It's Championship 4 week, which means Julie Giese is one busy woman. Despite that, she still found some time to chat with Davey (14:55) about Phoenix Raceway hosting their first "real" championship weekend. Hear why she calls it "nervous energy," how the city of Phoenix has embraced the race track/event and how preparations for the title race weekend differ from their spring date.
Giese didn't have being a track president on her radar five years ago, moreover growing up a race fan on a dairy farm. After deciding that the agricultural route wasn't for her in college, she opted to pursue her passion of racing. But not before getting rejected...a lot. She still has those rejection letters and explains why she keeps them, how she got her first job in the sport and worked her way up from the bottom.
From Watkins Glen to Daytona to ISC and now Phoenix, Giese has done it all, gotten her hands dirty and learned along the way. She describes what life was like starting in the sport at a tumultuous time, heading up multiple multi-million track renovation projects, how Phoenix's track president opportunity came about, being a role model to other females in her position, her unique relationship with Derek Kraus' family and more, including the importance of West Coast racing to the fabric of motorsports and that one time she and Davey were stuck in a hauler during a Tucson Speedway rain delay.
Davey recaps a wild weekend at Martinsville, previews the Championship 4 for all three national series and Papa Segal pays homage to an eclectic racer from the Northeast.
