Racing Forward: Kennedy Massey’s Journey from Dirt Tracks to Justice Dreams
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Hi, this is KJ Massey, the driver of the number 34 car of quarter midget racing.
My home track is Hegerstein Quarter Midget Association, and you're listening to the
J.P. Emerson Show.
Welcome to the J.P. Emerson Show, where we ride shotgun as you tell your story.
Here's your host, J.P. Emerson.
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Our guest today is a 16-year-old dirt track dynamo from Hegerstown, Maryland,
who's racked up over 100 wins in the NASCAR U Series and Northeast Dirt Series.
Her racing journey is built on family, resilience, and fierce determination.
Off the track, she's a scholar, volunteer, a founder of Women on Wheels, movement-enpowering
female racers to ride together. She's passionate, bold, ready for anything as you're about to find
out and driven the drive change, day streams. My pleasure to welcome Ms. Kennedy KJ Massey. How
great, how are you? I'm doing good, I'm doing good. I'm so glad to finally meet you and have you
join us because my goodness, we went through a lot of your info and there was just so much in there.
I'm just gonna have to get to it, but before we jump into that, guys, if you're listening to this,
I want to share something with you real quick. Regardless of when you're listening to this,
what day, what time is it? KJ is so hard working as eminent by her scholastic abilities and her
work ethic, but what you don't know, it is bright and early on a Sunday morning when we are recording
this. She is up, she's ready to go. She actually sent us a message that said, hey, do I need to
get dolled up for this, which actually brought a huge laugh to us, but she could be sleeping
right now and she is joining us at this very moment on a very early Sunday morning. So,
hey, J, thank you for doing that. You could be sleeping, you could be doing a million other
things right now and you're joining us, so I really appreciate that. I mean, thank you too.
I really appreciate you having me on the show and it's such an honor to be here and talking to you.
Well, thank you. Thank you. We appreciate you joining us. I want to jump in real quick with
introduce yourself, share who you are with our listeners for those who may not know you,
what it is that you do, because again, my goodness, you have a laundry list of things that you do.
So, let's start off with the easy one. Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is actually Kennedy, Kennedy K.J. Massey. I am a 16-year-old and junior year
of high school, but I actually go to early college due to my GPA, so that means by senior year I can
have my associate's degree and I began racing back in 2019. My racing is quarter midgets.
I actually retired last year, but I came out of retirement because, you know, Tom Brady can, I can too.
So, yeah, I'm back. It was a great season. We're still going, just a few more races to go
and this show right here really just tops off the season for just greatness.
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm still a little flocked that you retired. You came out
of retirement. You were 16 years old. I mean, come on. You have to see the humor in that.
Yeah. I mean, we knew I think I would come out of retirement,
but we just didn't think we were going to run all of the races that we have been running,
but we just decided to just do the whole thing. I mean, there's no point of just doing a little
when you have the opportunity to do it all and none of that would have been possible without
my crew chief, Buddy Hines, and my Pat, Mark Logston, along with all my amazing sponsors
and my parents. Oh, absolutely. We certainly know it takes a whole team to be successful.
I guess I just want to jump back into this retirement thing because that kind of
brought me a little off guard. So at the end of last year, I guess you retired. First of all,
what led you to retire? What was that like for you? And then what led you back to saying,
okay, if Tom Brady can do it, I can do it? I mean, what? Tell me about that.
