Ashcraft Motorsports: Young Racers, Big Futures

Hi everyone, I'm Emery Ashcraft and I'm Peyton Guy-Cenare and we're two of the

four Ashcraft Motorsports drivers. And you're tuning in on the J.P. Emerson show.

Welcome to the J.P. Emerson show where we ride shotgun as you tell your story.

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foreign to domestic, and wild to mild. Meekum has it all for every budget and

every individual taste. Visit them at Meekum.com. Today we're diving into the

fast lane with two fierce young racers from Ashcraft Motorsports, a team built

on mentorship, grit, and braking barriers. Joining us today are two junior

drivers who are proving that age and gender are no limits to speed, skill, or

ambition. From quarter midgets to dreams of NASCAR, even Formula One, these girls

are racing toward greatness. It's my pleasure to welcome Miss Memory Ashcraft

and Miss Payton. Gaitzanauer, I'm sorry. I hope I got that right, Payton. How are

you guys? No, it was perfect. Good. How are you guys doing? Everybody doing alright?

Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. Well, first of all, just to introduce ourselves, our show is

both racing and classic and muscle cars. We have a very large

listenership. We are literally all over the world, so the whole world is going to

hear you. We definitely got a whole lot of information about your race team, some

great things that you guys are doing, but we first of all, what we want to do is

we want to get to know a little bit about yourself. So I'm going to start with a

name that I know I can pronounce. We're going to start with memory. Sorry,

Payton, I'm still working on your last name. But, memory, tell us a little bit

about yourself. It's one of those. I've been racing since I was five and just

grew up racing. I have a younger sister. That's really all. I really live a

basic life. Okay. Alright. So you've been racing since you were five. You grew up

in racing? I did. I mean, I grew up around racing, growing up five minutes from

a track. My parents used to work at the track, still working at that track to

this day. So. Okay. So it's in your blood then, correct? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright.

So a woman of a few words, which that's alright. We'll get somewhere out of her

a little bit later. Payton, how about yourself? Yeah. Hi, I'm 15 years old. I'm

a junior in high school. I've been racing since I was 11, turning 12. So

that's I've been racing for four years and a quarter of a digits. I just

recently started driving and like testing out a 600 micro sprint, which

memory is in right now. And then, yeah, I live in Colorado. I race for Ashcraft

Motorsports and DKRA Tracing. And yeah, I have a little brother and a dog. Yeah.

Okay. All right. That's good. That's right. You know what? Everybody's got

someone at home supporting him, even if it's a dog that licks your face on the

way out the door. So that's okay. We're all for that. So as I mentioned, we

have a whole array, a different type of listenership. Everyone from muscle

cars, classic cars to supercars and racing as well. We cover NASCAR. We

cover NHRA. We've done plenty of sprint cars. But for those who may be a little

unfamiliar with, I don't want to call them the smaller cars, but tell us a

little bit. First of all, let's go back to Payton. Tell us a little bit about

what you race. And the one question a lot of people are interested in is how

fast do these cars go? So let's go with Payton on this one.

Yeah. So I race a quarter midget, which is like a quarter of the size of a

midget. And I'm pretty sure my fastest car goes like 65, 50, 55. Yeah. Up to

there. And then I also have slower cars that can go slower than that. But

okay, we'll cars open wheel. All right. And now do you race on asphalt or dirt?

I race my quarter midgets on asphalt. On asphalt. Okay. All right. Any

aspirations to run anything on dirt? Yeah, I have a 600 micro sprint that I

run. Sometimes when I'm not running the quarter midgets on asphalt, but I

run those at my home track in Callahan on dirt. Okay. All right. And memory,

how about yourself? I race a 600 CC. It's restricted at the moment. I mean,

that's on dirt. Next year, I'll be in a class and that goes at least 70 plus

miles per hour. And just race them basically all over. Okay. And now,

now one thing I do know about about sprint cars is there are winged and

there are non winged are either of either of your cars winged. It's a mix. So

we have races where they're non wing and then we have races where they're

winged for restricted. So the class that me and Peyton are doing now, it's

mostly winged depending on the like series you do. So like you have power

eye and they can have non wing restricted. But since our club and stuff are

now 600, we can only race wing because there isn't a non wing like class for

now 600. Okay. All right. Now, Peyton, I know you are are are racing a let's

call a division down or a class down than what memory is racing. Is that

correct? Yeah, that's correct. They're more for younger kids who are learning

how like, just the basics of racing and learning how to drive a car and

learning how to like react to the race cars and the fast cars. And it's

basically just for learning. Okay. All right. And and memory year in the

600. What is the natural progression of of cars that you would race? Let's say

when you first start out all the way up to, you know, for instance, like the

cars that you would see it like El Dora. I definitely. So personally, I came

from quarter midgets as well. And the the transition from quarter midgets to

600 was a little harder because I mean, you go from asphalt to dirt. But once

you learn the dirt side, so once you get out of a 600, you see a lot more people

go to a midget and stuff. And then from a midget, you usually see them go to a

305 or a 360. And then from one of those two sprint cars, you usually see them

go into a 410 or anything along that, like road. Okay. Okay. Well, that's okay.

