Drive like a mother: Alli Owens looks to inspire others in ARCA Menards Series return

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A lot has changed in Alli Owens’ life since she made her last ARCA Menards Series appearance at Chicagoland Speedway in 2010.

During that 16-year period, Owens built a successful corporate career for herself while balancing her responsibilities as a single mother to three children. Owens cherishes everything she has accomplished away from racing, but felt there was unfinished business in the sport that was once a cornerstone of her life.

Pulling into Daytona International Speedway as a competitor once again for Saturday’s General Tire 200 (12 p.m. ET on FOX) filled a void that was quietly present in Owens’ life. She is eager to reacclimate herself to the ARCA Menards Series platform with a strong performance in the No. 68 Bighorn Outdoors Ford for Kimmel Racing.

There were plenty of moments when Owens thought she would never race again, but numerous changes in the industry during the 2020s motivated her to get back behind the wheel and inspire other women who wish to break into motorsports.

“Sometimes when people chase their dreams and they meet failure after failure after failure. They pretty much give up and try to find a different path in life,” Owens said. “I did that for a while, but every time this time of year rolls around, there was always that itch I had to scratch. I’ve tried to do it a few times, but life just didn’t add up.

“I need to do this now [because] there’s so much shifting in our sport. NASCAR’s doing so many great things trying to get young girls involved, young people involved and going back to the grassroots.”

Owens prides herself on being a first-generation driver. No one in her family was heavily invested in motorsports during her youth, so Owens developed a passion for racing by battling and defeating the boys in her neighborhood on BMX bicycles, a trend that would continue at her local dirt track.

Carrying over that success into asphalt racing would require Owens to create her own opportunity. She developed a PowerPoint with her high school English teacher at 16 years old about the finances of motorsports and how to sell sponsorship, which gave her the confidence she needed to properly market herself.

Just a couple years later, Owens was making her ARCA Menards Series debut at Daytona with sponsorship from ElectrifyingCareers.com. The outing itself ended after 23 laps when Owens was involved in two separate spins, but manifesting the breakthrough into the ARCA Menards Series remains one of the proudest moments of her life.

Over the next few years, Owens continued to make regular appearances in the ARCA Menards Series. Although she did not find Victory Lane, Owens did manage to tally three top 10s and qualified on the outside pole for her second Daytona attempt in 2009.

The optimism those performances gave her evaporated when funding started to become an issue at the turn of the decade. With no major sponsor backing her, Owens only got to make one more start, a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series appearance at Richmond Raceway in 2016, before she was out of racing altogether.

In hindsight, Owens knew she could have approached her sponsorship situation differently. In the moment, Owens had to cut her losses and figure out what the next chapter was going to be.

“You always have to have a plan B and a plan C when it comes to sponsorship,” Owens said. “[I did not have] that and [had] all my eggs in one basket. I loved my sponsor IBEW, but things were changing in their industry too. We just got behind the eight ball and when that happened, we got in a position where we were too far behind.

“I either had to figure it out quick or go get a normal job to sustain life and unfortunately [the latter was the way] that cookie crumbled.”

Life after racing for Owens has been equally chaotic but also rewarding. There have rarely been any quiet days with Owens trying to raise two daughters that are now 14 and 12 years of age, but her hectic schedule recently got more eventful when her young son was born 18 months ago.

Owens admitted she wonders if restarting a racing career was a financially reasonable decision with so much on her plate, but she no regrets about the decision. What particularly motivated Owens’ return was a desire to highlight the mothers that have been a part of NASCAR’s history.

Trailblazers like Shawna Robinson were an inspiration to Owens, as she enjoyed success in stock car racing while balancing her role as a parent. Owens wants to be an example to others and show that women can excel in motorsports no matter the circumstance.

“Sometimes we’re so quick to move forward in the future that we forget our past,” Owens said. “[For] the people who built this sport like myself who had to go through a lot of trials and tribulations that have haunted us after racing ended, I want to make sure those people know their stories matter and they are all part of the grand scheme of things.

“I really wanted to give back and say loud and proud that the little guy is still here.”

