From Homeschool To Hot Laps: A Mom’s Guide To Growing A Young Dirt Driver

A single bold ask can change a racing life. That’s what happened when a six-year-old named Everett walked up to Food City’s CEO and asked for a sponsorship—an audacious moment that launched a genuine grassroots journey, powered by family, faith, and a love for speed. We sit down with Amy Larson, proud “momager” and homeschool parent from Virginia, to unpack what it really takes to raise a young driver who competes with adults on dirt and keeps his head in the toughest moments.

Amy pulls back the curtain on their playbook: choosing karting over other sports, prioritizing track time to keep skills sharp, and treating the whole effort like a college fund paid in hours, reps, and relationships. She shares how Everett built sponsor trust early, why clean conduct and strong social media matter as much as pace, and how mentors like Corey LaJoie stepped in with shoes, a simulator, and priceless guidance. We talk safety, the transition from pavement to dirt, and the quiet discipline behind long Saturdays, late features, and early Sunday mornings at church.

You’ll hear practical advice for new racing parents—start within your means, avoid debt chasing fancy gear, and teach your driver to own the process. We spotlight the community that makes grassroots racing special: friends in neighboring pits, pros who open doors, and fans who become family. Whether the future leads to NASCAR, rally, or more dirt, the Larsons’ story proves that character, consistency, and connection can carry a young racer farther than any single win.

If this resonated, tap follow, share it with a racing parent who needs a lift, and leave a quick review so more motorsports families can find us. Your support helps keep these stories on the grid.

Transcript

Meet Amy Larson

Melinda Russell 0:02

Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast, the show that puts the spotlight on the incredible women who fuel the world of motorsports. From drivers to crew members, engineers to fans, and everyone in between, we're here to celebrate the trailbizers, dreamers, and doers shaping the sport we love. Each episode, we share inspiring stories of females of all ages from every corner of the motorsports universe, past, present, and future. It's a journey through the seasons of life filled with heartfelt moments, laughter, and a whole lot of horsepower. So whether you're a lifelong fan, a racer yourself, or simply curious about the extraordinary women behind the wheel, settle in, relax, and enjoy a fun and uplifting ride with us. This is the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast, connecting and celebrating women in motorsports one story at a time. Let's hit the track. Hello everyone. This is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast. And my guest today is Amy Larson. And so, Amy, I want to welcome you to the show. And as I always do, my listeners like to get to know you a little better, other than motorsports. So tell me a little bit about yourself, your family, whatever you'd like to share.

Amy Larson 1:23

Okay, thank you for having me on. Live in Virginia, have uh four kids, one still at home, who is the motorsport guy in the family. And I I stay at home and homeschool him.

Melinda Russell 1:38

Okay. And how old is he?

Amy Larson 1:41

He is 14.

Melinda Russell 1:43

Okay, so he that would be a high school, you're doing high school stuff, probably.

Amy Larson 1:48

Yes.

Melinda Russell 1:48

Yes, yeah. So many kids are homeschooled nowadays. Lots of the girls that I interview, drivers and that, are homeschooled. It just works so much better for to be involved in racing and that. So it doesn't surprise me that your son is homeschooled.

Amy Larson 2:04

Yes, there's quite a few in the racing community. It it just helps to be able to go go somewhere on a Friday if you want to, and you don't have to answer to to anyone.

Everett’s Start And Early Karting

Melinda Russell 2:17

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, for sure. So Amy, tell me a little bit about how you got involved in motorsports.

Amy Larson 2:26

Well, my my 14-year-old, when from the time he was a toddler, was obsessed with going fast. And at five years old, he had been watching the Cars movie, and I told him that the character King was a real man, Richard Betty. He started watching videos and decided at that point he was gonna race cars. And uh so a few years later, when he was nine, we he started racing go-karts. And he is still racing go-karts now. And two years ago, we met someone that offered him the chance to drive an open-wheel modified dirt track car. Okay. So he he's been able to be on the track a few times with that. Honestly, I was not into racing at all before this. He has made our whole family fans by by loving it. Between myself and and my husband and and both sides of our family will just have started following racing because of his love of it.

