Logan Misuraca building awareness around mental health as she looks ahead to the 2023 ARCA season

Despite the efforts of many around the world, a stigma surrounding mental health remains common.

Logan Misuraca is hoping to help change that with a new program she believes will also help her get on track with the ARCA Menards Series in 2023.

The 23-year-old Floridian recently launched 1inaMillion.Life with the goal of spreading awareness about mental health across the United States and the world.

“I developed 1 in a Million just based on my own journey through everything,” Misuraca said. “Whether it be racing, life, everything in itself. The past two years haven’t been the easiest, especially with getting racing going and some of the people I was involved with. It wasn’t the best. I came up with an idea a year ago that I wanted to be able to have a place where everywhere could be involved rather than all just sponsors.

“I want to find a way to make it where everybody can be involved.”

1inaMillion.Life allows fans to buy blocks on Misuraca’s race car for the 2023 season, with the goal being to sell one million blocks on her car. Each block costs one dollar, and fans or sponsors can buy as many blocks as they want. The blocks will be on her car for each race she competes in during the 2023 season.

A portion of each block purchased will go toward funding Misuraca’s racing plans in 2023, while another portion will be donated to a mental health charity of her choosing.

 

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“I wanted to incorporate [the program] into the mental health awareness side of things,” Misuraca said. “My journey the past two years has been kind of difficult. I’m kind of being more open about it. A lot of people don’t talk about it in NASCAR at all. Bubba [Wallace] has mentioned it, but a lot of people don’t. So I wanted to bring that factor into it and start giving back to mental health organizations.”

Unlike many who start racing at age 5 or 6, Misuraca is a more recent addition to the motorsports world. She was a competitive dancer until the age of 18, and she traveled the country to take part in a variety of competitions.

She explained her mental health journey started during her time as a competitive dancer and continues today. She regularly sees a therapist and believes everyone could benefit from seeing one, whether they are battling their own mental health demons or not.

“I was a dancer my whole life, and that is such a physically and mentally demanding sport,” Misuraca said. “Even from a young age I was already like, ‘I’m not as skinny as the other girls. I’m not as tiny or as flexible as the other girls.’ That started to branch into it. I have personal stories that have happened throughout my life. Bad people, wrong people, some family upbringing stuff that has happened that has kind of ventured in.

“I’ve had really bad physical body image issues. I’ve gone through depression two or three times, like majorly, throughout the past three or four years. I’m actively in therapy. I’ve been in therapy for about a year and a half now. I love my therapist; she’s great. I think everybody should be in therapy. Even if they don’t think they have issues, it’s still a great way to better yourself to open your eyes and ears to new ways of looking at life.”

Misuraca began to pursue a career in motorsports shortly after giving up competitive dancing, competing at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. She finished second in the track’s Pro Late Model standings in 2020 and earned Rookie of the Year honors in the class the same year.

She took part in the ARCA Menards Series’ annual pre-season practice at Daytona International Speedway in January, and in February, she made her ARCA Menards Series East debut. Driving a car owned by NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor Josh Williams, she started sixth and finished seventh in the season-opener at New Smyrna.

She hasn’t raced in ARCA competition since, but she’s been keeping her driving skills sharp working for the NASCAR Racing Experience, which has allowed her to turn laps at Daytona and other big tracks as she works towards her goal of racing in ARCA.

Since launching 1inaMillion.Life on Oct. 10, Misuraca says the program has already begun to attract fans and businesses who want to support mental health awareness as well as her own personal journey in racing.

“We have a lot of pictures of dogs coming in lately, which I think is so cute,” Misuraca said. “I think it’s so cute because I get a bunch of pictures of dogs a day. I released it (the program) on October 10, which was World Mental Health Day, it kind of tied everything together. Really it’s just a platform for me to spread mental health awareness next year with this huge community of people that support it.”

The plan as it stands now is for Misuraca to compete in as many ARCA Menards Series events as possible in 2023, starting with the opener at Daytona as well as select Late Model events. Exactly how many races in which she’ll compete, and for whom she’ll be driving, are not yet determined. But she hopes to have those plans solidified soon.

Whatever her schedule turns out to be for 2023, Misuraca hopes she’s able to help remove the stigma that lingers anytime mental health is discussed.

It’s more than just a platform for Misuraca. It’s personal.

“I just wanted to be more open about it,” Misuraca said. “I was just sheltered in this little hole and scared to talk about it. I would go to the race track, smile and look happy because I thought that was what I had to do to be promotable. I’m always like that, bubbly, giggly, jumping around the race track. If you see me I’m riding jack stands and doing cartwheels in my driving suit; I’m always like that no matter what.

“But I wanted to get that message out there that not everyone is OK whether they look OK or not. This was kind of my way of opening up about it and sharing it with everybody.”

Fans interested in donating or learning more about 1inaMillion.Life can click here to find out more.