Women's Motorsports Network Podcast----Fuel Her Future Podcast

Send us Fan Mail A family buys a junior dragster thinking it will be a short-lived hobby. A few years later, it has become a full-blown way of life, and for Lindsay Meserve, it starts with a seven-year-old’s first pass and never really lets go. I talk with Lindsay about growing up in St. George, Utah, being the only girl with four brothers, and how drag racing turns into the place where her family...

Send us Fan Mail Short tracks aren’t just where racing happens. They’re where careers start, families gather, and a whole town learns what a Saturday night feels like. I’m joined by Gina Schild Knowles, a lifelong motorsports pro whose path runs through Texas racing roots, sponsorship sales, and the high-wire act of keeping racetracks alive when the math doesn’t always work on paper. We talk about...

Send us Fan Mail A kid on an ATV can look like pure summer fun, right up until it becomes an emergency. We sit down with Kristen Almer of the Ride Safe Foundation to talk about the reality most families never see: the repeat patterns behind youth ATV and UTV crashes, the heartbreaking cost of “dumb luck,” and the simple decisions that prevent tragedy. Kristen shares the loss of her 11-year-old nep...

Send us Fan Mail Your phone is the one thing you can’t afford to lose at the track, on a trip, or in the middle of a packed day, so why do we keep stuffing it into pockets that don’t exist or burying it at the bottom of a bag? I’m joined by Tammy and Elizabeth, the mother-daughter team behind Save The Girls, to share the surprisingly emotional origin of their patented touchscreen purse and why the...

Send us Fan Mail A dirt track career can start with a dream, then immediately test you with fire, rollovers, and a rulebook you didn’t know you broke. That’s why our conversation with young Midwest Modified racer Sophie Anderson hits so hard: she’s honest about the messy parts of racing and the mindset it takes to keep coming back. We talk about Sophie’s early years in Pure Stocks, including the n...

Send us Fan Mail A championship career can disappear in a split second. What happens next is the part nobody trains you for.  We sit down with Stefy, an Italian-born motocross world champion who wins three world titles, races against men on some of the biggest stages, and then faces a devastating injury that ends her time as a pro athlete. She shares what it feels like when your identity has been...

Send us Fan Mail You can love racing your whole life and still believe you “missed your chance” to drive. That’s why our conversation with 20-year-old A-class micro sprint driver Kelly Coss hits so hard. Kelly grew up around speed, spent years as a Friday-night fan at Red Cedar Speedway, then made the leap from the grandstands to the cockpit after discovering micro sprint racing at Thunder Hill Sp...

Send us Fan Mail A weekly weather report filmed in the rain probably should not be a turning point in racing culture, but that is exactly what happens at River Cities Speedway. We talk with Brina Sang, a Grand Forks, North Dakota native who grew up at the track, took over its social media, and found a bold voice that fans now recognize instantly. From marketing and sponsorship support to viral-sty...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of racing careers start with a “real plan.” Abby Maurer’s starts with a dusty car at her dad’s shop and a deal for gas-station ice cream if she’d sit in it for a photo. Abby is 14 now, a mini wedge racer with big trophies behind her and even bigger confidence on track, and she joins us to tell the full story from that first moment to chasing points championships at places li...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people say they love racing. Kate Maurer is 10 years old and proves it by showing up, learning fast, and winning in a mini wedge. I sit down with Kate to hear how she got started after watching her sister race, what it’s like running youth oval track events across Michigan, and why her home tracks at Owosso Speedway and Owosso Motorsports Park mean so much. We talk about...

Send us Fan Mail Race nights look effortless from the grandstands, but the real story is what it takes to keep showing up week after week. I’m joined by Chelsea Martin, a 19-year-old Sport Compact racer from Shepherd, Michigan, and she brings the kind of grounded honesty that makes grassroots motorsports so relatable. We talk about the family thread that pulled her into racing, starting with her g...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people picture an NHRA Top Fuel driver as someone who grew up with unlimited passes and a polished pipeline to the pros. Our conversation with Jasmine Salinas tells a different story, one built on work boots, family pressure, and a scrap business in San Jose, California that taught her how to grind long before she ever went 334 miles an hour. We talk about what it really...

