Amber Balcaen, the Only Canadian Woman to Win a NASCAR Race in America, on the Difficulty of Racing

Racing in NASCAR is definitely not easy. One needs to travel continuously, stay away from their family, put their life on the line, and drive for several hours straight under terrible pressure, only to realize that there can be just one winner. However, it’s even harder for a woman to do all of that just because of how physically challenging it is. Or at least, that is what Amber Balcaen, the only Canadian woman to win a NASCAR race in America, told in an interview with Breakfast Television.

In 2016, the Canadian trailblazer made history by winning a race in NASCAR’s Whelen All-American Series, which is now known as the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. The interviewer was extremely impressed at how Balcaen made a name in a male-dominated sport like NASCAR and couldn’t help but ask how she managed to do it.

Balcaen revealed that the biggest challenge for her was to find a sponsorship. “To be in this sport moving down to the US and it’s really taken a lot of mental toughness and grit and fortitude,” she explained. “Those are skills that you have to build and it requires a lot of discipline. So I had to work really hard and become really disciplined.”

What are Amber Balcaen’s plans for 2024?

Racing full-time for Venturini Motorsports in the NASCAR ARCA Menards Series, Balcaen is an adept dirt racer and also the first in her family to have switched to asphalt. However, there are not a lot of female asphalt stock car drivers in Winnipeg, Canada. That’s why her mother, Kim Balcaen, could never race even though she had always wanted to do so. Instead, she did everything she could do as a mother so that her daughter could cherish the fruits of her unfulfilled dream.

A woman with no plan B, Balcaen is now all set to chase the 2024 ARCA Menards Series championship. “It just goes back to the fact that I couldn’t see myself doing anything else in life,” she exclaimed. “I just wanted to race cars. It’s what brings me so much happiness, and disappointment. Nothing fills me emotionally like racing does. I’m addicted to it.”

Indeed, the love that she has for racing is unflinching, and that is evident from the way she bounced back from a life-threatening midget car accident at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Missouri, and just a couple of months later, she returned to the driver’s seat.