The Johnjay Van Es Podcast
From the mastermind behind one of the most popular morning shows in the country, Johnjay Van Es brings his signature blend of curiosity, humor, and fearless honesty to the podcast world. If you’ve ever had a question on your mind but were too afraid to ask, don’t worry—Johnjay’s got you covered.
With hilarious, jaw-dropping conversations, amazing guests, and the inside scoop on everything you actually care about, this show is a wild ride through the stories you’ve never heard and the truths nobody else dares to say. Whether it’s celebrities, trendsetters, or just the most interesting people on the planet, nothing is off-limits, and no question is too bold.
Come for the interviews. Stay for the insanity. This is the podcast you’ll be talking about. Don’t miss it!
The Johnjay Van Es Podcast
You Won’t Believe How She Went From Intern to President of Phoenix Raceway
She started as a 16-year-old HR intern just trying to pay for acrylic nails. Now she runs Phoenix Raceway.
This episode is a full-throttle career story. Growing up in the West Valley, buying a condo at 21, learning money early, and saying yes to an opportunity that felt way bigger than the job description. She breaks down how she learned NASCAR by walking garages, talking to pit crews, and obsessing over ticket sales.
We get into the fun stuff, too. Hip hop pre race concerts, Spanish language headsets for fans, championship week chaos, Michael Jordan sightings, and turning a racetrack into a year-round events hub.
If you like wild career paths, leadership stories, and behind-the-scenes sports business, this one delivers. Hit play, share it with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review with your favorite moment.
Okay, so welcome to our podcast. This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show. Well, it's just we're starting. It's on. Okay, perfect. Um I'm so excited to talk to you because when I met you, which was what, two weeks ago? Yeah. I thought you had so much, you have so much energy. You have such a vibe. You have such an aura.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:You know, you're you're amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's true.
SPEAKER_00:Your energy is like a level 10.
SPEAKER_01:Uh it is, uh, you know, I sometimes say I'm like a walking party. Because I do have a lot of energy, but I just uh I love people, right? And I just like love to meet new people. So when I met you, I was so excited to meet you, and uh the fact that we had just you know had your team out at their raceway. I'm like, oh here you are in person.
SPEAKER_00:I know, and then and then I I'm just okay. First of all, if I ask, I so one of the things I do and don't do is I don't research anything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, perfect.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so I'm talking to you like I was talking to you uh we were at the at the bar. Yeah. I was just like talking to you and I was learning things about you. Yes. So I kind of want to do that here, okay? So I don't Google, I didn't do anything. Yes. So if I I love that. If I ask you something like, you could have been in the news 10 times already. I'm not gonna ask you anything that I'm not gonna I didn't Google anything. Perfect. Oh, I do know stuff from talking to you at the bar. Yes, you know, so like I mean the fact okay, you are the president of Phoenix Raceway.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, the president of Phoenix Raceway. And you're he from here, born and raised here in Arizona. So I actually grew up in the West Valley, not far from the raceway. My parents still live in the same house I was born and raised in, like a hundred years ago. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah. So I went to Trevor Brown High School, so like a wet West Side girl.
SPEAKER_00:Um do you remember what I said to you? Yeah. You're tough.
SPEAKER_01:I am tough.
SPEAKER_00:I said you ever stab anybody? No.
SPEAKER_01:I've never stabbed anyone.
SPEAKER_00:Because I have friends with the Trevor Brown, they have stabbed people.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, Trevor Brown is not that it's not that bad, uh, if you will.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so you grew up, you went your parents in the same house, you went to Trevor Brown.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yep. So grew up there, went to Trevor Brown. Uh, you know, obviously uh Trevor Brown is a Title I high school. And so um for me, I actually had this really unique opportunity when I was at Trevor Brown. I was uh 16 years old. They had like the School to Careers program, um, and they were selecting like four students um to go work at Charles Schwab of all places. So I was like The stock thing? Yes, yep, the stock company, huge, major, uh amazing company. So uh there was four students that they were gonna select. Um, three were gonna be stockbrokers, and then one was gonna be people services. Um, I knew for sure I did not want to be a stockbroker. Um, because I mean who wants to stockbroke? I don't know. But at that time, I didn't know I didn't really know. Wolf of Wall Street. Yeah, right. I didn't I mean 16, you know, it just sounds like too serious, right? Uh but people services, I was like, whatever that is, I'll take option B. Um and so I actually got hired um at Charles Schwab uh as a 16-year-old, and people services was human resources. So I was an administrative assistant uh in human resources at a whole 16 years old, and that's how I actually started my career uh is there. And I mean, I was making$6.50 an hour, and I was like, shoot, this is so cool. Like I'm rich, right? But then when uh at Schwab, because of your um your securities license, your Federal license, you actually can't work there until you're 18 as a full-time employee. Uh so when I was 18, I was I graduated high school, right? Getting ready to go to, I was going to Arizona State. Um so I was gonna go to school full-time, and then I got hired on full-time at Schwab and I was making$10 an hour. I was like, shoot, there is zero chance I'm getting rid of this job. So I worked there uh through the remainder of high school and all of my undergrad uh at college. So I was there for almost seven years at Charles Schwab, really uh again propelled my career. I was in human resources, I was I I did my internship there and everything. And so that is really what set me apart from a career perspective is taking that chance. Uh, I tell young people all the time, you know, there was it was a little flyer um at school for the thing at Charles Schwab. And honestly, I wanted to get a job because there was one thing my parents wouldn't pay for, and that was my fake fingernails. And so I was like, well, you're not gonna pay for it, I'm gonna get a job, right? And so that was my motivation, was like, I want to have, I want to have my own little money, right? Uh and so I got that job, and um honestly the rest is history from there and the network I created uh at Charles Schwab.
SPEAKER_00:Are your fingernails fake now?
SPEAKER_01:Uh they're not fake, they're real. They are real, they are they are real now, but they are always maintained.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, wait. So your parents, what do they do for a living? Could you say they pay for everything except for your fake nails? Yes. What do they do?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you know, it's so funny. Uh I grew up in the West Side, and you know, obviously I didn't know that there was more, um, you know, so much more uh to life until I went to ASU, right? I went to the ASU Tempe main campus, and people had like real money, right? Like we're you know, driving fancy cars, like all of those things. And so my dad worked at UPS for 30 years, uh, and then my mom was a uh paralegal, uh, worked for the same attorneys. She still works for the same uh the same attorneys today. Like she doesn't have to work, but I say it keeps her young, right? She still goes like a couple days a week and helps uh the the now one attorney that is left, uh, who's still alive. Uh he was the young one back then, and now he's you know is it one of those famous law firms? No, it's not a famous law firm, very, you know, local. Uh like his name is Rick Gallette, right? And uh he she's been working for Rick. I mean, uh honestly, I can't since I was little.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Yeah. And your dad, did he retire from the side?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yeah, he retired from UPS. So um, so fast forward, you know, I I um now oh and I know exactly when my dad retired because it was when I I have two boys, I have 14 and 18-year-old. So my 18-year-old, uh, we were ha we were having a baby, and I'm like, what am I gonna do? Like, who's gonna watch this kid? Right? Like, I have this career that's going, like, what am I gonna do with this kid? Like, who's gonna help? Right? Uh and it was just ironic timing. My dad was like, you know what? I'm I I'm ready to retire. He's like, Oh, we're gonna retire. And they watched our my baby from the time I went back to work um all the way until you know, babies didn't need to be watched anymore.
SPEAKER_00:So also your kids are really close to grandma, grandpa?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, super tight. Like they'd rather, you know, hang with my my parents than than us.
SPEAKER_00:That's so great.
SPEAKER_01:It really is.
SPEAKER_00:So when you were at Schwab, was there like a mentor that you had, or is there somebody or did you soak information from different people?
SPEAKER_01:I I uh obviously, you know, I I am on I was on 10 back then too with uh my network and just talking to people. Um so I was just so fortunate to be able to have so many people, honestly, that uh invested in me at that time. So definitely had a mentor, I had multiple mentors. Uh I had a mentor that kind of helped me with that financial independence piece. So I said I didn't want to be a stockbroker, but I guarantee you I learned about what it meant to be a stockbroker, what it meant to be a financial advisor, uh, and just the ins and outs of that phenomenal career. It really is an amazing career. Um, but it also sets you up um for your future. I mean, I was 18 years old with the 401k, right? And uh, you know, when I graduated from college at 21 years old, I that same week I was graduating from college and purchasing my first place, you know, my first condo, but I wouldn't have known to do that or wouldn't have known those things if it were not for my career at Charles Schwab, right? They helped you with maintaining your money and figuring out you don't have to make a bazillion dollars a year um to survive.
SPEAKER_00:So you bought a condo at 21 years old, so you started investing or have real estate. Did you keep that condo? Do you still have it? Did you flip it?