Well, for quarter midgets, we have the age range of five to 16 or 17. And we weren't sure if I was
allowed to race as a 17 year old, which will be next year. And just with like racing for so long,
my pap's getting older. I'm getting older. We knew I was going into this early college thing,
so we weren't sure how it all worked out. So when we decided that we would come back,
we were just like, how can we put this in something funny? And I'm just thinking,
well, honestly, and I even like, before they even came up with that idea of like coming up with
something like kind of funny to post, I was thinking like, well, if Tom Brady can retire,
like, what six times, then I can retire like one time. So I tell my family that I never wanted
to retire. I've never wanted to get out. I mean, I had a whole retirement speech, it was like 20
minutes long. I was crying most of the time, because I'm a very emotional person. So it was,
it was something, but I didn't like the part at the end of my speech. And that is a major part
of women on wheels as well. But back to the retirement. Yeah, once we decided we were going
to come back, I was just begging to do like nationals, and the points, because we came
out of retirement for the points at Hagerstown, which is my home track Hagerstown Quarter-Mage
Association, because the one car I did not win in a championship yet was senior animal. So we
decided to run senior animal, luckily by Mr. Buddy Hines, who provided me the car. And we also
decided just to keep my world car, which we kept from last year. So then my birthday came around,
and I asked to have my birthday at the NASCAR Youth Series National Race out in Illinois.
I got fourth place. And I think fifth, no, I think I got a good position in the B main. And
then that's really good in points. So we just decided to keep going. And I ended up getting top
five in the nation. So now we're going to Indy in December. Nice, nice. That's amazing.
I, for myself, I wasn't as familiar with the dirt racing up until about two years ago. I knew of
it, but I wasn't really sure how it works and all the different levels. With you racing where you
are right now, what would come next for you? Let's assume you don't retire again. But what is next
for you? Would you, I guess the phrase would be graduate to another class or age bracket or group?
Is that what would come next for you? And is that something that you're looking to do?
Well, as of right now, we do not have a next step for me for racing as much as I love to have one.
We really just don't, I don't, we don't really have the crew chief to set up the,
if we would get a micro or like a sprint, I mean, a legend, I would drive anything if
as a pedal and doesn't even have a brake steering wheel and pedal, I'll drive it. But
I mean, I would love to race, but we really just don't have anything ahead of me right now. My mom
and perhaps suggest that I save like my time and money for college and then if I still have the
edge to race, then get back into it. But I do have it ahead of me, my future, I do have goals of going
into either NASCAR, NDF1 to like do like marketing and business and that along with
um, just traveling with all the races. I mean, it would be great to keep driving. I've kind of
convinced my family to give me a champ cart just to race at least once or twice. I'd love to do it,
but I just don't know if we are anymore as much as I'd love to. It's just the opportunities just
not there for us right now. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that may come up sometime in the future. I thought
it was interesting when you said you're looking at what you want to do in the future. Of course,
you've got schooling and all the other necessary things that we don't always like to talk about.
But yeah, I mean, the window certainly is not closed. I mean, you look at professional racers
today, male and female. I mean, they're racing many, many, many years past where you are right
now. So that's certainly open to what you're interested in. If I can ask, you mentioned
maybe NASCAR, F1 or some other kind of marketing, is that something that you
wish to go into in college? Is there are schools that actually do have that type of program?
Is that something you're looking to get into or are you looking for something else
and that as well, maybe a minor or something? So, I've always had the goal of working in
a racing industry as I grow older because I've always knew like there's probably not another
step for me after quarter midgets. So I was just always brainstorming ways to stay into racing.
For my early college, I did pick between marketing and a criminal justice class because I am in
between marketing and business with NASCAR or a whole other route, which would be
like crime and lawyer and investigations. So I'm still debating on which, I mean, I could probably
just sort of do both, I'm not sure. I mean, it's still too soon to tell, but I do like them both
a lot. But criminal justice really does speak to me a lot. What is it about that field that speaks?
I mean, I've always liked crime investigations of finding out who the
murderer is or what happened and what occurred. I've always liked watching the court cases
and things like that. I mean, I feel like the thing that speaks to me is just going to the
crime scene and determining what has occurred and what may have caused it, who did it. I like
finding out and thinking about what happened and why and who. And I don't know, I just really
just speak to me. Yeah, well, that's good. That's good. It's great to have other interests as well.
As I'm listening to you, I have brought this up multiple times on our show and we've had
other guests share that they're interested in going into the racing business side of it as well.
And I had a long conversation with Leah Pruitt about this. And she made a point of saying,
you know, there's so many different avenues in racing. It's not just person in the seat.