Send us Fan Mail Dirt racing doesn’t reward the same lap twice, and that’s exactly why this conversation with 15-year-old micro sprint racer Memarie “Mem” Ashcraft is so gripping. She walks us through what it really takes to move up classes, stay calm when the weekend gets messy, and keep learning even when the results don’t show it yet. We talk about how she got started in racing after growing up...

Send us Fan Mail You can love racing and still have no idea how it actually works. That’s why we sat down with Fallon Constantino, an IMSA race control safety dispatcher who lives in the space most fans never see: the radios, the response plan, and the split-second coordination that turns a crash into a safe, controlled reset. We talk through Fallon’s unconventional path into motorsports, from ear...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of racers retire and finally take it easy. Kenny Head went the other direction and built a youth racing pipeline that’s helping keep short track racing alive in Michigan. Melinda Russell sits down with Kenny to talk about the Kalamazoo Speedway Mini Wedges program, why it matters, and what it takes to turn kids as young as five into confident, safe, competitive racers. We ge...

Send us Fan Mail Horsepower isn’t only built with parts and talent, it’s protected by the choices you make between rebuilds. We’re joined by Jessica Trout of Schaeffer Oil to talk about what happens when you treat lubricants like performance equipment instead of an afterthought, and why a “lubrication consultant” mindset beats a hard-sell pitch every time. Jessica shares how she grew into the busi...

Send us Fan Mail She got told “nobody really cares about motorsports” and made a decision that changed everything. We’re talking with Kendra Sommer, a former TV news reporter who quits her job, flies to the SEMA Show with no network, and turns that leap into real momentum and a real business in automotive media. If you’ve ever wanted a career in motorsports content, this story hits that exact nerv...

Send us Fan Mail Air horns, a packed arena, and a mom who never thought she’d wear a swimsuit on stage, then did it anyway. We’re joined by Caitlyn Vogel, a racer from Pennsylvania and a powerhouse in the women in motorsports community, to unpack what the Motorama pageant is actually like and why she keeps coming back for the friendships, the growth, and the chance to set an example for young driv...

Send us Fan Mail We trace Mallory Kutz's year from Miss Motorama win to a full-throttle campaign that connected drivers, packed a seminar, funded scholarships, and reframed what a motorsports pageant can be. Along the way, she kept racing, took her first feature wins, and proved that advocacy grows fastest at the track. • redefining Miss Motorama as an ambassador role • 113 events across eigh...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a racer grows up trackside and turns childhood laps into a signature streak that few ever touch? We invited 20-year-old bracket sensation Shelby Thurman to share the real story behind her rise—from a junior dragster at seven to a hard-hitting 1991 S10 tuned by a family that lives and breathes motorsports. Support the show FACEBOOK: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagra...

Send us Fan Mail NASCAR doesn’t just show up with race cars and a schedule, it shows up with road closures, noise fears, neighborhood questions, and a whole lot of logistics. That’s why my conversation with Jacque Herrera is so timely. Jacque grew up in Chicago, built a career in community relations and government relations, and then made a bold leap into motorsports to help bring the Chicago Stre...

Send us Fan Mail Support the show FACEBOOK: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/womensmotorsportsnetwork/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindarussell/ TIKTOK: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindarussell/ https://www.patreon.com/posts/womens-network-144773298 X: https://x.com/IWMANation FACEBOOK Personal Page: https://www.facebook.com/melinda.ann.russell

Send us Fan Mail Support the show FACEBOOK: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/womensmotorsportsnetwork/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindarussell/ TIKTOK: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindarussell/ https://www.patreon.com/posts/womens-network-144773298 X: https://x.com/IWMANation FACEBOOK Personal Page: https://www.facebook.com/melinda.ann.russell

Send us Fan Mail The throttle snaps, the snow flies, and a 21-year-old rider decides to trust herself over the voice of doubt. That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with Mckaylee, a snowcross racer who started at five years old and climbed from 120s to 600s, stacking national starts and hard-won podiums along the way. She brings the kind of clear-eyed honesty that motorsports rarely show on hig...

Send us Fan Mail Dystany Spurlock doesn’t talk like someone waiting to be picked. She talks like a driver who decided to learn the game, earn the seat, and bring other women with her. We sit down with Dystany to trace a journey that starts with childhood power wheels and turns into real-world racing across motorcycle drag racing, NHRA ambitions, and an upcoming ARCA Menards Series debut under the...