From drinking pickle juice as a pre-race day routine to passing drivers in the intersection, Mackenzie Deitz was crowned Evergreen Speedway’s first female Figure 8 champion in the BECU Super Stock Figure 8 Division in September.

Born and raised in Washington and having lived in Monroe for the past five years, Deitz eats, breathes and sleeps racing. From the time she was one week old attending races at Evergreen Speedway, the only NASCAR-sanctioned track in Washington state, she’s followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, Vern Deitz, who won three Figure 8 championships (1982, 1984, 1985) and three Figure 8 Nationals titles (1984, 1990, 1994). Deitz’s crew partner and husband, Jake Repin, is also a two-time Figure 8 champion (2010, 2012). And though Deitz didn’t begin racing competitively until she was 26 years old in 2017, she’s already driven through barriers on the track.

In this interview, Deitz discussed her racing journey, everything from driving go-karts on her grandparent’s track and moving into the Figure 8 class to inspiring the next generation of drivers and leaving critics and their stereotypes about women in motor sports in the dust.

Photos courtesy of Evergreen Speedway and Mackenzie Deitz

SCSC: What’s your first memory of the track?

Deitz: I would say going there for the big races, watching Figure 8. Watching my grandpa race back in the day was one of the best things, kind of what really got me hooked with the racetrack. (Also), being there with my family and getting to meet all these wonderful and awesome people who turn into family. I don’t have a specific moment, but I know that the 60 Minutes of Fear, the big races, those are the ones that I remember the most.

SCSC: Through your elementary and middle school years, how were you a part of racing more than observing? When did you get behind the wheel of a go-kart or something similar?

Deitz: My grandparents used to own a go-kart track across the street from the (Evergreen State) Fairgrounds. Back in the day, it was called Fast Tracks, and so we would always go over there, people would come over after the races, the day before the races or throughout the week, and we would run go-karts. That was fun. It was like a normal go-kart track, so it wasn’t racing competitively, although I’ve always been competitive my whole life. But I would say that that’s really when I got into it with my family and jumping in a go-kart, which I hadn’t previously done.

SCSC: When you first sat in the driver’s seat, do you recall what that feeling was having watched it but now it’s your first time doing it?

Deitz: I will never forget. I was terrified. I was terrified because I had never raced anything before. Usually when you grow up from a racing family, you start at a really young age. Well, I started later in life, and I had never raced anything before, really, go-karts. But I had never raced a car, and so just jumping in there, I would be sitting, waiting to come out of the pits, and my legs would be shaking just in anticipation and my nerves. And I didn’t want to let my family down. I didn’t want to wreck anybody else. I wanted to do well, and that still holds true today. But, I remember the first time going out, I was extremely nervous. I was worried about wrecking the car. My legs were shaking just sitting there before going out to take the green. And as soon as you do get out there and the green flag drops, it all just kind of goes away.

SCSC: You became Evergreen Speedway’s first female Figure 8 champion. You’ve recorded four, top-five finishes since 2021 and were runner-up in 2022. But to finally win it, what was that feeling when you crossed the finish line?

Deitz: It was absolutely incredible. I always joke that I’ve always been a bridesmaid and never a bride. I’ve finished second and third a few times but never got that No. 1 spot. And we set up and had a position last year where we could have won it. We came out of the gate pretty strong. We won the first two races and then had a total of five wins last year. But unfortunately, we also had a few DNFs that took us out of the running. So we did finish third last year, but this year we really focused on getting to finish every race and doing the best that we can. And when I found out that we won the championship and we just needed to finish that night, it was absolutely incredible. I started crying because it was such an emotional moment. We have worked so hard, my family and my crew and I and our sponsors to get there, and to be able to finally clench that title, it was so meaningful and an absolute experience.

SCSC: In your post-race interview, you said “becoming the first female Figure 8 champions wasn’t just about crossing the finish line, but it was more about breaking barriers and paving the way for the continued growth in the competition.” If you asked someone to name a female NASCAR driver, people probably wouldn’t know of any, maybe only a few. Motor sports don’t have large numbers of female drivers. Why do you think that is?

