Herstoric victory

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This article was published 28/08/2016 (3306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With a last few left turns of her 450-horsepower late-model stock car, Winnipeg’s Amber Balcaen raced into the history books Saturday night in Virginia.

Balcaen became the first Canadian woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race, taking her No. 10 Lee Pulliam Performance car from third on the grid to the checkered flag at the Motor Mile in Radford.

“The first win is really everything. People recognize wins and wins put you on the map in the NASCAR world,” she said. “I’m on cloud nine right now. I needed the win to move up in the NASCAR scene. There was a lot of pressure on me. I had to make it happen. I’m still so excited about the win, but I’m already looking toward my next race Sept. 10.”

The win comes in the penultimate race of Balcaen’s first season on pavement south of the border. The 24-year-old found tremendous success in Manitoba’s dirt-track racing scene, becoming the first woman in the province to win a dirt-track championship while following in the footsteps of her father, Mike Balcaen, and grandfather, Lou Kennedy Sr., both accomplished dirt racers in their own right.

It all started 14 years ago when Amber, then 10, began to petition her father, even going as far as begging him to let her race. Mike said he had to make sure she wanted it and was going to put in the effort it takes to be a race car driver. He’s long been convinced, but Saturday was a special moment for the longtime racer. 

“She’d been working so hard. I knew she was getting closer and closer,” Mike said. “She continually makes her dad proud.”

While Mike is often giggling and gushing when watching his daughter follow in his footsteps, his wife, Kim, has a tougher time staying composed. 

“I’ve been to every one of her races up until this year. I never, ever missed a race,” Kim said. “I’ve flown there (U.S.) three times to (see) races. It’s tough. I don’t get to be there and celebrate with her. I can’t hug her. I want to be with her and share those pivotal moments in her life.”

Friends and family greeted Balcaen at Richardson International Airport Sunday night, with her parents toting a large congratulatory sign. Mike had a checkered flag and cheered as his daughter came through customs.

A crowd gathered to see what all the fuss was about, snapping shots.

The win for the third-generation racer was one better than her second-place run in her last race Aug. 13. Balcaen has finished in the top five in 10 of her 11 races this season, including multiple podium finishes in the Limited Sportsman class of NASCAR’s Whelen All-America Series.

She sits third in the overall point standings with 162, 46 adrift of leader Scott Lancaster with one race remaining in her rookie season.

‘The first win is really everything, people recognize wins and wins put you on the map in the NASCAR world’– Winnipeg’s Amber Balcaen on her first win 

It’s a massive start to Balcaen’s five-year plan of making her first NASCAR Sprint Series start by 2021, racing beside the likes of Jimmie Johnson and fellow female driver Danica Patrick.

“Next year, I’m looking to move into the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the ARCA Racing Series, a combination of both of them,” Balcaen said.

ARCA isn’t NASCAR-sanctioned, but they race at all the same tracks as the NASCAR Sprint Series. The NASCAR K&N Pro Series is one level under the NASCAR XFINITY Series (which houses NASCAR’s best prospects).

To move up, Balcaen will have to up her funding. Having a seat in a car on the grid is one thing, but she has to pay out of pocket for everything from gas to the pit crew that keeps her car primed during race week.

“Next year, it goes from six figures to seven figures, so I’m going to need to find a corporate sponsor,” Balcaen said.

“When she told me this is what she wanted to do, I told her — not to discourage her — but I told her that it’s very tough to do,” Mike said. “There are hundreds of racers who want to do what she wants to do and a lot of them are financially backed better.

“But she’s gone out there and got it. She went out and found the sponsors. She’s had to do it the very hard way, and that’s what I’m most proud of.”

On top of her financial obligations, Balcaen has to navigate a male-dominated sport.

“People don’t take us as seriously,” Balcaen told the Free Press in April. “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.

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

Her win Saturday made sure they noticed.  

“Absolutely. The top three came and shook my hand and congratulated me,” Balcaen said. “I raced them hard and passed them clean, and I know they respect that.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @scottbilleck