That's right. And now for for those who who maybe are hearing about your racing

team for the first time, Ashcraft Racing, I think it's important to to share a

little bit about your racing team, because it is certainly a very unique racing

team. It's something that that certainly got our attention when it was when it was

brought to our attention of what your team does. So if you'll give me a moment,

let me let me share a little bit about your team. Because it's so unlike many

others that that that we've covered. Ashcraft Motorsports Racing is also a 501

C nonprofit, whose mission is to empower empower young women and in motorsports

and automotive trades through mentorship, education, hands on experience. And

innovation. They've got some amazing values that they're instilling in their

racers and in effect, everyone around them, service, passion, teamwork,

stewardship, which is reflected in both these young women and other members of

their team. What does it mean to you, both of you ladies, to be a part of

something that is not only helping you along the way, but also empowering future

racers, young ladies and girls that are just coming up in the sport? Do you

feel responsibility to do your best and to put your best foot forward? And how

important is it to you to have a team such as Ashcraft supporting you?

I think it's very important because it not only helps us, but helps the younger

generation coming in, like you mentioned. And it puts us out there and like puts

us, for instance, like in front of you guys who get us more audience. And it

really helps us like push to where we want to go next and what we want in our

future. So it's really important to like keep going and helps us with all of

everything that we do in racing. And yeah.

Okay, that's a good answer. And memory, how about for yourself?

It's one of those things where it's like if they can see us do it, then they

can also do it. And they believe in themselves that they can do it from just

like Payton said, watching the younger generation come and see us or even the

older generation who like some people have downed themselves. So it's like if

they can see two teenagers doing it, they will gain that confidence.

And we've asked this question of some very well known guests on our show and

others that are starting out. But this has never happened to me. So I don't

know what this is like. But to both of you, what is it like the first time you're

at a race or a track or an event? And you've got a young person come up, maybe

you've got a hero card or we got pictures or something come up and ask you for

an autograph.

I've had a couple people at races come up to me like across the country where

they know and like they follow Ashcraft Motorsports on our social medias and they

know Mark Ashcraft. And they come up to me and ask to take pictures or ask for

an autograph in my little cards that I have. But normally they message Ashcraft

Motorsports and ask what race I'm going to be at next so that they can see me

and meet me and get to know me and even become friends with me. Some people

that I've met because of this reason have become pretty good friends. And it's

just pretty amazing to have people like that who will follow you and watch what

you do. And how about for yourself, memory?

For me, I mean, I used to have little kids at the quarter midget track come up

all the time. I actually used to help a little girl named Ava around the track

and she was the sweetest little thing. And she was just someone who looked up

to me. And then there's also people who follow Ashcraft Motorsports on social

media. And I mean, my mom has gotten people telling her that they know me

and that they've seen me race out at El Paso before.

Does that make you guys feel certainly you're special in a way of who you are

and what you do? But does it give you any reason to stop for a moment and say,

you know, I've got to be the best possible me because I've got people looking

at me now and looking up to me and lead by example, because social media is

something that can be very powerful, but it could also be very dangerous if not

used correctly. And if people are looking to you, how do you consistently put

the best version of yourself out on social media or in person? Is it is it

something that you just do the right thing all the time? Or is there a

message that you want to share with people that want to do what you guys

are doing now? Yeah, in person, when I'm at the track, I try to be the best

possible version of myself and try to show people that it's more like I'm

not just a competitor to them. I can be a friend on and off the track, but I

can also race them hard on the track. I also like to show that even if something

bad happens on the racetrack, I'm not going to come up and cry and yell at

people because of what they did. And I'm going to go and be respectful to that

person who is racing me and then deal with it and like deal with it as an

adult almost and with respect and responsibilities and show that I can be

a good person. And memory, how about for yourself? I'm in the same way. I try to

be the best person I can at the racetrack. Like if I make a mistake on the

track, then I sit there and I learn from that mistake. And if it affects others

racing, then I will sit there and I'll go up to them and I'll say sorry for what

I did. And I'll just really take responsibility for my actions and I

won't be mad about it. And it's one of those things where it's like if someone

kind of got into me by accident, then I'll sit there and I'll be like, Hey,

like I kind of didn't give you room. I kind of take actions a lot more than I

should. Yeah. Well, you know what? I mean, we're all human, you know, especially

if you're a competitor, which certainly both of you, both of you are. It's

it's something that, you know, maybe at the time, you're kind of thinking, you

know, well, you're just kind of growling at them, you know, a little bit at the

time. But I think if you take a step back and you look, I mean, I'm sure it's

happened to you and because of you, because that's racing, that's, that's

what happens. I think it's very important that, you know, you're always, again,

putting your best self forward, because believe it or not, even, even at your

current ages, there are kids younger than you that are looking up to you. And

also, and this is a very important message that we learned from the very

top of racing. And this is something you want to not just maintain, but be a part

of in the future. There are people that will be very important to you

sponsorship wise, car wise, track wise, parts wise, that are looking at you

already to see if you are a solid representative of both yourself, your

race team and their brand. And it's very important to always remember that

there's many eyes upon you and you want to be your best self always. So I'll

get off my soap box. I've said that many times, but it does happen quite a

bit. Memory, I know in some of your notes, this is something that comes up a

lot because we have met people that have are both homeschooled and we've met

people that are going to school and they're balancing many things in their

life. You all, you're certainly going to school, but you also have a part-time

job as well. So how do you balance that?