But if you think locally, you know, let's just talk about your team, you know, you've got yourself
driving, but you can probably name half dozen people off the top of your head that are involved,
making you successful. Whether it's that you have the crew team or you have your mom behind you or
friends behind you, you've got someone that's providing you. But when you think a little
broader than that, there's, think about the first time you saw your name on the car number.
Somebody had to do that. Basically had to do that. And so you've got people that are doing CAD
that are mechanic that are doing artwork that are doing social media. See, there's something you
can get into as well. All of those are part of the team, whether you're driving the car or whether
you're putting a sticker on it. I mean, that's all part of it. And if I tied that into your
interest in solving a crime or what's going on there, think of the people that are working on
the car when you're saying, I'm not getting enough out of it or I'm losing it on the top
end or whatever the case is. These are the people that are solving the crime, so to speak,
that you're talking about their figuring out what's going wrong, how to change it and how to
make it more and better solve it there. I'm not talking you out of criminal justice. I mean,
that's an outstanding field. I'm just hearing you speak of it and thinking,
she's really talking about the same thing just in a different looking at it through a different lens.
Yeah. I'd love to see you do both. You think about the people that are,
I mean, boy, talk about being popular. You'd be solving crimes over here and win races on the
weekends. I mean, there'd be no stopping you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I would love to do both.
Speaking of other interests now, if we move off that just a little bit,
not only did I read some of your information, but I absolutely did a little backside investigation.
You got to tell me about this softball career because, again, there's people here listening
to this show. You cannot believe the amount of things that KJ is about. You got to tell me
about this because I think you underplay a little bit how talented you are. So you got to tell me
a little bit about it. So before racing, my main sport was softball, but once I got into racing,
like eight to nine years old, I said, I'm retired from softball because I did not understand
like retired meant. Now I do, and they do call it retirement when you get out of quarter midgets,
but then I didn't. I mean, I've always enjoyed softball. And once high school season came around,
I've always wanted to play. And so I got back into it and made the varsity team
for my freshman sophomore year. And I also do fall and summer softball with a lot of great people.
And it really does prepare me for the spring season for high school.
But it does, the workouts and the practices do start like, I think December, so it's coming around.
Yeah. So that's pretty exciting. I know I had asked you previously,
what advice would you give someone getting into your current field or sport or hobby or whatever we
want to call it today, whether it's racing or sports? And something that stuck out to me was
you said your advice to young girls would be to, and this is bold and italic,
underlying is to never, and I emphasize never, let a boy tell you or make you feel like you don't
belong in the sport. Yes, we've certainly heard that from you from many young ladies,
but at the same time, at the same time, we've also heard as the years go on,
okay, maybe they don't like losing to a girl. Maybe that's something that kind of rubs them
the wrong way. But I think as you get older, you don't see them as a boy versus girl, especially
the young ladies don't see you as a boy versus girl. It's, you're just racing. Have you noticed
any change in the attitude? Maybe you felt that or saw that when you were a little bit
younger, or has that improved any as you've grown older?
I mean, I feel like as females get more competitive in the racing industry,
as this is a male dominated sport, guys do not enjoy being beat by a girl, and I feel like it's
always been around. I mean, I know a lot of girl racers that were kicking butt, and I never heard
good things from the guy groups about them, and I never understood it until I became more
competitive, I would say my third year of racing. So I don't think it's gotten better and or worse,
but I just think it's just always there, always will be there, and just really won't change,
which is partially why I created that racing group, Lemnel Wheels, to help girls feel that
even when they do not feel supported from guys either posting or talking about them,
there's always somebody going to be behind you, and Lemnel Wheels is open to guys and girls. So
no matter if I say like don't make a guy like determine who you are, it's nothing against the
guys, it's mainly just that's just how the society kind of is in racing. So Lemnel Wheels includes
guys and girls, I mean we have a lot of great guy racers who support the girls and are always there,
but then there's always that little group that does not, and we need to not listen, we need to block
them out, and that's like kind of what I meant about, well that not kind of, it is what I meant
about how not letting anybody determine who you are. Absolutely, I think that's great advice,
for anyone that's interested, how do they find out more about women wheels and how can they
be a part of it and join, and you emphasize it's not just male or female, it's both.
