Sierra Lister Mixes Late Model Stocks And Sprint Cars

[PressRoom-GFN]

WEST EDMESTON, N.Y. - Sierra Lister may be a beginner in Late Model Stock Car racing, but she has a long resume of success in other motorsports.

For 2008, the 15 year old has moved from Mini-Sprint cars to attack the male-dominated Late Model Stock and Sprint Car racing. After a couple of practice sessions in the Late Model at Adirondak International Speedway in Lowville, N.Y., she is “learning quickly, trying to find the best line and setup that works” for her. Adirondak is a half-mile track with “no straightaways. Turns one and two are one big sweeping turn that you can keep your foot buried in the throttle for, then there is a tiny stretch that they have deemed a straightaway, but I'm not buying it,” Lister said. She admits that in turn four, she had spun enough to be embarrassed, but “I am learning quickly, trying to find the best line and setup that works for me.”

With her years of experience, Lister has a good feel for what her car is doing mechanically, as well as on the track. On one recent Saturday night, she had run about 20 laps during the day when she felt something odd.

“My gas pedal didn't have enough pressure. The motor was making an unnatural noise, so I pulled it in…. We took off the valve covers and intake and were shocked at the damage,” Lister said.

After engine work by Joe Denny in Buffalo, “everything is OK now.”

Lister is looking forward to the pressures of driving two different kinds of cars.

“I have always surrounded myself with chaos,” she said with a laugh. “Somehow, I find a type of solace in the midst of insanity and stress, so racing in two competitive divisions of racing is just my style.”

Asked about the difference between the two cars, she replied, “Everyone says that dirt racers are the best asphalt racers, because they don’t panic when the car starts to get loose. The cars couldn’t be more opposite, and even though this has proved to be my biggest challenge, I always do love a challenge.”

Lister admits she has been inspired by other women in racing, but that “in order to be a new product, you need to be your own person.”

“Even if what they did worked, you have to create your own life,” she continued. “Women receive double the recognition for an accomplishment as a man in the same division with a more impressive resume. With any luck, occasional stubbornness, and my pure love for this sport, I refuse to cave into this mentality and will become an accomplished role-model not simply because I am a girl who does exactly what she is told, but because I have a voice and can connect to fans by behaving like a real person on and off camera.”

Lister has the talent and attitude needed to succeed already. Now she is gaining the experience to go with that talent.

“I will become experienced enough to dominate a certain area and prove that I cannot only exist, but succeed in such a male-dominated sport,” she vowed.

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