SPEAKER_01:No, I should have kept if it was on 32nd Street in Indian School. If I would have known Right by that uh McDonald's? Yeah, all of that.
SPEAKER_00:And the delight and the gas station.
SPEAKER_01:All of this stuff, right? Okay, if I would have known what that area was going to do, I would have kept that condo. Um but I did not keep the condo. Uh that that when people ask me, like, what are your biggest regrets in life? Not keeping my condo that I bought when I was 21 years old. But you know, I need I needed it though as well in order to purchase more uh properties. But I I mean in my mind, I guess did I? I don't know if I really needed needed to sell it. Um I could have rented. There were so many options, right?
SPEAKER_00:But you looked up to see how much it was.
SPEAKER_01:No, I I I used to and now I've stopped.
SPEAKER_00:I did that. I same almost very similar to your story. Uh I bought a condo when I was 23.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:In San Diego in South Michigan Beach. I'm even gonna tell you how much I'm gonna tell how much I paid for it.
SPEAKER_01:How much you pay for it?
SPEAKER_00:I bought it for$169,000.
SPEAKER_01:Stop it.
SPEAKER_00:And then I got married. It was a two-bedroom, and it had a view of the beach and the bay and sea world and the mountains. It was the most beautiful, and it was my my penthouse.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was your penthouse.
SPEAKER_00:And then I got married, and we moved. I got a radio job and we moved, and so I had to sell it so I could live.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I sold it for$269,000. Okay, so you're a year later. The guy sold it for a million dollars. Stop it. A million.
SPEAKER_01:A year later? A year later. Oh, that's a million. It hurts my heart for you.
SPEAKER_00:A million.
SPEAKER_01:A million dollars. Oh, that's the thing about real estate. You know, the thing about real estate is it's an amazing thing, right? To have, but at the same time, like, oh man. I I paid a whole$52,000 for my little condo back then. Uh and like I said, And now it's 32nd Street.
SPEAKER_00:They probably probably paid whoever a million to tear it down to build those complexes right there. Yeah, to build a McDonald's.
SPEAKER_01:To where the con you probably so the the condo is still there because I still I drive by there. Yeah, it's still there. The condo is still there, but it all of that stuff is like backed into it now. So now there's like a plaza, I don't know if it's like a Ross, there's like all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_00:So over by that F-45 and Protein House right there, right there. Yeah, I know exactly what it's doing.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Probably worth a million dollars. Probably.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know, I'm never looking it up again.
SPEAKER_00:So then, so you're 21, you graduate, you buy a condo. Um then then what? Are you still at Charles Schwab?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I was still at Charles Schwab. Um, and then um By the way, you're at Charles Schwab, and you're not looking at racing.
SPEAKER_00:NASCAR is not Days of Thunder is just a movie.
SPEAKER_01:You're not I don't even know at 20, honestly, at 21 years old, I don't even know that I knew what NASCAR really was back then, right? Uh even though we lived uh my parents lived not far from the track, and so you could hear when NASCAR was in town, you could hear it at our house. Um, because there was nothing in between. Now there's a lot of things in between. The city of Avondale has just boomed, right? Uh, and there's so many other things in between there now. But back when I was younger, you we we knew, right? Like you knew when it was there because you could hear the buzz. Um, but like I didn't, I never went. I didn't know. Like I'm a huge sports person. Obviously, that's where we met. Uh I'll go to a basketball game every day, I'll go to a football game any day, um, honestly, any sporting event, but I just had not been to NASCAR.
SPEAKER_00:So, how long are you at Schwab for?
SPEAKER_01:I was I was at Schwab for seven years. Um, and then um 9-11 happened. Uh, and when 9-11 happened, you know, the wor the world was changing and people were getting laid off and all of those types of things. And, you know, by that time I was a whole 22 years old in human resources, and really part of this, you know, uh group of people that would be telling people that they were going to be losing their jobs. And I mean, I'm like 22. I'm like, that is not, I just I'm not fulfilled anymore, right? Like, I that's not what I want to be doing.
SPEAKER_00:You had to fire people?
SPEAKER_01:It was awful. Like I was on the back end of like knowing like I would have the list, right? You know, that 30, 60, 90 day list of who was on that list. Oh, it was terrible. But like I was so young, I didn't realize no since then I've fired a lot of people. But but but then that's not what I really wanted to be be doing. So I left, went to a couple of other uh financial institutions, but uh going back to Schwab, I the the um place that I spent the most amount of time was USAA. I was there for almost 14 years, and it was my mentor at Charles Schwab that then worked now. She, you know, left Schwab and was working at USAA. Uh her name is Lisa Di Mateo, I love her. Um she retired um from Schwab or from excuse me from USAA, but it was her, like reached out and she said, Hey, I'm here at USAA. We have a recruiting job open. Would you consider, you know, this opportunity? By that point, I am pregnant with my uh my uh oldest child. Um I am also uh, you know, we had just gotten married, all the things. And so uh I was like, yeah, well I might as well take this opportunity at USAA. It's a great company. Uh I've never been in the military, um, have family members that have been in the military, but I've only heard really great things about the company. And so uh I worked at USAA for almost 14 years. I started in that recruiting space, and really because of my network, right? Like I was out there um in that internal network and volunteering for things and really helping. We had a regional site leader um there at USAA that I'd helped. He was in that financial services side and he was elevated and promoted up, and uh he needed to hire a like his chief of staff, if you will, like a site director. Uh, and that ended up being me. I didn't know any, I was super young. Um, you know, most most people there at that time uh and the executive leadership are men and old, you know, older white men, uh, and then there was me. Um and so uh I really had this opportunity to create and do my own thing with um, you know, leading, I was still doing some recruiting things. I was leading community efforts, so I led the USAA Foundation locally, uh, you know, giving money away, but creating partnerships, um, doing uh USA is a salute to service partner for the NFL. So doing all those salute to service uh games and activation. So that was like my way into um sports and really building my network in that sports arena as well, um, which is where I met the person that was leading uh NASCAR Phoenix Raceway, um, Julie and I. We met on like a women's panel. Um so while Did she hire you away from USAA? Yeah, so I what I actually I had left USA, so she Julie was here. So Julie was in Arizona for about four years leading the raceway. But ironically, so Julie I was at USAA, we were on a women's panel before the panel. Ray Shea from the Business Journal, uh, he called me before the panel and said, Hey, my friend Julie just moved here from Daytona to Arizona, and um she doesn't have any friends out here, um, and she's like you. And I'm like, what does that mean, Ray? And I was and so he's like, you know, she's like a badass that just gets shit done. And I'm like, oh, okay, my kind of girl. Um so he's like, Well, could you be friends with her? I'm like, yeah, as long as she's a good person. Uh so I meet Julie, she's a phenomenal human being. Um, what I what I didn't know at the time, so she really did need to build her network here. Uh, what I didn't know is that she was going to be rebuilding Phoenix Raceway. So uh NASCAR put in over$200 million into the raceway. And so Julie like tore it down and like rebuilt it. Um she wasn't on a capital campaign, like she didn't need the money. The money was already there. What she needed was when it was open, she needed people to come to the raceway, right? Like you're putting all this money into the track. So, how do you make sure that the seats are full and make sure that you're, you know, recouping, if you will, some of the money that you have put into it. And so I really spent uh time helping her build her network just out of just because you're a friend.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. You became her friend. Yes. And she's like, I need to do this. You've been having coffee or getting some breakfast and she talks about stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Because it was so easy, right? Like she was she's just an easy person, but it was also very easy to know that what the the impact the raceway could have could and does have on our economy here. So why not connect her with you know the biggest people in Arizona who can help her um with filling those seats? And so you did. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:So like who? Who do you think?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. So people like uh Chris Camacho from he was at the time at GPEC, he was the CEO of Greater Phoenix Economic Council. Uh Chris has since moved on now into a bigger role. Um uh also people like um Neil Giuliano, who leads uh Phoenix uh Greater Phoenix Leadership. I mean, the chambers. I mean, there were so many people, uh other just other business leaders, other people that were like me. Uh and then she created a group. Um I said, you know, Julie, I'm not the only person that actually can do this for you. There's so many great that the one thing about our community here is that we all want each other to thrive, right? Like we are really, really good at like connecting and like hey, I connect you, and then you guys go do your thing and make magic happen. Um, and so there was uh other other groups of individuals. So um we have like, for example, at the time, like we had the city uh of Avondell mayor was like a you know, and then and some elected officials were uh part of that. And then you have um just other like business leaders uh that are here locally, like some folks from um, if you will, uh like Linda Little is uh is is an accelerator.
SPEAKER_00:Oh she is?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she is, she's been an accelerator for a long time.
SPEAKER_00:How long have you known Linda?
