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Profile
First Female Rallycross Drivers Break Into
New Territory
On the eve of the last round of the U.S. Rallycross
Championship a pair of female drivers have thrown
their hats into the ring to blaze new Rallycross
trails. With the entrance or Kristin Chute and
Erika Detota they are on the verge of being
America’s first female Rallycross
competitors.
Right now, Kristin Chute from Gray, ME is
hurriedly turning wrenches in her garage alongside
her husband preparing their 1995 Subaru Impreza for
2WD Class competition. This is a familiar process
for them being regular stage rally competitors in
terms of building and preparing a car between day
jobs. But both are working hard to modify their
rally car into a rallycross car to send Kristin to
the starting line against other rally styled
vehicles.
Kristin acknowledges the odds of winning a race
and the work ahead of her. “My realistic
expectation is that I could have a mechanical
failure and not make it. I know all the drivers
competing in my class and I don’t expect to
dominate the field… I just want to keep up
with the crowd and work on those driving
lines,” said Kristin.
Though Kristin is new to this style of racing
she has garnered a solid rally background and
expects to utilize her rally skills on the tricky
dirt sections.
She has at least 25 rally events and multiple
autocross, rallycross, and track days under her
belt, in addition to stints at the Team O’Neil
Rally School. Kristin can also boast Cumberland
Motor Club’s 2006 “Rookie of the
Year” and “Fastest Female” Awards,
and has consistently placed in the top 5 in her
SCCA RallyCross’ AWD Modified Class.
When she shows up at New Jersey Motorsports Park
this weekend she will have already achieved her
personal goals by building her rallycross car, and
becoming one of the first female driver in the
Series. She doesn’t want to be judged by how
well she places in the event, but by her ambition
and inspiring fans to get involved. Something she
tasted when she was surprised by the fan response
at the 2008 Targa Newfoundland Rally and 2010
Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally.
“Kids were coming up to me and asking for
autographs!” laughed Kristin, “Fans kept
encouraging me to keep going with what I am doing.
I think I was doing something that kids and the
fans wanted to do themselves.”
The encouragement helped spark dreams of
becoming semi-professional in the rally world and
building a competitive team. Kristin won’t
fully concentrate on being a female competitor in
the sport. “There are plenty of female (and
successful) competitors in Rally, but if it means
getting more sponsors in Rallycross I’ll use
that angle.”
She recently landed her first sponsor, a
specialty wholesale provider of cheese and dairy
products, and is working to promote the “Paul
W. Marks” company brand. “It is a first
step towards a more professional team that is
worthwhile to sponsors. Bringing sponsors to my
team while being a part of Rallycross means being
part of the initial buzz. I think that is
valuable,” explained Kristin.
Since competing in stage rally over the years,
Kristin is now stepping into new territory facing a
steep learning curve in front of her. She
acknowledges that her competitors have more
horsepower and her car will likely need a stronger
Subaru WRX transmission to handle the extra power
added to her car. But in her mind race results pale
in comparison to taking the road to get there and
experience the thrill of wheel-to-wheel racing in
the car she built with her husband.
You can follow Kristin Chute’s progress at
www.rallykracing.com or on her Facebook fan page:
www.facebook.com/pages/RallyK-Racing/158748614140106
Kristen’s sponsor, www.PaulWMarks.com has
been distributing the freshest New England dairy
products for the last 50 years. Please visit the
website for a complete compilation of eggs, butter,
cream, yogurt, milk and cheeses. The knowledgeable
sales team can help you meet every need to make
your meals as healthy, nutritious and delicious as
possible.
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