The Driving Woman

"Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Racing?" "Oprah Winfrey/Harpo Productions Racing?"

Maybe someday we'll see those names in a NASCAR garage, if more women decide to get involved in the business side of racing.  There are already a few owners; Teresa Earnhardt at DEI, Beth Ann Morgenthau at BAM Racing and DeLana Harvick at Kevin Harvick, Inc. are the most prominent. 

The Driving Woman spent a few minutes recently at Texas Motor Speedway with another owner; Lori Morgan, co-owner of the Gaffney, South Carolina-based JD Motorsports team that currently races in the Nationwide (formerly Busch) series.

Unlike many in the sport who grew up with their families at the track, Lori is relatively new to stock car racing.

"I was a farm girl from northeastern Ohio -- Rootstown," she said. "I'd never been to a NASCAR race, didn't really know what it was all about, had no idea what they did.  I was an engineer for Eaton Corporation, a hydraulic engineer, and then a warehouse manager with U.S. Foods and PFG. My kids are all raised and married, I've got six grandchildren; was ready to retire, and then I met Johnny [Davis, the other JD Motorsports owner.]"

Now Lori is immersed in the daily details of running the RaceGirl Chevrolet team that features Johnny's son Kertus Davis as the driver.  

"I work in the office, I keep all the books, I do all the accounting, set up the travel arrangements for everybody," she said. "I'm more of a Mom figure. If they need something, they come to me....for advice, or if they're hungry, it's 'what's Lori cooking?'"

It may not be as splashy and glamorous as the top-tier Sprint Cup, but Lori likes the homier atmosphere in the smaller-scale Nationwide race series.

"I really feel that this garage is more of a family, and I don't know if we'll ever go to that [Sprint] Cup level," she said. "We like it here; there are good people on this side....this seems that it's still got a little bit of the old-time racing. Johnny was a crew chief [for some of the earlier drivers] so we're old-school, and it seems like the old school is still here, and that's what makes racing fun; no matter the sweat and pressures and worries, these people are like family."

Racing is an expensive sport (engines alone are $25,000 per race and fuel costs are spiraling upward) so a team owner is constantly thinking about financial support to keep a car competitive on the track.

The RaceGirl clothing company is a long-time, loyal sponsor for JD Motorsports, but their support doesn't pay all of the bills, and "sometimes it might hurt us because people think we're like Roush [Roush Fenway Racing, a major NASCAR team] with a $50 million sponsor, and it's not that," said Morgan. "We live off of the [race winnings] purses. We pay our expenses off of the purses, but since we can't totally live off of that, funding comes from personal bank accounts, personal funds that I've been blessed with, and we try to make it work."

The current grim U.S. economic picture does not bode well for sponsor opportunities for any NASCAR team, large or small.
 
"When [major team owner] Richard Childress can't find a sponsor, you've got a problem in the economy.  We aren't looking for $5 million to $20 million sponsorships that [major teams] ask for....we're looking at [sponsor help of] $50,000 per race; we'd even consider $5000 per race, just to [help] pay the tire bill, which is about $14,000 per race."

Morgan would like to see more female team members in the garages and haulers.

"You know, with me as a hydraulic engineer, I was the only woman," she said. "The women have to come out to us; they have to think in their mind, 'I want to work on race cars!'  You just don't get those resumes from the women....it's a fun sport, and they should really look into it. Maybe we need to get those successful women-owned businesses to come forward and say, 'I want to sponsor a racecar.' Why couldn't you have a woman-owned team, an all-woman pit crew - why can't you have that?"

The hardworking farm girl from Ohio may have some rough days shepherding her team from track to track, but Lori Morgan remains upbeat about her sport.

"It's the thrill, the drama; you have to stay positive, you've got to keep thinking every morning when you get up, 'maybe someone will recognize us today.' The joy of performing to a [high] level, with the little that we do have, is a pat on our backs."