Women's Motorsports Network Podcast & Let's Talk Racing LIVE
Women's Motorsports Network Podcast shares the stories of women involved in motorsports from around the world. The first episode was in 2018 and new episodes are added each week. Feel free to suggest potential guests to Melinda at melinda@wmnnation.com.
Let's Talk Racing LIVE airs on Wednesdays at 7pm EASTERN TIME on the Women's Motorsports Network-A Media Company Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/womensmotorsportsnetworkandpodcast
Melinda Russell
Women's Motorsports Network Podcast & Let's Talk Racing LIVE
Beyond the Sidelines: From NFL Wife to Self-Discovery
What happens when your entire identity becomes wrapped up in someone else's spotlight? Eileen Noyes knows this journey intimately. From college strength coach to NFL wife overnight, she experienced firsthand how quickly women can lose themselves in the shadows of their relationships.
Eileen's story takes us behind the curtain of professional sports families, revealing the intense pressures, identity crises, and impossible standards that come with being "the wife of" someone famous. With raw honesty, she shares how her 16-year marriage to an NFL player ended when he joined an organization promoting harmful beliefs about women, forcing her to completely rebuild her life while raising eight children in the public eye.
Now remarried and part of a blended family with a staggering 15 children between them, Eileen has found unexpected connections to the motorsports world through her husband's motorcycle touring company. This surprising link bridges her past experiences with her current life, demonstrating how our journeys often come full circle in unexpected ways.
The conversation goes far beyond sports, touching on universal struggles that resonate with women from all walks of life. How do we maintain our sense of self while supporting others? What happens when we've neglected our own dreams for so long we can barely remember them? And most importantly, how do we take those first small steps back toward ourselves?
Eileen's message is both challenging and liberating: "We put oxygen masks on others while neglecting ourselves." She encourages women to make "little shifts" – carving out even 15 minutes daily for something that brings personal fulfillment, whether it's learning an instrument, taking walks, or pursuing creative outlets.
Ready to move from the sidelines back to the driver's seat of your own life? This conversation offers practical wisdom, heartfelt encouragement, and permission to reclaim the parts of yourself you may have forgotten. Your value extends far beyond your relationships to others – and it's never too late to rediscover who you truly are.
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Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, the show that puts the spotlight on the incredible women who fuel the world of motorsports, from drivers to crew members, engineers to fans and everyone in between. We're here to celebrate the trailblazers, dreamers and doers shaping the sport we love. Each episode we share inspiring stories of females of all ages, from every corner of the motorsports universe past, present and future. It's a journey through the seasons of life filled with heartfelt moments, laughter and a whole lot of horsepower. So, whether you're a lifelong fan, a racer yourself or simply curious about the extraordinary women behind the wheel, settle in, relax and enjoy a fun and uplifting ride with us. This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, connecting and celebrating women in motorsports. One story at a time. Let's hit the track.
Speaker 1:Hello everyone, this is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, and my guest today is Eileen Noyes. And Eileen, I want to welcome you to the show. We've had a little bit of a back and forth trying to get connected and we're three hours apart in time, which doesn't help things, so I'm glad we finally were able to get together today and I want to share your story, not necessarily a motorsports story, but, I think, a story that will be inspiring and encouraging to other women and interesting as well, because I know you've had an interesting life so far. So I just want to welcome you to the show and will you start by just sharing a little bit about yourself, your family, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we'll just go with the present. So right now I am married to Michael Noyes Only four years, but between the two of us there are 15 kids total. So I have eight of mine, he has seven of his. His are a little bit older, so his youngest is 13. Oldest is gosh, I believe, 30. So he already has three grandkids. My youngest is seven, my oldest is 22. So, yeah, so, like I said, we've only been married for four years and, interestingly, it's so funny that you know the whole motorsports thing.
Speaker 2:This is the first podcast that I've been on that had any sort of connection to motorsports. But that is so him, he's all about it. He has. We moved out here from the Midwest so we're in California to start an adventure. It's called a mentor multi-venture touring company, and so what he does is he takes guys out on different motorcycles, dirt bikes, through different terrain. So it's like a four day tour where he starts in Johnson Valley, so desert he'll take him to. Now this last time he went to big bear, so he'll parts of the different trips big bear, mammoth, they end in san diego, um, so all different terrain, all things that I as a woman sorry, no offense, because this is like a motorsports thing. I like don't care about that stuff, but when men hear about this, their eyes like get wide open and they're all about it. So he has definitely found his niche and it's a bunch of businessmen that go out and they're basically they have the freedom to be little boys again, and so it's been awesome.
