14-year-old dirt track racer gets a chance to compete in her biggest race yet

AZTEC, N.M. — Sport compact racing is taking off in the Four Corners. It’s one of the newest divisions in dirt track racing, where a car like a Pontiac Sunfire is souped up to go 25 laps on a dirt track.

One of the biggest stars on the Aztec Speedway track happens to be in ninth grade.

“I am very competitive,” 14-year-old Mylee JoAnn said.

She is not the driver you would expect behind the wheels of an early 2000s Chevy Caviler.

“I have been racing maybe since the beginning of COVID, so sixth grade maybe,” Mylee said.

Mylee said she randomly stumbled across sport compact racing.

“This guy came to my dad’s work and he asked me if I wanted to join his youth class because he was staring a youth class, and my mom called me up and I said yes,” Mylee said.

With no one in Mylee’s family having any ties to racing, they decided to give it a go – but first, her dad needed to teach her how to drive.

“He made me do it a lot I had to go into like, first from neutral, to first I had to do it 20 times and I messed up so many times, so, he just kept on making me re-do it and re-do it,” Mylee said. “It was frustrating but I got the hang of it a couple days before I actually raced it.”

It wasn’t too long until Mylee started to win races against people twice her age.

“It was very exciting,” she said. “I was so excited to finally win because I have been trying but like, they had more experience than me and to beat someone with so much experience, it was pretty fun.”

In the last 2 years, Mylee said she’s won about 16 races out of 40. Her biggest race yet will be the IMCA Super Nationals in Iowa next month.

“It’s going to be crazy there is going to be hundreds of cars for this one – so many cars I am excited,” Mylee said. “The best of the best make it into the IMCA and so, if I make it, I don’t know, it’s going to be pretty cool if I make it.”

Mylee is hoping her lucky number 7 will get her to first place.