Spurlock, the first Black woman to compete at the NASCAR regional level, followed that up with a 12th-place finish at Rockingham.<\/p>\n
Prior to the Rockingham race, Spurlock talked to me about her path and ambitions and about her name, which is pronounced “Destiny.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dystany Spurlock says she loves the adrenaline rush of racing. <\/p>\n
FOX Sports: Who is Dystany?<\/p>\n
Spurlock:\u00a0I am a motorsports racer. And I say motorsports because I not only race motorcycles in NHRA pro stock, but I also debuted in NASCAR ARCA Menard\u2019s Series this year.<\/p>\n
How would your friends and family describe you?<\/p>\n
They would describe Dystany as a big ball of energy, super adventurous. Someone who loves to do anything fun, with a little danger at the end.<\/p>\n
Even in your 30s, do you have the same energy as you did in your 20s?<\/p>\n
Absolutely. Same person. If you go back and look at my videos, I haven’t changed a bit.<\/p>\n
I heard you played high school football?<\/p>\n
Yes, I played football in middle school and high school. I played corner and safety. And, no, I was not the kicker.<\/p>\n
And why were you playing corner and safety?<\/p>\n
Because I was super fast. And I love a challenge. So I didn’t want to just catch the ball. I wanted to play both sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Were you accepted? Were people like, “I’m going to be able to run right by her and she’s not going to be able to catch me?” What was it like?<\/p>\n
It\u00a0was difficult because you had the coaches that didn’t want me to play, but they couldn’t deny me because I was fast. And then you had the guys on the team that didn’t want to get hit by a girl. But at the end of the day, they accepted me.<\/p>\n
If you can hit the opposing team or knock down a pass better than the others, they were going to want you to play, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Absolutely. And it was funny, because they [the opponents] didn’t know who I was because because I had short hair. So they will be looking through the helmets trying to find me until I said something, then they knew who I was.<\/p>\n
Did you talk smack?<\/p>\n
I never talked smack. But if I did hit them and knock them down, I’d look at them say, “You got hit by a girl.”<\/p>\n
And how did you get to drag racing?<\/p>\n
I got into drag racing because of my godfather. At 12 years old, I went to the track, and that’s when I found out about drag racing. I told my mom, “I want to race.” So at 16, she got me my first bike, and I started racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dystany Spurlock \u2014 driver of the No. 66 Foxxtecca Chevrolet \u2014 took the track at Rockingham ARCA Menards East 125. <\/p>\n
Which track?<\/p>\n
My first track was Virginia Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n
And what is it about drag racing that you like?<\/p>\n
The speed. I love that adrenaline rush. But I’ve been doing it so long now, everything feels so slow. But I still love it.<\/p>\n
And did you ever want to get into like a pro stock or Top Fuel or funny car?<\/p>\n
Sign me up for Top Fuel. I would definitely do it.<\/p>\n
Why stock cars? And why now?<\/p>\n
Stock cars because I grew up two miles from the Richmond International Raceway. My poppy is the one who got me into it at about a young age, around [age] five. So I always knew I wanted to get into it. It was a part of me from birth. And I just didn’t know how to. But now we’re here. I’m forever grateful, and we’re going to continue to rock it out and do so well.<\/p>\n
What was the most eye-opening experience about Hickory?<\/p>\n
Hickory was challenging. You really had to drive that track. There was no time where you could slack, because if you did, your day was over. So I would just say how tricky the track was, learning each turn, each corner. But I did amazing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was no time to “slack” at Hickory, Spurlock admitted. <\/p>\n
So you get lapped once, you get the free pass. You get lapped again, and then they make some adjustments to the car and you were good. What was that like?<\/p>\n
Me being a lap down, that was never a thing to me because my goal was to learn as much as possible. But once I got the lucky dog and was able to get back on the lead lap, I tried to make sure I stayed there as much as possible. And in the first half of the race, my car was so loose. So once we came in, I let them know that they should tighten it up. And it was perfect. We were right on the money. But overall, I had a rocket. And I think if I had more experience, I probably would have finished top three. But I’ll take seventh for my first go out.<\/p>\n
So you played high school football, you do drag racing, you’re doing stock cars. What other things have you done that people would be like, “I didn’t know that she did that?”<\/p>\n
I was a flight attendant for Delta Airlines for about three years. I also drive tractor trailers, so I have my CDL. And, no, I don’t drive automatic trucks; they were definitely 15-speeds, 18-speeds. I snowboard, I ride horses, I raced Formula 4 for a little bit for Skip Barber. I do so much, but that\u2019s the gist of it.<\/p>\n
Have you ever gone faster in a tractor trailer than you have in a stock car? Can you say?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to say, “No.”<\/p>\n
