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Racing and business are so similar and that's why I love both of them so much is because you're constantly assessing
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and improving. It's just a constant cycle of okay, what did I do good? What can I do better? How can I approach this differently? What do I need to do next
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time to make me better, the people around me better, the situation better?
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And it's just a constant assess and implement.
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In today's world, how does a brand break through the noise and become iconic?
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Join me, Jason Harris, as I speak with the world's leading marketing experts about how they use soul and science to
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build an iconic brand. Think of it as EQ meeting IQ. So, let's lock in and together fast forward our marketing
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minds on the Soul and Science [music] podcast.
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Welcome to another Soul and Science podcast. Today we're joined by Amber Balcon, a trailblazer who's built her
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career at the intersection of grit, resilience, and the business engine behind modern racing. In a sport where
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sponsorship dollars determine who gets on the track, Amber has mastered the dual role of elite athlete and brand
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builder, proving that resilience isn't just emotional, it's operational. We are going to dig in today to the soul and
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science of racing resilience and the power of building a personal brand. Amber, what is up?
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Hey, thank you for having me on your show.
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Of course, thanks for being here. All right, Amber. Uh, I gotta start with the question I always start with. We're
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gonna go back in the wayback machine and we're going to hear about how you got started. I know you come from a family
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of drivers, but how you got started, how old you were, were you kind of moved through the family into racing? Did you
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pick it on your own? How did you get your start? Yeah, so I grew up in a racing family.
Chapter 2: Growing Up in a Racing Family
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I've actually been going to the racetrack since I was in my mom's belly.
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So, I was born into it. It's in my blood. However, I'm a third generation race car driver, but my dad did not want me to race. Racing is a huge time
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commitment, financial commitment, and you got to be allin. Even at a local dirt track level, like my dad was at, he still knew the commitment it took to be
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successful in the sport. Fast forward to now where I'm doing it for a career and that commitment level is 10 times that.
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So, after years of begging him to let me raise, he finally said, "All right, you can do this, but you have to raise all the sponsorship on your own to be able
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to buy the go-kart, and you have to work on the go-kart. I'm not doing any of this for you." So, I learned work ethic at a very young age.
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Is it true you started racing at 10?
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I raced started racing at 10. Yes. I've now been racing for 23 years.
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That's crazy. And so, why were you drawn to it? Were you drawn to it because you were watching your dad do it?
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Yeah, I grew up in it. So every single weekend instead of, you know, being at parties with people in high school and friends, I was at the racetrack with my
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parents because that's what I love to do. I love the speed. I love the adrenaline, the competitiveness of it.
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And everyone in my family raced, my cousins, my uncles, my grandfather, my dad. It just it's how I grew up. And I
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immediately knew that I was in love with it. And then once actually getting to try it myself and know that, hey, I'm
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actually really good at this too, it just escalated from there.
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Can you give us uh the for the average listener here who might not be as familiar with racing, how does the progression go? It goes from go-karts to
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dirt tracks. Can you give me like the sort of like progression, how it goes?
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Yeah, so every race car driver's journey is very different. Some people start on pavement, some people dirt. Generally, everyone starts in some type of go-kart.
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So, I started on dirt oval go-karts, then I went to mini sprints, then 410 sprint cars on dirt, then transitioned over to ashvault late models, and then
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now into our NASCAR's Arcommenard series. Is that progression happen by skill or by age or?
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Yeah, it's a combination of talent, winning, um being in the right situations, either creating opportunities or receiving really good
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opportunities. And the biggest part of it all is the financial aspect. Unlike stick and ball sports, racing costs
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thousands even at a local dirt track level to hundreds of thousands to millions now at the NASCAR level. So,
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uh, unfortunately, you can't just hop on a field and practice. Everything costs money from testing to practicing to actually racing.
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How does that money flow through the sport? How does it how do you get that sponsorship money? And is it is it
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easier or harder if you're, you know, one of two or one of one if you're female racing? Again, it's a little bit of both, right?
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I think being a female, there are more eyes on me. I'm under a microscope. When I'm one female out of 30 male drivers,
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people are going to notice me on track and they're going to want to pay attention to how I'm doing, which is great because that gives me the brand visibility that brands want to partner
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with. But it at the same time, it's also we get questioned a lot more, right?
