Where are all the woman race car drivers? Look no further than Thompson Speedway in the northeast corner of Connecticut, where Theresa Condict is an amateur race car driver behind the wheel of a souped-up Acura RSX-S — a car that she helped build. She’s hoping to win a New England championship this season, a move that might eventually position her to move to professional status. But she admits she has a major distraction — her passion for racing has landed her as marketing director at the Thompson, Conn.-based motorsports park. “I understand the drama of the sport — there’s usually heroes and villains in each division. Getting to know the drivers and their personality is just one of the reasons that fans love to come to the track,’’ Condict said. She brought Globe correspondent Cindy Atoji Keene up to speed on life behind the wheel.
“I think of myself as a race car driver first, and then a woman. There aren’t many female role models in the sport to look up to, even though the track is a very equal playing field. Men don’t have a clear advantage in racing; instead it’s all about the equipment rather than how much strength you have.
“With my helmet and race suit, and once strapped in under the roll cage, you can’t even tell I’m a female behind the wheel. And I like it that way. I drive a slightly modified car with stock power; it’s not super fast, but I compete in a fun class because all the vehicles are fairly equal to each other.
“One of the issues with road course racing are the expenses, such as tires; I need to change tires every time I do a race. A full set of racing slicks is $900, plus a few hundred dollars’ worth of gas, of course. I started racing on autocross courses — timed courses set up with cones — and fell in love with the adrenaline rush.
“When Thompson Speedway opened up the 1.7-mile road course in addition to its traditional paved oval racetrack, they brought me on because I have a background in road course racing. This track has a lot of history — it is one of the oldest paved ovals in the country, which opened in 1940.
“We have two very different crowds of fans here, which is one of the marketing challenges. The short track is more of the NASCAR crowd; the road course side is more homestyle, family-oriented. For me, it can be a little difficult balancing my racing career and promoting Thompson Speedway. But luckily a couple of my races are here. So I go out for a break, race around the track, and come back to the office. There’s nothing like a little adrenaline to get your work day going.’’
Cindy Atoji Keene can be reached at cindy.atoji@gmail.com.
