Page 38 - Jan 2019 IWMA Nation News interactive magazine

Katie Hettinger Follows in Her Family’s Footsteps
Katie is eleven years old. She has a little sister named Grace and a little brother named Keith. She lives with her mom and dad. She loves to play softball and basketball, and race. She is the catcher on her softball team and she is usually the point guard in basketball. Her favorite food is her grand- ma’s spaghetti. Her favorite vacation was Disney because it was an amazing experience, especially with her family. Also, they went to The Tulsa Shootout in Oklahoma, where she raced her micro and mini sprint. A saying that Katie and her mom say before she goes out to race is “Girls rule boys drool Katie has super speed Katie can take the lead and keep it.”
Katie is in sixth grade. Most of the boys in her class don’t believe that she races, but after she shows them a pic- ture of her racing they think it is cool. “Most of the girls believe her and think it is cool too.” she said.
When Katie gets older she really wants to own and work at her dad’s trailer business, Victory Custom Trailers.
Katie started racing when she was five and a half years old. She can still remember the night when she got her first race car. She had just finished getting ready for bed and her dad had come in because he was in their barn in the back of their property. He said to put shoes on because he wanted her to go out into the barn for something. “So I put my shoes on and we went into the barn and there in the front of the barn is a bright red quarter midget. I was so happy. The next weekend we went to the closest quarter midget track which is in Waterford, Michigan. My dad, my mom, my sister, my grandpa, and I went to the race track. As I was learning to drive the car I went into the infield and almost hit my grand- pa! It was pretty funny. I started racing because my dad’s dad, Jim Hettinger, raced and so did my dad.” she said.
Her marketing partners are Momo Engines, Ad- vanced Shocks, D1 chassis, and Victory Custom Trailers.
Her inspiration definitely is her dad and grandpa. They were both amazing drivers and won a lot of races. Her dad still rac- es a modified. Over the years, they have had a lot of people who helped
them with their car.
Katie’s favorite win was at Tulsa Okla- homa. She won her B main and she was the first Mich- igan driv- er to win
there. She races at Logansport Speedway in Indiana, Jackson Speedway in Michigan, and Corrigan Speedway in Mason, Michigan. She races a restricted 600 micro on dirt. She also has a legend car. She will be running that next June on pave- ment. Jessie runs a restrictor class on dirt and a legend class on pavement.
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