Thinking Her Racing Career Was Over, Sara Price Became Extreme E’s First Announced Female Driver

Motor racing is one of the few sports where women, although a select few, have been recognized for competing internationally since the early 1900s. In Europe, in 1918, when the first World War ended, there was an increase in opportunities for women to participate in the sport. The 1970s proved to be a milestone decade for women in motorsports around the world. As Michelle Mouton, president of the FIA Women and Motorsport Commission, started and advanced her career by winning multiple rally titles, American-born Lyn St. James entered the sport and later became one of five women to successfully qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Opportunities for women in motor racing has expanded into many different markets and competitions, including Formula 1, Formula E, the W Series, and the most recent Extreme E. 

Extreme E, the pioneering electric off-road motor racing series, FIA International Series status, makes it possible for female racers, such as Sara Price, to race and qualify alongside male counterparts. 

The new off-road racing series, founded by the same team behind Formula E, uses its sporting platform to promote electrification, sustainability and equality. The Series will highlight the impact of climate change on some of the world’s most fragile ecosystems, promote the adoption of electric vehicles to help preserve the environment and protect the planet and provide a world-first gender-equal motorsport platform. Each team must field a male and female driver. 

Price signed with Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) in June 2020, making her the first confirmed driver in the Series and the first female driver for CGR. As an Off-Road Truck Champion and X Games Medalist, she is a veteran on the course. “Being able to handle myself comes from being confident in knowing you belong,” she states. “Chip Ganassi didn’t hire me because I’m just some girl that loves racing. They hired me because I’m an accomplished racer. I’ve proven that I can hold my own. I have the adaptability to hop in anything and do what I need to do.”

Price started her career on dirt bikes. She quickly climbed the ranks placing first race after race. To this day, she holds the record as the winningest female racing amateur. At the age of 16, she turned professional and finished school on the road. She wound up graduating high school at one of her races. As a 19-time national champion, she became the first factory-supported female under Kawasaki in history. 

Soon after she signed with Kawasaki, women’s Motorcross began losing its notoriety. Television programs canceled segments. The X Games no longer hosted the Women’s Super X Games and sponsors pulled out. 

“I was 17-years-old,” Price comments. “So it’s kind of like this new vision. I grew up working towards this one goal. And it failed me in the end where I had to figure out something new.” 

With the support of her parents, Price started her automobile paint touch up business. She partners with used car dealerships to paint the cars on the lot. Around the same time, one of her friends called asking if she would help out as a stunt person for a Super Bowl commercial.

“I got introduced to one of the largest stunt coordinators, Sean Graham,” Price explains. “Once I saw that world, and then I got my first check from it, I had no idea you can make money doing that. … At a time where I thought motocross failed me, it didn’t fail me in the end because it made me the racer I am today in a car, and then it also made me the stunt woman I am.”

Having money from her business and the television and film stunt work, Price bought a Polaris 900, a sport side by side, and started racing again in a different racing series. “I’m a racer, no matter what,” she smiles. “As long as I’m racing, I’m happy. It’s part of my DNA. … I funded my own car and started racing. I started climbing the ranks and was funding my own program. I was working on my own car. I was learning the ropes of it. And then, a few years down the line, I’m racing trucks. It just kept escalating; I kept climbing and wanting more. I put my head down. I call it blinders and just focused on what I really wanted.”

She eventually received a call racing for Trophy Trucks and off-road racing. During the Baja 1000, a Mexican off-road motorsport race held each year on the Baja California Peninsula, it took Price 19 and a half hours in the truck to win the championship. That championship ultimately gained her recognition from CGR.

As Price pivoted throughout her career, she focused on the following essential steps:

• Love what you’re about to do. Life is too short to work towards something that doesn’t make you smile every morning.
• Don’t expect it to be easy. You have to do your research, put in the work, and sacrifice many other appealing opportunities to stay on track; to stay focused. 
• Set both long-term and short-term goals. Take small steps to accomplish the short-term goals. The more short-term goals you achieve puts you closer to making the long-term goal reality.

“When you are an athlete, you put 24/7 of your life into it,” Price concludes. “I purposely didn’t have a social life because I needed to be in bed early. I needed to wake up the next day to go train. That was my only goal. To be the top athlete in motocross, you have to be that way. So that’s all I knew. When I didn’t have racing anymore, it was a really big exploration of myself.”