The opportunity for Owens to promote her mission at Daytona started with a Facebook post. Kimmel Racing owner Will Kimmel used the social media platform to gauge interest in a second car for the season-opening General Tire 200, with Owens reaching out to Kimmel only a few minutes after the post went live.

Owens posting the 19^th quickest time in the ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice at Daytona last month was an encouraging sign for Kimmel, but he understands race conditions on Saturday will be much different. Instead of smaller drafts, Owens will be surrounded by more than 30 other drivers in a car that has changed significantly over the past 16 years.

Kimmel’s goal with Owens is for her to enjoy enjoy a solid, trouble-free 80 laps around Daytona.

“[Owens] is used to the steel-body stuff, which didn’t have as much motor as we do now,” Kimmel said. “What she’s going to run into in the race, and we’ve gone over it a little bit, is that the closing rate, the runs we get and the side draft is a little different, along with the visibility. We’ve got a little bit of homework to do, but I think she’ll be fine.”

The reduced visibility in the modern car was something that surprised Owens when she made her first laps in the pre-race practice. With the older chassis, Owens recalls being able to see over the quarter panels and the racing line by extension, which in turn created a style of racing she felt was more composed and methodical.

Even during her first stint in the ARCA Menards Series, Owens was no stranger to falling victim to events outside of her control at drafting tracks. That same variable is still in play with the current cars, but Owens intends to utilize all the new design aspects and the past drafting experiences to her advantage against a new group of competitors.

With the draft often serving as an equalizer, Owens feels she has just as good of a chance to excel in the General Tire 200 against established drivers despite being out of the car for so long. Owens intends to make smart decisions and avoid trouble in Kimmel’s car, but she is not content with settling for just a solid performance.

“I would be silly [to say] I’m not a contender to run up front, because I am,” Owens said. “Me and Will [Kimmel] grew up together in this sport and there is a lot of trust in this team. We’re veterans all the way around, so my expectation is to bring this car back in one piece because that means an opportunity for Talladega.

“There’s a lot of experience I’m bringing to the table here, so hopefully it pays off.”

In the brief amount of time he has worked with Owens, Kimmel still sees the same passion that was prevalent when they shared the track during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Kimmel wishes Owens would have found sustainability in motorsports during her first stint, but he is thrilled to help her attempt another ARCA Menards Series race.

It is not often Kimmel gets to impart his wisdom on racing to a single mother of three, but he finds inspiration through Owens. Kimmel has seen plenty of talented women come through the ARCA Menards Series, which is why he believes Owens’ journey, dominated by adversity and resolve, is one worth admiring.

“I’ve got three kids myself,” Kimmel said. “I’m on [one] side of it being a father and she is on the other side of it being a mother. It’s always good to have the working class in here trying to make a name for [themselves] and [for Alli] to get back going again. It’s cool to see and we’re here to make sure we get to the end of this race and have a good finish.”

No matter how the General Tire 200 unfolds for Owens, she is grateful to have gotten a second chance at racing, even if it proves to be temporary.

Owens wanted to have a career where she could experience everything motorsports had to offer and choose when to bow out. Instead, Owens has been seeking closure to a chapter that never had a formal conclusion. She may finally get that closure at the track where she began her ARCA Menards Series career in 2008.

Saturday is not going to be about reflecting on the past, but rather enjoying the present. Having her children in attendance for the event is only going to reinforce what matters to Owens, fulfilling a dream while inspiring others in the process.

“Martin Truex Jr. and Tony Stewart [knew] at the end of the season they were done, I didn’t get that,” Owens said. “I wasn’t prepared to take it all in, to smell it, to see it, to taste it, to live it. Being able to be here as a driver with my whole family and friends being involved knowing this could be the last time we could be here by choice is a different feeling all around.”

Neither of Owens’ teenage daughters have expressed an overt interest in motorsports, but she did notice how much her young son admired the cars in Kimmel’s shop when they visited it for the first time.

Should that initial interest blossom into something more one day, Owens will be ready to support her son’s racing endeavors as both a mentor and a mother.