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Like is is she really in it because she loves racing? Is she even good at racing? And so there's kind of that constant needing to prove myself, prove
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my commitment, my ability, my worth, my drive to be successful and to be the best race car driver I can be. But
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throughout time with working with people and once people get the chance to work with me and know me, they see like, wow,
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this girl's actually had to work super hard to get where she is, and she is talented behind the wheel.
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Is it harder at the at the NASCAR level or is it gotten is it is it easier now that you're established?
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I think it's more difficult in some ways and easier in others. It easier in the way that more and more females are in
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the sport now. So, it's less rare. What when I first started getting into racing, I was always the only girl. Now, I'm usually one of two or one of three.
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Um, but now being at this national level in NASCAR, it opens up the field to a
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way larger audience in a demographic that was a little bit different than what I grew up doing in dirt racing, which a lot of people still kind of have
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those old school beliefs that this is an all boys club and not everyone believes women should be competing. So, that part
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makes it more challenging. But I'm also grateful to be on a stage this big that we get all these different opinions.
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When did you become part of like uh NASCAR?
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Yeah. So, I went to business school right after college or right after high school. And I thought I was going to
Chapter 3: Entering NASCAR Without a Safety Net
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have a more generic career path, but I had such a firing burning desire to be a race car driver
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that I was genuinely obsessed with the thought. So much so I could not pay attention in class because all I could think about was driving race cars. And
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so I had an aha moment. Um it was a combination of my dad actually had a heart attack and on that same day I was
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doing a project that for a religion class at the time that asked us to go outside in nature and ask nature
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questions. I was in my early 20s at this point. I think I was like 19 or 20 years old which most people at that age are figuring out what do I do with my life?
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And that day, nature had told me like through signs of the birds all flying in circles, you know, turning left just
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like I would in a race car to all flying east, which to me meant go to North Carolina on the east coast. That's where the, you know, the center of racing is
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where the NASCAR headquarters is and all the team shops. And around this time as well, the NASCAR diversity program had reached out to me because I was a I was
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winning a lot in the dirt track racing and they're like, "Have you ever thought of NASCAR?" And of course, I watch NASCAR every weekend, but coming from
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Winnipeg, not coming from money, being a female, all these obstacles that I had against me, I just thought there's no way that that could be possible for
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something someone like me. But after getting that interest from NASCAR, like, hey, we see how well you're doing and
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you should take a look at this. It really opened my eyes. And then that also seeing my dad almost die from a heart attack and being laid on a stretcher saying, "I don't want to die.
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I don't want to die. It really puts in perspective how short life is and how if you do not go after what you want in
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life and go after your dreams and be not afraid to be different, then you're going to regret it. And I didn't want to live life with regrets.
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I love the nature signs, though.
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I think that's so awesome that the birds were going in a circle. Yeah, it was it was crazy.
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Pretty unreal experience, honestly. And does your family uh are they super proud of you and very supportive now?
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They are. Yes. Yeah. They at first they thought I was a little crazy when I was like, "Yeah, I want to drop out of college and become a professional race
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car driver as my career." Um because everyone in my family raced, but they still had nine toive jobs and they raced on weekends as a hobby. So for me to
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say, "Hey, I want to try to make this my career." It was kind of crazy. But now that they're, you know, getting to go all these tracks with me and my parents
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are extremely supportive. They travel 30 hours to my races, driving around in their motor home to to be there to cheer
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me on and they're super proud and they they love it just as much as I do. When was your first race at NASCAR?
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It was in 2016. It was my first season in a full body stock car. Um because the dirt track racing I was doing was open
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wheel. So, it was a 950 horsepower car only,300 lb. And now I'm going to this
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big heavy stock car and completely different. But I actually won in my first season became the rookie of the year and then NASCAR wheel and
Chapter 4: Winning Isn’t Enough Without Funding
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all-American series and had a really successful year. So, um I kind of thought my career was going to pop off after that and things would be easy. And
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then the reality set in that if you don't have the financial backing to get you to the next level, it doesn't matter how many races you win or how good you are, you still need that backing.
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Would you say most NASCAR drivers come from uh they're like trust fund drivers? Like they they come from money
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and they were groomed to be racers and the they kind of have a safety net. If they lose a sponsor, they're still racing.
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Exactly. Actually, a lot of them don't even have a sponsor. Their sponsors are their family. So, it's a very most drivers in the sport have a famous last
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name or come from a lot of financial privilege. You know, their dad is maybe the owner of Menards or Cookout or these
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big corporate brands and that's how they're able to race. So for me, I had to figure out how do I build a brand in
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myself that's big enough that another large brand would want to partner with me and be my sponsor at this level.
