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Alison was scheduled to test in the ARCA
series in Daytona in December but no times were
turned in.
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Loves the Ladies: Alison Macleod
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Profile
Birthdate: June
29,1989
Hometown: 1670 Bonhill Rd., Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada L5T 1C8
Since stepping foot into her first go-kart at
age 7, Alison’s passion in life has been to go
racing. Graduating from 4-cycle sprint karts to
80cc shifter karts by age 11; Alison proved she was
not just a competitor but a champion. By 2004
Alison had racked up numerous championships and
caught the attention of Ford Racing as an
up-and-coming competitor.
Alison was given the opportunity to showcase her
talent in the Ford Racing Sponsored Driver
Development Program managed and operated by
renowned open wheel car builder Bob East, of B.
East chassis. Competing in the USAC Ford Focus
division Alison scored her first victory in 2005,
just 3-weeks after her 16th birthday.
Alison has again proven herself in 2009 with
another successful season in the USAC Regional
Midget Division. Alison scored 2 victories in her
first Regional Midget season, along with 2 more
victories in 2009. Alison continues to hold the
title of USAC's Winningest Female Driver in
history. Stay tuned as 2010 looks to be another
year of growth as Alison is working on putting
together a NASCAR Canada Ride along with select
ARCA races.
Alison
- Races: USAC Ford Focus Midget Series and
Karts. What’s so special: In just her fourth
midget race, this teen led all 50 laps and won her
first midget race in July. She has a contract with
Ford Racing’s Female Driver Development
Program. See the January, 2004 issue of Car
and Driver, page 122 MacLeod,
Alison
Alison began racing at age
7, driving 4-cycle sprint karts, and graduated to
80cc shifter karts when she was 11. By 2004, she
had racked up four championships and numerous race
wins, and had caught the attention of Ford Racing
as an up-and-coming talent.
An invitation to compete
in the Clorox Ford Racing Female Driver Development
Program followed, and 15-year-old Alison took to
the track in a USAC Ford Focus Midget. Since
then she has continued to impress. She scored her
first Ford Focus Midget feature race win in 2005,
just three weeks after her 16th birthday.
pressdog
Loves the Ladies: Alison Macleod - January 26,
2010
We're pleased to bring you
the Women of pressdog.com, the multi-part gift that
keeps on giving from the ladies connected to racing
who are friends of the p-dog.
As the ARCA and other
fendered racing at Daytona approaches, we're
talking to a woman who wants to one day dominate
the Daytona 500 and be the next big Danica in
NASCAR.
Alison Macleod, the pride
of Mississauga, Ontario Canada, was recently hailed
as "The Winningest Female Driver in USAC History."
The 20-year-old Alison has been racing since age
7.
pressdog: How did you
get interested in racing?
Alison: This is
actually a pretty funny story, my family has no
history in racing (other than my dad being a racing
fan), when I was 6 years old my dad went to an open
house at a company he did business with.
There was a go-kart
sitting there surrounded by trophies (I think he
was more attracted to the trophies than anything).
He was told that kart racing was for drivers aged
7-70 and that it was the easiest way to get kids
from the age of 12-18. Since I have 2 older sisters
that were not the easiest teens in the world that
caught my dads attention.
He bought me a go-kart to
start the next year, at first I HATED it, my first
time on the track I was in an accident and just
wanted to go home. He would always just say NO I
spent too much money on this you are not quitting.
A couple weeks later I won my first trophy and
started to make some friends at the track, it
became more fun and I was easily hooked after
that.
I ran 4 stroke karts for
about 6 years before getting into 2 cycles and
shifter karts. I won a total of 5 championships in
karting and was contacted by Ford Racing to
participate in their diversity program.
pressdog: Take us
through your progression toward USAC. How did you
decided to go to USAC?
Alison: The
decision to go to USAC was not mine, in fact, when
it happened we didn't even know what USAC was. When
I was 14 Ford began their diversity program, they
tested almost 100 girls and narrowed it down to 4
girls for the final test. The girls were Erin
Crocker, Michelle Theriault, Lindsey Tilton and
myself. We had a 3 day test, one day on track with
Bob East in a midget, one day doing fitness and
psychological testing and the last day doing media
training/testing.