Melinda Russell 3:41

You know, that's very similar, Amy, to my story as far as I have four children. My son, when he was about four or five years old, we'd go to the racetrack to watch some of our friends race, and he would sit on the front row and he would never leave the front row. And he had a little white racing suit that was like a Halloween costume that I got off a JCPenney Christmas catalog. Do you remember when they used to get Christmas catalogs in the mail or not?

Amy Larson 4:09

Oh no, I remember marking them.

Learning The Ropes And Safety

Melinda Russell 4:12

Oh yes, and so that's where I got it from. And from that time until he passed away, he was so involved in racing, and that's how our family got interested in racing. So we have a very similar story as to how we came to where we are today for sure. That's neat. So when he first started racing, were you nervous? You know, did you, you know, if you and your husband weren't into racing, that's a lot of things to learn about the cart, much less, you know, just how do you feel about your kid going around a track?

Amy Larson 4:49

As far as myself, I I'm pretty laid back. And thankfully, I'm not a nervous kind of person when it comes to it. I feel he's very safe. He he races a champ cart, a cage cart. So he is strapped in five point one. So I've always felt very safe with him with that. My husband, he knows how to work on cars, so he was able to learn. You know, it took a while to be able to really be confident, but he was able to learn that. So it's it's been a good uh mixture of just our family being able to to learn with uh, you know, the help of others on the cart track to teach you.

Melinda Russell 5:30

Yeah, and everybody's willing to help, that's for sure. They are, they are, yeah. And so where do where do you guys go to race? Do you race at one track mostly or do you travel?

Amy Larson 5:42

This year we have been only racing across the border in in Tennessee at Ashway Speedway in uh Strawberry Plains. Uh we live on the Virginia border, it's about an hour and 40 minutes. That is the closest track to us. There have been years that we had one about 30 minutes away in Kingsport, but that track closed down. That was a uh a paved track, and now he's on he's on dirt and prefers dirt. He's he has really gotten into to loving to to race on dirt, and he wants to have a career in racing.

Melinda Russell 6:24

So uh what is the thing that you know your family, what keeps you going to the track? I realize your kids into racing, and and we do what our kids love, right? But there's gotta be other reasons. You could be doing a lot of things on the weekend besides being at the racetrack. What keeps you going back?

Tracks, Travel, And Choosing Dirt

Amy Larson 6:44

We want to help him live his dream, and in doing so, we're doing the same, you know. We just love the thought of him being able to do this. And we have even, I've told my husband that the time that we put into this and all the things that that we do is like putting into uh a college account. Uh, you know, this is our this is our college account for him, is putting our time and effort in into helping him live his dream. And we we love it.

Melinda Russell 7:24

Yeah, because you know, the I mean there are kids that go to college that race, but not if they want to become, you know, seriously successful at it. You can't really take that much time off from it because every week really that you're out of the car, you lose a little bit of your your skill, and there's all kinds of guys that are guys and gals that are not missing any weeks in the car, and you just get behind. It's true of any sport. If you lay out of it for a while and other kids are are practicing softball or basketball, and you try to come back, you're you're gonna be behind. And so you kind of have to make that decision, don't you? Whether it's gonna be college or a career.

Amy Larson 8:09

And and even as he's grown older, any other sports we don't do anymore. We just we want to focus as much as we can on that and and do everything we can, and and we just always do it as a family. Yeah.

Melinda Russell 8:26

And so he's got three siblings, they're e all grown.

Amy Larson 8:31

They're all grown. They're all grown, uh, a couple of them with kids of their own. I have seven grandkids.

Melinda Russell 8:37

Okay.

Family Commitment As “College Fund”

Amy Larson 8:38

Uh two of the grandkids are older than Everett. Everett was later in life. He's he's actually adopted. We we were blessed to to be picked uh to adopt him. And it's just it's just been awesome to we kind of kind of started over again, you know, after the other kids were older. And so it it's been good to be able to be able to put that effort into him and his dream,

Melinda Russell 9:05

how old was he when you adopted him?

Amy Larson 9:12

We were there the day he was born. We were there when he was born.

Melinda Russell 9:16

And that's very cool. he's a lucky kid that he got you as a family.

Amy Larson 9:22

So well, we're we're very blessed. He's he's just he's just awesome. He's brought us in a direction we would have never even thought of with the racing. This is just he's taken us on an adventure from uh from day one.