How can they find out more about that? They are interested. So Lemnel Wheels is a Facebook
group as of right now, so you can follow the group, it is also under, a little more information is
also under my Facebook profile, Kennedy K.J. Massey, so if you have any questions you can add me
and send me a little message, or you can message Lemnel Wheels about it. I've been a little slow
on posting for that recently due to early college, it's definitely not like high school, so yeah,
I'm a little behind on that, but it does really emphasize on supporting girls and giving them
their shout outs and credit that they all deserve, when or lose, and because if you're a girl in
racing, it's a win overall for all girls in racing, the more girls that are in the racing industry,
it's like, it's kind of just empowering the fact that girls can race,
and I feel like all girls have the potential and talent to do well, they just need to get the right
mindset, and that's really what Lemnel Wheels is about, and we have guys who support it,
we support the guys, and I just, I mean I created it just to bring the racing community together
and defeat the hate, I would say, of, and the non-support of other groups,
and it's honestly going really well, I mean I have over 60 drivers on the team,
and I created it I think in February, yeah, and it's been going really great.
That's great, that's great, that's super to hear, and we'll certainly do our part to help
the sport. We want everyone to succeed, you know, it's, I get it, you know, as a guy myself,
I guess, you know, in playing sports or something, when you were, when you were younger, it's,
you know, you never wanted to hear, you know, the girls struck you out, or you know, whatever,
whatever sport you were playing, but yeah, you know, the car doesn't care who's driving,
it doesn't matter, you know, it just, you know, we are so fortunate, especially in the racing industry,
to have a, it may not quite be a level playing field, but as far as I know, it's probably the
only playing field where male and female can be head to head, you can, you, when you can lose
whatever the case may be, you know, you're not seeing that in, you know, football and basketball,
stuff like that. It's very, it's very cool to see, and I know from my time working with our
friends at the NHRA, it's making some of the baddest racers, they're killing it,
and they're doing amazing things, and they don't have to worry about the stigma of being a female
racer, but if I can, again, change gears on you here, it's a little funny to talk about someone
that says, I'm retiring at 16, but is there one personal or race-related story? It could be your
first race here, your first, I don't want to call it the feed, but is there something
of all other races that sticks out to you, that when someone says, hey, what was your greatest moment?
So I actually have one that's always stuck out to me. It was my first year of racing,
and it was the auto racing club of Hagerstown sponsored race called Arch, and I had won my
fifth win of the year out of, I think, six so far, and the funny thing is I never wanted to race in
the first place, and just that part of like getting them, so when you win those, you get a big flag
with Arch on it in the day, and I just was so obsessed that I got a flag, and ever since that
race, Arch races have always been my favorite. I mean, that's also partially why I came out of
retirement, and because I just never want to miss those, I love them. I feel like I always
aimed to win at least one, and I have every year since 2019, and just one more race that
has really stuck out to me this season is for the national race here at Hagerstown.
We were running, I think it was the B main, and we made it up to the A main, and I was so close
to winning. The car was perfect, fast, and then as I'm passing for second, I get completely
put into the huggy rail, and I lose my position from first, and it was three laps to go, and I
was faster than first, and I'm just like, hmm, could have been my national win, but I mean,
that will always stick out to me. I mean, it was such a, I mean, I will never, I mean,
it was such a great feeling of how fast the car just rotated perfectly, and you just can't forget
that feeling, and that was actually the car of my crew chief, Buddy Hines. Okay.
You know, being a racer, of course, it takes the whole team, and the team doesn't just start
the track, it starts at home, but is there, I'm sure there's many, is there one person that
has really inspired you to do better, to be the best person you could be, to be the best person
you could be, and if so, who would that be? My Pat, he's my idol, he's like a celebrity to me.