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You're not just training and focused on racing. You have to then build your personal brand so that you can drive
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sponsorship so you can even race. So you have like you're doing like three or four jobs.
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Yeah. I had to learn very quick that if I wanted to be a race car driver, I first needed to be a businesswoman and an entrepreneur. So the skill set as far
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as building my business acumen had to be equally as important as my skill set as being the best race car driver I could
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be. So those are two things I had to put equal focus on. However, one can't be true without the other. So, I actually
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probably spent 80 to 90% of my time on the business side, building a brand, reaching out to sponsors, being able to build, cultivate, and strengthen those
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relationships and ma make it successful so that I'm not just a one-hit wonder and and race one season and be done with
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it. Because you see a lot of drivers come into our sport, whether they have family money or not, eventually their parents say, "All right, I'm done
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spending all this money." like if you're, you know, and they're out of the sport or a driver will come in and maybe get a sponsor for a year and then be out
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of the sport. To have a longevity in NASCAR is rare. The average um the average career for a NASCAR driver is four years.
Chapter 5: Becoming a Businesswoman to Keep Racing
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Wow, that's crazy.
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Yeah. So, the fact that I've been a been able to be in it for this long, um, but, you know, continue to push forward is is
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a testament to not only my resilience, but the amazing people that I've got to work with and that have partnered with me.
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How have you, not having the safety net of a, you know, family that's throwing money at the sport, how have you been able to stay in it for so long?
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I've never had a plan B. It was, make this work. Make this work. You're going to have years where it's going to be
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hard to figure out how you pay rent and how to put food on the table. But I
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I'm okay with doing those sacrifices in order to win and in order to compete and in order to
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show people what is possible when you go all in on yourself and your dreams because I know there's people that need
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me to be on that track to show them this is what's possible. And if Amber can do that, then I can do whatever I need to do.
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You've been in NASCAR, around NASCAR for like 10 years now.
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2016 was my first season. However, there were a lot of years where I only did a few races here and there, and that was
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because of the lack of funding. But as an entrepreneurial mindset, you figure things out more and more along the way.
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You have your failures, you make your mistakes, and you learn what works, what doesn't. How do I really prove return on investment? How do I attract a brand
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that wants to work with me? And you know, at the beginning of my career, it was a hundred cold calls and cold emails a day just reaching out to sponsors. And
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then I figured out I can't be chasing all these partners. I need to figure out how to build a brand to attract them towards me. So that's when I got really
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clear about my brand, my story, how I could attract partners to want to work with me. And I think that's when things
Chapter 6: Building a Brand That Attracts Sponsors
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started to shift a little bit. What do you think you're really good at?
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Obviously, you're great at driving and racing. What do you think you're really good at that you you're like, "All
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right, I I do this part of this business. I think I'm I excel here." What do you think that is?
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I think I'm really good at having a very mentally tough mindset and being resilient. There's not much you can
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throw at me where I can't get through it and overcome. Like the amount of times people have said to me, "How have you not given up already?" Like, "How do you
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keep pushing past this?" And how do you keep going? Like you just don't quit.
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Like from I've had sponsors say, "I've never met someone who just doesn't quit like you." And and that's what it takes, I think, to be a successful athlete, but
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also a successful entrepreneur because you're going to experience way more failures than you are wins. And you need
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to be able to neutralize that and not get too down when that happens. And you know, I'm naturally a very emotional
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person. I'm sensitive. I'm feminine like that. So, I had to learn how to lean
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more into the logical side of things instead of the emotional side. And I think again once I figured that out, like take more logical approach to
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situations, that also helped me be more neutral when things weren't working my way. and allowed me to focus on all
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right how do I find the opportunity in this how do I see the the light in this like what is what is the lesson that I'm
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learning in this and it's always in the darkest moments that you find the biggest blessings or get the most
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creative insight or just learn something that you realize like wow this is really going to take me to the next level and
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it's the same in racing I learn way more from the mistakes I make on the racetrack than if I'm winning. You don't win. You don't learn a lot when you're
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winning races. It feels great when you win, but it's not necessarily going to make you a better driver when you can assess. Racing and business are so
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similar. And that's why I love both of them so much is because you're constantly assessing and improving. It's
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just a constant cycle of, okay, what did I do good? What can I do better? How can I approach this differently? What do I need to do next time to make me better?