Melinda Russell 9:37

So what do what do his uh siblings think of him racing and and are do they come and watch? Do they live close enough to be able to do that? How do they feel about that?

Amy Larson 9:48

Uh they're very proud and and brag on him. My oldest son for for a while, whenever it first started, was able to come to quite a few of his races and be with us, but they they haven't been able to recently, but you know how it is when you're racing, you're traveling so far and it's an all-day thing. It is so, but yes, they're they're very supportive and and proud of their baby brother.

Melinda Russell 10:13

Yeah, and you know, once they leave the nest and they have their own families or they're working, it's it's hard to give up your weekends. Sorry, it's hard to give up your weekends unless you're directly involved because you've got things that you have to do for yourself and your family.

Amy Larson 10:30

Yeah, and none of them live near where we would be going. It it would be a long, yeah, long way to go.

Melinda Russell 10:37

So you drive almost two hours on a weekend, and do you go, do you race on a Saturday?

Amy Larson 10:43

Yes. So it's all day Saturday. We're usually home very late on Saturday night, and then get up and go to church on Sunday morning because that's that's very important to our family. Okay, and so it's tiring, but but it's good. You we've just learned you learn over the years how to how to operate, how to do it to where it's not so hectic.

Adoption, Siblings, And Support

Melinda Russell 11:08

Well, and you just learn how to manage and and organize so that you can get everything done that you need to do.

Amy Larson 11:16

Yeah.

Melinda Russell 11:16

So that that's a question I have for you as a mom. You know, you're homeschooling, you're the mom of a race car driver. I'm sure you do laundry and buy groceries like the rest of us have to do, and all the other things, clean house and all those things. How do you manage taking care of yourself in that? Because sometimes as a mom or as a woman, we tend to put others before us often. So, how do you keep yourself in balance?

Amy Larson 11:47

You know, I I think I tend to not do that sometimes because you are putting into everyone else, and you don't want to let anybody down. But thankfully, because I am able to be at home, I can take time just for myself somewhere. It's older now, even just going going to town by myself or and and just having a support of husband and and uh to be able to do this and to be here forever. It and but it's a lot of it's a lot of work with now to advertise and to put that child out there to hopefully get him where he wants to be in life, social media. So he call he calls me his mama jer. I know what that is, yeah. And so, you know, he had he doesn't do social media like that, so I do his accounts and his YouTube and all that, and and that's been something I've had to learn, and and I like doing it now.

Melinda Russell 12:59

Yeah, yeah, because honestly, that's such a big part of it nowadays. You just have to, and especially if he wants to move up and move on, name recognition is a big part of that and your branding, and so good for you that you've taken that role on.

Faith, Weekends, And Balance

Amy Larson 13:14

And I love that you're the momager, you need a shirt that says mommager, yeah, and that's how you advertise for your sponsors because he does have sponsors, and okay.

Melinda Russell 13:25

That's I was gonna ask you about that. So he has sponsors. If you'd like to share who they are, you can, it's up to you. But how does he how do you go about getting those? Does he go out and do that? Is it family, friends, people that you know that own businesses? How did how did he get those sponsors?

Amy Larson 13:42

Well, his his main sponsor is uh Food City, and Food City is here local and they sponsor NASCAR race at Bristol Motor Speedway. They sponsor two two races. Um just happened not long ago. Yes. They are his main sponsor. They uh have him come up on stage for the fan zone, but the how that started is when he was wanting to race, but he was probably six or seven, maybe six. He walked up to the to the the head guy at Food City at an event. Little little guy here walks up and says, I'm going to race, and I would love for you to be my sponsor. And this man, Steve Smith, he talked to Everett, gave him his card and said, When you start racing, you call. And we did. And so so he did, you know, get his first sponsor, you know, like that.

Melinda Russell 14:44

Yeah.

