I learned a lot about myself over the course of this project. I definitely have gained more confidence in doing work by myself. I learned that if you struggle it is ok and that struggles make you stronger. During this project I have grown so much as a person. I wouldn't be the person I am today without doing this project. It pulled me out of a bad part of my life in 2020 where my life was upside down and didn’t know what was next. I had to restart and racing was the way to go. This project came at the right time. Thunder Road is more than just cars going around in circles, it's a community. It’s about the people you meet along the way and I am happy to call them friends. Without them I would not have changed into the person I am today.

The role I do in the pit crew is car chief which is pretty much I do everything.I keep the driver from throwing stuff (sometimes) and giving up. I also run our racing Facebook page where you can get week to week info. The big high point in the project is when we got victory lane 5 times last season and us getting into victory lane twice in one night was a big accomplishment for us. It definitely gave us confidence in the season and even this coming season. There were a lot of high points but the victory lane is the highlight of this project. It shows that our team is growing.The low points of this project was I am so small of a person that it's hard for me to pick up tires and put them on the car and to put them on the tire rack at the end of the night. As the season went on, I was able to pick the tire up but I still needed help. I was able to do it as the season went on because I practiced picking the tire up which helped me get stronger. My favorite tool to use is the air pressure gauge because it's one of the easiest tools to use. It's cool to see what the tire does with just air. The tires will grow a lot or just a little from going out on the track and doing laps.This coming season (2022) I am going to pick up the tires and not need any help I hope.

The relationship between Mentor and I is really good even from the beginning, but it has grown even stronger. I am so thankful for my Mentor. We worked hard together and it paid off 5 times this past year. In school Heidi helped so much with the research paper and all the in school things, and said that I am the worst self-critic you could meet. haha! I even got her to come up to Thunder Road with her kids to the car show. I don't know what I would have done without either of them. My project wouldn’t be as good, that for sure. In the beginning of researching for my paper I wanted to write about safety in racing. It is something people don’t talk about and it should be addressed more than it is. But it got turned down because they didn’t think that I could get enough to explain in 7-12 pages. So teachers decided to have me write about women in motorsports. They wanted me to do professional female drivers around the county but I decided to do it on local female drivers from Vermont. My paper was really good, I thought, until I got my paper back and I was disappointed with the grade. I worked my butt off to get females that race or have raced at Thunder Road a spotlight, which they deserve. I learned a lot about their careers in racing and that it is not easy to be a female in a male dominated sport. All the women before me opened the door for me, so I hope and want to open the door for other women to get out of their comfort zone and it does not have to be racing. I enjoyed it even though it was a struggle with writing and research. I learned a lot about their careers which was mind changing. That is what I am going to take away from writing this paper.

If I was to restart this project, which I would not, I would have written less journals because I didn’t know how many I needed so I just wrote and wrote. I will say it is a good thing because I have more to read back on what happened in some of the races. I could have also added pictures and maybe videos, but you get so busy you run out of time.I would add the race car to my display but the community night thing is on a race weekend but oh well it's still a great project and I am happy that I went in the direction I did. It is who I am.