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By Donna Douglas |
For Kathryn Teasdale, Canada's top notch 25 year old race car driver, greasing the racing circuits across North America is not a 'dream come true'. It's a dream she's had to keep in focus by being relentless.
The coming true part is still Teasdale's driving ambition.
She's garnered over 180 racing victories and is the first Canadian woman to possess an international racing license. When she climbs into her Firestone Indy Light race car, she's putting 425 hp behind her with top speed capacity of 210 mph. Her Indy Car hits the circuit at 180-190 mph and that's a lot of muscle for anybody to handle.
In Canada's IROC series, Kat's the national champ for the last three years in the Camaro racing series. She's the only woman to race in the Indy Lights Road Racing series.
Take a look at the roster...1991 she ran 39 races; 1990 it was 43. And this year will see her complete at least 12 of them, since she's pulled in from racing in five championships to racing in two. "We're starting our season late this year."
Why cut back? To specialize. "In your sport you have to show diversity when you first get going. I raced five different championships last year, actually I did that for three seasons. People then became confused about what it is I want to do and what I want to excel in.
"We had to choose to race in two championships...Firestone Indy Lights and the Escort World Challenge. The Escorts use prototype cars that look more like cars you'd drive on the road (though, of course they're not).
"If I had my 'druthers, I'd race every day of my life. But then people wouldn't understand what I'm doing."
"As an experience, racing is incredible," says Teasdale to TG. "The people are so dedicated. If you have the opportunity to find something you're good at and do it--that's what life's all about!"
Teasdale's team, Leading Edge, boasts four drivers and 25 crew members on the four-car team. When the team took to the circuit on Labour Day in Vancouver, it was Teasdale's 4th race of the year.
Sponsored by Midas and Toronto Sun, Kat starts her racing season in mid-January and runs non-stop until November. When she's not behind the wheel, she's making speeches, visiting potential sponsors, making corporate pitches, and getting onto airplanes.
Testing prototypes is another regular component in Teasdale's work day.
Does she love it?
Yes
She loves it so much she's determined to keep it honest as a sport, and has fought diligently against male/female division.
As she told TG, "a woman race car driver comes a long once every 20 years."
At that rate, a female-only division would be lonely road to race on.
Kat credits sponsors with making car racing possible at all. Talented drivers would have nothing to steer if corporate sponsors didn't put their money behind the sport.
So, it's 1992 and one of the great things about this era is that anybody can do anything they want, right?
Wrong.
There are still some worlds where the genders are not equal (at last in the eyes of one of the genders). For Kat Teasdale it doesn't matter how many races she wins, or how good she is, some corporate sponsors are still looking at her with a "hands-off" attitude.
Currently sponsored by Midas Canada and the Toronto Sun, Teasdale is narrowing down her field of endeavor, specializing in Indy light championships and continuing to team up with male drivers who are her equal.
But, she says she has to talk more, work harder, and look more thoroughly to find corporation with enough courage toe different.
"It seems it takes 20 years for a woman to come along in this sport," says Kat, reasoning that lack of support would certainly discourage young women racers.
Teasdale has been national champ in her division for the last three years. She's got the winning attitude that makes her sought after as an Indy driver. Even as a student at Woodlands S.S. in Toronto, ON, Kat's focus was on driving. But her starting position is always second stirring.
"There is an old boys network and I honestly believe that the only way those things change is that you have to have your dream and then pursue it.
"But it's not easy. I've had some awful things happen to try and discourage me from racing.
"I talk every day to potential sponsors. It's one in a rare group that takes the plunge and supports me.
"Sponsors are really key to the whole thing," she says.
tgmag@tgmag.ca