. And I know that we’re not done developing our team yet, which is fantastic. But I really feel like each and every day, every time we go to the racetrack, I am loving every moment, every moment of it. I feel like it’s a natural fit for our team. We have been welcomed by ARCA and by all of the other competitors. It’s been really great to build bonds with people. Of course, I’ve met all the females in the series and then building bonds with people like Greg Van Alst and Frankie Muniz and all of them. I mean, it’s just been an incredible experience.
Q: Now on top of that, not only you’re racing, you’re also in college as well. You’re studying engineering, correct?
A: Yes, that is correct. I am getting my bachelor’s in mechanical engineering with two minors, economics and entrepreneurial studies. I’m also getting my master’s in engineering management at the same time, so I’m currently in my senior year.
Q: How do you find time to balance it all? That’s a pretty heavy load right there.
A: You know, I get that question a lot. And I’m never quite sure how I’m supposed to answer that. But I think I explain it as I’m such a Type-A engineer personality that I have all of my color-coded spreadsheets and that really helps me to keep everything organized. But I really honestly couldn’t do it without the community either. My family, my fiancée, my sorority sisters, all of them. They really help to support me because they know that I have a lot on my plate. So I’m really, really thankful for my support system.
Q: On weeks when you get ready to go out and race, what’s the preparation like leading up to the race?
A: Yeah, so I think some of that has morphed over the last few years. I stay as heavily involved as I can, but I’m about seven hours from a race shop. So I’m not – I can’t always help on race prep as much as I’d like to. But in general, we always check over every nut and bolt on the car and make sure that those are tight, make sure we clean every inch of the car. Part of cleaning is not just to make it look good, but also to check for cracks. Because if you’re paying attention to detail, and you’re cleaning something, it’s easier to happen upon different part failures. We’ve caught a lot of different things just from that, so that is always a staple in our preparation routine. In addition to that, there’s all of the setup that happens, which differs between different tracks. Sometimes if it’s a different track that we haven’t gone to, we’ll take the car down to North Carolina and do pull down with a team that we work with, Cook Racing Technologies. Super happy to have our partnership with them that they help us kind of pull cars down and refine our setup. But in general, once we get done with setup, we start loading all of the equipment and load the race car. So, I think the biggest part and the most time-consuming part is the setup piece because that has to be very perfected. And we have a very small team as well. So, it’s generally my dad and maybe one or two other crew members, but we have a volunteer crew. So, we make do with what we have. But I would say that that’s our general preparation routine.
Q: How do you stay in shape, both physically and mentally, for the sport?
A: Yeah, that’s certainly tough because there’s a lot that goes into it. And people don’t typically realize that. But I do a lot of strength and endurance training in the gym, primarily when I’m here at Rose-Hulman. I have access to a gym here, which is fantastic. Hydration is also a huge thing and something that I have been working really hard on. So I typically will drink at least 100 ounces of water a day the week prior to a race. And so I know that’s a general goal for a lot of people, but then I have a couple of liquid IVs in between there and try to really get better at my hydration. I also occasionally in the summer will drive around in my truck with my heat on because it kind of gets me used to that ambient temperature of a race car – it’s not going to mimic the ambient temperature of a race car because that’s such high temperature, but it kind of gets me used to a higher temperature and being used to that for a long period of time.
Q: So, on the day of the race, every athlete has their own “zone” – they shift into race mode and they’re just ready to go. What’s your own personal zone like?
A: I would say – I don’t know that I have a blanket way that I spend a race day in general. I am also a heavy part of working on our cars on the racetrack, so I’m focused on that. Our focus is doing the best that we can with what we have and making sure that we’re making all the proper changes and making the right decisions because once we make a change, you can’t go back on it until a pit stop. So, I think that I’m focused on that primarily. But I take about an hour prior to a race to just calm down. I try to just stay in my trailer and keep my nerves low first of all, and kind of have some time with myself to think about, “Okay, what are our goals? How are we going to approach this?” I think about our communication with my spotter, and I talk over that with him. But in general, I try to keep things calm right before a race because that’s when I get most nervous. And so, I think that would probably be my only big thing on a routine. I think if we’re talking about me getting ready for the car, I have a system where I have to get all of my gear together, I hook up my cool shirt, too, our cooling system in the car and all that. So, I’m very focused on all of that on race day that I don’t get a whole bunch of free time to myself.
Q: Do you have any memorable travel stories, anything that sticks out from being on the road for races?
A: Oh, my goodness, so many. So when I was little, we went to Syracuse, New York, for a quarter midget race of mine. And while we were up there, we so badly, my mom and I, wanted to go to Niagara Falls on our way back, we were so close. And my dad had said no, we’ve got to get back. We’ve got to go prep these race cars he had focused on, which I totally understand, and I respect, but we just really wanted to go to Niagara Falls. And it happened to be that the one place that we were passing through and his truck had a mechanical failure was at Niagara Falls. {Laughter} So we ended up having to stay. I say having like it’s a bad thing, but it was great. We ended up staying in Niagara Falls for I think two days. And it was such a blast. But I was elementary school aged. I think that most of my memories as a kid just surround race trips, spending time with family, and I missed a lot of school. I was always a straight A student, but I missed a lot of school and always felt like my education that I got on the road, my real life practical knowledge and my knowledge of history because we tried to kind of team our race trips up with different historical monuments – that was fantastic. And I always felt like that was something that benefited me when I was young. I have very fond memories of traveling when I was a kid.
