Mother’s Day isn’t just a special day for Sarah and Bridget Burgess. It’s every race day.
The mother-daughter duo seeks to climb racing’s ranks, starting with their ARCA Menards Series West team. Sarah is the owner; Bridget the driver.
Nineteen-year-old Bridget is in her second season in the ARCA Menards Series West. Racing has been a part of the family for years. Adam, husband to Sarah and father to Bridget, often serves as Bridget’s spotter. They are from Australia.
“My parents have always had the dream of moving to America and going racing,” Bridget told Steve Letarte on a recent episode of the “Letarte on Location” podcast with the mother-daughter team.
“When we first moved here, I was only like six or seven years old. They started off in drifting, and I thought the cars were really cool. I wasn’t sure about driving because I was just really young at the time. But the more I grew up around it and just hung out at the race shop, I just really loved it.
“It wasn’t until mom got an off-road ride where I was like, ‘I want to start racing,’ and I really pushed my parents on it. We didn’t really have the funding for it. We had to wait a little.
“I had to work on my mom’s truck to learn how to fix it, learn how to use the tools. I finally got into it in 2017 just for regional stuff in my mom’s off-road truck until I got my own. It wasn’t until 2018 I got my own truck. I liked off-road, but every weekend I was watching NASCAR. At the same time I was like, ‘Man I like off-road, but I do want to get to asphalt racing.’”
Sarah told Letarte: “I’m competitive. Her dad is competitive. I guess it’s just the natural process that (Bridget) is going to have that competitive fight in here, as well, on the competition side. There was never a time where we were hesitant about what she could or couldn’t do.”
Bridget finished 22nd in the ARCA Menards Series West season opener in March at Phoenix Raceway. The series’ next race is June 5 at Sonoma Raceway.
For more on Letarte’s conversation with the Sarah and Bridget Burgess, check out the podcast. Go here for more Letarte on Location podcasts.