Well, so my school, with the way it's set up, I'm half online and half in

person. So I really only go into school three, two days a week. And I'm

online the other two to three. It kind of depends on if I go in Friday or not.

But with that schedule and having that flexibility, I'm able to go and work

mostly Tuesday, Thursdays when I have online and with state laws. I can only

work so many hours. So I work the first half of the day on school. And then the

second half after lunch is when I like, we'll actually do my job. And with me

having two days, it helps pay for racing and stuff. So I'm able to do all that.

And Peyton, how about yourself? Are you working as well?

I help my family with like their businesses that they own, but I don't

really go to a job yet. But I do balance four days of school and then, yeah, and

then helping my family around what they do and the house and stuff.

Do either of you find it easier or more difficult to back in the dinosaur age

when I was in school? We were in school full time. Do you find it easier to have

that flexible schedule? And do either one of you feel at times maybe you're

missing out on some of the things that maybe some of your friends are able

to do with a full school schedule?

Yeah, it's kind of hard because there's some basketball games and like football

games on the weekends that you would love to go to, but at a race and sometimes

you can't make those races. And also like with homecoming and those things like

that, sometimes races align over those. So sometimes it's rough missing those,

but that's like the sacrifice we take when we're choosing to have an out like a

sport outside of school and something that we travel for and spend all this

time with. Sure. Sure. And memory, how about for yourself?

With me, with my school, we don't have sport teams because it's made for your

sports. We have junior Olympics in my school, but with that school, then we

don't really get a homecoming. All four years can go to prom and it definitely

feels weird to be in the school, but like Peyton said, the sacrifices that we

make for our sport are worth it in the end.

I know we've had junior racers on our show before, and this is a question

that we've asked each of them. What do your friends think? How do your

friends react? Let's take it back a little bit before that. The first time

you said, maybe they played softball or basketball or volleyball. What was the

look the first time you said, I'm a race car driver? What was that like for you,

Peyton? It was like, they almost thought I was kidding. They thought I was lying

at first, and then I had to show them pictures and show them like, no, I'm

serious. I raced race cars, and they thought that they could go out there

in their go-karts and beat me because I go to like a country school, so they all

ride dirt bikes and go-karts and like all those sorts of things. And they were

like, oh, I'll go out there and beat you on my dirt bike. But they definitely

think that I'm just out there racing tiny little go-karts, and some of them

don't know what it really is. And they just kind of like, they think it's

cool, but like, they also think like it's small cars. What could it be? Yeah.

Yeah. How about for yourself, memory? They definitely don't believe me at

first. And like Peyton said, I have to show pictures of my car too. And a

lot of them do think they can get in the car and beat me. But then again, it's

kind of like, then I tell them it's a lot harder than it looks. And they, they

just never believe me most of the time until I have, I usually pull up

videos and stuff, because that's the only way to prove it's a lot harder.

Now, do either one of you have a, a, I'm going to call it an exercise or

workout routine, because again, I'm not a, I'm not a professional driver,

although I have been in go-karts and, and the like trying to fake it. But I

usually come out of those pretty sore. What's it like for, for you guys to, to

do this as often as you do? Because I have to imagine, you know, when we talk

about athletes at the top of the list, race car drivers really aren't thought

about as athletes. And I'm here to tell you, they are 100% athletes because

they're doing things that, that, that I couldn't do. What is it like for you?

And do you have a, a schedule or a routine that you guys have to do that is

both going to help you in the car and also help you avoid, I guess there's no

other way to say it, you know, injury or getting hurt, because that can happen

if you're not prepared for that as well.

Yeah. So actually we go to the gym with a coach three days a week. We go

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, depending on like our schedules and what

Fridays we might miss. But we have a coach, his name is Tyler. He owns

Perfect Fit Wellness Center and he sponsors us. So we get to like work

out and stretch and all that stuff with him for free since he sponsors us.

And we just get his name out there and show him how, show everybody how he

can help young athletes go about their sport without getting injured and

without being sore the next day and all that stuff. So he actually trains a

bunch of bull riders. So for like the rodeo and PBR and all that stuff.

And he takes that and also helps us with what we do and like focus our

workouts on racing. And it really helps us because he like works on us and he

watches what we need to fix and what we need. And he comes to our races and

watches how we need to perform and what we need to do. And he really helps us

and focuses on that stuff. He also is creating like an app so that when we

travel across the country, we can still work out and stretch before our races

and trying to help us spread his app throughout the country and showing

younger athletes that they can work out too. And they don't have to go inside

the gym because that's what a lot of people don't like is going into a

gym and being working out in front of people. So he's making a workout

like based on racing and we can show them online and they could do it as they

travel or at home or whatever. And if I could ask either one of you,

whoever wants to chime in here, what is life like on the road?

