Katharina Buczek
It is no secret that men dominate the sport of racecar driving. But one woman named Amber Balcaen is changing that reality– one finish line at a time.
Amber is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and is a third-generation racecar driver. Her father, Mike Balcaen, is a 50-Time Track Champion; meanwhile, her grandfather Lou Kennedy Sr. is a Hall of Famer.
So, racecar driving has always been in Amber’s blood. And before she was even born, Amber frequented the racetrack while in the womb.
She was first introduced to dirt track go-kart racing at the age of ten. Then, after securing numerous go-kart victories, Amber purchased her own lightning sprint at age sixteen.
Equipped with her lightning sprint, Amber was often the youngest– and only female– driver on the track. But that did not stop her from winning the Manitoba dirt track racing championship– and becoming the first female ever to do so.
Since then, Amber has made history. In 2014, she was crowned Rookie of the Year. Then, in 2016, she became the first female from Canada to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race in the United States.
And now, at twenty-nine years old, Amber is a part of the new Busch Light Accelerate Her Program via NASCAR.
This program is a three-year commitment in which every female NASCAR driver over the age of twenty-one receives direct investments in order to tear down the resource inequities female racecar drivers face.
TikTok; pictured above is Amber
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