SPEAKER_01:Uh since that accelerator group, so that has to now be about five years, five, six years. Yeah, yeah. So um so Linda's on there. You have like Nikki Bollock, who's uh she does the sports commission, like the people the Arizona Hall of Fame, uh sports Nikki is on that.
SPEAKER_00:But this is you're still you're not working there. No, no, no. No, just you're just being a good person, connecting her.
SPEAKER_01:Just being a good person, just connecting her. And then we became friends, right? And so she Julie didn't have any family or anything here, so she would come to our home, and you we'd have sometimes tequila and and and uh dinner. And uh so if you will, call it like uh Thursday night, right? Like Thursday night, she comes over, we eat dinner, hang out, and Julie had been like traveling a ton, which is not now being in NASCAR, it's not uncommon. Um so I didn't really think anything of it, but she kept saying, you know, like I've been in Chicago for weeks at a time. Uh and I'm like, okay, she still didn't say anything. So Monday, you know, like you get these little I don't know if you follow the Phoenix Business Journal, but most business people do, and so you get these alerts when like something major happens. So I get like this breaking news alert. This breaking news alert says Julie Geecy is leaving Phoenix Raceway and moving to Chicago to take on the Chicago street race for NASCAR. And I'm like, WTF Julie, like you were just at my house on Thursday. So as I'm getting ready to call her, I was pulling into Arizona State, I was pulling into ASU for an alumni board meeting. So I'm pulling into the meeting, getting this text, and Julie's calling all at the same time. I'll I will I'll remember the moment forever. So she's calling, and I and as she's calling, she's like, okay, first of all, I know you're upset because I didn't tell you anything, but I was under an NDA, right? Couldn't say anything. Um, so she was like, and but I was more upset that she was leaving, right? Because we became friends, I'd gone to her races, and I and so she's like, and I know you're upset about all of that. She's like, Don't worry about that. She's like, what I'm actually calling you for is I want you to consider taking on my job. And I was like, hell no. There is zero chance I'm doing that. And so she's like, okay, before you say no, I need you to think about it. I'm gonna call you back. And so um, you know, she hangs up and I call my husband, and I'm like, um, you first of all, you're not gonna believe this, right? You know, Julie called and she asked if I would take on her job, and I told her, hell no. And he was like, okay, let's talk about it later, right? And I was like, Oh, he has something, he has something to say. So as I get home, you know, he's like, You would mentor all of these people, you do all this stuff. When is there ever a time that you would tell one of your mentees to turn down an opportunity before they even like learn about it? And I'm like, oh yeah. I was like, dang, I hate when he's right, you know, and he was like, really right. So uh so honestly, I just we prayed about it. We went through the process. I I interviewed NASCAR more than they interviewed me because I was I'm the first black woman to run a track in NASCAR history at that time, over 75 year history. Um and that is always the storyline, but like I have worked to be in that space and place, right? It's what I've done for this community and what I've done as a business person is the reason she asked me to do the job, not because I'm a black woman in the job. And so uh navigating that and navigating that piece um was something that I, you know, wanted to make sure like I wasn't gonna be like a token, um, and I would be able to do the things that I knew I would be able to do um at the raceway. And so uh it's been three years, and it honestly has been history since then. We have like been killed. I have an amazing team and we've been killing it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. It's been three years.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So who's your boss? Her?
SPEAKER_01:No, nope. So my boss is actually um, so essentially, so NASCAR is owned by like a Family, so the France family. And so um I didn't know that. Yeah, so NASCAR is owned uh by France? Yes, France. Yep, the France family. So I work for NASCAR. So even though it's Phoenix Raceway, I like I work for NASCAR. Uh and there is like a person, like there's a person in between, and then there's like uh the CEO.
SPEAKER_00:So did you have to interview with all these people?
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. I interviewed with a lot of people. So I interviewed um with you know the CEO, and now he's the commissioner of NASCAR's named Steve Phelps. Uh Steve is the one who honestly closed the deal for me to work.
SPEAKER_00:Um I mean I can't imagine anybody after meeting you saying, ah, she's not right. I mean, it had to be all thumbs up the whole way around, right? It had to be.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I mean, yeah, but really it also had to be thumbs up for me, right? And so it was more me making sure it was the right environment for me because also I'm bringing my family into this. It's very public, right? And uh it's not like you know, I mean, you you you it's you're it's a spaj. It's uh you we have broadcast, right? We have broadcast partners and it's a major thing.
SPEAKER_00:And so did you learn all that, or did you just by were you learning that as you were her friend, doing helping her out? Were you learning these things?
SPEAKER_01:No, I was just going to the race and joining the race like everybody else. I I was not learning the ins and outs of NASCAR. Like I like I thought she was gonna be here forever. Like I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00:But so like broadcast partners, like when when all of a sudden is it like, hey, we gotta sign a deal with this broadcast company. Yeah, so so basically get it handled.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so basically how that works. So we have national broadcast partners, right? So for example, uh last year our races are we have two races, so March and March, last year would be March and November. We had championship. Um and so for our March race would be Fox is our partner, and then the November race, it was uh it's NBC. And so now this year it's all switching up. So uh our our broadcast partners are different for next year, but those are national partnerships. Then locally, uh Garrett, who's here with me today, uh, he leads all of our marketing efforts, and so we work with uh Garrett and our marketing agency. We have an agency that we work with called Commit. Uh Commit helps us with other local um broadcasters and things like that that we're doing here more on a local level. Nationals handled through the league, handled through NASCAR, and then I work directly with the broadcast national partners and then get my team uh here, and my team works with them as well, right? Like we all collectively collaborate and work together and do what we need. It's a production.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so three years ago, yeah. You resigned, you give two weeks' notice.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I was no longer at USAA, I was with a company called Bell Bank, which uh I had left USAA because I was like, oh, I you know, I want to take I want to step out of that. I was really, really busy and I wanted to spend more time with the kids and uh I want to do something a little more low-key. So a local community bank called Bell Bank, they are phenomenal human beings. Uh I was fine doing my doing my thing at Bell. I was good. I was good. I I mean I probably would have never left. I was having a great time at Bell Bank. I was there for two years hanging out, right? Like just doing really good things.
SPEAKER_00:And this opportunity lands and you figure why not out of nowhere out of nowhere. So you resign two weeks' notice. Hey, I'm gonna and they're they're probably like, what now?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I didn't give a two-week notice because my job was big, so I gave them like a 30-day um notice, if you will. 30-day notice.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. So walk me through the first day of president of Phoenix Raceway. So you wake up, you shower, you get dressed, do your hair, you get in the car, and you just adore it.
SPEAKER_01:So, okay, so let me so when it was announced, right? Okay, so it was announced, and I so I wasn't exactly sure what day there it was gonna be like announced, right? And so I was thinking, oh, it'll be like any other announcement, right? You just see it online, like no big deal. So it gets announced on like Nov, like the beginning of November, and all of a sudden I'm getting I have a PR rep, right? So at the time uh I have you know done a ton of media, done all that stuff, but like I never had like my own personal PR rep, right? So I have my PR rep, Matt, uh, and Matt's like, oh, um, he's like, oh hi, uh, you're uh what's your schedule for today? Because you you have at least six uh media interviews lined up. I'm like, oh I'm still working at Bell. And so he's like, oh, I know. So, but what time are you available? And um, oh, by the way, can you come out here to the raceway this morning as well to take some photos? I'm like, what is happening? So I'm standing on the side of the mountain at the raceway, my hair's still wet, I didn't know what was going on. So I have the worst photo I've ever taken in my whole life is the announcement photo that went viral. I'm like, is there any way to get that photo taken off of the internet? Um one thing about a black girl, you gotta give her time because my hair dry guy, it has to get big, right? So that was that was my first introduction to like you're welcome to the job. So that that was that day. Uh, and then literally day day one, um, I go into the track. We I again I have wonderful employees. There's a ton of employees there. Julie's here, uh, she's been a phenomenal mentor. She's in town, she's like, we're gonna get you all set up for day one. You know, it's just you're like meeting everyone and sitting down, talking to everyone, walking around. Meanwhile, I have like a dress, I have heels on, and she's like, Yeah, you're gonna ditch those like by day two. So I was like, I can wear my sneakers. Um, so I've created a trend with that as well. So uh so that was day one, and then the next day I went to Nashville because uh our sport doesn't stop, and so uh we had our award show. So I'm literally day two on the job when I flew to Nashville.
SPEAKER_00:So You don't know what's going on. You don't know anything about NASCAR.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know anything. I'm meeting drivers. I'm like, it's like the craziest thing. I mean, I had already uh met like Michael Michael Jordan owns a racing team. Yeah, so I had already met like Michael and You met Michael Jordan on day two? I had already met him before that because of Julie and her suite. He was in her suite and like I met him. He came here? He comes here all the time. Yeah, he has he has a race team. So if the amount of people that I have met is the cra is crazy. I it's like the craziest thing. And I don't get starstruck. I mean, because Yeah, but Michael Jordan. He's like regular, I am telling you.
