Racing driver Erin Crocker Evernham is the classic overachiever—not content with being a champion on the tracks, she also wants to dominate ocean sports. Evernham, 42, shared a picture of herself wearing a black swimsuit and life vest, wakesurfing on the beautiful waves. "Surf sesh 🏄♀️🤙🥰," she captioned the post. Here's what the veteran driver thinks about women breaking down barriers in the racing world.
Evernham started racing at the age of seven. "I think like any sport, the tennis and golf pros start when their kids can swing the racquet or the club," she says. "I think starting younger, experience is experience. No matter what type of surface you are on, that car control you learn and communicating what the car is doing and what you are feeling, all of that only helps. There are drivers who started later in their life, like Dale Earnhardt who was 24 when he began and obviously he was super successful. I think it only helps but some people just have a lot of God-given talent."
Evernham didn't take driving seriously until she was in college. "I wasn't the kid that when I was 10 years old said I wanted to be a race car driver," she says. "I loved soccer, played lacrosse, I ski raced; I had all these other interests. In high school I looked into programs to ski full-time and take my high school classes at night. I applied to colleges based on ski teams, so I felt like I was exposed to a lot, which to me is great because I feel like I turned into a well-rounded person. On the other hand, maybe I could have been more successful had I only raced year round, like anything it is just a matter of what you want."
Evernham loves her fans but isn't motivated by fame. "I always really appreciate the fans and enjoy the fans. That was never really a big part of it for me, to try to become famous," she says. "It was more about having people respect me for being a race car driver. It was important to me to qualify for the (Knoxville) Nationals and winning and Outlaw race, to have people look at me like 'Alright, she's legit; she deserves to be here' as opposed to just getting the attention from it. It's not saying that I didn't appreciate the fans or the fame or all the things that come with it, but it was never my motivation."
Evernham loves horseback riding with her family. "One of the benefits of regular exercise is lowered blood pressure; horseback riding is exercise," says the American Heart Association. "Lower blood pressure can reduce the risk of heart disease. Plus just being around animals has been shown to do that as well."
Evernham loves that racing is becoming normalized for female drivers. "I think it is really neat to see more women trying to further their racing career," she says. "When I was racing quarter midgets, there were a lot of girls, probably half and half because it was a family sport. But I think a lot of them, including myself, did not know there were opportunities to race beyond that if you are a girl. The higher I got up the racing ladder, the few girls there were. It is neat to see that obviously Danica [Patrick] the most, but what Sarah Fisher has done and there are a bunch of women who have reached a decent level in their career. Like Johanna Long winning the Snowball Derby, that was really cool, that is a racer's hardcore deal. To see her win a tough race like that is really neat."
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