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the people around me better, the situation better, and it's just a constant assess and implement.
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And I think what you're also bringing up, I think, is part of success is is playing the long game
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and sticking it out like you keep you're kind of not going anywhere. And when you just work through it, the highs and
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lows, things sort of start to happen because, you know, you just keep keep at it. You just are resilient. Yeah.
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You feel like you're you're kind of this challenger brand in the racing world, would you say? Absolutely.
Chapter 7: Resilience, Failure, and Playing the Long Game
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you know, in business and in in, you know, sport, you want to reach a certain level, like you're always climbing and
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trying to achieve, but do you feel like you're able to also take a moment and say, uh, this is look look back and say, this is how far I've come.
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I try to get better at it. Um, no surprise me being a race car driver, I tend to be impatient at times and want
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things to happen fast. And this has definitely taught me patience both on and off the track. Um, and yeah, there's
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I think it's the moments of when I'm standing beside my car during the national anthem at Daytona and looking
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up and seeing this legendary track that Dale Nhard raced at and all these legends of the sport. And I I love when
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the American anthem comes on because even though I'm Canadian, I've always resonated the American anthem to racing.
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And to me, that mean and in my opinion, NASCAR is the pinnacle and the peak of motorsports. And for me, every time I
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listen to the anthem, it is a a reminder of the gratitude I feel to get to race here in the US and live here and live
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out my dream here. And I think those are the biggest moments of like, wow, like I really made it here. You know, this is
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this is cool. And you see little little glimmers of that throughout other opportunities and other things in life, but I think it's also natural to always
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strive for more. And every time I reach a goal, I set another one. And to me, it's just kind of always chasing that next thing. And it's a balance of
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staying hungry, but also staying humble and grateful for what you've already achieved. What advice would you give a younger driver that was coming into the
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sport? Something that maybe you would have done differently or that you learned or you wish you knew earlier.
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Absolutely. There's two things. One, I'm sure that driver is not listening to this podcast, but you never know, you know. Yeah. Uh two things. One is comparison.
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Comparison in this sport can absolutely eat you apart. You need to know that everyone's journey is going to be different and and you might get different rides, different teams.
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I say that's the thief of joy. Comparison is the thief of joy.
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Yeah. And so many people focus put way too much focus, time, and attention on comparing them theirelves to other drivers when they need to just focus on
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themselves and their past. And then in addition to comparing them to other other drivers, it's the opinions of
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others that they put way too much weight into. um whether that be fans or competitors, you really cannot let the
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opinions or influences of others affect the decisions that you make for yourself because it's it's your journey and you
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need to do what's best for you. And I think way too many drivers pay way too much attention to the outside noise and
Chapter 8: The Challenger Brand Advantage
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don't put their blinders on and focus on themselves enough. So, did you at the beginning do that?
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Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, you're like you're like what are people saying about me? And yeah, it it was more so just comparing myself to others and thinking, well, how
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come they're not they're getting these opportunities and I'm not? And um when you just need to put your head down and work and how much when you're in the car
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driving are you thinking like I'm this far behind, I'm that far behind. I have to make it up. Or does that go through
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your head or are you still like just reacting? So, the the biggest difference between dirt track racing, which I grew
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up doing, and pavement racing, is the consistency. In dirt, you're always kind of floating all over the track to find
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where the grip is. So, you're not hitting the exact same lap every single lap because maybe you'll go up high and then down low and you're kind of all
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over. Where in pavement, there's usually one strategic specific line that you need to hit. And so your braking points,
21:18
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your throttle points, where you turn in, how you turn out, how you manage the center of the corner, the entry, the
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exit, it's all so specific and you need to hit that consistently every lap. So learning that was was a big curve for me
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because having to be that consistent every single lap and hit and have that same lap time every lap um was one of
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the most challenging parts. And I think still to this day, you know, drivers have to foc focus on hitting their marks
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perfectly to keep up their speed while also, you know, passing cars, blocking cars, um manipulating the air. The
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aerobamics is huge in our sport. And there's just so many minute details that people don't necessarily realize that
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drivers have to take into account when racing. And it's being able to put all those little pieces together to be at your peak performance.
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There's like one line everyone's trying to hit.
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So it it depends on the racetrack and it depends on your car. So each person's car can be set up differently and the
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line that I'm trying to hit at the track on the track my car might not physically be able to do that. So maybe in order
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to, you know, hit where I need to on the apex, I need to have a wider entry because my car will feel too tight turning in. So I need to open up my
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entry. So not only are you racing the track, but you're also adjusting your driving style based on how your car is set up. And so we have to be able to
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give that feedback on what the car is doing to our crew chief so he can make the proper adjustments on the car so that it can be a better suited drive for us. so that we can make it go faster.
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There might be a bunch of brands listening to this podcast and if you are looking, you know, for sponsors, what is
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your how do you talk about your challenger or your story and how what is your pitch when you talk to sponsors
Chapter 9: Why NASCAR Delivers Unique Brand Value
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about why they need their their brand on the Amber car?
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Well, there you will not find another Amber Bulcan. I am a Challenger brand. I am an underdog. And they've labeled me
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the underdog of NASCAR because again, someone that doesn't come from money, they usually don't make it in the sport.
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Someone that's Canadian, it's very rare to be in this American sport. And then also a female, but a super feminine one
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as well who wears makeup under her helmet and has her nails matching her paint scheme. And you know, that's not
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always the most common, but is authentic to who I am. And when brands can resonate with that authenticity of like, hey, I love this ju justiposition of the
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fact that she's feminine and and and girly and stuff, but there's also this badass, gritty, resilient, like
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aggressive driver as well. So, I think brands that, you know, align with who I am, my story of of being an underdog,
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but being resilient and and showing like, hey, I'm here and I'm here to stay. and um not being afraid to be
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authentic and be yourself and know that hey, I can be a badass race car driver but still wear dresses and heels on weekends if I want to.
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How would you articulate how the value that you get from uh sponsorship and racing versus like a stick and ball
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sport? Yeah, racing is the most dynamic and colorful amazing place to have a
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sponsor and be in a partnership with a driver because there's so many opportunities from the businessto business side of the sport. There's a
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lot of other Fortune 500 companies and huge corporate brands that are in the sport that others can network with and build relationships with and have those
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super successful B2B partnerships. Most of my background in my successful marketing partnerships have been through the success of our B2B relationships.
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And then you have the B TOC side as well. Consumer brands love NASCAR and you've seen it for, you know, decades,
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all of these large brands in NASCAR because we have a huge fan base of 75 million people. And NASCAR is the number
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one sport in fan loyalty. That means if they see you, you know that their favorite driver has Bush Light on their
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car, they're going to be buying Bush Light at the grocery stores because they want to support their favorite driver in that brand. And in addition to that, it is the most accessible sport there is.
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There's no other sports where you can walk around the pits and see the guys putting, you know, the the lug nuts on the tires and be able to actually meet
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the drivers and and be in the infield, you know, partying and having fun. Like, it's it's such an accessible sport where
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it's very hard for other fans to be able to meet athletes or or be on the field.
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Like, you just don't get those experiences where NASCAR is extremely accessible. And then not only that, but
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um the activation side of it and the hospitality side of it. It's super unique experience to bring your partners
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or your clients or your you know your your best employees to these tracks where you get to sit on a pit box, put on the headset, get to listen to me and
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my crew chief throughout the race and watch my guys put um you know gas in the car and change the tires. And then the
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26 minutes, 44 seconds
activation side through the fan walkways, the the passthroughs, the um there's just something going on
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26 minutes, 52 seconds
everywhere. It's a it's almost like a huge event and there's a race going on in in the midst of it all.
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Tell me a little bit about the feeling when you're lining up for a race.
Chapter 10: Being Fully Present at 190 MPH
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It's the best feeling in the world. I always say uh racing is my drug of choice because I'm genuinely addicted to it and I and I crave going fast and I
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crave that uh adrenaline and it's really crazy because the faster you go the
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27 minutes, 20 seconds
slower things actually feel. So for example, Daytona or Tallaladega are fastest tracks. We're going almost 200
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27 minutes, 27 seconds
mph about 190 mph. And you're going so fast and there's so much sensory input that it's almost like everything slows
27:35
27 minutes, 35 seconds
down so much that you're actually driving at a subconscious level because you have your spotter in one year, you have a guy behind you within an inch, in
27:44
27 minutes, 44 seconds
front of you within an inch, and beside you within a couple inches, and you're going so fast. There's so much going on
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27 minutes, 50 seconds
at one time that you can't even consciously make decisions. You're honestly driving from a subconscious
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level. And I there's a a paragraph in the book Power of Now by Echar Tol and it actually talks about how race car
28:06
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drivers are one of the few people who actually get to experience what it's like to truly be in the present. And when I read that I'm like that's so cool
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and makes sense why I'm so addicted to this feeling because it is kind of a a unworldly type of feel to it. And just I
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28 minutes, 22 seconds
mean going fast is is fun. The competitiveness is fun and it's so challenging because you're kind of never good enough. No, even if you're leading,
28:31
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you're like, "Well, I could have been a tenth faster here or I could have been a little quicker on this lap or could have passed this guy, you know, more cleanly or there's just it's a constant
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28 minutes, 40 seconds
challenge from learning the track to to the people around you to learning the car setups and communicating with your
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28 minutes, 48 seconds
crew. Like there's just so much that goes into racing that makes it so challenging and so many variables outside of our control that it's it I
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think I didn't realize how much I love challenge until I realized uh it's it's a big part of racing.
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And how do you prepare yourself on race day?
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Yeah, I try to carve up the night before because our races are about an hour and a half to two hours. We're, you know, losing about five pounds a race because
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we're sweating so much and burning that many calories. It's 130 plus degrees in the cars. So, um it looks like I just got out of the shower after a race
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because that's how much we sweat. So, definitely car bloating. I love visualization, meditation, kind of getting me in the zone and getting me
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calm. It's really crazy because race days are so hectic. We're meeting with sponsors, fans. We're getting pulled in every direction and it's so much chaos.
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And then as soon as you get in the car and you strap in, it's like calm and you just get this wave of calmness. You would think getting in the car you get
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amped up. You actually experience a wave of calmness and uh it's just it's a great feeling because you just know it's you in the car and you get to wre havoc for the next couple hours.
Chapter 11: Visualization, Preparation, and Calm Under Pressure
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Let's talk more about building your personal brand and your personal identity. How how much effort does that take? How much time do you spend on
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that? Yeah. So, for the longest time up until pretty much this year, I had done mostly everything on my own. So, all the
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sponsorship decks, contracts, social media, branding, um, race team negotiations, everything I
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did on my own. And it took up about 90% of my time, which I still need to train to be a race car driver and be on the
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30 minutes, 31 seconds
simulators watching footage, studying um, debriefs. There's a lot to prepare for these races. So, it was kind of
30:39
30 minutes, 39 seconds
taken my time out of my time as an athlete where I realized I need to find the right people to help me on the business side so that I can focus more
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on being a driver. So, now I've this year I've really help really have honed on building a team around me and having
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the right people around me to help make me successful. And I also really enjoy working with people like connecting and
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31 minutes, 2 seconds
being creative together and building those ideas makes business and racing a lot more fun. When you think about sponsors or brands to work with, how do
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you figure out if it's the right brand for you?
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31 minutes, 15 seconds
Yeah. I just I need to be able to align with them. If they align with my mission, my values, my purpose, then if
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31 minutes, 23 seconds
I actually use their products or use their service or use their their systems, then it it's going to be a good fit. And I will only work with brands
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that I align with whether it's I use their products or um believe in their mission and their values.
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31 minutes, 41 seconds
That for me is like it needs to be authentic. Uh people nowadays they can see through things that are not authentic. And um I need my fans to
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31 minutes, 50 seconds
trust me. I think that's a big thing when it comes to brand loyalty and consumer loyalty is there. You need to build that trust there. And I've always
31:58
31 minutes, 58 seconds
been very open about, you know, my wins, my losses with in my journey of racing that I want my fans to also trust the
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brands that I'm associating with as well. And if they know that it's true to me, then they're going to have more trust in me and more trust in the brand.
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What would you say the hardest part about the sport is?
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I'd say the most challenging part of the sport is we lose way more than we win.
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It's one of the few sports than other maybe than other golf uh that we you could go your whole career without
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winning which is crazy to think of. So um even if you have an amazing season could be two three four wins well you're still losing the other 16 to 17 races.