SPEAKER_00:Does he know you?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Get out. Get out. How does he come to does he just fly his plane land here?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, there is a pro there is a process. Over there?
SPEAKER_00:Is there a private plane landing strip over there?
SPEAKER_01:There it well, you know, there's the good year, um, is the pro is the closest private.
SPEAKER_00:Is that where he lands? Does he have that plane with the land?
SPEAKER_01:It depends, it depends. Depends on where he's going, okay? Because it depends on where he's staying, depends on where he's going, depends on what time he gets here. I mean, it depends.
SPEAKER_00:You know.
SPEAKER_01:It does, but it depends. Yeah, it depends again on like he also has a really fancy motor coach, too. I mean, they those things are not, it's not like a I mean, it's they're they're very, very fancy.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so that he'll have his team drive that year and then at the airport.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, the teams all drive into the.
SPEAKER_00:Do you call him Michael?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You say Michael or MJ?
SPEAKER_01:Michael.
SPEAKER_00:Really? Is that nuts? That you gotta, that's nuts.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_00:Especially you with a basketball family with your brother. Yes. Has your brother made Michael Jordan?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. No, no.
SPEAKER_00:You haven't done your brother a solid No.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, you gotta keep things, you know. No, no, you gotta be cool, so you gotta be gotta be cool. That's hard it's all hard to do.
SPEAKER_00:Inside, you're pitching yourself. Outside, you're like, hey man, we need you over here. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it it really seriously though, like every even people like Michael Jordan, people like um the Jeff Gordons of the world, like some of the biggest race.
SPEAKER_00:You met him?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, all that I talk Jeff will call me any, like all the drivers are super cool.
SPEAKER_00:I mean But he's not a driver anymore, is he?
SPEAKER_01:No, he now he's he uh works for a race at the Hydrick Motorsports, and so he's like a big deal now.
SPEAKER_00:Well, he was a big deal.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, he's a big he's the biggest deal. But people like Jeff Gordon, I mean, no joke, when I first started um Hydrick Motorsport, I went out to North Carolina, all of the racing teams are in North Carolina. Um so went there, they want you to be successful as a track president. So they invited me out there to learn more about what it takes to have a racing team. Jeff spent his time, he came hours, um, just kind of walking through how the business works, all that. Before I have a race, still three years later, before I have a race, I will either get a phone call or text message from Jeff just hey, thinking about you this week, making uh, you know, if you need anything, let me know. All of all of that. And he like really means it. If I call Jeff and said, Hey, I need I need you to show up for something or whatever it is, he's gonna if he's available, he's gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, but wait, you didn't know who Jeff Gordon was before your body.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, everybody knows who Jeff Gordon is. So I definitely knew who Jeff Gordon is. Yeah, yeah, I definitely knew who Jeff Gordon was. Like, but meeting him in person, I was like, God, you're just so like no like a normal person. Like you're so nice.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, who else? Who else?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, uh so I mean you have like uh all all the the uh drivers.
SPEAKER_00:I mean Who's that like oh what are some famous drivers right now?
SPEAKER_01:Right now would be like a Denny Hamlin. Kyle Larson is the uh Kyle is the champion from this past year.
SPEAKER_00:Kyle Larson? Yeah, Kyle Larson. I know um, what about Bubba? Yeah, Bubba Wallace.
SPEAKER_01:Bubba has been great. So that is the he worked he works for Michael Jordan's racing team, the 2013. Yes, the 2311 team. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Has he always been there?
SPEAKER_01:Um I mean, they since they've started.
SPEAKER_00:I know a guy, I met a guy a couple years ago in the record business. I wonder if there's a connection here. He's the president of a record company, sold a record company. He's always golfing with Michael Jordan. Him and I have DM'd each other, we've we've met many times. And I think he owns, or he did, so I'm saying it was a couple years ago, um, an agency. And I think Bubba was his name is Kevin Lyles. You know Kevin Lyles? 300 Entertainment, and he has um Bubba is one of his athletes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I don't uh maybe I probably I could have met him, but I don't know him. Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I would kind of hope you didn't meet him because when he comes to town, he's supposed to come on this podcast. He has Gunna and a bunch of people on his label. Have you been any hip-hop artists?
SPEAKER_01:Have I met any hip hop artists? Yeah, so I made sure we had a hip-hop artist as our pre-race concert um last uh last year. Nelly. Nelly? Yes, when was he here? Last championship. So not this past one, but the one before. Um I really had this like I I mean, hip-hop is universal.
SPEAKER_00:I Well, you're gonna change races.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I and I am a, I mean, I'm a I'm culture, right? Like I my I my walkout songs when I'm out there doing walkout songs? Yes, and they're all hip-hop. I'm not doing any if I if it doesn't hype me up, I'm not walking out to it. So what?
SPEAKER_00:What is it now?
SPEAKER_01:So uh I oh no, I I have so there, so for a race weekend, you have three, I have it at a minimum three races that I walk out for. Um, and each one has a different song. So like I have like a list. So like my my favorite is blow the whistle, right? And so I mean, because that's just such a hype song. Um, but you know, it has to be edited. So uh we have phenomenal DJs um that we work with, NASCAR DJs that we work with. So DJ Stylus, he does he's not local. They it every he goes around to each one of the races. So uh DJ Stylus is always rocking with me and my song. He loves working and you walk out there. Yeah, so like I've had uh I have a whole list. I got I got a uh so like I had last time I had like Eve, who's that girl, has been one. Uh like I said, blow the whistle. I had um the Yin Yang twins. Uh I've had Yin Yang Twins were they were just here. They were, they were. Let me see. Who else who else have I had? I mean, I'm sure I've had some Nelly songs. I've had like literally, you name it, I I would mix in. I I like more of an old school mix because it's more it hypes me up more.
SPEAKER_00:You know what's funny is that you're so authentic, and I don't I I think we can look at this, and and I'm really proud of this interview because I think this is gonna be like you're changing the culture of racing and people don't know it yet. Yeah. It's like there's gonna be a documentary probably made on you, right? I mean, you uh you know, how many women are there that are running racetracks?
SPEAKER_01:Well, now there are uh so me, Julie, there's four of us.
SPEAKER_00:And how many racetracks are there?
SPEAKER_01:Well, there are uh so let me see, there's 13. NASCAR, almost like 27 or so. What are the yeah, so you'll have like you'll like where are they?
SPEAKER_00:No, like you say NASCAR who else owns them? Yeah, what else is that?
SPEAKER_01:That's a great great question. So you have um there's Speedway Motorsports and then there's NAC and then there's NASCAR tracks. And so uh you don't really know like from the outside looking in, you you won't know which one is a NASCAR track and which one isn't because we race NASCAR at the Speedway tracks as well. So like for example, the Charlotte Motor Speedway is a speed is a s is not a NASCAR-owned track, even though we actually have a quite a few employees uh in Charlotte. Uh we have our own office building that's off not in the track.
SPEAKER_00:So will there be a NASCAR race on that racetrack?
SPEAKER_01:There's always NASCAR races on that racetrack. So you wouldn't know that it's not a NASCAR-owned and that Speedway motorsports are owned by the Smith family, and then you have our NASCAR um owned tracks.
SPEAKER_00:Do you network with other powerful women in sports? And I say that because I have one in mind.
SPEAKER_01:Who do you have in mind?
SPEAKER_00:Genie Bus.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, I I mean I would I I I do uh so it's so funny because uh, like you said, changing the game. I have been so fortunate and so blessed to uh the opportunities that I have received by just nationally talking to people going to uh events. Like this past uh summer, I was asked to come to an event. It was called Leading Women Define. Uh it was in California. Um and I didn't know it was it was through JP Morgan Chase. They reached out, asked if I would do a fireside chat, and I didn't know all the details, but I was like, I'm doing it because it sounds cool, right? Uh well it was Deborah Lee who used to run um BET. She was the person that was doing it. Uh and I my schedule was all jacked up, so I couldn't come, I could, I was just flying in by the skin of my pants, which is usually how this works. Um, but right before I got there, Kamala Harris was a speaker. I'm like, oh, okay, so I'm sharing like a stage with like major people, not like, and it doesn't matter your political preference, it's just that like she's like a major person, right? And so the women uh that were there, I was like, oh, okay. Um so uh so I bit I've had these opportunities, but from that opportunity, uh, I was then um featured on CBS uh on the today on the Today Show during my race weekend because the MC Yeah, the MC that was there was Michelle Miller, who does the Saturday Today show. And so I was the story that she she came out here, uh interviewed me and went through the so I have really had this opportunity to be in front of. So I'm always looking to like connect and be part of uh other just really awesome ones. So any uh, you know, any opportunities I get like that to to go and Well Jeannie Bus is, you know, she just I think she just sold the Lakers.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but have you there's a show on Netflix about her it's awesome with Kate Hudson. Kate Hudson, yes, I've been watching it. Like, yeah, have you? Because there's a season two coming out, but it's like you and her have very similar you're taking over something massive and changing the game. Jeannie Bus changed the game, literally changed the game.
SPEAKER_01:So yes, I gotta meet her. I I I know I gotta be.
SPEAKER_00:Well, send this clip to her. Send this clip to Ginnie Bus. We'll tag her. Please, please tag her. She's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes. I I would love to meet her. There's just so many um great women that are just out there like doing amazing things. But it it not just there's amazing women out there doing great things, um, but then there's also just like so many amazing men that are supporting us as well. And you know that that's what it takes, right? It takes um the village of everyone, right? It takes men giving us that opportunity, unfortunately, because you have CEO, most CEOs are are a male, right? And they, you know, have to open up their mind and their thought process to say, hey, we we could take a woman in this role. Maybe if it's somebody taking over, you know, football, which you know, normally well, women I mean, look at uh Ursay's uh the the woman who's the Colts now new owner. Um, I would love to meet her one day, right? Like she's out there when they talk about her out there on the sidelines and her, you know, with her headphones on, listening to what's happening, that's how I learned NASCAR. I spent my first year out literally out there in the field. I'm like, I if I don't understand, like I would travel around everywhere. I traveled to multiple tracks, talk to drivers, talk to teams, but you know, when you talk to the teams, that's when you find out the details. When you're talking to the pit crews, all of that, that that's how you know. Like you're not.
SPEAKER_00:You're not insecure talking NASCAR now. Like I would think in the beginning. When you're like, oh, I don't want to make a mistake for these people.
SPEAKER_01:In the beginning, I was like, don't ask me any NASCAR questions because I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Is there anything you regret saying ever in public because you didn't know anything? Like, yeah, they go really fast.
SPEAKER_01:No, there really isn't anything because I'm always so authentic about it, right? Like of, you know, just hey, uh, you know, I I didn't know. I I didn't know, and I, you know, I would really talk through, like, hey, I don't know the answer to that, but I wouldn't say it that way, right? I would I would find I would find navigate my way around it, but what I never did is faked an answer um because that would have mortified me, right? Like of just like making something up. Because you know somebody will always fact check you.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I know, I know, yeah. But God, you're that's so amazing. What a story. Now, when you talked about men and it takes a village, yeah. Uh tell me about your husband. Yeah. Where did you meet him and what does he do and how does he handle all this?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yep, yep. So my husband and I actually met at ASU when we were 19, a whole 19 years old.
SPEAKER_00:What was your major in Israel?
SPEAKER_01:Uh so well, originally it was journalism. I wanted to uh move to New York and work on Good Morning America. Okay, that was my plan.
SPEAKER_00:Did you ever tell them that when they interviewed you?
SPEAKER_01:I didn't Good Morning America didn't interview me. It was a Today show. Um so that was my plan. Because I love fashion. So I had this thing. I was gonna, you know, be in New York with all the fashion stuff and then work on Good Morning America, right? Like work on the Anchor desk. Like Robbie Roberts was like out there back then. And she, but back then she was like on the side, like she wasn't on the main, she wasn't the main host. She was like, had a little side job. I was like, one day she's gonna be on the desk and I want to do that. Um, but then because I had my job at Charles Schwab and I wanted to work full-time and go to school full-time, I couldn't figure out how to adjust my schedule for journalism to my work schedule. Uh so I changed to communications um and was a communications major and uh at ASU was where I met my husband. Uh, we now have been married for um 19 years.
SPEAKER_00:So is that his major too?
SPEAKER_01:No, he majored in kinesiology and biology.
SPEAKER_00:Sports medicine type. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he was gonna be a doctor uh and then he changed his mind somewhere along the way. Um so he doesn't do anything in kinesiology or biology. He d uh does he actually also is in recruiting and human resources and leads a recruiting team for uh a Oakland construction. Um so he he that's what he does.
SPEAKER_00:He likes Did he know anything about NASCAR?
SPEAKER_01:Uh no. He went he went with me when we when we were going to support Julie, he was there supporting Julie too.
SPEAKER_00:Does he get it now? Does he understand it? Oh yeah, now he gets it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, now he does, and of course he's met multiple drivers and has he met Michael Jordan? Uh he has met Michael Jordan. That's crazy. Yes, yes, he has.
SPEAKER_00:Is that crazy for you? I mean, I know like do you have a picture of you, Michael Jordan?
SPEAKER_01:Uh probably.
SPEAKER_00:You don't even know if yet.
SPEAKER_01:And you don't that's that, and see, that's the thing, is that that's what you don't do. Like when you're out there and you're in there and you're Well, you don't, but if you bring somebody with you. No, like, see, that's what I don't. I don't want them to do that either. I want you to act normal. Like, act like you're meant to be here.
SPEAKER_00:There's certain people you act normal with. I know. Everybody, you you can act normal with everybody except for Michael Jordan.
SPEAKER_01:But he also loves to be able to, he wants to act like he's normal too. Right? So, like, not a lot and people respect that. Like, when he's at NASCAR, he can walk around, like Oh, I get it. He can't walk around like without security or anything like that, but he can walk around without people like every five seconds asking him for an autograph or a photo. He just kind of like walk, walks and like goes to where he wants to go because he's usually on his box, um, you know, in a pit box watching a race uh or or in a suite. I mean, he's out, he is in it. He is not like he's like in it. He's like listening in, understanding like what his drivers are talking about, what they're saying. I mean, it's he's really in it, in the sport.
SPEAKER_00:That's so have you been in a car, a NAS car?
SPEAKER_01:No. So I now I've been uh I I drive around our track all the time in my own car. Um all the time. It's like relaxing, actually. Sometimes I take meetings and I'm like in the car. Are you serious? Yeah, it's like really cool. Well you have you have got to come. I you are you had to come hang out with me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I've lived here almost my whole life and I've never been, and I know the track's been there like since the 60s.
SPEAKER_01:No, you're coming, you have to come to the race.
SPEAKER_00:I I would love to. I'm gonna hope. You said there's only two a year?
SPEAKER_01:There's only two a year. March 8th is the next one.
SPEAKER_00:What do you do the rest of the time?
SPEAKER_01:We have almost 200 events at the track um per year. So we actually have one of the biggest concerts coming up with Decadence.
SPEAKER_00:Um, decadence, John Summit. We'd be giving away tickets to that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So decadence two days, you know, uh December 30th and the 31st. They have each day about 35,000 people. Are you gonna be there? Uh I usually go earlier in the day to make sure that they're good, right? Like but I don't normally stay for uh the concert.
SPEAKER_00:But is that like they like the decadence people rented for me?
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, yeah. So we we use the raceway as a track rental. So that so we do various things like that. Like we have a great partnership with Relentless Beats. So they do multiple concerts out there. Uh and then we have like for example, Foodie Land. Have you heard of Foodie Land? So it's uh yep, it's almost like 300 food trucks though. Uh it's crazy. Um, and we've we do food out there. Uh they also bring about 20,000 people a day. Usually, I think that usually starts on a Thursday or a Friday.
SPEAKER_00:And then just NASCAR.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. No, we gotta rent the race, we gotta rent the raceway out, generate extra money.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Okay, so that's one of the things you're doing. You're always trying to rent it out.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, but we're always trying to rent it out. But because I am who I am in community as well, I'm always also trying to um invite the community in. And so we do like some nonprofit events out there. We've had a couple of proms out there as well.
SPEAKER_00:That's cool.
SPEAKER_01:Um, for the first time last year, I think we had three.
SPEAKER_00:Um you know what'd be fun if I could pitch an idea too?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So um my wife and I and my partner Rich, we have a foundation, Love Up Foundation. Yeah, and we have we work with kids in foster care. In fact, we just had um Christmas for 400 kids in foster care. We rented out a little place and we gave them, we had Santa there. We let the we bought a whole bunch of, we let them all buy shoes. Well, we got all the shoes. They picked out what shoes they want and presents, and we had food, and it was a beautiful event. Yeah, um, that'd be cool to take, like we took a whole bunch to the Sons game to the Dime back game. Yeah. If you took a whole bunch of kids to the racetrack, yes.
SPEAKER_01:I I always do that. I always donate tickets. Um, so yes, if you want to seriously, if you want to do, I always donate tickets um for each of my races. You know, at a minimum, I try to donate like 500 tickets um out to the community for group kids' groups. Like if it's not the Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, we've done, uh, we've done um New Pathways for you. We've done a ton of organizations to get kids and get them out there early. Uh, I've also created a field trip program um at their raceway where we provide uh title for title one. I just about to say title one. You should do stuff for like I I do Title I schools. I actually uh partner together, it's called the Beyond the Finish Line. I partner partnered together with the Larry Fitzgerald Foundation. Um and we come together, we it's a free field trip program. So a lot of these kids, John Jay, they come and they've never been on a field trip before, but they come to this one because it's free. It's their first free field trip. Um, and so we usually do 50 kids at a time that come, and now we've sent over uh in the three years, uh almost 2,000 kids have gone through um this field trip program, and it's a whole day. It's the raceway is theirs. It's like a a connection of motorsports and even though there's not a race there, there's still stuff. Oh, there's all kinds of stuff to do at the raceway. Like we take them around, we have a um, we have like a space with a gamer garage um out there. You know, we create activities for them to do, we let them ride on the track. I mean, it's like a really cool experience.
SPEAKER_00:So another thing we do with our foster kids is we look, we there's this is so sad, but we have all these kids that they don't have any parents, they live in group homes and they're trying to get adopted. So we do this thing where we did it at at the Phoenix Suns Arena, we've done it at the airport where we bring all these kids in, and what we do is they we take pictures with of them and get their hair and makeup done and pick out clothes, and it's literally to go on a website in hopes that they get adopted. And we try to do it in fun places because before we got involved, they would just do it in the office at the adoption center. Yeah, and it's not fun, and they're not smiling, they're not happy. So it'd be fun to be we bring the photographers, you bring the hair makeup, we bring food, we cater it, we do whatever, and to have them have a field day at the racetrack. Yes, get their picture taken, then go play. Yes. That's not what this podcast is about.
SPEAKER_01:No, but but it is about that because that's what I love to do is that is opening it up so that people can experience it because it is a special place, uh, and you do want people to experience it. And so I I am, and so we'll have an offline conversation about that, but it it's just such a cool and it does make people happy, right? Well, while you are there and while you're in that moment, it's just something that isn't it's not every day you could say I've been to a raceway, or it's not every day you could say I've right, I can't, and I'm just so which is it's crazy to say. Like when I think about like what I actually do for work, I'm like, this is so not every day, obviously, is a walk in the park, but I mean, pretty close. It's like so fun.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, take me through a day that's not a walk in the park. What's a stressful day for you?
SPEAKER_01:I you know, I people ask me that all the time, and I mean, I think, and I I don't know that it's really stressful. The thing that we think about, like when we are getting close to a race, is like making sure that you're like selling tickets, right? You gotta sell tickets.
SPEAKER_00:People have to come to what's the most amount of people, what's a sellout?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so for us, well, like for championship weekend, overall, like through the weekend, we had over 100,000 people there, right? And so uh for us, while we have 40, uh 40,000, if you will, seat like grandstand seats, uh, our raceway has a capacity to fit up to like 60,000 people at a time, and that's where we normally are for our championship uh, because you have people that are sitting on the mountain, you have 51 suites, you have we build uh also some hospitality spaces, decks, you have RVs that are inside of there. The other thing that we haven't talked about is that we have RVs that are coming and staying for a whole week. So they come the Monday before, and then they leave the Monday after. So, like this past championship weekend, we had over 20,000 campers that are there for one whole week.
SPEAKER_00:Do you go talk to these people?
SPEAKER_01:All the time. That's my favorite part of the job. And then and then they are like tailgating, right? Like the whole NASCAR fans are so special. They really are. They like are diehard, right? We have some of the best fans. So you get out there and you like meet people that you're like, oh my god, you're like the CEO of a company. Like, I mean, they are like in their element, but they they're like out of their like day job and out of like whatever it is that they're normally doing, they're not thinking about that. They are out there literally tailgating for like a week.
SPEAKER_00:Do you ever put the headphones on and talk to the people?
SPEAKER_01:Uh yeah, I don't you can't talk to the drivers. No, no, no. You just listen to like what's happening during the race. So you could tune into your favorite driver. So whoever is in the field, and uh you if Bubba is your favorite driver, you can hear exactly what Bubba is saying to his team and what his spotters and his team are saying to him. Uh on the we have a it's called race control.
SPEAKER_00:I mean you can't not.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, fans can. You could rent like a little um headphone. Oh, yeah. You could rent it's a it's experience. Uh we actually have an experience that we created here in Phoenix and now we're selling it for people who um wouldn't normally go, right? Like this past uh this past race we did uh in Spanish language. Uh we have a Spanish driver, Daniel Suarez, who's a phenomenal human being. Uh we invited uh folks from the Spanish community, which we had uh about 25 of them that came, never been to a NASCAR race before. They were listening in uh and they were getting play by play of what was happening in the race uh in the headphones.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. So what is this? So what is stressful for you? What is the day where like you throw something down because Baba Wallace missed the phone call supposed to tele zoom?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, not that it would really be like days of missing, like tick, like you know, tick when ticket sales, like you know, say today you only sold one, not that we've ever been in a space where we only sold one ticket, but like we today we only sold one ticket, but this time last year we sold a thousand tickets on this day, right? Oh, you look at that. Yeah, you're looking at that every day. That's that gets stressful. Like when you're looking at that every single day.
SPEAKER_00:Do you have to report to the net the middleman between you and the France people?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and it's not really it's really we don't re I don't report until it's time, right? Like until the till the end.
SPEAKER_00:They don't talk to you on once a week, they talk to you whenever.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I can if I wanted to talk to them once a week, I could. And we do have bi-weekly meetings.
SPEAKER_00:You're literally the buck stops with you here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do whatever you want.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, any decisions for Arizona come we are with me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Would you say in the three years you've been there, have they seen growth?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, for for sure. We've definitely seen growth. We've continued to grow year over year. Um, we've also just expanded like who we are and what we do. We really have put ourselves on the map here uh in Arizona. I mean, before, like that's what Julie was doing. I I the raceway was already in a really good place in space because it was new. Um and Julie had really started that process already. So it was really my opportunity to come in and put my sprinkle on it, if you will. So it wasn't a it wasn't in a bad space. Uh I just had to, which is actually kind of hard, right? Because how do you keep it, either keep it where it was or elevate it? And so I really have had to be in a space of elevating it. And uh where I've elevated, you talk about culture, but you know, as well, it's not just about culture, it's about bearing people like you who've never been there before, also, right? And you don't have to come to the raceway and camp. You you can just come to experience the race. Um, because that's that's the thing. It's we we do so much to um create an experience for you, and so we want you to come and enjoy it. And so um, so really you have changed and grown the game from that. The amount of people who have come to my races, I've just been so grateful.
SPEAKER_00:That's awesome. Is Julie still in Chicago?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Julie's still in Chicago, she comes to all of my races. I go to all of her races.
SPEAKER_00:Do you ever sit back and go, What? Look what look what you did to me.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, okay, like I just I l I literally talked to her this morning, actually. And so we were on a just doing our check-in before NASCAR shuts down for a couple weeks for the holiday. So we're just doing our check-in before that we shut down for the holiday and just like reflecting on like just where we are and like what you if not for her, I mean, I wouldn't be uh in this role or this, you know, would have considered this opportunity. But so she's just a great.
SPEAKER_00:I wonder when she thought, hey, let me put you in this role. Like I wonder when that hit her.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:You know, yeah, I don't know. I mean, because you definitely you you you just to use your word, you sprinkle. Yeah. You're a sprinkler. Yeah. You come in, you have so much energy, you have such such great vibes. Are your parents like, do they ever get blown away? Are they proud? I mean, I've got to be proud, but I mean, are they like I would think that your dad, although I'd never met him before, would almost be emotional and cry that his daughter's done this.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, um, it's it's been an amazing thing because uh my parents are extremely supportive. So I was in the role for less than a year and I got like my first, you know, in sports um award, like this wise award women in sports, and I it came in an email and I was like, I haven't even done anything yet. Like I can't believe that like they're doing this. And so I I remember calling my parents to tell them about it. They're like, we're going. Um to like and they I have gotten you know multiple awards before, not that none of them meant anything, but this just felt different. Uh, and just having my parents there, you know, my brothers were there. It was just really nice to um be able to share it with all of them because it's not, I if not for my parents, if not for my family, I wouldn't be in this role. So like your team, right? Like you I have a team of family members they have that that support me and hold me up, and then I have my team um at the raceway that do the same thing. And so uh it has been my parents come to every single one of my races, right? Like they they, you know, they're in their 70s, they can't they hang. I love my parents are just cool, right? Um, but they come hang out and you know you give them the big all access pass. They're walking around with my daughter, my mother. They're so chill, right? They like, but I do have, I mean, I'm I'm black, so I have entourage, right? Like so I roll deep. Um so but I only roll deep at the end of the race, right? Like when I'm do I like the seriously during a race, like my I have a minute by minute. Like I don't, I'm like back to back, but my boys are there with me. I mean, it's a it really is an amazing thing. My husband, it's it's just really a cool thing. And then at the end, when we're celebrating victory, here comes me and my entourage, right? Rolling deep um to Victory Lake.
SPEAKER_00:Who's in your entourage?
SPEAKER_01:Like my brothers, my nieces and nephews, a couple of friends, my kids, my husband, right? I mean, it's my people.
SPEAKER_00:What are some perks you've experienced now being like the president of a big huge sports facility and sports team?
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, I think it's the uh I thought I got invited to like a lot of stuff before. I think it's just the invites that I get now to like all the sporting events, right? Where I'm always at. Uh, but but also it's not just the invites to that, it's the collaborations, right? The Suns have been phenomenal partners um with us, like we do collaborated things together, but the Cardinals have been even more. Michael uh Bidwell came to my race in March last year. Uh, he came. The the thing with Michael, he always says, like, you know, you when people come to experience your event, like you want them to be on time. He came early and stayed late, right? Like he was there for the whole thing. He didn't leave early. Um, so just having people like that who are even interested. I mean, he said that he maybe went to a race like in the 90s, but wasn't there for like a long time? He didn't experience it the way he experienced um coming to the raceway. And so uh, you know, somebody from every major sporting event has shown up and come um to each of my races.
SPEAKER_00:Like the sons go to the races and stuff. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You guys work together to try to get some of the players, and uh, we we do so the hard part about the sons players getting there is that we're always in their season, right? They always have a game. I've been trying real hard to get uh Devin. Devin has an amazing um agent, Jessica Holtz is amazing. I work out with her. Yeah, she's just Jess is just like a good human. Um so she's we we just had lunch a couple weeks ago, and so Jess and I at some point are gonna get Devin at the raceway. Uh Devin's dad has been um to the raceway. Melvin, Melvin, Melvin again, really good. We have like so many good people in this market. Um, but that's what I've been able to do is bring people like that right to the track.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm blown away you just brought up Jess. That's so wild. Like her and I like we have the same trainer. You do, we work out in the same place at the same time.
SPEAKER_01:Jess and I are on a panel for ASU together not that long ago. I don't know, I think we both needed each other on that day. I we, you know, we're we were sitting there on this panel, and I I don't even know what the panel was technically about, but you know, they were talking to us about like who we were, and Jess was like downplaying like who she was. And I'm like, no, time out. Like you're like you got two of the biggest deals like in NBA history in the essentially in the same day. Like what like we're not gonna do. Yes, with uh Anthony um Towns. Oh, Carl Anthony Towns. Carl Anthony Towns and Devin. And I'm like, she Jess was like, it was a really big deal. She was like, Yeah, it was just a Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00:That's so funny. I've never talked to her about sports. I've talked about Backstreet Boys. Yeah, no, she's like You gotta get the Backstreet Boys to the to the race. Yeah, at least to do a concert there.
SPEAKER_01:But then I've even had people like when you like even like celebrities, like uh Michael Phelps came and him and Nicole came and he was the honorary pace car driver. Like he drove the car uh in front. And so it was so funny. When I was sitting down with Michael before um asking him to do it, I didn't know if he they've been asking for years. I was like, let me let me just talk. You gotta always talk to the boss, which was Nicole. Uh and so I talked to him and he and his whole family, of course, I'm like, he's like, Can I bring a guest? I mean, you bring the whole squad, right? Like his whole family came, Nicole's parents came. And I mean, we made sure that they had like the best time, but Michael still talks about it, like what an experience. And so that's what I want to bring. Like, I I I want to just think outside the box of like who can we bring and who can we make sure that we're is just part of the NASCAR family now?
SPEAKER_00:So it's so fun. You just have this creative empty canvas, you can do whatever you want.
SPEAKER_01:Whatever.
SPEAKER_00:That's why I'm pitching the backstreet boys.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Do you have a connection? No, I know, but I know maybe hey, listen, if you know somebody, we can wait for it.
SPEAKER_00:Like to race car to do a concert if you do a John Summit there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_00:Because they're doing a they're doing a residency at the in Vegas at the sphere. I want to go to that. Yeah. Are you doing stuff with Vegas? What about F1? Is that totally different?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's totally different.
SPEAKER_00:Like there won't be an F1 race at Phoenix Race because that's NASCAR, they're totally different. Totally different. Did you watch the movie with Brad Pitt?
SPEAKER_01:Uh I haven't watched the F1 movie. I know, I know. I gotta get on it. I don't have time to sit down. Like, so uh this two weeks that I'm coming up, you tell me what movies I need to watch because have you watched Days of Thunder? No.
SPEAKER_00:That's Tom Cruise, that's NASCAR.
SPEAKER_01:No, I haven't watched Days of Thunder.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well that came out in 1986.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's gonna like a hundred years ago. Okay, but let me tell you.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay. So So the guy that did Top Gun, did you watch Top Gun? Yes. Did you watch Maverick? Yes. Okay, the guy that did Maverick, he did the F1 movie. Okay, with Brad Pitt. Okay. Okay. He the rumor is he wants to do a new uh Days of Thunder movie, which is NASCAR, where Tom Cruise's NASCAR character, Cole Trickle, crosses over with Brad Pitt's F1 character. I forgot his name in the movie. And so it's a Days of Thunder sequel, but with both things, they're working on it now, which would be huge. Yeah, that would be you should find get a hold of Hollywood and have them film it at your place.
SPEAKER_01:I'll call don't worry, I'll call someone.
SPEAKER_00:So when is the next NASCAR race?
SPEAKER_01:It's coming up in Phoenix. In Phoenix, it's coming up soon. It's that March, so actually it's a really cool weekend too. So it's March uh 5th through the 8th. Uh we have four races that weekend. It's a very unique weekend. We have a double header with IndyCar. First time in NASCAR history that we're doing double header during the race weekend. So it's on Saturday, uh, March 7th, is when we're doing the double header with Indy. Um IndyCar is phenomenal, been great to work with. Their cars are totally different than ours. Uh it's just a totally different experience and fan base. Uh so if we're gonna do it anywhere, we're gonna try it in Phoenix. And so uh we are really excited about that. So that's our next uh race weekend.
SPEAKER_00:And is this one of those, like I remember I heard recently it was like the Super Bowl of NASCAR was was here, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, that was championship weekend. So some people argue that essentially we start with the Super Bowl at the start of our season, which is the Daytona 500.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um but the Super Bowl, in sense of crowning a champion, that part of it happened in Phoenix, and that just happened um here uh not that long ago in England. I think we won that one in November. That was Kyle Larson. Oh, that's what you said. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Have you watched Talladega Nights?
SPEAKER_01:Uh yes, but like a hundred years ago, and I've been to now Talladega. Uh Talladega, each raceway is so special, it's so so you uh each of one has is so unique. So let me ask you this.
SPEAKER_00:So I you you have like so much energy and so much knowledge and outside of your parents, outside of going to school at ASU, outside of Charles Schwab, are there any books that you've read that have helped you that have guided you? Or is there anything like that that you're like, uh if I would have read this book, it wouldn't help me push me this way or anything like that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, I I'm a huge uh Brene Brown fan. Like she's a good one. Oh, she's awesome. She's awesome. So I I always am in it to uh Brene Brown books. Um, but now, like I feel like I get into like a space when I'm reading a book, it has to be relatable to like whatever is going on, like right now, like in like or something that that will keep my interest long enough to say, like, I want to know more about that. So right now I'm actually reading this book uh called uh The Art of Spending Money. Um you have it's a phenomenal book. It just talks about just this relationship that we have with money, and you know, the world or society tells you like this is exactly what you're supposed to do. This is exactly how you're supposed supposed to spend, but it's really an emotional connection. It's really, you know, sometimes it's about status, sometimes it's about your upbringing, right? Like how you came up, and then let's say, you know, you maybe you didn't have much, but now you do, and now you want to show off like this shiny car or like whatever it is, but are you doing that for you or are you doing that for someone else? Right. And so it just has this like relatability to like like how to manage and how to manage that art of like not giving a shit about what people think, right? And so it has so many different it's called the art of spending money, but it's just really this mindset of like, even though you have all these public eye and you have all this stuff, like are you doing it for you or are you doing it for for them? Like, stay true to you.
SPEAKER_00:I had this friend of mine who's he's a a CEO of a huge company, he's got 8,000 employees. Yeah, and he told me a couple years ago, he was like, Life is about experiences.
SPEAKER_01:That's it.
SPEAKER_00:This is about experiences. He goes, So spend your money on experiences. Oh, that that like changed everything for me.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, and that's what the book talks about as well, because uh those experiences will last a lifetime, right? That$50 is not last in a lifetime, right? Um, so you're gonna spend it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, when you got the NASCAR job, was it kind of like uh did you ever like, oh my god, I I I gotta watch this movie or I've gotta watch this documentary, or I got, is there anything you did to study it?
