It’s been a busy week for White County High School student Quinn Davis, the start to the school year and racing at Iowa Speedway in NASCAR’s ARCA Series.
The 16-year-old said she got into racing at the age of five, when she crashed a race car into a guard wall ten laps into a ride-and-drive event. Davis said she has been attending races since she was two years old. Davis placed 15th at the Atlas 150 Friday.
“It was actually pretty fun,” Davis said. “The track itself is really, really sketchy. It’s super fast. You come in those turns really, really quick and you have to back down the car enough just to make sure you don’t lose it coming out of the corner.”
Davis said she has to keep up with a lot of things while racing in her #31 Toyota Camry. She said one of the focuses is conserving energy. In Iowa, for instance, Davis said the track’s speed and banking caused a lot of physical strain.
“We have water bottles in our cars,” Davis said. “You have to kind of relax on the caution laps. Really take the time to take a breath and release the tension there in your fingers because sometimes you can hold that wheel really tight and your hands cramp.”
Davis said exercise is important too, and drivers should be in good enough shape to not come out of the car tired at the end of a race.
Davis said she feels at home when she’s around the track. Davis said her ARCA debut was the most memorable because she earned her first top ten finish in front of family and friends at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
Davis described her racing style as a blend of Kyle Busch’s attitude and Ross Chastain’s calculated nature, though she said she also looks up to Brad Keselowski. Unlike the pros, Davis has to balance the life of a high school student, which she said is not as demanding as it sounds.
Davis said the balance is easy because her race preparation is done after the school day ends. She said the only real struggle is on late nights when she is working on a car, but has to get up for class the next morning. Davis said the reception from her classmates is always positive when she returns from a race.
“When I do come back to school, everyone’s congratulating me for what I did,” Davis said. “After my race at the Iowa raceway, I got a lot of congratulations and teachers I didn’t even have were saying congratulations to me.”
Davis said she practices racing on the track and with a simulator. Although she aspires to one day be a NASCAR Cup Series Champion, she hopes to continue her involvement in racing in any way she can moving forward.