Because certainly you have to travel for racing. And again, it is it's I'm

sure mom and dad will know it's expensive. So, you know, there's a lot

that goes into it. But for you, what's it like traveling for you? And do you

have a do you have a favorite track or best experience that either one of you

can share?

Traveling definitely takes a lot of the time like away from home and stuff.

And I mean, there's times when it's only me and my dad and my mom has to watch

from home because with my sister going to a normal school and stuff, it kind

of doesn't it's not as flexible. So my mom has to stay home. So it's kind of hard

to watch my mom stay home and have to watch me from a TV. But I mean, I think

my favorite track I've been to though has been Port City in Oklahoma that I

mean, 10 hour driving the truck has never been fun. I'm not a big put me in my

motorhome and I'm fine. But once I'm in my truck, like, it just something about

it, I just don't like it really. But Port has to be the best one. I mean, we go

there, we race until maybe midnight, then me and my dad go and get Sonic, go back

to our hotel, eat and then we just go to bed. So it's definitely a great time

when we go there.

Yeah. And how about for yourself, Peyton?

I love traveling. And every time we travel, it's almost like three days,

because we like to take those travel days when we're not racing and turn them

into almost like a vacation. Since we're doing it all the time, we like to spend

our time that we are doing it on ways we would love to spend it. So we travel,

take it slow and then head to the races and then we're racing for like four

days. And then we come back and then we do it again. But my brother also races.

So we take the whole family and that's been pretty nice. But when I'm racing

for like my other teams who have owned my other cars, sometimes if I'm lucky,

I can fly out and just show up at the races that they're at, which that's

also pretty nice because then I'm not missing out on as much school as I would

if I was driving there. So I like anyway, but I love traveling in my motor

home. It's like one of my favorite parts of the racing.

And if I can jump back to school, I would imagine both of you are also

doing school online when you're traveling as well.

My school doesn't really do online since they're more of like, I call them like

a country school because they're like more old school and they do a lot of

schoolwork on paper. And I also ask them like when I'm getting work that I'm

going to miss, I ask them to put it on paper because sometimes when we're

traveling, we don't have the best internet. So it's just easier if I have it on

paper and just can turn it into them when I get back. But we also have Google

classrooms. So like I just keep up on that.

Okay. All right. And how about yourself, memory?

The online part, because my school is like, they don't believe in paper.

Like, I don't even remember the last time I've gotten like a paper and assignment

unless it was for math. Math, they love paper, but any other class, it's like

they don't do paper. And just like Peyton said, it's really hard or we don't

have internet most of the time. So it's like, for me, I usually just get ahead

in my work. So I don't have to worry about it on the trip. And I just usually

don't bring my computer or whatnot because I'm ahead. And then that like in

class stuff that I missed on Google classroom, I usually they usually give

me like leeway on when to do it and stuff and me having free periods. I usually

just do it during my free periods because it's never a lot.

Okay. All right. Now, I'm going to, I'm going to change the pace of this just

a little bit. We're going to, we're going to get to know both these young ladies

a little bit better. But I have to say one thing that jumped out at me when

I was going through some of your information was, and I'm going to ask

memory for this, you've got to show me how you can cross your fingers in wild

ways because I was trying to do it myself. And I couldn't quite figure it out.

So I know, I know folks at home can't see it, but I've got to see this because

I'm not quite sure what you were talking about. So if you can show that to me.

Well, so I take my pinky and my ring finger and I can cross them and then

you just cross these two and then you got like this thing or whatever. I don't know.

My like no one in my house can do it except me. So it's just like something

really funny. I can do that. I just put on there.

Okay. Okay. And how about yourself, Peyton? I'm not going to ask you to

cross your fingers. What's one thing about you that people are just going to say

what? I'm actually really excited that you asked this question. So just recently

I got the harmonica. I started learning how to play the harmonica. My dad's laughing

because yeah, but I thought that was pretty cool. And I got it because I was like,

hey, I want to learn something, have like a special talent that some people might not have.

So yeah. And it just like, it's pretty interesting. So you have to tell me how did the harmonica come

into play? What inspired you to do that? Because I'm picturing, you know, an old minor 49er playing

the harmonica with, you know, how did that come into play? I saw somebody playing like a really

hard song and I was like, oh my gosh, that's so cool. I want to do that. And then I thought about

like how people always ask me if they had like a talent and like sometimes we don't really know

what to answer. Like I can say like I can cross my fingers or like do things like random things.

But then I was like, you know, I'm going to learn how to play the harmonica so that I have a talent.

And then I also wanted to learn the song that I saw somebody else playing and I thought it was

going to be easy. So I just tried it and it's not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

So and I want to point out, sorry memory, but I can't say that it's a talent crossing your

fingers the way that you just showed us. You know, something different for sure. But you know,

if you want to claim it as a talent, we'll put it down as that. But hey, hats off to you because

I don't know if you can say it or not, but I'm literally sitting here right now trying to do it

with both hands, which I which I think I think I've got it. But I yeah, I cheated to do it. So

just just being honest with you. So so speaking of music, what do you guys like to listen to?