Q: Do you get to do any sightseeing now when you’re in town for races, or is it just come in, strictly business, back out?
A: So nowadays it’s pretty much strictly business. I would say all the way up until a couple years ago we could try to sightsee. I know when we were up there up in Pennsylvania for Jennerstown, we went to the Flight 93 Memorial, which was incredible. And yeah, I would say that we try to fit in as much as we can. But recently with the NASCAR schedule being so closely compact, it’s a challenge to come in with long days and then try to sightsee as well. And then especially with my education with Rose-Hulman, I try to pop out and pop back to school so that I can focus on that. But we really make an effort to do that sightseeing while we have the opportunity to because outside of racing, we don’t really get to travel much because racing is what our life surrounds. So those have been great memories.
Q: What do you enjoy the most about driving?
A: Well, I think driving-wise I absolutely love the speed – and a lot of drivers say that, but I would say the reason I love this speed is because I feel such calmness and clarity at such a high speed, which is so wild. But it’s an absolute blast. I have the time of my life when I am driving at Daytona at an average of 183 miles an hour, inches from touching another car and drafting. I mean, it’s just one of the coolest experiences that I’ve ever gotten to be a part of. And so, I think that when I get in the race car, everything goes away, any stress that I have and anything like that. I’m completely focused, and it really is my therapy and my stress relief.
Q: What’s your favorite style of track to race?
A: So for sure, the higher-banked tracks, the better. I absolutely love Bristol. I love Winchester Speedway in Indiana. I love Daytona. I also do love the larger tracks as well because we do have such a high speed. But I think that my priority is always the high-banked tracks.
Q: Do you do much iRacing prep at all?
A: I used to when I was home, my iRacing simulator is in our race shop. And being in Indiana provides just a little bit of a logistical issue of getting to my iRacing simulator. So I typically try to when I’m home, or when I’m at big events like PRI, the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Indianapolis, I always get the opportunity to race on SimCraft simulators. I love those. And I’ve always had one of those on my wish list because they are just so awesome. They have six degrees of freedom and that means they get to move in six different directions. And I just think that is so cool.
Q: Let’s say they made you the President of NASCAR. You can make any changes you want to anything about the sport. What sort of changes would you make?
A: I would start by making changes to the schedules and not make them multi-day shows. I know that a lot of times – I know they’re trying to make ARCA accessible for grassroots teams. But one of the challenges that we’re struggling with is the fact that if you have to fly in on a Thursday morning or a Thursday afternoon, you have to take all day off Thursday and Friday. And those logistics are challenging for a small team with volunteer crews. So I think that’s one of the first changes that I would make because I think it’s a roadblock for a lot of teams trying to come into this series. And really, the goal is not to get the most funded teams in the series. The goal is to get the best talent and have ARCA be a breeding ground for the upper levels of NASCAR. So, I would try to make that more accessible, first off, and try to change those schedule logistics and make that easier for teams to not have high costs for race weekends with scheduling and accommodations.
Q: What are your thoughts on NASCAR’s efforts trying to continue to grow the sport and bring in a new fanbase and bring in new teams? Have they done a good job with that?
A: I would say yes. I am enjoying seeing that they’re trying to bring in a new fanbase. Of course, I know that NASCAR was pretty stagnant for a while, but we’re starting to see that kind of pick up. And I am happy to see that. I think that in our sport, you always have to keep innovating and evolving. And that’s kind of how teams go at the technical level, but also how NASCAR should continue to be is have those creative ideas and evolve and try to, you know, just try new things. I think we are going to recognize the fact that not everything’s going to work, and that’s okay. But at least giving the effort and trying to grow our sport to get more people interested, it certainly helps the drivers and the teams in the series because they get more exposure, which then brings in more sponsors, which is fantastic for the sport in general.
Q: What are your thoughts on the sport trying to be more diverse? You’re a woman in what’s traditionally been a heavily male-dominated sport. Do you feel like they’ve been trying to make things more diverse and more welcoming?
A: I think so. That’s something that I always have a challenge answering just from the standpoint that my mind always goes to all the different programs for females in racing. And I know that’s not NASCAR-controlled. But I would say that all the programs to get women racing are all about trying to create point systems on who’s going to win, and it goes to – the proceeds and the funding really goes to the people who have the most funding already and can make multi-race seasons. And so I think that they’re not addressing the problem at the root and providing the actual funding for grassroots drivers who are trying to get to that level. I would say that that is always where my mind goes to when we’re talking about diversity and NASCAR. There are a lot of programs out there that claim to try to get women in racing, but those are a challenge because they still take resources to compete in. I would say, in general, NASCAR has tried to work on diversity with the Drive for Diversity program, and I see the efforts. But the question is, when they exit the program, where do they go? You see a lot of drivers disappear after that because there’s not a clear successive plan for drivers to continue moving up.