Momager Life And Building A Brand

Amy Larson 14:44

And then people that have maybe live in the area that have seen him and see how he carries himself, how he acts, have have contacted us. There have been friends that have businesses that we have contacted. So he has, you know, Food City, Quality, Heat and Air, Han Doctor, King Sport Fitness. One of his big a person that we have met that has helped him a lot is Corey LaJoy. Okay. Corey is he's awesome. He buys him racing shoes. He gave him this simulator that sitting, this race simulator that's sitting behind me. Uh, he gave him that so he could practice. It was sitting there, he wasn't using it. He's had him a suit made. So just meeting, meeting people that can can help in a way. And if they can't, you know, do a whole lot, can introduce you to people. Right. Right. Everett has a very outgoing personality, and he he could talk to anybody. He last year at this time, he we went to an event in Richmond and he met Travis Pastrana. Travis invited us out to Pastrana Land. So Everett got to go and rip through the trails with one of his can's, and that was just an experience of a lifetime. So just networking these people that can Travis Travis put something on on YouTube, Instagram, all these people have seen it. Yeah, and so yeah, with Everett's personality, it that and and how he acts, and that we we require that he acts the way he should, on the track, off the track, you know.

Melinda Russell 16:41

Yeah. People know people take notice of that. And when a kid is outgoing, like like he sounds like he is, that's how that's how he's gonna, you know, that's the other part of being a good driver. It's one thing to be able to drive a race car. There's a lot of people that can drive a race car, but not everybody can do the other side of it, which is the talk to people, you know, like I I just think about Connor Zilich. Okay, everybody talks about his age, but how much older he acts than his age. Well, that's because he's been trained by his parents, by somebody to act in a responsible manner, to how you know what to say, what not to say, how to act when you're not in the race car. And it sounds like Everett's got the same path in those ways that he knows this is not appropriate behavior. I can't do that. And the thing is, Amy, you never know who's watching, right? And so that's the thing, especially social media, TikTok, all those things, you never know who's gonna run across that and see it. And if they are impressed by it, then that's how he's gonna get more well known and get those opportunities for sure. Yeah, yeah. So if you had a mom come up to you at a race and and they said, Hey, my kid wants to start racing, would you have any advice for them?

Sponsorships, Networking, And Mentors

Amy Larson 18:10

Well, I would say don't go above what you think that you can can do as far as even money, don't try to start out with the best of the best and and and get yourself in debt. Race what you what you can, learn as much as you can and and and and love it. Just be there for your for your kid, right?

Melinda Russell 18:37

Yeah, and don't you know it's like anything that we do, you don't start at the top, right? And so that's that's kind of a life lesson. Kids want kids especially don't understand that sometimes. They want to just go to the top, you know, and it looks so easy, and there's a lot of things they have to learn between here and there, and so and it can be heartbreaking when your child is doing their best and they're not winning, something goes wrong, they're you know, you run into people that are not necessarily treating you the right way.

Amy Larson 19:12

Yeah, it it can be hard, and it's really hard on mom.

Melinda Russell 19:16

Yeah, it is because you you you know, we're mama bear, you you don't bother my cub, or you've got me to tangle with. That's so true. Yeah, yeah, that's that's so true. So, you know, he started racing when he was how old did you say? He was nine.

Amy Larson 19:34

Nine finally when the a track when he finally got on track. He was nice.

Melinda Russell 19:39

So he was nine. So what are some things maybe that you see that he's learned or developed that he probably wouldn't have learned this early in life had it not been for racing?

Amy Larson 19:56

Probably just dealing with a lot of different types. of people knowing that he has a job to do and whether he's tired he he needs to go do it and and do his best and that we're supporting him but he has to he has to be responsible also for this. Right.

Melinda Russell 20:18

Yeah. And I I tend to find that a lot of kids that are involved in racing homeschooled sometimes has to do with it too are are more mature because they're around so many adults so much of the time.

Amy Larson 20:33

Yeah and he is he's he's pretty mature. I mean he gets to be a kid and and have fun and and we kind of at the track even though he needs to help out some we let him be a kid and he gets to run around and and play while we might be doing a lot of the work but we want him to be able to do that.

Melinda Russell 20:54

We don't want him to to have to miss out on on being a kid no because that's something you can't go back and redo yeah yeah for sure so when he goes to the track and he's you know racing and things don't go right as we know they don't every every race day is not a winning one how does he deal with or how have you helped him learn how to deal with adversity or when things go wrong on the track you know he's not one to get angry and at the track or and and take it out and other people see it.