Let's say you're on a road trip or you're or you're at the track. What is it that that just

relaxes you? And what do you enjoy? I listen to like a lot of things. We my family and I often

listen to like country or like pop or even rap or like anything really like anything that we

like there's a lot of genres actually now that are thinking about it. It's a lot. But we bounce

between country and pop and rap and like those most of those and yeah. If I'm gonna stick with you

for a second, Peyton. So I would assume you have a phone or a device or something. If I found your

music on that and I scrolled through it. What is what is one song that I would be shocked to find

on there and what is one song that you would be embarrassed to tell me is on there but you sing

it all the time? I don't know one that like I'd be embarrassed about but I'm about a couple like

I don't know what. Probably like any like pop song from when I was like younger like

yeah like hip hop or like I had like songs from like when I was younger that my parents like to

play like in front of people to embarrass me like those types of songs and yeah that's probably

about it that'd be like I wouldn't want you to see. Okay all right. How about for you memory?

The music a lot okay I listen to a lot of sad countries which is kind of shocking

because I mean I always have a smile on my face like people hear like my music and they're like

why do you listen to this and I'm like just the kind of music I listen to it's a lot of country

but a lot of sad country. So like you cried the day your mom got out of prison and picked you up

in a pickup truck kind of song? Definitely like one of those. Okay okay so maybe your parents

were a little David Allen Co type music. Okay so something else that jumped out at me again this

is not the first time we've heard this but we have we've asked a lot of people. Who inspired you?

So let's go with you memory. Who inspired you? Wait okay I guess it kind of changed throughout

like the year the years but when I was younger it was definitely just whoever I saw at the track

and then my dad started racing and then he inspired me more when I was younger then he quit racing

and then I was like a big Kyle Larson fan he inspired me for quite some time and then

just one day I was watching trucks and Carson Hosevard popped up and ever since then it's been

like him and Kyle Larson who's just inspired me ever since maybe four years ago maybe three.

Okay so let me go back to and I'm gonna stay with you for just a second here memory

let me go back to your dad. Of course dad's always gonna inspire you so he's the one that

got you into. He may not be in the top two he may be in the top three and I'm sure he's sitting

over there just kind of rolling his eyes but when you think of your dad either at the track

or racing or whatever it is that he did what is it about about your dad that that really makes

you appreciate him? Well when he was racing it was just one of those things where it's like no

matter what he didn't give up even though he had some horror races a lot of them but that's fine

we'll have our bad days and he just never gave up or anything the only reason why he quit racing

was because of me literally he quit his racing so I can keep racing and even now he still inspires

me because he will sit in the barn literally all day working on my car to make it better and

we'll just sit there and talk to me throughout things and he tries to understand

things that are a little hard to understand sometimes when I'm talking but he still sits there

through the hard times I have in racing and will try to make my car better and try to make me better

as a person and a driver. Okay all right and how about for yourself Peyton? Yeah I think probably

my dad because and my mom because we've been going to the races since like I was little like

as long as I can remember I've been going to the races and just watching fast cars and

loud cars and all of that so most likely my dad because that's what started it all was him and

then he also raced like street cars and road course cars and all that sorts of stuff so most like

yeah my dad because he's been doing it and then my grandpa before my dad has been doing it since

he was a kid too so it's kind of just like been going for generations and then yeah my grandpa he

was like a really good dirt driver and asphalt driver and he did everything like road course

circle drag dirt asphalt all of it F1 like everything so yeah both of them. Good good that's

I'm sure they'll be happy to hear that so okay so let me maybe we'll get a little cringe out of

the parents in the background here on this one so we're going to stick with you at the moment Peyton

so money is no object there's no there's no limit on money when you are old enough to drive

we're going to call it on the street legally what is one car that you would love to put your

garage and drive around um a Porsche I my dad recently took me to the like Porsche dealership

because I've always liked Porsches and so he took me to the Porsche just to like look at

all the Porsches and everything that they had there so if we could have any car it'd be a Porsche

like GT3 or GT4 RS like any of those ones or a 911 all of them I love them all okay all right

how about you memory or an on the street car I've never really paid like I won't say I've never

paid attention to them because when I was younger I really wanted a Lamborghini and I don't like I

don't know why I've just always thought they were nice cars and I mean it'd be nice to have one to

this day but I mean even then my I'd say my dream car realistically would be more of a truck

I've always wanted a truck too for some reason so between one of those two

those two would definitely be one of my tops okay all right any particular color

I personally like black or white cars I think though the one of those two colors just have

always looked like super clean to me and just I've always looked nice okay all right so this

is a question that we normally ask a lot of our collector car and muscle car type people

this one takes a little bit of thought but here's the question and funny as it sounds you know we

ask this question of two people who this actually happened to you may know them they were

