Standing in a booth in the middle of the Reno Ballroom in downtown Reno, Nev., Carrie Willhoff talked passionately about her company’s products that lined the small booth’s back wall.
Carrie’s company — Racechick Apparel — was one of about 50 vendors that participated in The Dazzling Diva during the 2017 Hot August Nights. The event schedule described the event as “a tantalizing & unique boutique for the ladies while the men shop the Big Boy’s Toy Store.”
T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and hats, many of them with catchy sayings like “High Heels & Horsepower,” “Car Wife Life” or “Helmet Hair Don’t Care,” occupied the wall and shelves inside the booth.
As visitors filtered in and out of the booths in the ballroom some browsed quietly, while others purchased items and others stopped long enough to have conversations with those working.
Those who stopped at the Racechick Apparel booth and spoke to Carrie for longer than a couple seconds immediately realized how dedicated and passionate she was about her company and its products.
If you delved deeper into conversation with her you would have also discovered that when she’s not working her 9-to-5 day job or selling her small company’s wares, she’s probably at the track racing.
Carrie actually got the idea for Racechick Apparel as a response to a need she felt was unfulfilled in the racing world, particularly as it relates to females.
“I went to a few events where I noticed that there were all kinds of vendors for the guys, but nothing for women,” said Carrie. “It was a huge void and I started thinking about it more seriously.
“I then had to shop for a race suit and it surprised me that there was nothing that I was able to find on the market for women’s suits unless I wanted to spend $1,200 for a custom suit.”
Since she was an outside sales rep in the fashion and apparel industry working with luxury designers such as Christian Dior, Fendi, Calvin Klein, Kate Spade and others, she was able to merge that experience she received from her 9-to-5 job with her favorite hobby — racing.
“It seemed like there was a huge disconnect between my day job and this hobby that I love,” Carrie told My Classic Garage. “At some point I tried to figure out how to combine what I do for a living with what I like to do and Racechick was thought of.”
Although Racechick Apparel currently does not sell any racing apparel, it’s not too far off. The company has plans to launch a line with Pyrotect that includes women’s fire suits, racing shoes, racing gloves and helmets as early as the December PRI show in Indianapolis. Soon after, they hope to expand the line to include fire jackets, autocross shoes, accessories and more.
Racechick Apparel’s mission is “to empower and encourage the participation of women in the racing, auto, motorsports and motocross communities by providing quality apparel and equipment to all.”
The apparel side of the racing world isn’t the only place Carrie’s made an impact. She’s also made a name for herself on the track.
She didn’t get into racing at an early age, waiting until she was of driving age for the racing bug to bite. Her first competition came in the form of drag racing at Sonoma Raceway when she was 16 or 17.
“They had a program called ‘Top the Cops.’ It was a way to get kids away from street racing and put them in a controlled environment while getting to interact in a positive way with the local police departments,” said Carrie. “They would have the high school students in one lane and cop cars from the surrounding cities in the other lane.
“It was something that a few of my guy friends were doing, and I figured that I could drive just as well as they could … and in most cases I could beat each one of them, so it made it interesting and fun.”
Her days racing cops eventually turned into competing in NHRA weekend elimination events and running test and tunes. She also ran in a couple of the “Pinks All Out” events, but stopped participating once she realized the event prioritized its reputation as a TV show over the actual competition.
Carrie’s husband, Rich Willhoff, who also races, introduced her to Autocross and Road Course racing, while she got him into drag racing. In the Western States Corvette Council series, she’s won the fastest female award every year she’s run the full schedule. She’s also competed in the SCCA autocross series and she’s currently running with the USCA in the Optima Ultimate Streetcar events.
“By far, my favorite series has been running with the USCA in the Optima Search for the Ultimate Streetcar events,” stated Carrie, who lives in Northern California. “The organization that runs it is phenomenal and the level of competition is unlike that of any other series we have run.
“This is a national series so it truly is the best of the best from across the country traveling to each race in order to get the invitation to the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational (OUSCI) in Las Vegas following the SEMA show.”
The OUSCI event was created to highlight and encourage grassroots racing and there is also a TV show, but unlike “Pinks All Out” the competition is the primary focus.
This year, Carrie landed her second invite for the event, which will take place on November 4–5 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
She currently runs three to four Optima/USCA events a years, primarily on the West Coast, as well as the Holley LS Fest West and LS Fest East events. If she has a little spare time she might throw in an autocross event or track days at Thunderhill Raceway with Hooked on Driving.
For Carrie and her husband, racing is truly a hobby they enjoy doing together. Even their first date was at a drag strip where she was competing in eliminations. They’ve also competed in drag races against each other several times, but after they both blew up their engines racing each other they no longer drag race. With two cars breaking it got to be an expensive endeavor.
They still do compete against each and when they do it’s no holds barred.
“Last year at the Thunderhill event, I beat him on the speed stop, taking away 1 of only 5 points that he lost in racing segments last year,” Carrie said.
“There’s nobody else he would rather beat him than me … and there’s nobody else that I would rather beat than him. He’s my biggest fan and he’s incredibly proud that I can give the guys in our series a run for their money.”
Last year, Carrie was the highest-finishing female in USCA in terms of points total and was one of only two women invited to the OUSCI. Her success last season even earned her the reputation as the fastest female in USCA.
With one event remaining this season, she is currently the only female with an invite to this year’s OUSCI, which only sends out 100 invitations a year.
When asked about her favorite car to drive in competition, there is no competition— Corvettes. Over the years, Carrie and her husband have owned various Corvette platforms, everything from a C5 Z06 to C7.
Carrie and her husband even met on the Corvette Forum when she was seeking advice on her Corvette C6.
“Out of all these, my favorite was the 2006 C6 Z06 that my husband turned from ‘ours’ into ‘his,’” Carrie stated. “He put together this Katech-powered machine with all the best from JRI and LG suspension. The car is absolutely bad-ass and he drives it to the limit. It won the USCA national points championship in 2016 and 2017.”
Whether she’s working with one of her clients as a sales rep, competing on the track or developing the next big thing for Racechick Apparel, it is obvious that Carrie is constantly on the move.
And that’s just fine with her.
Visit Racechick Apparel’s website at https://www.racechick.com/.
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