Accelerate Her

Why Busch Light’s “Accelerate Her” Programme is Crucial for Motorsport

Earlier this month, long-time NASCAR sponsor Busch Light announced a three-year $10 million programme that will provide more funding, media exposure, training and track time to every female driver currently competing in NASCAR over the age of 21. Moreover, a portion of the $10 million will be put towards standing sponsorship for up-and-coming talent.

The drivers receiving the inaugural sponsorship from the program are Toni Breidinger, Natalie Decker, Amber Balcaen Reaves, Jenifer Jo Cobb, Brittney Zamora, Stephanie Moyer and Melissa Fifield.

Here’s why this is such good news.

Historically, women have had less opportunities to make it in motorsport than their male counterparts.

There have been some obvious exceptions to this rule such as Lella Lombardi in Formula 1, Danica Patrick in IndyCar and Jutta Kleinschmidt in Dakar for example. But on the whole, it’s been a tough road to travel for most women.

However, in recent years, there has been a welcome shift in this area that is seeing more and more women successfully join the motorsport ranks – or at the very least, sees them getting the chance to see if they’ve got what it takes. So much so, that 2022 is exploding with the wealth of female talent that’s coming through.

In the U.S for example, Tatiana Calderon is competing in IndyCar this season, which possibly contributed to Busch Light deciding they wanted to go through with their ‘Accelerate Her’ programme.

Image: Busch Light

“Through our sponsorship rights and our platform, we’re seizing the opportunity to make historic progress toward gender inclusivity and while the immediate program goals may start here, we hope the sentiment will carry far beyond that, encouraging the broadest level of inclusivity across all sports.” – Krystyn Stowe, Senior Brand Director, Busch Family of Brand at Anheuser-Busch.

Elsewhere in the world of motorsport, Extreme E is entering its second full season where 50% of the drivers on the grid have to be female drivers and this year, that includes the likes of Emma Gilmour, Klara Andersson, Catie Munnings and Christine GZ.

W Series is also returning this year to race alongside Formula 1 on the same weekends and sees drivers like Irina Sidorkova and Nerea Marti coming back so that they can rise through the ranks. Moreover, Caitlin Jenner (love her or hate her) is entering her own US based team in W Series in 2022, furthering the attention being put onto female drivers in motorsport, particularly in the United States.

Sophia Flörsch will be competing in the 2022 ELMS season, rookie off-road driver Rebecca Busi will be training hard to compete in her second Dakar after making her debut at the legendary event this year and Anji Silva will be breaking new ground with Team BRIT in the UK as she competes as part of their all-disabled racing team.

It would seem then, that Busch Light is just getting with the program and seeing all the untapped potential in these racing drivers across the world. On the flip side, Busch Light making this move now could be seen as trying to take advantage of some good publicity.

Everyone wants to be seen as doing the right thing these days, especially large companies. But even the most pessimistic of us can surely agree that regardless of the motives of companies like Busch Light, they’re still having to invest a lot of money into this to make it happen.

The seven women who will be receiving the inaugural sponsorship will really be able to showcase their talents out on track because of this and put to bed any notions that they don’t belong in motorsport. So even if you’re not convinced of their motives, you can’t deny that actions like this are helping to move the needle in the right direction.

“At the end of the day, we’re all drivers on the same track racing towards the same goal. I’m proud to take part in the Busch Light Accelerate Her program alongside other women drivers because it’s not only an incredible new stream of direct support, but it’s the first real step toward spotlighting the gender imbalance.” – Toni Breidinger

For now, it’s just important that these women – and more of them as time goes on – are getting the spotlight that they deserve to prove themselves and to normalize women competing in motorsport, not just in NASCAR, but across the globe.

Back in the UK, Formula Woman returned after a long hiatus to show that given the opportunity, women from all walks of life can become competitive racing drivers. The final is due to take place in March and regardless of who of the final fifty competing wins it, the competition will still have opened loads of doors for all of them to still be involved in the motorsport world.

Seeing large companies like Busch Light jump on board can only be a good thing then. Sure it helps them, but it also moves us another step closer to proper gender equality in motorsport and a time where nobody is focused or caring about the fact if you’re a man or a woman – but more importantly, if you’re a great racing driver.

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly