NASCAR Diversity combine returns to NSB Speedway
SAMSULA: When College Gameday went to Washington State for the first time ever last Saturday, sophomore Brittney Zamora was only able to watch it on TV.
While most of her friends were holding up signs and tailgating during the popular ESPN pregame show, Zamora was at the Bullring in Las Vegas, getting ready to run the Senator’s Cup Fall Classic.
“Priorities I guess,” she laughed. “I was at the track last Thursday through Saturday, racing two cars, so I didn’t have a lot of time to sit down and watch. I did finish in the Top-10 in both, though.”
Zamora, who became the first female driver to win the Northwest Super Late Model Series Championship last year, still hasn’t been back to school. The 19-year-old flew from Vegas to Daytona Beach over the weekend, and has been in the area since Monday participating in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Combine.
“It’s been hectic,” she said. “I’ve been racing for two seasons now. At school, if you get five absences you automatically fail the class. So, I’ve had to sit down and talk to each professor and make a little deal. They understand that I have things going on that I just can’t miss.”
Zamora is one of 12 drivers participating in the annual combine this week. The combine, which began in 2004, aims to provide top diverse talent with the chance to be seen by NASCAR’s national series teams, sponsors and manufacturers.
Participants had physical fitness assessments and media training at Bethune-Cookman University on Monday, and the combine ended on Tuesday with on-track activity at New Smyrna Beach Speedway.
NASCAR Cup drivers Daniel Suárez, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson have all participated in the program in the past. So has 17-year-old Hailie Deegan, who became the first woman to win a K&N Pro Series race last month.
Zamora also participated in the 2-day combine last year, but was not chosen for the program.
“I’ve been testing K&N cars with Bill McAnally (over the past year),” she said. “Just getting more seat time is huge. I’ve doubled my experience in a Super Late model (car).”
Among the notable drivers in attendance on Tuesday was NASCAR Peak Mexico Series points leader Rubén García Jr., four-time Trans-Am champion Ernie Francis Jr., and NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver Loris Hezemans.
Hezeman, who is originally from Amsterdam, got a late start on the week’s events after racing in the season finale of the Whelen series on Sunday in Zolder, Belgium.
“We were fighting for the overall championship,” he said. “Sadly, we had to retire the car. It was a pretty good season, though. My flight here actually got cancelled, so I had to re-book everything. I wasn’t able to do any fitness testing (on Monday), but just meeting everyone at the NASCAR offices was great.”
Francis Jr., who was at the combine for the second straight year, was one of five drivers to spend the past season in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East driving for Rev Racing.
The Fort Lauderdale native drove a pair of road races for the team this year, including a second place finish at New Jersey Motorsports Park in June, and an 11th place showing at Watkins Glen in August.
“It was just a great opportunity for me to get out there and get my feet wet,” said Francis Jr., who also test drove one of Chip Ganassi’s Rolex 24 cars during last December’s test session at Daytona International Speedway. “This is just a great way to learn how to drive these kinds of cars. That’s one of the biggest things I take away from here — just learning what I have to improve on.”
TNS
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