Of all those, where do you feel people accept you the most? Was there anything that you were like, “Oh, I don’t know about this?”<\/p>\n
Being a flight attendant. That’s easy. But everything else, it’s pretty much male-dominated. So they look at me, they’re like, “You’re this small little girl. It’s no way you can do this.” And then when I do it, they’re like, “Oh, okay, well, you proved me wrong.”<\/p>\n
I’m on airplanes every week, so I have to ask about who’s the rudest \u2014 airplane passengers, boys you played football against or stock-car racers?<\/p>\n
Football players were the meanest ones for me. I guess because they’re so big and masculine, and they’re like, “You’re a girl, you cannot play football, we’re going to run you over.” So they gave me the hardest time.<\/p>\n
Anybody tell you that you can’t do drag racing or you can’t race stock cars?<\/p>\n
Of course. I’ve gotten that all the time, especially nowadays. I’ve heard people say she needs to just stick to drag racing. But the thing is, I’m sticking to what I love, and that’s motorsports. So I can do both, and I will continue to do both and learn as much as I can in both.<\/p>\n
You’re too old to be an ARCA East driver (where most of the drivers are younger)?<\/p>\n
I’ve heard that before, too. And that’s totally fine, because guess what? I’m out here. I’m running just as well as the ones that have been racing since they were 5 years old. So I’m the prime example of never giving up on your dreams, and you can do whatever you put your mind to.<\/p>\n
Is your family encouraging? Or are they like, “can we just do something a little more safe?”<\/p>\n
No, my family has always been very supportive, very encouraging of whatever it is that I wanted to do. My mom told me at 4, never be that kid that sat in the back of the classroom that said, “I wish I would have volunteered.” So since she told me that, I’ve gone out and tried everything that I thought I wanted to do, and having my family support and being right there with me was huge for me. And I think that’s why I’ve gotten so far to where I am today because of them.<\/p>\n
Do you feel like you were more of a trailblazer playing football or doing this?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s hard [to answer]. I don\u2019t know. Because at that time, there had not been many girls at all \u202616 years ago. And so I was unheard of there [in football]. And then here, you haven’t seen another woman of color in this space yet. So I would say for the times and where they happen, they’re about equal.<\/p>\n
How do you handle wanting to be looked at as a race-car driver, as opposed to a Black woman race-car driver?<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, you can look at me and tell that I am Black. But at the same time, there’s so many people that don’t think that women or people of color can do this. So for me to be that example and do it well, I’m very grateful. I’m so honored to be here to do this. And it also opens up other opportunities when they see me. So maybe they might not want to be a racer. Maybe they want to be on a pit crew, maybe they want to do something in tech within the space. So it just opens up their minds to things that they can do.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dystany Spurlock is looking forward to eventually having a career in NASCAR Cup. <\/p>\n
Why were you a flight attendant? Why were you driving tractor trailers? Is that just to make a living, or was there something about those things that like, “OK, this is fun and I can\u00a0make a living?”<\/p>\n
It was definitely fun because I cannot do something that does not make me happy. So I love what they were. And then the amount of money that I made from them allowed me to be able to support myself in my racing career as well.<\/p>\n
So there was always a plan. And what would be the goal two years from now, three years from now, four years from now? Or do you not look that far ahead?<\/p>\n
I absolutely look that far. And my goal would be to be in Cup. Hopefully in Year 3, but again, there’s no rush on it because I want to continue to learn as much as possible. But I think we can make it happen.<\/p>\n
Did you have any role models? Who do you look up to when you talk about never giving up on your dreams?<\/p>\n
My role model is my mom. She’s truly my best friend. I’ve been stuck to her hip since birth. So my mom is my biggest cheerleader. And she has always believed in me. So with that being said, I continue to go after what it is that I want, and I want to give her the world at the end.<\/p>\n
Did you ever ask her if you’re going to call me \u2018Destiny\u2019 to at least spell it the way most people do, or do you like the fact that it’s spelled a little different?<\/p>\n
I love that my name is different. The two Ys is everything for me. Because it’s really my personality. I’m different, just like my name.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dystany Spurlock lives to go fast. Spurlock is a 34-year-old driver who has competed in motorcycle drag racing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[7060,49,48,634,8354,82],"class_list":["post-605317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-arca-racing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}