Erica Enders and her sister but the question is if they were making a movie about your life

what would the title be who would who would star as you and in that movie you're taking a road trip

what kind of car are you driving and who is your passenger and we're going to leave this one on

memory because you're on my screen at the moment so I can see your face what what would the movie

name that's a hard question I I don't really know what the movie name would be if I'm being honest

with you it's probably got to do something with racing because my life is literally dependent on

racing like I don't think there's anything else in my life except racing at this point so that's

that's a hard one but it's probably got to do something with that the car we'd be taking

probably a truck and trailer if I'm being honest probably going to a track and who would be my

passenger it kind of I think it definitely depends on the age like if my age now so well I'm 15

it would definitely probably be my dad and if we're older probably Peyton because just we go

everywhere together yeah okay Peyton how about for yourself okay yeah I've been trying to think

about this while she was talking um movie title um probably yeah like Mem said like

probably something with racing or like or like advent like something with adventures

because we're constantly traveling um the car would probably be a motorhome and a trailer

or our Jeep SRT we love that one too um and then yeah my passenger in the motorhome would be my

whole family and then like if we were older probably would be men because yeah we go everywhere

together but yeah I don't know what the movie name would be that's a little that's a little hard

like probably something like going fat I don't know yeah that's hard okay why do I have a feeling

that the two of you together could be trouble traveling together it just it just strikes me

that there's there's probably a whole lot of behind the scenes giggles that go on uh am I am I right

to assume that yeah parents always tell us to like be serious and but for we like laugh and

giggle about everything so being serious is a little hard when we're both together but we pull

it together yep yep well that's good that's all right that's all right one thing that that that

did strike me and I'm gonna stay with you at the moment Peyton um that was serious that that you

added in some of your information to us was um you raised two thousand dollars to to start racing

you know we think about you know people that come to the door they're selling wrapping paper

candles or or cookies or whatever the case is um how did you raise two thousand dollars to start

racing so basically at the time I had no social media so my mom went on to facebook on like our

neighborhood like page and posted a thing saying like telling my story and telling what I was raising

money for and then a bunch of people commented with like saying that they needed their kids baby sat

or they needed their lawn mode or their dog poop picked up or one girl needed me to move rocks so

that she could build a patio like just anything around their house I was willing to do and then

anything that worked out for me and for them I did and I basically just baby sat and watched dogs

like a lot and then did yard work and it took some time but we got there okay all right now

just so both of you know that that we're not just uh peeking or given a hard time to memory

here about her her funky finger action here when I'm looking at some of your information Peyton

I see I see flips I see back back or handstands I love the fact that you said I can hit a golf

par golf ball really far so yeah that kind of jumped out there but um tell me about baking

so um me and my mom recently started doing like sourdough it's a lot of my mom because sometimes

I don't want to do it but we started a sourdough starter because again it's like the harmonica

I saw somebody else do it and I wanted to do it so we got all of this stuff for the sourdough

starter and we started it and at first it was really hard and like frustrating and like hard

to learn um but we like got it and now we're learning how to like bake goods with all of this

sourdough and what different types we can do and then I like baking cookies and cakes and all of

that stuff I like baking more than cooking that's for sure and then yeah that's basically that stuff

and me and my mom kind of just do whatever we feel like we want to do that day with baking if we

feel like it yeah and and I'm gonna stay with you just a little bit longer here Peyton and I'm

ask this one of you memory excuse me what track has the best goodies who's got the best food um

that's kind of hard because the concessions at my local track is pretty good I remember like

almost every single time we're there we get the snow cones that are there and then um I also like

just any concessions for some reason when you're at the racetrack and you're hungry and you've been

racing all day and all night concessions food is just pretty good but yeah I think my home tracks

snow cones are like the best how about for you memory um for me I would have to say any track

with pickles something about pickles just on race day just pickles in general I love pickles

but calhanna has pretty good cheeseburgers but pickles are like home to me like there was one

time I went to port and I somehow found five bucks and I got five pickles from the concession scene

because they were a dollar each so I got five pickles for five dollars was it the best five

dollars I think I've ever spent 100 but anywhere with pickles great okay well that was an that

was an answer I wasn't quite expecting but that was a great answer if I could ask both you girls

something when you pack for a race not necessarily you know your gear or safety gear but let's say

you're you're you're putting a backpack together just some stuff that you you can't leave home without

what is one of those things for you memory for me one of the things that I definitely

can never forget is the blanket that I got or my glasses maybe even my hat just one of those

three items like you'll always see me with how about you Peyton okay I've got like my blanket

and like a stuffed animal that I've had for my whole life um my makeup most definitely and then

this is a funny one um my air purifier I have an air purifier in my bedroom and I like am convinced

that this is the reason my allergies aren't bad when I'm at home and like why I haven't gotten sick

in a while is because of my air purifier and then there was one weekend where I was in my motor home

and we all got such bad allergies and we were all just struggling throughout the race weekend

and I was convinced that was because I didn't have my air purifier so now a few times I leave

I grab my air purifier out of my bedroom and take it to the races with us and it just sits in my

motor home nice nice so this is for the two of you and and I'm gonna look at both your reaction

so when you're on a when you're on the road on the road trip when it's just the two of you

who's the better DJ oh man um I feel like me and men both have like the same like songs like

that we like so half the time it's like country songs because we both listen to that or like

songs that like 2000s pop that we can just like scream and dance to in the motor home

that's pretty fun yeah well there's like blast 2000s pop music and scream and dance to it um

that's pretty good or like um love songs we turn those on a lot and sing to those ones

it we like put on concerts and it's pretty great

concerts okay memory do you agree with that

I I'm going to have to agree with it there's like actually times because Spotify you can

like make like a joint playlist or something with someone else and like me and Peyton I've done that

before and we got like a 98% on match so so now we just have like um this playlist that we can

like just sit there and listen to or we listen to a lot of like mega moroni in my mom's car

she gets annoyed with us pretty fast after it but just someone we can never like leave out of our

music okay all right all right it if you if the two of you were designing a new

fire suit a race suit what colors would they have to be and what would the theme be on your new

race suit um my colors would have to be like teal and orange that's what it is now I mean I might

like add some color if I feel like it but it's been teal and orange for like what two years now

and I think that's like the fate my most favorite like scheme that I've had so it's most definitely

have to be teal and orange and then it probably be like the suit I have now I really like the

suit I have now but maybe like different designs lines down and like make sure it looks sleek and

clean how about yourself memory for me uh personally I guess coming from dirt I would

definitely have to have black and blue that's just that's always been colors I've stuck with

ever since I was younger it just recently switched to white and blue like a little

not too long ago I'd say three four years ago and my dad actually tried to get me a white suit

and I told him that I didn't want to get the white suit dirty because I have a friend who her white

suit is like brown really yeah basically brown and stuff and it's just like I didn't want to deal

with that so I have a black and blue suit I definitely do like the same suit I have now

I'd probably add a little more white than I have on it now and maybe like a little more gray

than it has on it now but I mean other than that I really like my suit now so

now this is something for both of you as well what of course I'm sure our memory is gonna

it's gonna mean something a little different for yourself but what does being a part of

Ashcraft Motorsports mean to you personally especially considering

what they're doing for others what does that mean to you memory of course I'm sure it means

something different to you to yourself but but how important is it to you to be able to say you

erase for Ashcraft Motorsports

it definitely feels it's it's more of an honor it's like long-term friends that I make throughout

this team and it's I don't really know my parents don't treat me any other different than the other

girls on this team they basically treat me the same if I'm not acting right or if they think that

my car needs to be taken they'll take my car if they think I'm gonna fit for the team they'll

keep me on the team and that's basically like they just don't treat me any different but it's

definitely an honor that they can give me the car I have now and that they can help me throughout

my racing and that they do a lot for me how about for yourself Peyton yeah I think it's

amazing to be a part of such a great team and be with these girls who support me no matter what

and I support them no matter what I also think it's great to have somebody like Mark Ashcraft do

what he does because he really supports like not even just the girls on his team he supports

all girls in motorsports like that's his motto that's Ashcraft Motorsports like we're girls out

there trying to show that it's not just the boys who are out there winning and I think it's so great

to be chosen to be on this team like I was one of the later ones to be on the team so I was like

extremely excited to even be a part of it and be with them and do everything with them and

yeah I think it's pretty great to have somebody so special to support me and what I do

mm-hmm and this may be a little bit of a tricky question for both of you but I'm going to look

at your your reactions again when I when I ask this but um you know when you're when you're in

a race car I've said it before you the car doesn't care if you're male or female it's it's it's how

you're performing on the track but as as two young ladies how much fun is it to beat the boys

um it's pretty great it's pretty amazing to like be off the track and have like the boys come to

you and be like oh you can't win your girl like you can't beat me I'm faster than you because I'm

a boy and you're a girl and it's pretty great to get on the track and prove them wrong and like

pass them and beat them and then come off the track and I mean we all laugh about it and like come

off the track and be like look I beat you you were wrong but like it's pretty great to like show them

that what they're saying isn't right and that everybody can be better and everybody can get

better and compete just the same no matter what I am a girl or a boy I can compete with him

just the same as I can compete with another girl so yeah yeah how about for you memory

for me I think I mean I'm the same way as pay and I think it it's all it's pretty cool to

kind of prove them wrong and I mean they've always gave me a hard time personally just

coming from everything they've always said I can't win I can't win and I mean now

I've I've beaten many of them and I mean I'll always have like the harder ones that it's like

I can't do it yet but I mean there definitely has been times when someone would be like

you can't really do it and then I just proved them wrong especially at a big race I think

the bigger race is beating them is definitely like the best feeling ever because it's like

you told me I can't do it and I just did it memory what what is your long-term goal

in racing is it to is it to stay a racer is it to stay part of racing what what do you

ultimately see yourself doing this is such an old person question you know 10 years from now

when when you're you're still very young but what is it that you see yourself doing in the future

well I see myself doing is probably I mean a dream of mine or even a goal would be to make it to a

410 and I think that's just like kind of my deadline like if I make it to a 410 sprint car

into the world of outlaws or the high-limit series then like I'll be happy but it's definitely one

of those things where it's like I would also love to make it into NASCAR and if all goes

not to plan or all goes to worst I definitely just want to stay in racing and I'll definitely

teach my kids growing up and they'll be just the new generation of racing and I'll just I always

want to be with it even if I'm not the one racing in it how about for yourself Peyton and every single

time somebody asks me that question it's kind of hard um I would love to be in racing no matter

what like like Mem said like even if I'm not racing in the car I just want to stick with it and

stay with it because this is what I love to do but I I don't really know after a quarter minutes

I could go to 600s and go to dirt or I could go to asphalt like I'm kind of veering towards just

trying anything and see what I like the most because honestly like Mem said sprint cars like in the

world of outlaws that'd be pretty cool or like NASCAR that'd be great too or even road course like

F1 like I put in there that would be awesome too like anything to make it like professional into

a big spot where I could be known for like being mean like being a good race car driver and just

showing that like I can be good in anything like Kyle Larson races multiple cars and I think that's

so amazing how he can hop in like such different cars every weekend and be able to be up there

competing with the guys who do do that for a living so so for for both of you ladies

obviously being part of a team means there's a lot of people around you that are helping you be

successful um of course you know and that starts at home with your parents and of course you know

coaches or or mechanics or family of course is a big part of it

is there is there anyone that you want to give a shout out to any sponsors anything at all that

that you know you really you really appreciate how much they support you guys and and you just

want to you just kind of want to say thank you at this point yeah so obviously my mom and dad

for everything because without them it wouldn't be anything um and then both my race team so

Ashcraft Motorsports and DKRA Racing and then my mechanic Andrew Shankerman he's like the one who

helps us a ton he's like a coach and a mechanic and like everything and he helps us on our cars

and he really just loves being out there with kids helping them do what they love to do so

he's like one of the biggest ones that i would love to mention and then also mark Ashcraft because

he does almost everything for me too he's always supporting and getting our names out there um

and then like all of our sponsors that me and mem have a couple of the same ones but am's oil

i heart mac and cheese perfect fit wellness center and my coach tyler um keeper racing jason

resin photography born to race threads graphic fx race life ma mafia cars and corrosive farms

and extravagant images and hyperco and how about yourself memory um i'd like to thank Ashcraft

Motorsports my dad my mom my sister even though she's not the biggest supporter she shows up to

my races i mean very thankful for that and then just someone who's helped me at the kkms this year

for racing are definitely the soacles i like i'd like to thank them and then just some sponsors

like pay instead we share quite a bit of them but like dignity fire protection karrison farms

engine ice performance coolant uh perfect fit wellness and performance and our coach tyler

midwest suspension born to race threads auto fluencer gunk uh drp performance productions

in eight point media for everything in i heart mac and cheese you know triple x just everyone who

has been there throughout the years or even just these past two that i've been in my micro

yeah i think it's very important obviously to remember the people that that helped get you there

and of course to to give yourself credit too because it takes a lot to to do what you guys do

i i can tell you the name it just keeps sticking in my mind is it is is the mac and cheese people

guys i i need to find out who the mac and cheese people are um i'm not a mac and cheese person but

i know a lot of people that are so i need to i need to find out more about them but um

guys i i truly appreciate you guys taking the time to join us to share a bit about yourself

you know we we we take great pains in getting to know people that are certainly not just

established but but up and coming because we want to share the word that you know you can do this

you know whether you're your boy girl you know whether you've been doing it 20 years or you've

been doing it for 20 months this is something you can do but it does take a lot of determination

takes a lot of of of passion and and you got to be dedicated to it whether it's in your school

or on the track i know something i was going to ask was you know how involved are you guys

in working on your cars if you are at all because we get that question a lot too but you know

maybe we'll get to that one next time but but i do i certainly appreciate you know

everything you guys do uh of course you know ashcraft racing uh again that was the sole reason

that that that we were we were recommended to reach out to you guys uh was because of of what

your team does and you guys certainly reflect you know that what they're doing um it's it's truly

a pleasure to to speak with you guys and and i know i certainly wish you guys a lot a lot of

luck um i have no doubt that you're gonna you're gonna get there whether it's you know the four

tens we'll see you there one day or or nascar or four-man one or hey you know maybe if kyle larson's

listening you know i don't know i'm not going to say that too loud but you know maybe you'll take

his seat one day because you know he's got to retire one day right i mean you guys are are up

and coming so but uh but no really guys i do appreciate everything uh and we certainly wish

you guys the best and we will definitely be be keeping in touch if people want to find you

on the socials or or find out where you're racing um men what's the best way for them to connect with

you uh definitely through memory ashcraft racing or ashcraft motorsports those are both on facebook

or ashcraft motorsports racing on instagram or even uh memory ashcraft on instagram and payton

have up for yourself um definitely ashcraft motorsports on facebook my family's page keep

a racing on facebook and instagram for both of those and then we also have like keep a racing and

payton guides and our racing on tiktok and instagram guys once again thank you so much

for joining us we really appreciate it thank you for for sharing a bit about ashcraft about

about yourself um it's always great to get to to meet new people we want to make sure the people

understand who you guys are and what you're about when they get the opportunity to see you at the track

you're not just another racer they're going to know something about you

and and we are looking forward to great things from you guys in the future so thank you for

joining us thank you for having us thank you for having us absolutely okay guys we will talk to you

again real soon thanks for riding along with us remember to rate and recommend us on apple podcasts

overcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts to share your story

visit jpmerson.com and be sure to invite your friends to come along for the ride

Ashcraft Motorsports: Young Racers, Big Futures

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