Training basket of Amber Balcaen

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This article was published 02/04/2016 (3443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Amber Balcaen likes to say she’s pretty much been racing since she was in her mother’s womb.

And while that might sound like an exaggeration, it’s not far off from the truth.

Balcaen, 24, comes from a lineage of dirt racers. Her grandfather, Lou Kennedy Sr., and her father, Mike Balcaen, have all put a car sideways through an apex. You need only take one step into her garage to see picture of her father at the track, and a litany of reminders of his success on it.

“The joke is that I’m double-blooded when it comes to racing — I got it from both sides of the family,” she says.

But Balcaen has been carving her own path in the dirt ever since her father finally gave into her pleading to allow her to race at the age of 10.

“The first time I got out of the car after a race, I thought it was the coolest, most fun thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she says.

And now she’s trying to do something no one in her family has: move from the dirt to the pavement and, if she has anything to say about it, into the pack in NASCAR.

It’s a dream. She wants to be lining up against Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick by 2021. And her first major step is moving to North Carolina next month.

Balcaen will compete in the NASCAR Late Model series.

“I’ve got really big dreams. Pavement is how you make a career out of it,” she says. “It’s really hard to make a career out of dirt-track racing. I want to make a career out of my racing, not just a hobby. Moving to pavement, I am able to work myself up. Hopefully, I can race against Jimmie Johnson one day.”

Balcaen’s accomplishments in Manitoba are impressive.

She was the first woman to win a dirt-track racing championship in the province and won 75 per cent of her completed races in 2013. In 2014, she was the NOSA sprint car rookie of the year and was the only Canadian to compete at the 2014 NASCAR Drive for Diversity combine and the 2015 Bill McAnally Racing drivers’ expo.

On top of all that, Balcaen obtained her ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) licence at Daytona International Speedway.

Perhaps her biggest accomplishment so far, and biggest challenge to come, is navigating a male-dominated sport.

“People don’t take us as seriously,” she says of female race-car drivers. “There’s a stigma that women can’t be as good as men in sport. People hear you’re a woman driver and they automatically think you’re not as good, even if you are.

“I think, too, getting respect from the other drivers is harder.”

Financially, getting to the top is just as challenging. Balcaen spends much of her time trying to get sponsors.

“Lucky for me, I enjoy the business side of the sport, but sponsorships can be pretty frustrating because you get a lot of ‘no,’” Balcaen says. “It’s honestly a lot like being an entrepreneur; there’s going to be a lot of failures. You need to take those and reassess and find a new approach. You have to change on the go.”

Balcaen has targeted sponsors with messages she agrees with. Getting to the top in the sport isn’t enough, she says. She wants to be an advocate for young girls and feels NASCAR can provide that platform as well.

“Women empowerment, companies that have really strong, female-oriented messages,” she says of her preferred choice of sponsors. “I want to make (girls’) lives better and show them that, no matter what, they can go after their dreams.”

 

 

Favourite workout:

My Stairmaster. Sometimes I like to pick up a weight that’d you normally put on a dumbbell and hold it out and front of me and turn it like I’d turn the wheel of the car. You need lots of upper-body strength in this sport.

Favourite workout song:

Rap, hip-hop and pop music. Those are my go-tos.

Fitness tip:

It’s definitely important to focus on your endurance and cardio as well as your upper-body strength.

What’s in your fridge:

Lots of veggies and fruits — I have smoothies every morning and I eat a veggie omelette every day, so lots of eggs. I don’t eat beef or pork.

Guilty pleasure:

Red wine.

 

Got an idea for the Training Basket? Email Scott at scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca.