 Beverley
Terrill
PROUD TO BE A RACERCHICK!
You know, I have been to racerchicks.com many
times and have always admired the women in
racing. I love the cool stories and great
pictures. I must say that I am quite honored to
be a “racerchick”.
My enthusiasm for racing was born out of
necessity rather than the usual growing up in
the sport or loving cars from the time I was a
young girl. I lived in Charlotte, NC for about
12 years. As you probably know this is just down
the road from the NASCAR racing hub in
Mooresville, NC. The sport was not as popular in
1995 as it is today but to me it just wasn’t a
big deal to be living there where you could see
show car every weekend somewhere in your city. I
had a friend whose husband was a dirt track
racer and her cousin was in the pit crew for
Rusty Wallace. But I watched the race on TV
every week just like everyone else.
But in November of 1996, something magical
happened that changed not only my life but also
my view of racing. I met the man who would
become my husband. He had moved to the area to
work for a NASCAR team as an engine builder. Now
suddenly I was a part of the team’s Christmas
parties. We watched qualifying from an owner’s
skybox at what is now Lowes Motor Speedway. Wow,
was it exciting! I began to love this sport of
auto racing. Qualifying became especially
important since my significant other built the
qualifying engines. His engines won a total of 3
poles in one season. Now when I watched a race,
I would try to spot some of his fellow teammates
in the pits. Things had really changed!
My husband decided to leave his job with the
team and we moved back to Michigan, his
hometown. He had left an engine building
business there and decided to return. This move
brought to me another kind of auto racing that I
had not experienced – drag racing. Most of our
friends in Michigan are drag racers. They are at
the track every weekend. All summer activities
are planned around their race schedules.
So an obvious business opportunity took shape
when we began the website RacingSecrets.com. I
recently left a company I had been with for 15
years to pursue my new career with Speedtalk.com.
This is a site that broadcasts interviews each
Friday. We interview experts throughout the
racing industry, gathering valuable information
for all racers including those on a local level.
My days are spent searching out interesting
people to interview. Most weekends we are at a
racetrack somewhere. We recently started another
site racingroadtrip.com. I went to my first HPV
(human powered vehicle) race, the World of
Outlaws race in Hartford, MI and the soapbox
derby championships. Joe Nemechek, Ricky Craven
and Tony Stewart showed up at the soapbox derby
and of course raced down the track. That was
really exciting! I was taking pictures at the
finish line so I was very close to the action.
Jeff Hammond was also there getting on camera
interviews with some of the participants and I
was able to meet him.
I just can’t get enough of racing! Nor can I
remember what I did for fun before I became such
a fan. As a side note, I sang the National
Anthem at both the Kalamazoo Speedway and the
Berlin Raceway here in Michigan. That was a lot
of fun too.
So I guess I really am a racerchick even though
I don’t actually race a car and that’s something
to be proud of!
Thank you Nika for all you do to promote the
sport of auto racing and the women who love it!
Beverly Terrill
www.speedtalk.com
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