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Um and it's just the fact that you can be performing the perfect race. You could be doing everything right and then
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you get a flat tire or someone spins in front of you or something breaks on your car. Like there's just so much out of your control
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and that is the most heartbreaking moment when you know you did everything right. You know your crew did everything
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right and just something happens. and to continuously pick yourself up when you have strings of weeks that everything
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that seems to go wrong goes wrong. Um, continuously picking yourself back up, that that can be challenging. And or if
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you're having weeks where you're continuously making mistakes, you know, it's it's a very very challenging sport.
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And I think the hardest part is we lose way more than we win. How do you stay engaged if there's a period of time when
Chapter 12: Advice for Young Drivers
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you're not on the track or maybe you know you've had moments where I don't know for six months you're without a sponsor so you're not racing. How do you
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then like stay frosty and get in the right mindset so when something does when the winds do change as you say
34:00
34 minutes
you're ready to roll? Yeah, it's difficult. But I try to get in any type of race car I can at any time, even if I'm not at a national level. Like this
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year, I didn't have full-time sponsorship. So, I went to Canada and did some races in a lower level series just to, you know, keep those skill sets going because I don't want to lose that.
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34 minutes, 19 seconds
And then another thing that we have that costs even less too is my iRacing simulator. So, um it's essentially a
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34 minutes, 26 seconds
computer game that is fully like all the tracks that we go to.
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It's exact simulation. So, that can really help with hand eye coordination, learning the tracks, and feeling like you're in the seat. Uh, it's crazy.
34:39
34 minutes, 39 seconds
Actually, there are some drivers now that they got their start on iRacing. No way. Yeah. Where do you do that racing?
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34 minutes, 47 seconds
Just in my spare bedroom. You have you have it set up like that? Yeah.
34:51
34 minutes, 51 seconds
Wow. And do you think that's like a good simulation of racing?
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You can't beat the real thing, but it's definitely the closest you get to it.
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34 minutes, 59 seconds
And I consistently use that as a tool to train for races. If I know we're going to a specific track and iRacing has that track, I'm on my iRacing similar every
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single day as part of my training routine to learn that track better.
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If you weren't racing, I know you don't have a plan B, but let's say for a minute racing wasn't an option, what would you be doing?
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Some type of entrepreneur. I just love the business side. I love the hustle. I like making my own hours and being creative and being resourceful.
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35 minutes, 29 seconds
To me, it's exciting. It's up and down, but it's it's exciting. I like challenges. I like
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35 minutes, 36 seconds
problem solving and I like connecting with people. And that's racing has allowed me to connect with so many amazing people. And I think business
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does that, too. And being able to collaborate and work with people and and build really cool stuff together, I think is is awesome.
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35 minutes, 51 seconds
Um, do you have uh any other mantras or quotes that you think about or that drive you? Yeah, hold your vision.
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Anytime I felt like giving up, I just said, "Hold your vision." Um, I've I'm big on in visualization and I have always had a vision of what my what I
Chapter 13: “Hold Your Vision”
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36 minutes, 7 seconds
want my life to look like and the person that I want to be. And I don't want to stop until I achieve that. And I feel myself becoming more like her every day
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and and that vision coming closer to fruition every day. And anytime I want to give up, I just say, "Amber, hold your vision." Um, because you you got this.
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That's a great one. I love that. hold your vision. Obviously, you come from a family of racers, but was there anyone that was your role model in the sport or
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that you really looked up to or There wasn't one specific person that I looked up to. I think I take inspiration
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from a lot of different people. Um, from of course Danica Patrick, she was the only female in the NASCAR Cup series at the time and there hasn't been another
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36 minutes, 48 seconds
full-time female since her, but then people like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan and even like entrepreneurs.
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36 minutes, 55 seconds
um like Andy Friscilla, Gary Vaynerchuk, like there's so many people I take inspiration from because they all hold so many different nuggets of knowledge
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37 minutes, 3 seconds
and and encouragement and um intentionality that I just really love.
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37 minutes, 8 seconds
So, even like Caitlyn Clark, like there's there's different athletes, different entrepreneurs, business people, inspirational people. Um I think
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if you can take little nuggets from each person and kind of put it all together, then that that's the best way.
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37 minutes, 23 seconds
Um All right. Well, thanks for being on the podcast. This was awesome.
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Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
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37 minutes, 33 seconds
Soul and Science is a mechanism podcast produced by Maggie BS, Ryan Tillitson, and Lily Jablonsky. The show is edited by Daniel Ferrer with theme music by
37:42
37 minutes, 42 seconds
Kyle Merritt. And I'm your host, Jason [music] Harris.

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