Q: NASCAR is always tinkering with the schedule trying to bring in different tracks. Are there any tracks you’d like to see added to the schedule that we haven’t really seen in a long time, or in some cases ever?
A: I know that this won’t apply to upper levels of NASCAR, but as far as ARCA goes, I would love the opportunity to race at Winchester. I love that place. I think it’s super cool. And I think that would be a really awesome opportunity. I also would be interested to see if they could make the Trucks race at Berlin. I know that’s far out there. But Berlin is really cool. So, I would say that, but Winchester would probably be my interest.
Q: When you’re not racing, what kind of hobbies do you have? What do you like to do when you’re not at the track?
A: Yeah, I love all things outdoors. So I love hiking, spending time outdoors, hammocking, paddle boarding – that’s one of my new hobbies. I also love reading. You know, as an engineering nerd, I also am a book nerd. {Laughter} So I like reading, I like spending time with family and my friends. I am president of my sorority at school, Tri Delta. And that consumes a lot of my time. And that’s been really an absolute blast trying to build for many future generations of Tri Deltas at our school. So those are kind of my hobbies. I love participating in all those things because they really fill me up and relieve my stress.
Q: What kind of books do you like to read?
A: Really anything. Some of the things that I’m really getting interested in or the genres I’m getting interested in are mystery and then learning more about space and NASA – I’m working on a project right now for my senior design class that’s related to that topic, and learning more about space exploration and NASA is really fascinating. And then I also like reading self-development books, learning about leadership, and how to create strategic teams to combat dynamic problems.
Q: What advice do you have for young drivers that are coming up through the ranks?
A: Yeah, I would say the biggest thing as a young driver that I could have done is gotten involved hands-on on my cars. It really helped me to be a better racer and actually sparked my passion for engineering, which is why I went to school for mechanical engineering. And that has just only expanded that passion. I would say getting hands-on with your cars makes you such a better driver because you understand the dynamics of it, you understand what’s going on, and you can give great feedback to your team. I really felt like I’ve benefited from that. I also would say getting involved in anything and everything racing-related possible, as early on as possible, is very helpful in understanding how the sport operates, how other cars operate. So, if you’re talking about moving up through the ranks and changing what your program looks like, you have a perspective on how all that works in the racing industry.
Q: Once you’re done with school, are you going to be focusing entirely on driving? Or do you ever see yourself maybe working more on the engineering side?
A: So on my racing career, if I have the opportunity and the funding to be able to continue moving my career forward, that will be my priority. I’ve always wanted to continue developing my career. However, as you know, I’ve gone through my education and I’ve really taken up more of an interest in the technical side as well. And so I think that no matter where my racing career goes, and whether I continue moving up through the ranks of NASCAR through, you know, Truck and Xfinity and Cup, I will always somehow be involved at a technical level because I have such an interest. And I don’t know in what capacity, whether I’m driving for a team and then during the week I’m working in their shop hands-on with their engineers. That would be an absolute dream. But in general, I know I’ll be involved in a technical sense and have a career in that. But if I was provided the opportunity to continue developing my racing career, that would be my number one choice.
Q: Would you like to give a shout out to some of your sponsors that have helped you along the way? And if there’s anyone interested in sponsoring you, how could they go about doing that?
A: I have such awesome marketing partners around me and I’m so thankful for all their support. Many of them have been with me since the very beginning of my career. I have FK Rod Ends, Fragola Performance Systems, Aero Race Wheels, Dynamic Drivelines, Jennifer R Chick, CPA, LLC, PBW Racing Bodies. The list goes on and on because I’ve got such awesome people around me. If anyone is interested in getting involved with our awesome – I’m partial – but with our awesome team and supporting us as we continue building our program, you can look up my website, it’s mandychick.com. And we have a contact page that will go to our team and we can start those conversations. We have great opportunities that are super valuable for organizations to get involved with our team at this level and continue growing with us and build a long-term relationship. So we’re excited about that. But my social media is @themandychick on Instagram and X and TikTok, and then Facebook, you just search my name, Mandy Chick.
Q: What goals have you set for yourself for the rest of this season, as well as going into 2024?
A: Yeah, so Kansas a few weeks ago ended our season for this year. We ended it early just to focus on our season for next year and build our program so that we can take on a lot more next year. I think for finishing out this season and going into offseason, my main goals are focusing on continuing to strength train and be ready for next year and improve every day. And then we’re starting to tear down our cars and check over every inch of them to make sure they’re ready for next year and start prepping those. So, we’ll start out our season with Daytona and Talladega. And as we start looking into funding opportunities, it’ll give us a clearer picture of what next year looks like, what our schedule looks like. But our goal is about 6 to 12 races.
Please note this interview took place on October 3, 2023.