Speaker 2:So that is totally the connection to motorsports and so all I do is right on the back of his motorcycle when we get the time, but outside of that, yeah, that's, that's totally his world. So that's just a little bit about me. I mean, you know, I think the story that gets out which is why, you know, I thankfully have been able to do be an, I guess on a different podcast now after doing my own is I used to be part of the, the NFL world, married to a pro athlete for 16 years, and so with him we've that's how we have our eight kids, have our eight kids. We used to be a very outspoken Christian couple. Unfortunately, the only way to really kind of say it is an organization that believes in polygamy, that women aren't created in the image of God, that we're property. So, you know, definitely like big time detour from the covenant that we made before God.
Speaker 2:And so, long story short, after 16 years of marriage, we had to have an escape plan, hoping that he would come back around. He just never did. And so that was four years of me protecting the kids in the public eye, trying to, you know, just kind of live start over. You know, it took a while to even acknowledge gosh, I do have to start all over, and so so that was four years of singleness and then marriage. So it's about, I think, the eight, nine year mark since all this stuff, you know, went down. But my heart, my life is, you know, wife, mom. I love God and I just want to, yeah, I just want to do what I'm called to do inside and outside of the home. So, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Now when you say 15 kids and I don't care how old they are, they all have they're going to be kids forever in your eyes. I don't care if they're 30 or they're three, yes, yeah, and oh my gosh, I can't even imagine how you manage that. Now do the ones that are not older and out of the house? They all do, they all live with you.
Speaker 2:I have um six of our eight um in the home? Um. My oldest is only an hour away, so he's in San Diego. Um. My second is in Nebraska, so he plays football um at a? Um a Lutheran school there.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so yeah so he's my one that's out right now, but I have extra kid from Wisconsin, so my third oldest, he has his friend live with us, so it's always a full house. And yes, I, you know I used to say like well, people would say I don't know how you do it. And for me, especially when they were younger, you know they all just followed along and, it's for sure, hard work. But no doubt now, when they're all doing their different things, it is a whole different beast. And my days I'm already driving by six, 30, excuse me, six, 30 in the morning, trying to, trying to do as much as I can while they're at school so that I can be available for them after school. And my I'm home gosh.
Speaker 2:Last five days I was driving home 930 at night or later, and so it is super taxing. I mean I wouldn't have it any other way. Well, when they drive, this is great. So I've got one more. My fourth, number four is almost driving, but I mean I, I love it Like I'm. So I'm honored to be, to be mom, to be stepmom, to be mother in law, like all the different dynamics, is it's a journey and it's been, yeah, it's been a privilege.
Speaker 1:So now, when you blend, blend that many kids, kids because lots of personalities um, that can go well and it can go bad yeah, well, thankfully, so you know.
Speaker 2:So my, you know my husband has different dynamics with his kids. Some are he's closer to than others. So his oldest two and his youngest two are ones that, because of his relationship with them, those are the ones that we interact with and so, great relationship with, you know, the oldest two and they're a lot older and so when my kids see them, it's like I don't know, it's just, especially with the younger ones, they're always excited to see them and then they get to see their their oh, what's the relationship? Their nephews and nieces, yeah, um, so there's that. And then their youngest two, 13 and 16. They actually get along super well with my kids and they talk. So they're, they're in chicago, but they talk and text all the time with my other ones. So when they come because they're the ones the youngest who come down most often during like break, spring break, Christmas break, things like that and uh, it's one big happy family. And and when I say that, of course it's not always, it's like it's the irritations of siblings, so it's almost like they're real siblings, but it's like, yeah, it's, it's to hear actually, my, my, uh, my stepdaughter said this, so she's a 16 year old.
Speaker 2:She says you know what you know of all scenarios. She's like I would not. She goes. This is like the best case scenario is. She's like she goes you were. You were the only one that my dad you know looked at. That was like wife material. So funny to hear that. But then she said, yeah, like I love to come out here knowing that I'm not just seeing dad, that I get to spend time with you guys, and that to hear that from a six-year-old was just like wow, that's really cool yeah, and, and a stepdaughter, because sometimes stepdaughters don't always, you know, appreciate the new wife, or the new stepmother, and so the fact that she said that really had to mean a lot to you.
Speaker 1:Oh, completely.
Speaker 2:And I've heard the stories. I've, you know, I've heard the stories of how they would put water in the girls in their girls shoes, and different stories of how they did not like certain ones. And so, yeah, I don't know what it is, but I mean when, when we first started dating, Michael would say they like you.
Speaker 1:So that was that, that's definitely a good thing, definitely a good thing. Yeah, so when you you on your podcast and on your other podcast, on your podcast and on your other podcasts, what is your, what is your main goal of sharing your story? You know a lot of people are like, oh, that's kind of private, you know they wouldn't be able to share about. You know, being married and all the kids and everything. So tell me, you know, kind of, why you do this and what. What are you willing, what are you wanting us to learn from you that we can take away? Sure, well, gosh.
Speaker 2:I I know I mean one. I've always had a heart for women, seeing their value, and I've always had this like kind of coach mentality, started as a strength coach at a college, and so not only would I help them physically, but when I got closer to God, then that's, that was what I did. I just saw these women because I was like that in college who were looking at guys for validation and worth and all that, and so my heart went out to them because they're beautiful young women that were just I'm like guys. They're looking at you as objects and and also looking at the guys, as you know, like um. When I got closer to God, I started looking at them as as my kids before I even had kids and so my heart had changed for that. But when I came to that place of um the the biggest turmoil when I was going through my divorce and going through that I remember really praying and saying God, if I have to do this, like let it not be in vain, like get glory from this, like let this be for a purpose, and so, in a nutshell, I look at the unsideline life which is obviously just this correlation of sports. It has evolved for me to see not only am I talking to the pro athlete wives who, who are looked at as a stereotype of oh, these are all gold digging women who are just looking to kind of win the lottery. I, as a whole, as I'm looking at these women, the women I know, the women who I've, you know, lived life with so many, if not gosh 95, 97%, probably more than that all strong women who have already had things going, whether they're in, you know, school. They have their jobs, they we have all laid things down to be the support, to be the help, and so, through that, whether it's identity issues, it's putting things down, because of the moves and the pressure and the injuries and the trades and all that stuff, their lives, our lives, have been sidelined, and so that's where it stemmed from.
Speaker 2:But now, as things evolve, as I'm on year two of my podcast God has shown me so much of there's different things that sideline us. It could be that we're you know that we're thinking like gosh, my marriage isn't good, and so you know. So they're stuck on that. There's like blind spots because of different wounds. It could be your fitness. It could be, you know, it could be that you don't know that you're so far removed from the dreams that you had, that you're you know cause.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of looking at the forties and fifties. It's like, wait, can I do this? Should I be okay? Should I feel bad, thinking, hey, I want to do other things outside of just, you know, taking care of everybody else, because I think we struggle with that, and so so I'm seeing how many women just kind of let themselves go in so many different ways and it is the justification by saying I can't do that, I have to be this, I have to go here, I have to help there, and so it's just kind of a self denial and a self neglect and kind of like a martyr place where it's like, hey, you know, that's not, that's not what your purpose is. You know there's, there's you helping, but you also putting the oxygen mask on so that you can be the you that's healed, whole, so that you can be better for them. But you also have dreams that fulfill you and you know you're to me.
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking like, yeah, I, you know what. My kids are getting older. I'm not doing diapers for my whole life. I mean, and honestly, I was told that, like my, my purpose in life is was to cook, clean and have babies. Well, if that time gets done, which will eventually get done does that mean my value and my worth is gone? No, and so I really had to do a lot of reflection too, and so that's that's what I want to do is like reach out to um all, all family devoted women who have. They just need that nudge and the the permission say, hey, I can look beyond my house and my home and my family and my husband and say, hey, is there more? Is there more for me?
Speaker 1:that I'm not.
Speaker 1:So, oh, that's, that's so powerful what you just shared. You know, as someone who has had a little bit of contact with how the NFL works, had a player from Colorado that was part of my sister's family. She lives in Colorado and they helped him with college and different things and he was drafted and then you know, didn't go far, you know was on different things, and he was drafted and and and then you know, didn't, didn't go far, you know was on different things, and then now he's completely out of that. But we saw enough to know how that works and it's like baseball and anything else, it all kind of works the same. My son-in-law is a baseball, he was a pitcher and he trains pitchers and so um, he's also, you know, shared, and we've seen how it's brutal.
Speaker 1:It's brutal for the, the players and their families, because you could go in one day and they're saying we're trading you to timbuktu and you, either you go or you quit, right, yes, yeah, and, and that affects the family, the kids, everybody you know or you quit, right, yes, and that affects the family, the kids, everybody you know unless you have a base home and he travels, and so that's hard too. And so do you want to share a little bit about how, being an NFL wife, you know what that's like. I mean is that you want to share about? Sure, think people would be interested in knowing a little behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely so. So, like I said, I was a, I was a strength coach for the college that he used to go to. Actually, so he was. It was a player coach relationship before it was a marriage. And so, gosh, that was like in the early, the late, you know, 19, 19, it was about 2000,. Actually, 2001 was when we got married. But you know, so I went from days where I interacted with hundreds of people, hundreds of athletes. I knew my purpose. I had my family close by, obviously, my work, my church, just everything, and I literally got on a plane to go to Green Bay, a one way ticket, and the day that I flew in was the day that we got married. So it was a super small wedding.
Speaker 2:It was at a side chapel of a church where it was two players and their significant others and this pastor that I didn't know, and so I mean that was just like kind of a. Actually, even on the plane, when people had seen all the green and gold and stepping off the plane going, it felt like I was in a black and white movie, but it wasn't black and white, it was literally green and gold, like it was. It's a whole other. They're diehard fans. Yes, they are. Yeah, so I, I just was, I just remember thinking I almost braced myself like okay, this is, this is different, this is going to be new.
Speaker 2:And so even then, um, because you know, we got married in the middle, see, we got married in in October, um, and he was, it was his breakout year, and so so many different angles of kind of feeling, scrutiny, feeling that all eyes were looking at me. So as soon as they hear oh you're, oh you're a wife of, they look at you different. You feel the stairs, you know you're, you know that you're. There's the competition of other women. So you see, when they're autograph signings, there's the women, there's also the fans that you're competing with as a wife, and so you. I just remember the first time around having this identity crisis. It's like wait, I, my days went from fully knowing a whole bunch of people talking to a bunch of people, to now knowing just my husband and slowly getting into the mix of these women who you can't. You know you're picking from the litter. It's not like you're. You know you have options, or or you know you're just there.
Speaker 2:Like that's just your, your network, that's your connection. And I struggled for a long time because I had so much time on my hands. There was, there, was that piece. There was just feeling like, ok, what is an NFL wife supposed to look like? Like, am I supposed to dress? A certain way you could see the evolution of every woman, especially some in somewhere like Green Bay. If your husband is good, so he played for nine years, and so when I first got there, you know you have to dress warm. You're dressing as I hate being cold, and so I'm wearing parkas from college and camouflage, any gear that I could get to just stay warm. And then, as you get better, you know you're invited. Either you purchase your own suite or you for me, we were invited to a. You get better. You know you're invited. Either you purchase your own suite or you for me, we were invited to a suite. Sorry, my, yeah, my son's blending.
Speaker 1:Can you hear that?
Speaker 2:Okay, just barely, it's fine, okay, cool. And so, yeah, so we were invited to I was invited to a suite, and so you know, like all of a sudden, my attire's changing into a suite. And so you know, like all of a sudden, my attire strange changing and at the same time thinking, okay, am I, should I dress like this? Should I? You know, it's like I felt. I felt like I started being molded by my environment. Like we went to a simple church and so I was looking going.
Speaker 2:Do they think that I'm gaudy? You know, it was so funny. I got to tell you about this purse party, right? So there was this purse party that I was invited to and they were fake. So it's like fake Chanel, fake Gucci, and they're like 200 bucks each or whatever, and I remember wanting to buy one, but then I go wait, if people think it's real, then they're gonna think that I'm spending all this money on a purse. And so it's like those little weird games and those little things of why am I so consumed with what everybody else thinks? That there's that.
Speaker 2:There's also because I didn't know my identity, because, because I had time on my hands, I didn't have, like I, outside of my kids. I just felt like I wasn't. You know, it took a while to understand my purpose, and so I would never, I told myself. I would never spend this much on a expensive purse. Well then I started finding 200 $300 purses that I just found. Well, I'm not spending 1000s, but I'll spend a whole lot of. You know, I'll buy a whole lot of purses at 200. And so still it was. It was like me kind of just you know, just kind of justifying things to where I did. I had a shopping addiction, so so a lot of different things, but it all had to do with just kind of just losing who I was in this process. You just you know, peer pressure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we talk about kids having peer pressure. Adults have it too, and you definitely went from knowing who you were enjoying you know what you did and then trying to figure out where do I fit in?
Speaker 2:yes, yeah, yeah. And then I mean I remember, um, I saw this one beautiful woman at a pro bowl and, uh, she was. So her husband played the same position as mine at the time. They, they were so much alike. And I remember looking at her and the way that she presented herself. She was from Dallas and just beautiful, just like gold, you know, like gold, hair, bronze. The way she carried herself, the way she walked, the way she talked, and I just thought, gosh, that's, that's how you're supposed to look.
Speaker 2:And I remember, like we, we had our kid, and somehow I found out that she had a kid at the same time, and she was a reporter. She was like she was some sort of like model, and I don't know how I knew. But every time she had a kid, I had a kid. And so, even more, I just felt like there was this thing where I'm like supposed to compare myself to her and then all of a sudden, I'm pregnant with number four and something just pricked in me, like I want to see if she's pregnant with number four. I look and all of a sudden I find these articles that and they're pretty big they're divorcing, and so it was just. It hit me like, oh my gosh. From the outside, looking in, I thought they were this perfect couple who had everything put together. And it was kind of this reality check, like gosh, you never know. No, right, you never know, never know. Well then, of course, that was.
Speaker 2:I'm eight kids later and I'm going through the same thing and it's different. It's like you know, it's just I had to learn to stop. I had to put blinders on to everything else, especially when we were going through my, when I was going through my hardest point, there was so many voices saying you got to leave, you got to stay, hey, this. Saying you got to leave, you got to stay, hey, this is you know.
Speaker 2:All these different things, and I can't deny that, like my faith in God is everything that I had to silence all those voices to hear him, and that's and that's what has gotten me through to this point, and so I mean anything that I can give your listeners is one you have a God who loves you. He's a father who loves you, who who speaks to you. It's just a matter of us positioning ourselves to hear his voice. But yeah, I mean, I know that you know, just like this whole thing, I know that women just need to know who they are. It's, there's, there's always. I don't know. There's just something about us just not seeing our value and we put it on so much. We're the wife of, we're the mom of, and we just lose ourselves in the process, which means someone else is losing out on the best view.
Speaker 1:So you know it's interesting as you're speaking about. You know they were. They were famous. I'm sure if they were he played for Dallas and and Green Bay. I'm sure you know the names would be famous.
Speaker 1:And and I look at, for instance, there's a couple ladies that are reporters in the motorsports industry that just recently talked about their divorces and how people are so nosy, you know, and like, like fans and stuff say things and I would never say anything like what I've read about these two gals. And they're wonderful women. Again, they're kind of on the side where your husband was. They travel, they're gone, the husband's at home and and honestly I almost think sometimes it's harder for a man to maybe take the back seat to the woman who is well-known. You know, like in the motorsports industry these two ladies would, everybody would know them because they're on TV and they do the interviews and all that. Or you know Dylan Dreyer, I think about her. She's the weather person on the Today Show.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And so again, she travels, travels. She's famous, she's beautiful, she's smart and I'm sure her husband is all those things as well, but it's a different, it's really a different lifestyle. She's on the go, she's doing this, she's trapped, she's going all these places and it would take a special man, in this case, to be able to deal with that yeah, a confident man who's like proud of what she's done, not threatened by it, right, and?
Speaker 1:and so you know we're speaking about women finding their place. Where do they belong? You know what's their purpose, besides being a mom and a wife, because so many of us are moms and wives and grandmas but we have other things that we want to accomplish and that we want to do. And, as a woman, more times than not, what do we do? We put other people first, yeah, and then we forget. We kind of forget what we like to do or what we wanted to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or we get comfortable in there, because I think a lot of women probably want to venture out, but there's a fear. I know women who go well, I haven't done what I've loved to do for so long. I don't, you know, do people want what I have to offer? Or it's like so we just like kind of, just like you know, just kind of come back in and use our kids and use the things as excuses to say, no, I can't, I can't do it, when really it's like no, yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's. So. Can I ask you, like when you're talking about motor sports, how is your connection? Like how, how did this, how did this evolve? I'm curious.
Speaker 1:It's really, it's really kind of a strange story. So my son, who passed away in 2018, I have three daughters and a son. So I had a daughter and a son and then, 10 years later, I had a daughter and then another daughter.
Speaker 1:So, it was like two different families with the same husband, who's not my husband any longer, and I've been remarried now for 21 years. But so my son, from the time he was little, four years old, we would go to the races in Quincy, illinois, which is close to where I used to live in Illinois, and watch some guys that worked with my first husband and they raced at a dirt track and we would go for something fun to do on a Sunday night. And my son became obsessed from the age of four years old and so we went quite religiously until he started playing baseball and doing other things. You know you'd be at a baseball tournament all day on a Sunday in the summer and so the racing went to the wayside. But he never forgot that love of racing and when he graduated from high school he spent his graduation money and bought a stock car and he and his dad hid the car in part of our garage that I really never went to or looked at.
Speaker 1:And then, when I realized that, I probably did, have a hissy over the whole thing and he said he would tell you that I didn't talk to either one of them for two weeks and that's I'm sure that's not true, but it probably felt like that because I'm sure I was not a happy person, and, but but at that point, you know, then it was kind of like, okay, this is what he's going to do, then you join him or you miss out. And so he was 18 years old Not even he was still 17 when he graduated and so we started going to the racetrack and watching him race, and, and then he, he had a rather, I don't even know what the word is he had a, a, you know, in and out of prison for different things, and it was. He had a hard life, uh, brought on by his choices, but yet, um, you know it, it changed him, but he never lost the love of motorsports.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And in in all of that I moved from Illinois to Michigan. My first husband took a different job up here in the Kalamazoo area, which is where I live now, and he took a different job up here, which is where I live now, and he took a different job up here. And so my youngest two girls were in sixth and eighth grades and so we moved here, my son and my oldest daughter, you know we're back in Illinois and in fact I think Ben might've still been in prison at the time, but long story. Just we kind of started over here and then realized that I realized that I should have done something different with my marriage before I moved, and so we ended up getting divorced after we lived here about a year or so and then I met my husband like three years later, but my son go back to motor sports. When my son got out of jail and he came to Michigan, one of the first things he did was buy an old stock car.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And he started racing and so you know you get involved again with him. You go to the track and watch and then you start to meet a few people and then you know in maybe a different class that he doesn't race. Then you have a favorite driver and it's just relationships, maybe a different class that he doesn't race. Then you have a favorite driver and then and it's just, it's just relationships. And I don't know about the, about football so much, but I can tell you that the motor sports industry is one of the closest knit um groups of people that you will ever find the.
Speaker 1:When my son passed away, those are the people that reached out to me first and you know, and you can be very competitive on the track with someone and they will be the first one to help you when you need it right. Just different than any other, my kids cheered and played basketball and golf and all these different activities, but it was never like the motorsports community wow that's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so he was racing and, uh, I wanted to get a little bit more involved and the story's a little long, but the you know I I started writing a digital magazine because I had a I I had a newspaper background. I owned a weekly newspaper when I lived.
Speaker 1:So I did. I started a digital magazine all about women in motor sports and um, and that evolved into getting invited on a podcast as a guest, and then more than once, and it was one of the most popular segments of their show, oh my gosh, that's so cool.
Speaker 1:So they said you should do a podcast, you should do your own podcast, and that was in 2018. So I did you know periodically because I was still doing the magazine and that, and so it's just evolved. I'm retired, if you will, but I've done over 400 podcast episodes.
Speaker 2:All of that. That's so crazy.
Speaker 1:And this year alone I've done over 100. Because I decided that I had to do the magazine or the podcast. It was just too much, so I gave up on the magazine and I'm doing the podcast and I absolutely love it. Good, yeah, telling the stories, which is what we're doing today, is, you know, telling your story and being an encouragement and for other women to see that you don't have to be in the shadow of somebody else. Yeah, you can walk beside each other instead of somebody behind. And so I've met the most amazing people, and men too. I mean, I don't really interview men unless it's rare occasions, but the women I've met their moms, their wives. They work, they do laundry, they buy groceries and they get their kids to the track and they have all the food ready and they pack the trailer, and they might even be the driver of the car.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:All the things you know. And then I interview little girls that are six years old, that are just starting in racing. Wow, I love, I love the little kids. Yeah, you never know what they're gonna say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. So I have to, I have to say this. So you know, my, my husband got involved. So he, he was little and he loved it. And so when we got married, so here we're in Wisconsin. And so when we got married, so here we're in Wisconsin, and he said one day he goes, you know what? I want to race the Baja 1000. Never heard about that. I'm like okay. And so all of a sudden he's like he's training, he's flying out once a month to come out to California from Wisconsin.
Speaker 2:And what he did was he, he was super persistent. He would email all these people, these different champions. So in the dirt biking world there's Ryan Hughes, there's Destry Abbott, there's so if people, I know them only because of my husband there's Samuels, who won the Baja 1000, like a lot. So all these different people that he emailed, so persistence, he kept doing it. Ryan finally, you know, got ahold of him. So he's trained with this guy who I think I mean I don't know how many he was just he was just good.
Speaker 2:But the different things I've learned is one Like yeah, they're obsessive too and it's I mean, they're all in. And so when I see the parents, I see how involved they are. And then I also see the dynamics of these champions. Same thing Doesn't matter what sport you're in when your identity is all in that. There's always that hard transition out. And so, looking at people that he is associated with, who, thankfully, he's connected with, now, some are stronger in character than others and have moved on to find an identity outside of that. But to see that it's like it doesn't matter what sport it is, you're still gonna have to deal with identity. But I do to say this that I, my husband, that he was working like he would go. So he wasn't. He started a race and as an older person, I guess, you know, I guess in a six month period of time, people were amazed by how much he like had improved. And you know I scary when I'm seeing him like drive, like yeah the hill, oh my gosh
Speaker 2:oh, because I, so I didn't like to watch, but, um, so, when he was persistent, so it showed his mentality of like the risk taking, like I'm in, I'm going 100 percent, um, all the time. But what I thought was cool, one of the different stories, stories that I saw was he had an eye for the younger ones, and so there was one guy his name is Parker and he, you know there's just a lot of in terms of financial. You know there's like a lot of different people, because it does it, no matter who you are, it takes a lot of money.
Speaker 1:A lot of money.
Speaker 2:A lot of money, a lot of different people, because it does it, no matter who you are. It takes a lot of money, a lot of money, a lot of like time. And so there was this one kid from, I believe, up north, but he didn't have the great bikes he didn't have. I mean, you could tell it was a struggle for him. And, um, we had a lot of bikes. And I remember he asked me I want to, I want to help this kid out, and so he saw something that no one else saw. This guy's now like a pro and it's like wow, like for my husband to see that and to help him out was just. It was just one of those things where I was like okay, like that's cool. And the other thing, too, is my, my husband's, persistence in getting all of these guys. Now he's doing his tours with those same coaches, those same champions that are now the guides right.
Speaker 2:Jeff, emig that's. I think those are names like um. He's got some amazing guys on his tour. That actually a big attraction to the guys, because they, the guys don't know when they get there and they're just like in awe, like I don't again, I don't know these people, but if you're in that world, and you know, yeah, that know yeah that these are my guides.
Speaker 2:I get to be taught by these guys, so it's just like these businessmen. When I see them on day one, they're like you could tell they're excited but they're nervous. And by day four, when they're all done, they are just little kids on a high because they got to chill out, relax, be little kids. But seeing their you know their people, who are their fans of right, teach them like, interact with them. It is a is amazing experience that I'm I'm super, um, I'm super honored to see, because there was a time when my husband had the idea of like, doing this multi-venture I, I, you didn't know that oh no, no, no, not at all, and I just thought, oh my gosh, what the heck are we doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's funny. You know, I think motorsports, either you're in or you're out. I mean there's. You know, we always say that how do you get new fans to understand motorsports? It's not by watching television. They need to go to the track and, if possible, be in the pit area. You need a driver, go through a hauler, watch what happens, you know, sit somewhere where you can watch the pit crew work during the race. All those things, yes, if you can at least get them to the race in the stands, that's better than not getting them there, but the more experience you can show them, um, that that's what it takes to get a fan, and that's why nascar, especially, is. They just announced their schedule for 2026 and they're. They're going to be in san diego and the race is going to be at the naval, the naval base. Oh cool, it's the 250th anniversary of america and the 250th anniversary of the navy oh, wow and we're going to be racing a couple weeks before the 4th of July in San Diego.
Speaker 1:That's huge, that's such a big deal and that's why NASCAR is trying to go to different places, because if you go to that race, eileen, I guarantee you're going to become a fan, because you're going to be like. I had no idea this is what it was like. I thought it was just a bunch of cars going in a circle. That's what we hear.
Speaker 2:I'm like, how do you?
Speaker 1:watch. It's not. It's not. It's not a bunch of cars going in a circle.
Speaker 1:Every track is different. They might be oval, they might be dog there's might be oval, they might be dog leg. There's all kinds of different things. Some are banked more, some are not. Some have good, good surface, some don't.
Speaker 1:Every track is different and and the same with, like you know, my track right here in kalamazoo it's my home track there's, uh, two or three guys tonight that are actually retiring from racing, which is really unusual. And the one guy I think he's raced 33 years or something and but what he's done is he's he's retiring from racing and he's been a multi-champion, but he has taken over the mini wedge, which is the kids and the little mini wedges, and so it never gets out of your blood. It's just something different. So when my son raced and then my granddaughters both raced quarter midgets and they both moved up and raced front wheel drive and street stocks since ninth, well, the first year in about 25, 30 years that I haven't had a family member actually racing at the track wow, my granddaughter, my youngest granddaughter, that was racing um going to school.
Speaker 1:She and her boyfriend bought a house and stuff. It's just not. You know they can't do it, but he still's still racist. So we're still at the racetrack. My other granddaughter, her sister, just got engaged. He's still racist.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's in our family, right, but you know um it's, it's just, it's in your blood. Yeah, it's different. I, my kids, played baseball and softball. They, they were cheerleaders. They played basketball, all those things Right, but it's nothing like the motor sports community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, my son, um, my oldest son, started watching it's like F one or something, yeah, and uh, it was super intriguing. I like he would watch it and all of a sudden I was watching. So, yeah, for sure, when you get, when you're, and I mean, of course, it's like definitely not like reality, it's like it's like a documentary kind of thing. But still, when you see it from the inside, it's totally different and you see it from different eyes. And I, all my kids have actually seen the movie. I think it was the F1 movie. I want to see that.
Speaker 1:So I've heard. Then netflix has the series. I bet maybe that's where he started watching it. Yes, netflix has the f1 series and then they also there's one about nascar um drive. I can't remember what it's called, but it's on Netflix. It's about NASCAR and Netflix has done a couple things on Dale Earnhardt. So you know, that's another way to get people interested, or at least they're like really, I had no idea it was like this or this, but that's what really I think made F1 really much more popular was the Netflix series. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Definitely a different world. But what's your advice to somebody who is listening to this and they're like okay, that's me that you're talking about. Yeah, what, what can we share with these women that, um, maybe would propel them to make the first step?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know what. So as we're, as I'm incorporating my world with what you're talking about and with what I've seen, as I've seen different women be fully in with their kids and they're so consumed have something, make sure, and it couldn't, it's not big. Have something, make sure and it couldn't, it's not big. But make little shifts to do something for yourself. And you know so it's you verbalizing, saying you know what I like, this, I'm gonna, I'm gonna carve out a little time to do that thing. Who is it that I can connect with?
Speaker 2:So for me it was writing. You know, it was authorship, and so I started. You know, because the insecurity of like I don't know if I'm good enough or I don't know, it was just me speaking out to say you know, I want to get more into this, and so then you're getting connected and then you're just carving out time so that this thing that seems like such an impossibility is just steps to get to that place. It's not like I want to write a book, you know that's because then that's overwhelming. But if you can just say you know what I want to, I want to do that, I want, let me go to the paint and pottery place. And you know just something I know when I did that it was just like, oh my gosh, I didn't like I used to love that stuff. And so you just making time for yourself, you're going to see how much that fulfills you.
Speaker 2:So, I don't want to be.
Speaker 1:I make journals Ooh cool, and of all kinds. I make scrapbooks. I love paper. I'm almost 70, eileen, and so you know there was no phones and stuff to keep track. It was all paper, yes, and all colored pens, and you should see all the colored pens I have. I'm all about all of that and I love the making, making these journals, that then when I have somebody on my podcast, I send them a little gift bag. They get a journal and maybe a couple stickers and some different things that I've made, and so when I can't be on my computer anymore because I'm computed out with podcasting and doing all the things, then this is what I do. I make things that are fun, and when the people get them they're like what? It's a surprise, and so it's part of what I do. But it's the relaxing and the fun part of getting away from the computer?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. And I think that if, if every woman did that I heard, her family would see a different side of her, absolutely. And so it's just, yeah, it's just, it's just giving yourself permission to think about yourself and it's okay, you know, it's okay to think about yourself, go for a walk, join a running club, go to the library.
Speaker 1:Our library has all kinds of different things they do. I mean, there are so many things and nowadays you can find them. Back in my day I had to go to the library to see what was happening, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's a test, you know, it's like I remember I loved, I loved the sound of the guitar, the violin and the flute and and I remember there was a time where I was thinking you know what, I'm just going to do it and I thought about it. And my first husband, he got me men in general like I don't know, men aren't like the best gift givers. But I remember when I got that gift and I was just like I was, I was in tears like, oh my gosh, you heard me.
Speaker 1:So anyways.
Speaker 2:I played that flute. It was so fun. I never played anything like that. I taught myself and it was. It was so fulfilling to just give myself at least 15, 15 minutes a day and it was something like that. So, trying something completely new, it was just it. It it just got me filled and so, yeah, just it. There's just different things. Walking, too, I never walked. Um, I live in such a hilly place Now my walks are my everything. My walks are the thing that it's. It's a fast walk, a short, whatever. It's listening to music, it's listening to audio books, and so there's so much that you can do when you give yourself time, and so to to carve out time for yourself to do whatever.
Speaker 1:It is those things, I think, I think that's, and I think what you have to do is you have to. You have to schedule it, yes, you know, and so I have a paper planner, but I I mean, I also schedule my phone, but I have a paper planner. It's happy day, the happy planners, they're the best. I love them. Okay, and, and so I had my appointment with you in there, and and you know what, who's racing where and all those things, the doctor appointments but that's where you carve out 30 minutes or whatever you can find, and if you don't write it in there and schedule it, you're going to be doing dishes or dusting or something completely.
Speaker 1:That's not. You know, scrolling, isn't that what we do? We sit down and we scroll on our phones and when we could be doing something productive, yes, yes for sure, yeah for sure. Well, eileen, this has just been so, so refreshing. I tell you, life just kind of smacks you up one side and down the other sometimes, and then you are able to talk to somebody that you've never met before and they share their story with you, and then it's like oh, this is why I do this, because I love hearing your story and I love sharing it with other people.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, I so appreciate our willingness to keep pushing through the weeks of trying to do it, but but yeah, I loved, I loved. Finally, kind of like incorporating my husband's world into my conversation. So that was fun too, but yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Thank you so much for having me, thank you.
Speaker 1:So hold on and I'll stop the recording, and then I want to talk to you just a minute when we're done.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's it for this episode of the Women's Motorsports Network podcast. We hope you've been inspired by the stories I shared today and feel more connected to the amazing community of women in motorsports. Remember, whether you're behind the wheel in the pits or cheering from the stands, your story matters and together we're driving change and celebrating every milestone. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review and share it with someone who loves motorsports as much as you do, and don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, behind the scenes content and more incredible stories. So until next time, stay inspired, stay connected and keep racing through life. This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, where every woman's story is worth celebrating.