JESS Dane has opened up on her low-key marriage to Shane van Gisbergen.
Speaking in a NASCAR video following his fourth Cup Series win of the year, achieved last weekend at Watkins Glen, van Gisbergen spilled the beans by referring to “Jessica, my wife”.
Van Gisbergen and Dane are notoriously private people, so it’s no surprise they made no fuss about the big day.
Having been driver and team co-owner at Triple Eight respectively, they together moved from Australia to the United States in the 2023/24 off-season after van Gisbergen signed with Trackhouse Racing to begin racing full-time in NASCAR.
Dane, too, has advanced her career abroad, joining General Motors as its Motorsports Integration Manager before taking on the role of Corvette Racing program manager.
They now reside in North Carolina, where it actually remains technically illegal for a couple to live together unmarried.
“If we were still in Australia, we wouldn’t have got married,” Dane told V8 Sleuth.
“It wasn’t something either of us ever really wanted to do, but as foreigners in the US, it adds a layer of security in terms of immigration law and owning property.”
Shane van Gisbergen. Pic: Red Bull Content Pool
So, they arranged to be wed last month at Iredell County Detention Center, with friends Stephen Doran (SVG’s crew chief) and Sian Allison coming along as the required witnesses.
“It was a pretty funny situation, to be honest,” said Dane.
“We did everything very low-key. It was a case of finding a day that we were both in the same place at the same time, that we were able to have a day that we weren’t both in meetings or at racetracks and where we also had two witnesses available.
“It just happened to be a Thursday, and also it had to fit in with the time that the magistrate was available. The magistrate only does wedding between 11:30am and 3pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays!
“So fitting all of that together, it took a long time to find a day where we could actually do it. We found a random Thursday in July.
“It was hilarious. Because first you have to go to the deeds register and get your marriage licence, then we had to walk across the carpark to the court and pay for a marriage certificate at the court, and then from there you walk back through the metal detectors and walk over to the prison!
Jess Dane during her Supercars days. Pic: Supplied
“We stood there in the Iredell County Detention Center in Statesville, and we had a two-minute ceremony by a magistrate sitting behind bulletproof glass while there were inmates there to have their jumpsuits and handcuffs put on and be taken into jail.
“The magistrate told us that we looked like each other, which was quite disturbing; it’s not what you want to hear when you get married.
“But standing there in front of the magistrate and our two friends who were serving as witnesses, it was a very, very funny occasion.
“We went outside and had some photos afterwards, because you can’t miss the opportunity to have photos of your wedding day in front of the Country Detention sign, and just as we were having some of the photos, a prisoner in full handcuffs and leg shackles was led by a few police officers into the jail behind us.
“On this particular day I had been in meetings all morning, found a few hours to go and do it, all of this only took an hour or something, grabbed lunch with our friends who were our witnesses on the way home, and then I went back to work and did a presentation that evening for the Corvette Club of Charlotte.
“So, we celebrated in style! Not really.”