Um, this makes me tear up, oh my lord. I mean, we never had the closest relationship growing up,
we were close, I mean, he would always watch me after, sorry, pre-k, and um, but once racing came
around, we'd just been inseparable, he's my best friend, and he's taught me everything I know of
not just racing, but in like, just in society in the world, like, he's made me more of a woman
than just a girl, never taking any crap from anybody, never giving up, and racing, even when
the car is completely demolished, I will beg to go back out and finish the race, I will never
just come off the track, no matter the damage, unless the car can't physically go, I will keep
going, and I never back down from a, not like a fight, but like, not a fight, but just competition,
competition on the track, I don't hand it, I, you know, battle for that second, or even last place,
I will always, never give up, and that was him who taught me that, and he's just such a mentor to
me, and not just a crew chief, not just a PAP, and I just idolized him with every bit of me,
and I mean, I can't imagine my life without him. I have no mentality to think about you, I mean,
absolutely. Let me ask you this, this is a little deeper question.
Can you, what makes someone a hero? What's that? What makes somebody a hero? Oh, sorry.
I feel like it's not, a hero is not like Superman who saves the city and stuff, it's more of
who makes you a stronger individual in the world, in your sport, in your school, who like,
lifts you up, who makes your life better, who has always been there at your lowest and saved
you from your lowest, and that's honestly how I view my PAP, and especially my mom.
Have you ever considered, think about this, you're sitting on the track, you're always
sitting on the only passenger car you've got, that little five, six, seven year old little you
coming up looking for an autograph? Have you ever considered that to them you are a hero?
I mean, I would think so. I kind of do have that at the track, but they're not little me,
they're a lot of other little girls who just became in racing. I mean, even when I didn't
truly know what I wanted to do in racing, I was like, I think I was 14, 13, and I just remember
this little girl, and she just really didn't know what she wanted, if she wanted to race or not,
and I just took her under my wing, and I would never like, I would always support her, I would
always like be like, girl, you finished, you got that, and then as just, she sadly did leave
racing, but as I grew older, I did become more part of the younger girls kind of group,
so they all do really, I feel like look up to me, they all always come around, and I forever
appreciate that. I always have their backs, I always help them with their lines of the track,
with their cars, where they let off the gas, go on the gas, and I mean, I'm never not supportive of
them, and I mean, they're like some of my best friends of the younger age, I mean like, I love
those girls so much, and it's all at the home track too. It sounds to me like you are describing
yourself in the same, same lens that you're describing, you're always there, let the others
out, it doesn't matter really what's going on, that you're putting your best foot forward and
getting the next generation that's the way to do things. I think it's, first of all, I commend you
for that, I think it's great that you're doing that, you know, to the young lady that may not
be in racing anymore, she may not be in racing, but I guarantee that she remembers exactly what
she did. Yeah, I saw a picture of her the other day, and I'm like, oh, and it's just like,
I don't know, it's kind of sad just to not see her anymore, because she was such a bright kid,
such a sweet girl, and I mean, I hope she's doing well. I don't know what she's doing.
Well, let's have a little bit of fun in here right now. So
this we usually do, this is a rapid fire segment, so something you're not prepared for.
What I'm going to do is, I'm going to hit you with something, and I want you to tell me the first
thing that comes to mind, a little fun doing this. This is not your first sheet, so a little fun.
So if you're ready, I'm going to start off with, obviously, we know you're really good at a whole
lot of things. More than we could probably get into this show. What are you really terrible at?
Oh, I'm really terrible at writing essays. I'm good at coming up with the ideas. I just hate,
I'm terrible at formatting, and I'm very terrible at also keeping my mouth shut.
Okay, all right. This one might be easier. Tacos or sushi?
Tacos. Okay, all right. I don't know, maybe your mom or somebody would know this answer better than
you, but the household chore I really dislike. Uh, I hate doing laundry.
That's a popular game. I hate doing laundry. I hate holding laundry, usually.
I hate being pulled away.
Okay, if you were in a circus, would you rather be the person who puts their head
in the lion's mouth or gets shot out of the cannon?
Shot out of the cannon? I had a feeling that was going to be the answer. Okay, all right, I can see that.
What product or item would you stuck up on if you had just heard that they were discontinuing it forever?
Um, Mr. Piv.
Okay, all right. Get a lot of disappointed people if they stop making that. Okay.
Morning person or evening person?
Um, I'm more of a night person. I can't go to bed at night. I usually stay up till like two
o'clock in the morning. Okay, all right. That's right. I guess that's a bigger
thank you for getting up this morning. What would you most likely become famous?
Um, I feel like I could become famous for maybe just speaking out on the empowerment of women.
I don't know. That's just something I'd love to become famous for. I mean, that's my
goal of racing. Like as I've grown older, it's not just about winning for myself,
but just winning for women in the community. Okay, all right.
This one is always a favorite. We've had some really interesting answers to this one.
What type of movie would it be? Would it be a comedy or a drama?
Who would play you and what would the title of the movie be?
Uh, I feel it would be comedy and drama because, you know, there's always drama in the racing
community. It's just how it is. And comedy because my family is crazy and it's actually very funny.
And who would play me? I don't, I don't know. It's probably someone short. I'm really short.
Okay. All right. What was the title? What was the title of me?
Um, the life of the Massey girl.
Okay. Well, that's okay. I can be, I can get your movie. I can be about anything.
So if we're talking about the life of the Massey girl,
imagine yourself right now. You're taking a road trip anywhere.
Where would you go? What would you drive and who would be your passenger?
Um, around the United States or the world? Well, I can be anywhere.
Okay. Uh,
Oh, Lord. Um,
I mean, I wouldn't go to Tennessee.
Okay. Um, you know, the little country area.
I would drive a Chevy convertible Camaro and my passenger would probably be my mom.
Okay.
Um, I would say classic.
Oh, okay. Okay. I know there's a whole bunch of ears on their shoulders.
Living up when you just said that. What color would it be?
Baby pink. All right. Okay. So this one, wow, see, there's a whole lot of questions
based off of this one. So who is in charge of the teens of the radio?
Me. 100% me. Okay.
Because I know, I know in your notes, you said, Hey, I'm a huge country music person.
So, um, what is blasting in the radio?
Um, I like Tyler Childers. He's, I like his music and I mean, I really just shuffle
any country music, not like any of the newer ones, because I feel like those aren't like
very country like, but kind of, I would say like early 2000s up to like 2016.
Okay. All right. So I don't particularly see how brave you're going to be.
But I have your family right now. I mean, I mean, story.
You, that you wish you really wish they would just forget what story would they come?
Oh gosh. All right. So I, NASCAR series poking a race last year.
Um, I think I had a little acne breakout. So I was taking antibiotics for it.
I did not eat anything that day except for cereal and milk with just dairy.
And it's 90 degrees out. I didn't drink any water. And as I'm getting in my car, I start
throwing up and, and I'm like, they're asking me if I want to keep racing. I do.
And I transfer to the B main. I come out and then I pass out in front of everybody in the tech,
in the tech, um, canopy area and we had to drop the whole weekend of just racing all the lower mains.
So I do get laughed at for that a lot. And every race, I always get asked by families,
did you drink water today? Did you eat today? And I'm just like, yes, I did.
Wow. Okay. I really wasn't expecting that one. But okay. That's, that's good.
Okay. That surprised me with that one. So today, what's your proudest accomplishment so far?
You know, it could be a race. It could be something personal, but
so far in your, in your extensive life experience, but what's your proudest?
Um, I would say my proudest accomplishment was last year at the HQMA banquet of getting
sportsmen and driver of the year. Yeah, that's really cool. I mean, it's hard to tell. I mean,
and then you folks at home can't see this, but behind KJ is like a hall of pain full
of grudges and lords. It's ridiculous, the amount of things behind are better. So
what is obviously, you know, you're talking about your age, retirement from racing, but
your future plans obviously includes school, et cetera. But outside of that, what is it that
you want to do? We know your responsibilities for school and work, et cetera, but
what's, what's in your bucket list? I would like to get into another car, whether if it's, I mean,
just being provided by a car from a total stranger would even be great, or given the
opportunity to just even drive for just a little bit. I mean, I never want to get out of racing.