Character, Conduct, And Social Media

Amy Larson 21:38

He's the kind that he if he feels he's been he he's been done wrong or you know something didn't go right that he was not in his control he he got he's the kind that just kind of gets really sad and he just gets quiet and all and and we have to try to just we've my husband tell tells him this this here isn't our finish line our finish line is is is ahead and that's good advice so yeah that's good advice for sure so does is he the kind of kid that you kind of have to keep him motivated or is he always up and rear to go to the track? Oh he's always ready to go to the track that's yeah school might be a different set but yeah if it involves driving whether it be going and racing or he gets on he does i racing and he gets lots of practice with that he's he's ready to go if it is involving racing or going to another track and even watching racing and meeting people and okay he loves to just be out doing things like that. That is that's his thing he he's a he's an extrovert he likes to immediately and he has helped me because I've always been very shy and so when he was little five years old and would want to stop somewhere he saw a car we would do it and I felt more confident you know because I'm taking a a little kid there to do I and he met another one of his sponsors that from from that time that he we're still friends with that have raced off-road Baja met him through that by just stopping by their shop wanted to sit in the truck and and so and you know everybody loves that other drivers love when especially a kid wants to sit in the truck or wants to look at the truck and every driver is proud of their their truck their car whatever so if a kid wants to do that that makes that driver feel good and that's how you start those relationships for sure.

Melinda Russell 23:52

And even in his age he's able to do that with little kids with his vehicles yeah absolutely so what does your race day look like do you typically go the morning of the race and tell me what you know you have to load the trailer who you fix food you eat at the track I had somebody that always goes through McDonald's and gets uh some kind of sandwich before so do you have any anything like that that you always do or or what's race day look like well my husband he he makes sure that the cart's ready and loaded he's he's that part of it I make sure we have plenty of food drinks everything we need I you we have a small grill that we take so that we're not spending extra money on on food at the track and so I usually make hamburgers or hot dogs.

Advice To New Racing Parents

Amy Larson 24:43

Once we get to the track every all three of us help you know set up the canopy and make sure the carts out and ever it's a you know he might he's kind of in charge of the tires getting those on and and just stay there all day long but we yeah we leave in enough time to get there for the gates to open. Okay.

Melinda Russell 25:05

And so do you race at night or is it afternoon?

Amy Larson 25:09

You know how long are you you get to the track at probably noon or so and you're there till who knows when right well it yeah it's usually they're usually racing later at night because in dirt they're waiting for the moisture to come out of the ground. It took me a long time to understand that out yeah I figured I figured it was later in the evening when they so a lot of times for uh bigger races the gates will open at two just because they have more to do races sometimes gates open at four okay so you have some of the morning to get some things done okay so you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and get going.

Melinda Russell 25:48

You've got some time on Saturday morning to get ready.

Maturity, Responsibility, And Resilience

Amy Larson 25:51

So yeah usually we do with which does help yeah yeah for sure so where do you think he is gonna you know I know you're his mom so it's hard to sometimes be a little more objective about him but it sounds like he's got some talent because he's got some people that are already looking looking at him and you can share also you know some of his biggest wins or biggest it doesn't have to be a win biggest memories that you have of him driving so let's start with that what what's your favorite memory from his racing career well I tell you there was one particular race when we were we were on on pavement that he went out there and he passed on the outside he passed on the high side and just took off and won that race and I can just remember just being amazed that he was able to do that but and just he he has won quite a you know quite a bit he's not one of those kids that has the fastest cart and the best of everything and gets out there and is able to win everything just because he's out front I tell you the what makes me so proud is is he gets the most out of his equipment that he knows how to do this without having a family that knows what to just tell him to do.

Melinda Russell 27:31

But you know we've my husband never raced so just a little bit of instinctive in him somewhere somewhere along the line he got some of that motorsport speed stuff. You know interesting to go back into his into his jeans and see if there was a driver somewhere in it back in his history.

