Goin' In Circles: Ashley Finds Her Way In Oval Racing

2007.10.20: Before the 2007 season, Ashley had never raced a Stock Car. In fact, it turned out she didn't even fit a Stock Car. Not able to see over the steering wheel, barely able to reach the pedals and unable to reach the ignition switch, there was some adjusting and fabricating to do before the first race. Once on the track however, Ashley soon looked the part and just three events into the season took a second-place finish. Now that the season is finished, Ashley looks back at her transition to going in circles:

After spending a few years away from racing, I went ice racing last winter. I did quite well and at the end of the season Brock Gilboe and Jordan Marrison offered me the opportunity to join them for an enduro race in their Fab Worx BMW Touring Car. I was thrilled, but who would have thought it would lead to a Dodge Charger Stock Car and a reunion with Barbie.

Having been a road racer right from my first kart race when I was nine years old, oval racing was something I knew little about (and most of what I knew was wrong). I honestly didn't think it was something I wanted to do. What I'd seen on television made me think oval racing was all about hitting. Stock car drivers seemed as happy to take someone out as pass them. Eventually, I was convinced this wasn't the case, so we got cracking and within six weeks I was in a Porter Airlines hangar showing two pink race cars—the Touring Car and the Stock Car—to the media. Barbie and Wal*Mart were back as sponsors, as were Keystone Benefits, Kwik Kopy and Mark Jackson and new this year were Polly Pocket, Dare Bear Paws and Samsung. Fab Worx and Open Road BMW provided additional support for the Touring Car.

I was to enter three races in the Touring Car and six races in the Stock Car. I was used to formula cars—light,open-wheeled road racers —so the BMW would be heavier, but not too different. The big challenge would be the stock car as oval racing was new and strange to me. At the beginning of the year, I knew nothing about oval racing, but DJK Racing gave me a good car and the crew were really helpful. The spotters, Bob, Bubba and Rob, really helped me get up to speed. Rob in particular helped me get the feel for oval racing and the rest of the guys, led by Bob, helped with the set up, making the car faster and faster. I loved the fact that I was driving a pink Dodge Charger and it had enough power to push me back in the seat.

With every race, I learned more about the car and the racing. Although oval racing is aggressive it takes a smooth driver to be fast and preserve tires. That suited me and I was smooth from the start. Left-foot braking came quickly because I used to do it when I raced karts. The strategies of oval racing were all new though so I had—and I still have—plenty to learn. The guys I was racing have loads of little tricks they've picked up over the years and they really suckered me sometimes. I especially dreaded restarts because it seemed like I lost out almost everytime. I found working with a spotter difficult too because it was really distracting to have someone talking on the radio so much when I was trying to race, but I'm totally used to it now.

It was funny learning the oval lingo as I had grown up with road-racing terms like 'oversteer' and 'understeer' instead of 'loose', and 'tight'. I remember coming into the pits and telling Bob what the car was doing and he had this blank look on his face and said, "It's what?"

Now I know lots of oval terms and have an understading of the setup. Hopefully, I can do some testing next year so I take advantage of that and improve. It will help my racing immensely in terms of experience as last year I just showed up to the races and did what I could. I had just two short practices before qualifying and I was not really up to speed until I had a bunch of race laps under my belt! On the other hand I could jump in the BMW and be on pace after a lap or two becuase I had so much road-racing experience.

My opion of oval racing has changed a lot since March. Now I understand that rubbin' is racin' and you have to be aggressive to survive in a competeitve stock car series. In formula cars you could end up airborne by touching wheels, but I'm proud of getting big, black doughnuts down the side of my stock car - they show up nicely against the pink too. The crew cleaned the car after every race and I always told them to leave the doughnuts... but they never listened.

I'd like to thank Barbie, Wal*Mart and the rest of the sponsors for their support. I couldn't have raced without the sponsors or the people who helped and supported me at the races. Thanks to Douglas and DJ of DJK Racing for giving me such a great car and to Bob, Rob, Derek and everyone else who helped out in the pits. They made the whole experience a lot more fun.

I had a great time learning a whole new side of motorsport. Oval racing is totally different from what I'm used to and i loved the challenge. I was great learning the ropes and I hope to be back next year to step things up a little.