It's made me who I am today, and it really gotten me out of my shell. And I don't know,
I'm just not ready to let it go, no matter of college and stuff like that.
Would you, would you be interested in moving off the dirt on the pavement or some other type of
racing without it? Yeah, I mean, I would do pavement anything. If it's a type of racing,
I mean, I would even do a motocross, but my family won't let me do that. They said I'll
get hurt, but it's an opportunity. I'll take it. Yeah, okay. Looking for an opportunity. So
you'll have to talk with, with mom and dad over this, but there's no fear in KJ. I can say that.
Okay, one real quick, speaking of, I don't want to call it fear, but I'm going to try to
figure out how to, how to answer this question. You, you mentioned earlier that
you don't back down from anything that's just ingrained in you. You've, you've got this innate
ability to avoid wrecks. I guess that's the word that, that I'm looking for. But you also mentioned
that, you know, you had a couple of flips, you know, big compacts like that. How do you get your
mindset back to go, you know, hey, this, this just happens, but I'm going to get my butt back in
the seat and get back out. How do you do that? Well, it did startle me, especially because it
happened twice in one day. Just how easy it was to just have such a horrible flip with just a
little bit of contact. It took me, I would say about three to four races to finally get my
self kind of back. But I did start. So after that, I kept starting in the back
just to like make myself like you got to get up there. You got to get up there. So I kept like
pushing myself to like get the courage to keep moving instead of just staying out in front.
And then finally, we did get this bar for in front of my tire. So then people don't hit me there
to the point I flip because I guess it's just the setup that's causing the car to be kind of light
to do that. And finally, when I was starting in the rear, I got the courage and I went,
I would say, I think it was eighth all the way up to first. And then the kid wrecked me. But,
you know, I count that as a win. Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's good.
You know, you sound you sound very much like, obviously, you know, you're something that's
driven and determined and all the way describe your racing. I'm not giving up. I'm not giving
it in. I'm just going to keep going for it. It's not a fair assessment of your academic life as
well. But as far as how you perceive yourself in the future by falling off the track that
you said your mind, they're going to go after it for work.
I mean, I'm trying to have that mindset. But you're when you're in the car and you got the helmet on,
you're in a whole other world. And sometimes I can't even remember what happened because it's just
everything is zoned out. I'm in this. I'm like in the zone. I'm just so focused on what is happening
on the track. I can't even think about anything else. And but when I don't have that helmet on
and I'm not in that kind of like dangerous situation of what's going to happen next.
I kind of don't really have the courage as I would inside the car for the real world. But I
do feel I'm getting to that point, especially with my pap helping me with that of just
just being if I can, he always says if you can drive a race car, you can do anything.
So I do have that mindset. But I have gotten a lot better at speaking my opinion and how
I don't know, I just feel like I've gotten a lot better at being more social and out of my shell
of going after things and not being embarrassed of making a mistake.
Obviously, sage advice from from your path there. Of course,
like I said, you know, nobody gets there alone. You've got some, you know, an amazing family
with sponsors. Is there anyone that you'd like to give a shout out to or thanks to
right now, like I said, there's no eye and team. So it takes a whole lot of people. So who does that
for you? I mean, I would like to actually give a shout out to obviously my pap, my grandma,
which is my mammal, my parents, buddy. And can I give a shout out to all my sponsors?
Okay, I would like to give a shout out to all the sponsors who have stayed with me over the last
five years. You have supported me through it all. Mike Radiker, owner of MEC electrical services,
Chrissy Smith, female owner and owner of JC Smith Construction, LLC, Doug Massey and Jerry
Massey with Massey Hyundai, Josh Hoffman, owner of Elite, card processing, Bob and Chris King,
owners of Redhill Tactical, sorry about my dog, Paul and Courtney Plim, owners of high performance
cabling, high point roofing, Hub City structures, Agent Charity Greenfield with Wiker Realtors,
Renee and Sean Weddle, owners of Rolling Smoke Meat and Sweets Food Truck, Todd Webster, owner of
integrity investigations and processing, Chris Malott, Aunt Joanne and Uncle John Boundy,
Trevor and Stacey Hollinger, Matt Bridenhauer, Tom Hoffman, Amanda Joyce and Lee Fleming,
Elena and Adam Earp and every race was ran in memory of Peyton Swope who left the earth too soon.
Absolutely. How much is Bob's name? Ricky Bobby. And shout out to Ricky Bobby too.
He just wanted to make sure that Ricky Bobby was well represented on this show. So we're gonna
get Ricky in the shout out as well. He's a loud one. That's right. You know what? He's part of the
family, right? So he takes the whole family to do it. Oh, yeah. Hey, Jay, I really appreciate
you taking the time to join us. It was a lot of fun. We learned a lot. We didn't even get to
hear Taylor Swift obsession, but that's okay. Well, we really appreciate it. We appreciate
you for letting us do this. We would certainly be following along. I know there's success. There's
much success. And you may say that you're retiring from racing, but I just have a feeling
maybe not so fast. So I think there's more great things coming. Obviously, there's great
things coming off the track as well. We certainly appreciate it. And again, I'm gonna give a shout
out. You know, I know how much it means to people, but I'm gonna give a shout out to your
Pat, who does a great work with you. And of course, you know, your parents as well. You're
perhaps sounds like a special guy. I have no doubt that that I guess
he may be your hero, but I know deep down that you're your his as well.
Thanks for everything. I know what it means. I know what it means for for someone special to
take. Thank you again for everything. I do appreciate it. We will be back in touch again
really soon. We'll be following through and find out how things are going.
I can have a whole other show based on the stuff that you're doing, but
we'll save that for another time. But thank you again for everything. And we will talk to you again
really soon. Thank you and live for reaching out to me. And I thank you for letting me have
the pleasure of being on the show. I mean, it's such an honor. Absolutely. Well, we thank you
and we will talk to you again really soon. Okay. Alrighty.
Thanks for riding along with us. Remember to rate and recommend us on Apple podcasts,
overcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. To share your story,
visit JPEmerson.com and be sure to invite your friends to come along for the ride.
About this episode
Kennedy K.J. Massey, a 16-year-old racing prodigy, shares her inspiring journey from quarter midget racing to her aspirations in the automotive world and beyond. With over 100 wins, she discusses her return from retirement, her passion for empowering female racers through her initiative, Women on Wheels, and her future goals in marketing and criminal justice. K.J. reflects on her close relationship with her grandfather, who has been a significant mentor, and emphasizes the importance of resilience and support in the male-dominated racing community.
Original notes
Kennedy K.J. Massey, a 16-year-old dirt track racer and founder of the Women on Wheels movement, shares her multifaceted journey through racing, mentorship, and academic ambition. K.J. opens up about her return to quarter midget racing, her pursuit of a championship title, and her upcoming appearance at the NASCAR Youth Series national race.
Listen as she shares the challenges of being a female racer in a male-dominated sport and the empowering work she’s doing to uplift young girls at her home track. From her dreams of criminal justice to her love for softball and country music road trips, Kennedy’s story is full throttle fun, and growth.
Connect with Kennedy here:
https://www.facebook.com/kennedy.kj.massey
Women on Wheels
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571367251181
https://www.instagram.com/kj_massey/
Connect with Red Line Oil:
Connect with Mecum Auctions:
Connect with JP Emerson:
Olivia “Liv” Harper, PR, Marketing, & Distribution Executive: www.jpemerson.com
For more podcasts on cars, check out Ford Mustang: The Early Years Podcast at www.TheMustangPodcast.com, on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts
For more information about sponsorship or advertising on The JP Emerson Show or podcast launch services, contact Doug Sandler at [email protected] or visit www.turnkeypodcast.com
The JP Emerson Show
Doug Sandler, JP Emerson, Turnkey Podcast Productions
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