We were all graded and
there was supposed to be one winner. Because of my
age I was not supposed to be a candidate, they just
wanted me to get introduced to the program with the
plan of me coming back to compete the next year.
However, I ended up with the tied high score with
Erin and they decided to make it a 2 girl
program.
pressdog: You've said
you're looking for an ARCA or NASCAR Canada ride
this year? Why there and how is it going? Did you
consider IndyCar even briefly?
Alison: I am under
contract with Ford Racing, their entire program has
been created around a NASCAR career. I personally
enjoy stockcars, I have tested a NASCAR Canada and
ARCA car and loved it. I haven't really considered
open-wheel at all for a couple of reasons. The
first being that I go where Ford wants me to go and
I enjoy racing stockcars. Also IndyCar has Danica
Patrick but NASCAR has yet to have a really
successful female driver and I would love to be
their first one!
pressdog: What are some
of the roadblocks to drivers from USAC heading
toward IndyCar? Anything that makes it more
difficult than going in another direction, say into
the NASCAR feeder leagues?
Alison: I'm not
sure, IndyCar has never been on the radar for me so
I haven't been actively pursuing that direction. I
think there is just more attention on NASCAR, more
fans more money and I like the stockcar world so it
was always a better fit for me.
pressdog: You were
scheduled to test in an ARCA car at Daytona and
said you tested in one earlier. Was that freaky?
Did you like or dislike? Give us a flavah of your
reaction to the fendermobile.
Alison: Actually I
never made it out to the Daytona test, our program
fell through about 2 weeks before the test. That
really sucked but I did test it at Lowe's Motor
Speedway and LOVED it. It was a blast. I am
naturally a smoother driver coming from go karts so
I find that the stock cars really use that to my
advantage where as the midgets are much more
twitchy and more of an aggressive driving
style.
pressdog: Have you
found anything useful in studying the experiences
of other female racers?
Alison: Yes and no,
each person is different and what works for one may
not work for another, Danica can use sex appeal,
she's got it and there's no doubt she uses it,
while other drivers have different approaches, some
fail some succeed, I think that if I stick to being
myself and using the things I believe in I can
create my own way. I don't think any driver should
try to copy another successful driver just because
it worked for them or avoid something because it
didn't work. Stick to who you are and you will go
far!
pressdog: Who are some
racers you look up to or who have been role models
for you?
Alison: I never
really had one racer that I looked up to, maybe im
weird, but all the drivers I know whether its
Jimmie Johnson or someone I race against locally, I
just want to beat them! They are my competition.
Having said that I think what Jimmie has done is
amazing and you have to acknowledge that! I also
think Tony Stewart is awesome, he races anything
anytime anywhere and I think that is
awesome.
pressdog: Have you ever
done any road/street racing? Is that something
you'd like to try or do you have zero
interest?
Alison: Well I
started in go-karts which is the road course style
and I LOVE that style of racing as well, the NASCAR
schedule has 3 road course races and so does the
ARCA schedule so hopefully I will be able to do
some road courses in the near future! I would also
love to run the Daytona 24hr race!
pressdog: All drivers
and/or teams have to search for sponsorship. Is
that something you like to do? feel challenged by?
dread? Is it something you're involved with or do
you have people?
Alison: Haha, I
hate it and I love it! Sponsors are what makes this
whole world of racing happen, they can bring some
amazing things and the feeling you get when you
finally sign with a sponsor is irreplaceable, I am
taking marketing at school so I try to be as
involved as possible, having said that I do have
both a Canadian and American manager that does the
bulk of the work
pressdog: pressdog.com
appreciates the humor. How would you rate your
sense of humor on a scale of 1-10?
Alison: Definitely
a 10!!!! haha I am always doing stupid/funny random
things, it can get pretty humorous around
here!
pressdog: You're a
student at the University of Guelph (in Ontario)
and it appears you're a photographer too. What do
you like about
design/art/photography?
Alison: Yes, I
opened Macleod Designs and Photography in January
of last year. I am extremely lazy when it comes to
waking up and having a real job (oops). This allows
me to incorporate racing and photography together
and I control when i work so I am always available
for racing. I don't have an employer telling me I
can't have the week off, and the best part is with
Photography I can work anywhere, in any country.
