“When The Helmet Goes On, Nothing Else Matters”: Sally Mott’s Racing Mindset

📸 Photo credit © Brian Fisher

After being introduced to motorsports by her father when she was eight, Sally Mott started competing when she was 15 years old. Her goal is to become the first female winner of a NASCAR race. Currently, she races in the NASCAR Late Model Series and achieved a P4 finish on her debut. Icons Performance recently caught up with her to discuss her journey, her racing, and her hopes for a more inclusive future.

Following Her Father’s Footsteps

Mott’s father, Robby Mott, is an experienced driver holding national titles in various karting series. Consequently, she grew up around motorsport and remembers early memories of watching Lewis Hamilton win Formula 1 races. “I’d walk into the living room, and he was always watching Formula 1. I kept on hearing ‘Hamilton this, Hamilton that’, and I’m like ‘hmm, that’s an interesting name, who’s this Hamilton guy?’ So I’d sit on the couch and watch with him, and I was kind of intrigued.” 

From there, her interest in the sport started to grow, and when she was eight years old, her father took her to a local go-kart track to have a go. “He would never let me practice the wrong lines, so that, just in case I wanted to go racing, I had the right foundation.” Eventually, she headed to K1 Speed to participate in public karting events. However, when it came to racing, Mott hesitated. She explained that she felt scared to race against the boys and consequently stopped racing. 

It wasn’t until she was 15 that she decided to take her father’s opportunity to go racing. Whilst her first race didn’t go to plan, being taken out in the first corner, Mott got the racing bug. She has been racing ever since. Looking back at her father’s influence on her journey to where she is, Mott explained that “he has shaped and poured everything he knows into me. I don’t think I would have progressed as fast as I have if it wasn’t for him. It just makes me very grateful”.

Becoming A Role Model

Being a female racer, Mott is no stranger to the stereotype that women can’t drive. But instead of focusing on the negative, she is striving to change that narrative. As we discussed how she deals with the pressure, Mott shared that her ‘thing’ is to “not focus on being a girl or being different”, choosing to focus on the car and the race instead. She has come to live by the saying: “When the helmet goes on, nothing else matters.” 

Mott shared with us the battle that female drivers experience, explaining how “even if you win, you have to win over and over or else it is considered a fluke.” She continued to share that women have to consistently deliver good race results to be taken seriously, but this doesn’t hold her back. For her, this simply provides her with motivation to reach for more.

After winning the Women’s Initiative Scholarship, she joined the Mazda MX5 Cup. Amazon Prime created a docuseries—First To The Finish—that focused on women in racing. As a rookie driver, Mott was chosen to be one of the main characters. She recalled the moment when she found out, sharing that she experienced imposter syndrome at first. Mott was told “do the best you can because millions of people are going to see this, and little girls will look up to you”.

Consequently, the driver decided to handle things in a level-headed way. In order to stand out on track, and to inspire the next generation, she decided her car would be pink. “As a little girl, what would be your favourite car? It’d probably be the pink car, right?”  

Lyn St. James was an early inspiration for her and instilled in her that she is there “to win, to inspire others and to break boundaries”. As a result, that is what Mott is striving to do. Now, young girls tell her that she has their favourite car and talk to her about racing. She is hoping to continue to get that spark going to help get more females into racing. 

Creating a More Inclusive Grid

One of the specific barriers to making motorsports more inclusive comes in the parts of the car. Mott explained how the seats specifically are “not designed to fit women”. Whilst women have suits designed for them they have to adapt to the machinery. Because of this, Mott would like to see more aspects of motorsports be catered towards women. Even down to the non-racing side, she wishes there was a way to help women with issues faced when they have their period, so that their focus can solely be on racing. 

Motorsports is becoming more inclusive, with series such as the F1 Academy giving female drivers a platform to show their talent. Mott believes that these programmes are “bringing more exposure and more light to female drivers”. Sharing that it’s giving them a launching pad to level up through racing, these programmes are helping to progress the inclusivity within the industry. However, in an ideal world, she would love to see a time when there is a 50/50 split of male and female drivers on a grid. 

With a long-term goal of opening her own racing school to help young girls get into racing, Mott is determined to create a more inclusive future. She believes that “if you have a goal, a dream, and determination, anything is possible.” Believing that everything happens for a reason, for her, it comes down to staying dedicated and putting in the work. And that mindset forms the basis for her main piece of advice. 

Living and breathing racing, Sally Mott is determined to break barriers and build inclusivity in the industry that she loves. From growing up watching her father race to now doing it herself, she is proving that women can be competitive drivers. “Just because it’s predominantly males in motorsports right now, doesn’t mean you can’t go out there and kick all their a***s.”