California Gearheads Look to Build First-Ever All-Female High School Racing Team

Athena Racing is an organization designed specifically as a steppingstone for young women looking to get involved in motorsport. With the new racing team, the organization hopes it’ll further inspire and encourage more females to pursue careers and leadership roles in STEM-based fields (science, technology, engineering, and math), particularly in the male-dominated automotive industry.

Getting involved in any kind of motorsport is a costly venture and is often out of reach for those who don’t have their licenses (or a wealthy family) yet. That’s where Athena Racing seeks to break the mold, along with proving that cars, wrenching, and motorsport isn’t just “a guy thing.”

Athena Racing is accepting applications and will choose 10 young women who will be granted a full scholarship for its one-year program. There, they’ll learn many of the skills necessary to compete in races, from performance and track driving to engineering, mechanics, leadership, and beyond. The scholarship will include all costs of training, racing, and travel and will count as an extracurricular activity for high schools that accept the credit.

"We are excited to be offering this opportunity to ten young ladies. The possibilities that will now be offered to them will open doors that were once closed,” said Loxley Browne, Athena Racing’s executive director. “In these male-dominated careers, it is not easy to be the only woman in the room. We are working towards leveling the playing field and showing these young ladies that you can be a smart, beautiful woman who loves cars, racing, wrenching."

Those looking to apply can head to Athena Racing’s website, but hurry fast as the deadline is Sept. 30, 2019.