I'm also taking marketing in University and the
photography mixes well with the advertising side of
marketing, so everything meshes together really
well.
pressdog: Is it hard to
be a college student and race car driver at the
same time?
Alison: Yes and No,
because of my exposure to racing and sponsorships
my knowledge about marketing is much higher than
the average student, which makes school a bit
easier, also my school runs from September to April
and (for the most part) racing is from April to
August so it fits together fairly well.
pressdog: Be honest
(because I can take it) -- if you the chance to do
just one -- with equal quality teams -- would you
race in the Daytona 500 or Indy 500, and
why?
Alison: Daytona
500, I just love stock cars! thats my
goal!
pressdog: According to
Facebook, which never lies, you are "in a
relationship" with James Gray, who appears to also
be a race car driver. Have you ever raced each
other? Did you kick ass? Do you guys talk about
torque and gears and motorhead stuff all the
time?
Alison: Yes of
course Facebook never lies! and I am dating James,
we raced against each other in 2007. It was my
rookie year in the TQ midgets, and his 6th year, we
ran really close, but he usually beat me by one
spot! (Believe me it was a lose lose situation for
me. I will never live that down.) I did really well
for my rookie season and received the rookie of the
year award! I was happy with the season and did
beat him a few times.
As for our lives its
RACING RACING RACING, I don't think it is possible
to have a conversation for longer than about 60
seconds without racing coming into it. We talk
about everything, watch racing, talk racing, go
racing. I was the official Photographer for the Can
Am TQ midgets this year since they raced on a
different night than I did, they had 11 races and
we won 8 of them and finished 2nd in the other 3
races, I got really mad at him because he was bad
for business (go figure he thinks he deserves to
get photos for free and won't pay for his victory
lane photos). But that part is great,
I have tried dating non
racecar drivers and they get annoyed and usually
tell me to shut up or just look at me with this
stupid look on their faces because they have no
idea what I'm talking about. It is pretty crazy
when you realize how racecar drivers have their own
language, when your on the outside of the racing
world it really is like listening to some other
language and most people are completely lost! So
its great that I can talk "code" and still be
understood.
The downside is we are
both EXTREMELY competitive we compete for
EVERYTHING, whether its first person to the door,
first person to get out of the car, first person to
lose weight, first person to finish eating, etc etc
etc, so things can get pretty tense when we have a
real competition of any sort!
pressdog: Pretend
you're the commissioner/CEO of USAC. What would be
your top three initiatives/decrees?
Alison: 1) I would
work to try and create a better stepping stone,
right now in the Midwest they had Kenyon midgets
(12-any age) Focus Midgets (16-any age) and
Midgets(16-any age). I think they should create an
appropriate stepping stone that is easy to make (ie
same chassis and restrictors for speed so that the
transition is not so costly) most people skip right
over the Focus class because the age of starting is
the same as full midgets (they have began to change
this last year).
2. I would work on getting
some television time... end of story the USAC
drivers need exposure, there is some amazing talent
and unless you are watching for it there isn't much
promotion
3. Im not really
sure...its a pretty good sanctioning body, they
have lost a bit of force since they are not
sanctioning the Indy stuff anymore so maybe work on
getting that back!
pressdog: IndyCar is
struggling to find an audience, etc. Any thoughts
on what keeps more fans from getting into the
open-wheel deal?
Alison: Branding, I
think NASCAR has a much better branding deal, with
sponsors/drivers numbers etc, in Indy car the cars
numbers are small and un recognizable, therefore
you go based on colors, its a lot harder to be a
fan of IndyCar because they don't have a strong
branding for the driver (unless your name is Danica
Patrick) and even then I don't think I could pick
out her car at high speed. But i can already pick
out her NASCAR/ARCA ride...
I also think fans like
accidents, and although the Indy Cars have much
larger wrecks they don't happen as often, in NASCAR
races you are almost guaranteed to have at least
one big wreck every race, and the races that have a
high chance of accident have a higher amount of
fans, its kind of sad but its their entertainment
as long as no one gets hurt if the fans see a huge
wreck they are talking about it forever! (Not so
fun as a driver.)
In Indy Car with open
wheels the drivers know they have to keep room or
else it could be catastrophic, in NASCAR you can
bang and bump without getting into too much
trouble.
Source:
pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/2010/01/pressdog-loves-the-ladies-alison-macleod.html
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