It was a pleasant homecoming for Athabasca stock car racer Shania LaForce, with all sorts of children and adults alike crowding around her and her father's stockcar at the classic car show.
The 19-year-old made a special appearance during Athabasca's Canada Day celebrations, traveling from Fort McMurray to be back in her hometown.
"It's awesome. Athabasca will always be home to me. I lived here for 12 years and I kind of feel like a little small town hero right now,” said Shania.
Shania is now in her fourth year of stockcar racing with a promising future ahead of her. In 2012 she competed in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, finishing third overall in points and winning provincial rookie of the year.
“If she had the sponsorship we would probably do a full deal (go professional),” said her father and crew chief Dennis LaForce. “But it’s really hard because the cost of running this sport is expensive.”
Going professional isn’t the only thing that the father-daughter team want to get out of racing; in fact, they think it might not be such a great outcome in the end.
“We don’t want to race anymore if it ends up getting too political, because to us we love it, it’s our hobby,” Shania stated.
Shania is very fond of racing, which is no surprise with both her father and great-grandfather before her having been involved in the sport for most of their lives.
Shania is looking forward to the upcoming Canadian Tire Series on July 11. This will be the first time this year she will be racing on pavement, as she has only competed in dirt track events during this season.
She participated in the Canadian Tire Series last year, but only completed 134 laps of the race before running into the only other female driver, Erica Thiering.
"My brake caliper snapped off, I tried to press on the brakes and it just kept going right underneath the car, and it just so happened to be hers,” Shania laughed.
That little incident won’t discourage the Athabasca native, who only looks to improve herself with the upcoming event in Edmonton.
“I want to be able to push myself more, push myself past people, get more aggressive with my driving, and win some races.”