Deitz: I don’t know why. It is difficult trying to be a female in a man’s world. When I first started, my grandpa sat me down and said, ‘You’re going to be racing, but here’s some things that you need to know. You’re going to have some challenges. There’s going to be people that might pick on you. There’s going to be people that think you can’t race because you are a girl, or you don’t have the ability.’

And I don’t know why more women don’t get into it. We’re extremely lucky here at Evergreen Speedway. We have a very large (number of) female competit(ors) within a lot of different classes. There’s myself, you have Haylie Wilkinson who runs in another class, … you have (Haley) Constance, Jessica Wilkinson. There’s so many other females that are running at Evergreen and even in our youth class. There’s more females in our youth class than there are males this year, which is pretty incredible. And so being able to watch the growth and see more people get involved and say, ‘OK. I can do this. Yeah, it’s hard, and I’m going to have to learn a lot. And it’s going to be different than (traditional) sports or something like that.’ But it’s so amazing to see that more people are getting into it. I think maybe people have the stigma, ‘Racing is a guy’s thing. Girls don’t do that.’ I think differently. Girls can do anything that a man can do and learn it. We might not pick it up right away, or we might need to learn the automotive side of stuff. But we have the same abilities just like everybody else, and that’s something that I’ve really tried to speak to the younger generation about. If you want to do it, you can do it.

In the youth class that I talked to, we had one of the girls who got into an accident earlier this year for her first race moving up to the youth class. And watching her grow from that and showing and telling her, ‘You have this. You can continue to grow and learn. This is just part of it. You’re going to hit something at some point, might as well get it out now.’ And it’s been absolutely incredible to watch Evergreen encourage young females and the women in every class that’s out there.

SCSC: What stereotypes have you heard within the racing community or things that have been directly told to you?

Deitz: I’ve had people make fun of me because I would come to the track with lipstick on or wear makeup. But that’s who I am as a person. I still enjoy racing, and I can do that with lipstick. That doesn’t make a difference of my skills or not. I’ve had people say that because I’m a female, I’m not as aggressive, and I’m not going to learn it. My grandpa always said, ‘You either have it, you don’t or you’re just never going to get it.’ And I think that for me, there’s been a lot of noise, and that’s what I call it. People can say what they want. I’m a female. I’m going to be me. I’m going to live my life, and I’m going to go out there and still do the best that I can every day. So, it doesn’t matter if I have lipstick or curls in my hair.

SCSC: Evergreen Speedway is the only NASCAR-sanctioned track in Washington state. How has it changed as you’ve raced on it? How has Monroe changed as a racing community over the years?

Deitz: The biggest thing is seeing the track specifically, seeing a lot more youth involvement and a lot more female involvement in all classes. The Youth Hornet class is such an incredible class that Evergreen Speedway came up with where there’s a WQMA Quarter Midget track across the street. … And Evergreen has really created an incredible program for kids and competitors to move up and start out from I think (ages) 12 to 16 or 12 to 15 in the youth class. And so that’s something that I have absolutely loved watching. … And watching these young kids jump into their first car at 12 years old, learn how to drive a stick the day before their first race, and now they’re out there running different classes, being competitive. My cousin was part of that youth class, and now he’s in an Outlaw, winning races and doing some incredible stuff.

SCSC: Anything else you want to add about racing at Evergreen Speedway and becoming the first female Figure 8 champion? You also said your daughter is racing.

Deitz: It’s finally hit me that that we’re the first female Figure 8 champion, and it’s been so special because the first year I raced, I sat down in my garage with my grandpa and I said, ‘I want to be the first female Figure 8 champion.’ And he was the inaugural winner of the Figure 8 Nationals at Evergreen Speedway. And we became the first female Figure 8 champion of the Nationals, (which was another first for us). … It’s been so surreal. It’s been incredible. There’s like nine of us among my family that race out there. … When I was out there watching my grandpa, you never would have imagined that 25, 30 years later that it would amount to this and create a legacy of his entire family, coming together and meeting on a track. It’s been pretty special, and I’m super proud of that.

Visit https://snocosports.org/athlete-spotlight-mackenzie-deitz/ for the article and gallery.