A Woman Determined To Rise
With Zoey Edenholm.
Behind Track Limits has the amazing opportunity to sit down and talk motorsport with American Racing Driver Zoey Edenholm.
Zoey has set herself the target and dream to be one of the first female racers to race in the highest levels of motorsport such as in the Indy500, Formula 1 and IndyCar, she quoted “everyone's dream is formula 1 and I hope I can make it there or inspire others to do so".
Her overall goal with her growing 13.7K followers on Instagram is to be a role model to girls all around the world but also make herself a career in the process.
Zoey started karting at age 11 and competed nationally at age 12 but before racing she was a gymnast who had a dream to represent the United States in the 2020 Japanese Olympics. How times have changed since then! At age 15 Zoey decided to make the life changing commitment to motorsport and hasn't looked back.
Zoey fell in love with motorsport through her family friends and her father who was a former sprint racer. Zoey ended up going to the racetrack with her friend who let her try karting and she ended up really loving it. From that time, she was there everyday getting laps in at the track 20 minutes away from her home and started racing on the Saturday and Sunday
She chose racing over a college education which proved being beneficial to her growth in the sport, saying “I learn more at the track than I would in college”. Whilst spending time at the track, Zoey has been able to pick up both time and team management as she decided to keep racing a family affair, with mum helping
manage Zoey. This has helped to reduce the overall costs - something even major F1 teams spend hours working on!
Her advice to anyone who wants to make a career in motorsport is to get as many laps as possible as well to practice in order to improve the performance. In addition, to build your brand and to attract the necessary sponsorships to fund your career, staying true to yourself is extremely important.
Throughout Zoey's career she hasn't received hate which to some may seem surprising. She states that all the drivers have to earn the respect of others while some may not like a girl overtaking them, they all want to be the next formula 1 star and whoever works the hardest stands a chance.
Before a race Zoey’s main pre race rituals are quite simple she turns to her mom JJ because she "always knows the right words to say and knows how to hype me up’ "I also drink lots of water to ensure I'm hydrated all the way through the race and for this year I'm trying a new thing called AXIO which is used by athletes for mental clarity."
In 5 years time Zoey sees herself being a racing driver full time, and her mechanics and driving coach are a huge part of getting her there. Doing all the management herself as well as driving means she needs to have a lot of trust in her team. Without this, the driver will definitely struggle. If there's a mechanical fault on your car or kart, you've got to believe that your mechanic and driving coach know what they’re doing.
Sponsors are the key to a young driver's rise through the ranks because they give financial support. There are a few types of ways they help: if the driver ends up crashing and there's damage that must be fixed, sometimes the driver may have to pay a certain fee before the race weekend to cover the potential of certain damages which may come to the car.
This could be for example 2,000 to pay and if the car isn't damaged the money goes to your team for the future. If, for example, one wheel ended up damaged its 5K to repair or or replace, sponsors may also play what's nicknamed ‘roulette’ where they will say to the team “I'll give you x amount of money if you crash” or “ill pay for your damage”. Depending on the sponsorship deal or team if you pay a certain fee before the season starts they will cover it all over the season.
Zoey named her favorite sponsorship deal which was Gas Monkey Energy, they gave her their tropical drink wrap on her car which looked amazing and stood out from all her competitors!
Zoey has competed in championships such as the:
Formula 4
Saleen Cup Racing Series
Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship 2017
Stadium Super Trucks
However, when it comes to all things Formula 1 Zoey’s dream podium includes:
P1. Charles Leclerc
P2. Lando Norris
P3. Max Verstappen
If she was to race in the Formula 1 championship in the future she quoted
“I'd love to work the most with Charles and Ferrari but also McLaren because Zak Brown is doing great things there and is such an inspirational person”.
She would also love to see a US Street Track in the formula one calendar because compared to Monaco and Baku they’re so different!
Something Zoey and I'm sure many other racing drivers also struggled with was COVID. She has struggled to find sponsorships willing to fund her racing however she was able to work around this by competing in the Stadium Super Trucks as it helped Zoey grow her social media following therefore she was able to find sponsors.
During her Karting career Zoey was the first female to lead championship points however in the race she crashed out :(.
Zoey's favorite tracks are Virginia International circuit where she scored her first points in formula 4 and COTA.
Zoey has reached over 100K followers on Tik Tok, here she shares her motorsport journey and daily life.
Her Instagram is mainly race based and has seen her gain 13.7K followers.
Zoey's social handles are listen in her Instagram bio which if you click the picture your phone or computer will be taken too.
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