Race Day Routines And Logistics

Amy Larson 27:55

Yeah he just we're just proud of him he you know a few weeks ago you know because he's he's moved up to adult racing with the adults and he has really become very confident and just to see him working his way through through the cars and getting up to the to the front and yeah that it's that's when I get nervous when I think he is going to win when I get nervous I try to video all of his races and I can feel myself shaking when I think he's gonna win well that's what moms do though isn't it that's what moms do for sure. Yeah you know is is he looking at something like world of outlaws is that something that he wants to do or what do you what is he you know if he had his dream racing career what would it be do you know you know I don't know if there is one set one he he of course everybody looks at NASCAR because that's you know you make money you make yeah so he likes that he likes just racing dirt track but he has he's gonna be you know doing the open well modified right um here where we are you don't see much of you know you there's not really sprint cars or anything like that they'll come in occasionally yeah he's also interested in rally or oh yeah off-road he really likes he likes jumping oh yeah well that would be a lot of fun he he should really hook up with Travis then yeah in that case yeah we we're hoping to keep in contact with Travis we just saw him a few days ago he was in the area with the rally race we've met another young guy uh with a rally so with rally and and he's interested in just talking to Everett so yeah so yeah that's good and and you know again social media is a good place to kind of look those people up and follow them or YouTube any of those places and they you know if if they're good at what they're doing and they're good at social media they'll take notice that he's following and commenting and and that and that's another way to build those relationships so yeah very cool so Amy what's your I know you said you know you're you're just so proud of him how do you see you know the future for you and your husband too as far as his racing you're you're a hundred percent in we are 100% in and we see ourselves kind of following along and helping where we can you know just being in his life in the racing whatever it takes yeah there's there's a kid I follow a lot of a lot of series and things on flow racing and my friend actually is part of Racers for Christ and so she and her husband's do the medical stuff so they've been traveling with high limit racing which is Kyle Larson's series and it makes me think uh Danny Sam's the third races in that series and his parents are just like you guys they they are all in and they travel they've traveled with him all summer and they're right there they're his pit crew they're everything and so you know you see more and more of those those types of families where they just I don't I don't know how what they do about their home because they're from Florida and they've been traveling everywhere.

Melinda Russell 31:36

Maybe they have kids at home that watch the house maybe they shut the house down I don't know maybe they sold it and they live in the motor home I don't know but I can just see where more and more families when they see that their child has a real a real gift for being a good driver that they're they're willing to just say hey I'm just gonna pack up what I like to do and this is this is what I'm gonna do. And that's this is you and your husband are doing what I like to do.

Amy Larson 32:08

That's what we love to do and and I can't imagine not being at one of his races I've thankfully been able to be at every race and uh and I plan on being at every race I can as long as good for you. I'm just so proud of him.

Melinda Russell 32:26

Good for you and you know what I love interviewing moms.

Favorite Wins And Driving Instincts

Amy Larson 32:30

I mean I do interview a lot of drivers obviously and and other people involved in motorsports but you know what I don't get to interview enough moms because they're really the backbone of keeping that whole race team together and you know it isn't just packing the food on the weekend or whatever it's all the things and and you should be proud of yourself Amy for the part you play in your son's your son's racing career and and I just I just wish the best for him and hope he hope he is in the NASCAR with the other Larson that's in NASCAR wouldn't that be fun that would be awesome that would be awesome is there anything that we haven't talked about that you'd like to share I I can't think of anything at the moment I'd other than yeah you talk about the women you know there have been several women that have that I'm involved with with this that aren't mothers necessarily but there are a lot of moms but other people that are in the sport that that I've become close friends with.

Melinda Russell 33:40

So yeah that's women and is and your husband's probably met some guys the same the same deal it's you know our our race connections turn into our family yes because we spend so much time together and we can be competitive on the track but if anybody needed anything we'd be the first ones to be there and that's I just what I love about racing it's different than any other sport it really is. I agree I agree well Amy this has been a pleasure to talk with you today thank you for taking time to do this absolutely and I I hope you'll stay in touch and let me know how he's doing and and I'll keep his name you know up here so that if I see that come across anytime that I'll be like okay I know who that kid is because Everett's not the most common name so it'll be easier to remember. Yeah well thanks again for being on if you just hold on a second I've got some things for you at the end. All right thanks that's it for this episode of the Women's Motorsports Network podcast we hope you've been inspired by the stories I shared today and feel more connected to the amazing community of women in motorsports. Remember whether you're behind the wheel in the pits or cheering from the stands your story matters and together we're driving change and celebrating every milestone. If you enjoyed today's episode be sure to subscribe leave us a review and share it with someone who loves motorsports as much as you do. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates behind the scenes content and more incredible stories. So until next time stay inspired stay connected and keep racing through life this is the Women's Motorsports network podcast where every woman's story is worth celebrating