Ashley Kalita
Ashley Kalita’s family immigrated from Poland in the 80s to New York City. Later on, when Robert Kubica became the first Polish driver to race in Formula One, she had someone to cheer for. Her love for racing grew into NASCAR, IMSA, and other series. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ashley started her Twitch streaming channel, hosting race watch-alongs and having discussions with other viewers about motorsports.
Instagram: @ashvandelay
TikTok: @ashvandelay
Twitch: AshVandelay
Q: What sparked your interest in content creation within motorsports?
A: It grew from me watching races and having people join the streams I hosted on Twitch. I was asked by those who watched if I could also cover NASCAR and other sports car racing. To also get people into the Twitch streams, I started making TikTok or educational videos. For me, it's educating and promoting women in motorsports, and I make those videos to hopefully bring people to the stream.
Q: Within your content, what is a “niche” you have (a series or a type of creation that is specific to you)?
A: I'm aiming towards deep dives. So, looking at race analysis and what they did and what they could have done better, what we'd expect, lap times, number of overtakes, who's good at defending, etc. Additionally, do fun deep dives about sponsors. Everyone sees several sponsors on a car, but who are they? How do they have enough money to sponsor Cup cars and NASCAR?
Ashley hosting a Twitch watch along at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for GT World America Challenge (Photo courtesy: Ashley Kalita).
At an IMSA race in Laguna Seca in 2024, Ashley waved the green flag for the race start (Photo courtesy: Ashley Kalita).
Q: What’s important to you about building your motorsports community? What values do you consider?
A: Staying curious is a big one, and making sure people feel comfortable enough to ask the ‘stupid questions’ that people are nervous to ask about. It is a personal preference that I don't like the sports creators who entice fights in their comment sections. You can like or not like comments made, but there's definitely a line that you're not allowed to cross in my community, and we're all respectful of that. At the end of the day, my community understands this is a sport and it's for entertainment.
Q: One thing you’d want to say to new women fans looking to join or learn about motorsports.
A: Research everything, because you'll find the little tidbits of history inside the sport. You'll find maybe a woman you realize who created a certain thing for the racing world that we live in now. It's all these fun and factual historical things that, by going down the rabbit hole, is a lot of fun. I think there's a place in a sport for everyone, you just have to start asking questions.
Browse Ashley's Content!