McIntosh — a whirlwind of activity on the track with her driving duties and off it as a guru of social media — races into Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for this weekend’s Sports Car Challenge/Honda Indy 200. McIntosh enters 16th out of 22 drivers in points in her first season with the USF2000 developmental series, the first of three rungs in IndyCar’s Mazda Road to Indy ladder system. Her series races twice at Mid-Ohio this weekend with one race each on Saturday and Sunday.
“This whole year my goal is just continue to improve,” said McIntosh, who grew up racing ovals in a variety of rides including USAC midgets. “Being only my second year on road courses, adjusting to these Formula cars, I just want to see in my data and in my results that I’m continually improving. That’s the most important part. If we can grab a top 10 this weekend that would be amazing because there’s supposed to be a good showing of cars.”
McIntosh will have plenty of support and encouragement to get there. She’s in her first season with TrueCar Racing, a six-woman racing team designed to provide full sponsorship, professional coaching and training and marketing exposure to aspiring drivers. IndyCar driver Katherine Legg leads the team. Legge and Pirelli World Challenge driver Shea Holbrook will also compete at Mid-Ohio.
“It’s cool. Being a girl who’s been around men all my life in racing, you don’t really meet a lot of girls that understand your lifestyle,” McIntosh said. “Meeting these girls and having Katherine to be able to look up to, it’s an awesome support system.”
These days being a woman race car driver comes with the obligatory comparisons and references to NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, something McIntosh and her fellow teammates are used to.
“I think any woman race car driver, that’s the first thing people think. I hope TrueCar can break the mold and show the world there are a lot of women race car drivers out there and a lot of women race car drivers who are talented,” McIntosh said. “There are definitely more eyeballs on you and I think sometimes I put more pressure on myself because of that. But it’s really exciting the TrueCar women empowerment initiative is going to be there this weekend. It’s exciting.”
If fans can’t catch McIntosh at Mid-Ohio, there are other ways to keep pace with her. Mashable.com, a social media and news site, named McIntosh one of seven “Must-Follow Athletes on Social Media.” She’s was also named one of five finalists for Seventeen magazine’s “Pretty Amazing” women contest.
“I think because I’m so hard on myself and I have such a far way to go to make myself happy, I’m always pushing forward,” McIntosh said of her drive and desire to reach the IndyCar series and race in the Indianapolis 500. “Living on the road is hard and I miss home a lot, even though I’m in Florida I still feel like home is Miamisburg, but it’s definitely surreal sometimes. I journal a lot and have to remind myself how lucky I am. When I’m on the road and people ask what I do, it always reminds me how lucky I am to be pursing my dream and living my dream.”
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