Sasha Wybrow was tired of racing being a “boys club.”
The motorsports club at IUPUI had at least 100 members — most of them male students. The club’s sheer size and masculine energy meant that female students rarely got their hands on the go-karts, let alone drove them.
“When you are the minority in a group environment,” Wybrow said, “it’s not always the most conducive to your potential.”
That’s why Wybrow, a 21-year-old junior at IUPUI, decided to take things into her own hands last October and form an all-girls go-kart team. In just a few short months, the Women’s Go-Kart Team at IUPUI grew from an idea to a group of girls who’d built a go-kart from a pile of parts.
The “Adrenaline Angels,” as the team is known in competition, were undoubtedly the underdogs heading into qualifications for the Purdue Grand Prix, an annual 160-lap race that brings together dozens of teams for the “greatest spectacle in college racing.”
Dozens of Purdue groups, from motorsports clubs to fraternities, compete each year. Many of the teams have years of institutional knowledge and sponsorships from local companies. And while the club had set a goal of competing in the main event, they didn’t ultimately qualify.
But the need for a women’s racing club goes far beyond just competition days. Many of the team members are studying motorsports engineering and are itching to work in racing after graduating. The skills from building a go-kart are easily transferable into working for major motorsports companies.
With hands-on experience, club leaders hope that women will realize that motorsports is a viable path.
“You can do this,” Wybrow said. “It’s not just guys messing around with cars. This is an actual career.”
Rearing up for women in motorsports
Team president Sasha Wybrow tightens a hose clamp. Credit: Alayna Wilkening for Mirror Indy 
Adviser Steven Gaw discusses the mechanics of the go-kart. Credit: Alayna Wilkening for Mirror Indy 
Seen inside the shop at Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. Credit: Alayna Wilkening for Mirror Indy
Lily King’s been working on cars since she was in ninth grade, when she and her dad restored a Porsche 944 together. That turned into a regular side gig: she’d buy a beat-up vehicle, fix it up and sell it.
“It’s very nice to take something that is completely forgotten, destroyed, abused, and then bring it back to what it is,” she said. “But not only that, then give it to someone who will then cherish it for years and years to come.”
King, 19, is now a sophomore at IUPUI studying motorsports engineering — she aspires to design race cars after graduation. These days, though, she spends more time working on the women’s team’s go-kart than restoring old vehicles.
“I’m friends with 90% guys at this school,” King said. “It’s really nice to have a group of girls that I go and hang out with.”
Having a space for women to explore this passion is important because the gender gap in motorsports extends far beyond the campus boundaries of IUPUI.
A report from More than Equal, an initiative to get more women into motorsports, said that female participation in racing is at just 10%, a figure the report called “depressingly low.”
The club’s efforts are making a dent, even if it’s on a small scale. In the months since the club started, girls have gone from standing off to the side to making suggestions and taking initiative.
“We’re trying to get girls out of their comfort zones,” said Leela Edwards, the club’s vice president. “Some of them are shy, and they haven’t done this before. So it’s a good way to get them out of their comfort zone and push them to take that extra step — because we’re in the same place.”
Ava Viola, 19, grew up at the race track in her Connecticut hometown. When she came to IUPUI to study motorsports engineering, she joined the main racing club, but found that she rarely had a chance to actually work on a car.
So when Wybrow founded the women’s team, Viola jumped at the chance to join. Since getting involved, she’s had the opportunity to learn new skills — everything from working on the kart’s brakes to the dull but important task of plugging holes with safety wire.
But the group’s also given Viola a chance to connect with other girls who share her passion for racing.
“It’s nice to know that there’s like more girls in this industry than I realized,” said Viola, who’s studying motorsports engineering. “In my classes and stuff, there’s maybe four girls, so that’s all I see.
“It’s really nice to see other girls who have my passion, who I wouldn’t see in my day-to-day classes.”
Race day and beyond
In any sport, the competition is when adrenaline peaks.
But the real work is the months of painstaking building, engineering and training put in ahead of the big day.
The IUPUI women’s team was an underdog from the start. Fully donation-based, the group spent much of the fall raising money to buy materials. At the beginning of the year, they finally purchased a car base frame, or chassis, for cheap from an acquaintance in Wisconsin.
Months of work, which included everything from welding to installing tires, transformed the kart from a pile of parts into a functioning vehicle.
“Putting stuff together and watching it work, it’s just satisfying to see,” said Christine Kouch, 23. “You’re like, ‘Wow I actually did that!’”
But there were real challenges along the way. Building a kart in several months, when most teams have a full year, was tense and stressful.
“There were times that we didn’t think we were going to make it, even,” Wybrow said. “It’s exciting that we made it this far.”
Though Wybrow said that the squad was disappointed they didn’t qualify for the main event, the Adrenaline Angels still will compete Saturday, April 20 in several sprint races — 15 laps, as opposed to 160.
They’re trying to view this year’s race as a learning experience. Nearly all the team members will return to compete in the Grand Prix next year, so they’ll get another chance.
But maybe most importantly, the group did what they set out to do: Give women an encouraging, supportive space to learn about racing and build relationships.
“That in and of itself,” Wybrow said, “was worth all the effort and the time of just seeing these girls work together so well and make friends out of this whole thing.”
Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus.
Contact higher ed reporter Claire Rafford at claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org or on social media @clairerafford.
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