SPEAKER_01:No, I really uh yeah, where I got to studying, I went, I started researching people, but like you said, I loved what you said at the beginning. You didn't Google. Like I don't, I I refuse like if I'm if I'm gonna meet you, I'm gonna meet you, right? So I refuse to Google people. And so uh the only thing that I was Googling are things like not really Googling, I was going on NASCAR to try to understand like the point system and like why are you at this point in the car? Like, how did you get to car two versus car one? Which I didn't realize it was because of the qualifying rounds. So the qualifying rounds are what gets you to uh being in that space in your position, right? But but I didn't know, and I because I was trying to figure out as well, like in my garages, like how do I know who gets what garage number, right? Like, how do you know? Right, it's based on points. Um, and so really that is what I Googled was just to educate myself on like how does the sport work outside of that in terms of people? That's what I told you. I went out there and I just got to meeting people and I started to to create like a list like these are the people internal to NASCAR that I need to get to know and understand their job and just understand who they are and like what they do but then outside of that like getting to know the teams like what does it take to like be a pit crew member like how do you how do you do that like how do you get there went out there pit crew members have like a combine it's like the pit crews I could be out there all day watching them prepare like oh it's like so legit like they get out there if they gotta change a tire in 11 seconds so and they gotta put the the caps back the hubs caps back they gotta do shit they gotta get it all back together to make sure that the tires don't fall off right while the driver's going 200 miles per hour.
SPEAKER_00:Is it like do they have like a driver and then another driver like is it like I remember I was watching I was watching this F1 movie and Brad Pitt comes in and does like three laps and then another guy comes in.
SPEAKER_01:No we do not do that.
SPEAKER_00:So it's whoever is the driver like Bubba Wallace is the drive starts race finishes race.
SPEAKER_01:So if we have 200 laps Bubba is driving all 200 of those laps yeah 100% they don't stop there is no like the only time you're stopping is pulling over to get your gas or tire changed.
SPEAKER_00:What's a long day for you?
SPEAKER_01:Like what time's your day start oh uh well sun race sun well let's see so it depends but race sunday so like a race sunday I usually am there by like 7 a.m 6 30 7 a.m now and that depends on media right like so if there's any media hits that happen in the morning like first thing like five four or five six in the morning I could have to go to some of those my PR rep is phenomenal he takes the really really early ones for me um Matt Humphrey yep and then uh after that like I we're we don't leave until the race is like way over right you got to go to Victory Lane all that so if I get there at 6 a.m so you have a one 1 p.m race let's say you have no cautions you have no wrecks all of that kind of stuff the race is probably done by 4 30 then you have like an after party you got your people there so I'm probably not leaving till like eight is that that's the longest day like that it's not uh no no because uh actually your earlier days so I would say like a Thursday like so our race week is on Monday right so then Thursday is when you start to when the track gets hot like when cars start to get on the track so that which is Thursday then I have like events like we have parties and stuff after that so like on a Thursday uh last third this pass for uh race week I was there probably at 8 a.m and I had three parties that I had to go to like and it's like legit it's not like I'm hanging out party right like I mean it's I have to go because it's our spar sponsor you're schmoozing you're shaking your skin yeah and if I don't show up they notice right so I think I got home like at 1 a.m so I think I it's track at 8 and then home by like 1 a.m so that those the Thursday and Friday are like probably my longest day of a race week.
SPEAKER_00:Do you take a couple days off a week or do you like what's your Saturday and Sunday? Do you get a Saturday Sunday? Like does it are you during a race? No just like are you off Monday Thursday?
SPEAKER_01:No on a normal on a normal week so like this week I work Monday through Friday. Okay. Um but there really is no such thing as like Monday through Friday for us. So like if I if we have track rentals and have things going on on Saturday and I need to show I'm always showing up for something or if I have to go do a media hit I have to go speak at something like I don't have like your traditional like Monday through Friday I try to have like a traditional eight to five schedule but then I'll have stuff right like after work or whatever which is still work events. Um I also serve on a lot of boards too so um so then there so then there's those things um but traditionally it would be like a Monday through Friday.
SPEAKER_00:Do you have a dog?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah but I don't really participate you don't no because I have two kids okay that's where I participate is they got the dog? Yes they're dog are your kids now NASCAR fans 100% absolutely are they also other sports are they basketball players football players yeah so my oldest played baseball himself through all through high school so they all we all of my my whole family my parents everybody that's what we're sports family like we love to watch sports like when COVID happened we didn't know what to do with ourselves because there's no sports to watch so we ended up watching the cornhole I know the lady that put that on that's what we watched I just talked to her on our show today. She put on on ESPN they do the cornhole too yeah thank god she had that I mean we we we legit were having a family tree of like talking on the phone like did you see they put the father and the son were the ones that like I don't even know their names but I remember that it was a father and a son and they were telling their story and they're the winners.
SPEAKER_00:Is there any NASCAR going on now?
SPEAKER_01:It's off season for us I want to watch now yeah you gotta watch so we will start uh our main our main race starts the Daytona 500 so that's like the weekend after the Super Bowl that's when the season starts and then you have NASCAR every weekend after that we have like maybe one or two weekends off until November. So our season is long.
SPEAKER_00:You know what's funny is that if your mom and dad would not have agreed to buy your nails you wouldn't be here where you are right now. That's it I mean think about it.
SPEAKER_01:But they were giving me some independence.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah I mean they were talk about life lessons right they're like we're not gonna buy your long fingernails go get a job.
SPEAKER_01:So it was essentially like I was like mom I you know I want my nails done every two weeks like everybody else you know then they would back then there was like spray paint you know they would like airbrush and it was Trevor Burrus Yeah right and then you could like pierce the the the fingernail I had that uh it was so you know great um at the time but my mom was like you do not need that and if you're gonna get that get it yourself I was like say less I'm gonna find a job isn't that amazing but you're also driven I mean you're a very unique human being there's not a lot of people like you I don't think very rare especially your energy level I mean as soon as I met you I was like whoa man congratulations no thank you thank you I'm so glad that we got to meet in the in that moment and um now you're gonna become a NASCAR fan you're coming to a race I promise you if you invite me I'll go I'm inviting you and your family are coming did you have a good time on this podcast was this fun this is so fun you make you make it too easy to to chat have you done a lot of podcasts yes I've done a lot of podcasts a lot of interviews I I love I love just like having conversations right with with people do you have like a uh an assistant that does everything for you so like you're like you wake up in the morning you just have to do whatever the assistant has booked or then no no no no I'm not that kind of person I'm in the weeds right like so my my poor assistant um I love her she uh she just tries to help me manage because I do have so many things like going on uh in the day so she's really just help help make it as easy as possible for me to do whatever I need to do for the day so yeah I book a lot of things I'm very ex you know obviously you know I exchange phone numbers with you right away I'm very accessible I don't I never want to be that person where uh there's somebody else that has to speak on my behalf or someone else that makes you feel like you can't talk to me even with my team right I mean you know a lot of people say that cliche like an open door policy but like literally I mean my team anybody and any member like so while I have direct reports and then they have reports like the people who work for them they know that they can walk in and if they want to just chit chat about whatever's on their mind not it doesn't even have to necessarily be just business right like is your office at the racetrack? Uh it we have a corporate office that's down the street from the racetrack.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So I have some employees um that are at the racetrack 247 like our maintenance team our track like if you said tomorrow I want to rent the raceway like our track is pristine all the time our our maintenance team is phenomenal um so it would be you could use it right like we didn't we don't need to do much for to flip it for you to be able to use it.
SPEAKER_00:I could drive my car on it can I drive my car on it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah you can I'm gonna give if I give you a private tour I'll let you um drive my own car on it.
SPEAKER_00:How fast do you take your car?
SPEAKER_01:Uh no it's a paced ride and I you're not driving really fast okay we're gonna like oh so when you have your meetings by yourself on the track. Yeah I usually I usually go like sometimes 40 sometimes 60 but I'm telling you when it's like the the embankment when you're on it you feel like you're going much faster.
SPEAKER_00:Okay but okay you need to have a meeting and you just go I'm gonna do it in my car I'm gonna do it in the racetrack. So you get on speakerphone in your car and you just drive in this giant circle 40 miles an hour.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah and sometimes I'm driving slow fast I go up you just have a meeting dude you know what I think I think you need a reality show.
SPEAKER_00:And you know what I know my sister does that for a living does she you need to meet her I love you are a walking reality show right now everything you just said am I right oh my God you are amazing no you're amazing and I appreciate you I'm glad you came on my podcast you're awesome thank you awesome thank you what a what a you just made my day totally did you're awesome okay so welcome to our podcast this is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show
