NASCAR: After years of working toward it, Julia Landauer set for Xfinity Series debut Saturday
When the NASCAR Xfinity Series takes the green flag at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, Julia Landauer will make her long-awaited NASCAR national series debut, piloting the No. 45 Chevrolet for Alpha Prime Racing.
The 30-year-old driver hails from New York City, has a degree from Stanford University, and spends time as a keynote speaker, advocating for STEM education and empowerment for women.
Behind the wheel of a race car:
* She became the first female champion in the history of the Skip Barber Series -- at just 14 years old!
* She was the first woman to win a NASCAR Track Championship at Motor Mile Speedway in her division.
* She’s driven in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, the Canadian NASCAR Pinty’s Series and the NASCAR Euro Series, where she finished 5th, the highest ever for an American in the history of the series.
Landauer spoke with Auto Racing Digest on Wednesday before a flight to Tampa, Florida, to give a keynote speech before traveling to New Hampshire for practice and qualifying on Friday.
“A big mix of excitement and nerves, but overall, I’m just really excited that I’ve finally been able to make this happen,” Landauer said of the chance to drive at the NASCAR national level.
“We’ve been trying to get into the top levels of NASCAR for years now, since my K&N and Euro days. More than anything, I’m just really, really thrilled. I’m definitely jumping in the deep end, but I feel like I’m a little older and more mature and can jump in and really make the most of it.”
Not only is Saturday's race a first for Landauer, but it’s also a first for her primary co-sponsors, Boss Beauties and GarageXYZ, as they will become the first NFT communities to sponsor a driver in NASCAR.
What brought Landauer, NFTs and Alpha Prime together?
“When my Euro NASCAR team pulled out pretty late into the offseason and I realized I wasn’t going to be racing much, I had been hearing about NFTs and I was just curious because I didn’t know them and I like all things STEM-related," Landauer said. "I was like ‘Julia, you’ve got some time, let’s learn about this.’”
She read a lot, dabbled in creating her own NFTs, started getting involved in Discords and the communities and collected and bought into projects. Ultimately, it led to seeing GarageXYZ on Twitter.
“Their NFTs are beautiful photography of all kinds of cars from Ian Wood," Landauer said. "Just visually they are pretty. I loved their ethos. Some of the founders went to Stanford as well.
"So I reached out and wanted to be involved in the project as a community member. And then I felt some synergy, so I decided to shoot my shot and that led to them committing to a co-sponsorship.”
Already having a relationship with Boss Beauties, as well as owning one of their NFTs, she pitched the company to sign on as a sponsor.
“It's a big collaborative effort," Landauer said. "It’s kind of a hybrid way to go about sponsorship, but it also means that all these community members are invested in seeing us do well.
"I think it’s really cool to have it be so much more than just me and the sponsors. It’s me and the sponsors and this big community.”
Photo courtesy Julia Landauer.
You might find yourself asking, what exactly is an NFT?
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a financial security consisting of digital data stored in a blockchain, a form of distributed ledger. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain, and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded.
“Boss Beauties and GarageXYZ are NFT communities, which means they are essentially businesses where their product is this digital asset that’s created on the blockchain, which means that it’s their forever, it’s very transparent and you need to use cryptocurrency to purchase it. I think the best way to look at it is the same way people collect art and other assets.
“Part of what GarageXYZ is doing is helping to bring their NFT collectors to different motorsports experiences. So they are going to bring a bunch of people out to New Hampshire. Boss Beauties can help give scholarships and mentoring to women in their careers.
“You see a lot of people that say (NFTs) are scams. I think of it kind of like email. Of course, there are going to be some emails that are scams, but there are a lot of emails that are really valuable.
"It’s about education. I spent about a year-and-a-half learning and exploring in Web3 to learn about it. I think it’s really cool. There is a lot of crossover and, technology-wise, I think it’s an interesting, decentralized way to go about business. It’s a new medium that if you don’t take your time to educate yourself on, you may or may not grasp it.”
With sponsorship secured, she reached out to Alpha Prime Racing owner Tommy Joe Martins.
“I’ve known Tommy for a couple of years now through the industry," Landauer said. "Earlier this year, I thought we were going to have a sponsor come on for an earlier race, so we had discussions then and that fell through. Once I knew that I was able to secure sponsors for New Hampshire, I reached out to him to see if he still had availability, and he did. So we were able to pick up where we had left off.”
Landauer has been busy preparing for her debut, participating in a rookie test with the team at Motor Mile Speedway and spending time at the shop. She went to the race weekend at Nashville Superspeedway to get a sense of how the team works and was able to listen to the spotter that will guide her during her debut.
She noted the braking is very different from most of the cars she’s driven in her career. Several people told her that the Xfinity cars are the hottest cars -- as in interior temperatures -- in NASCAR's national series, so she’s been doing a lot of heat training with her trainer at PitFit.
And pay special attention when the Xfinity teams hit pit road for the first time in Saturday’s race.
“This will be my first live pit stop," Landauer said. "We’re definitely jumping in the deep end. But I got to practice it. I get it. I think the big thing will be not speeding and not driving through too many pit boxes. It will definitely be a weird first pit stop.”
Earlier this week, the team unveiled the pink and blue scheme for the No. 45 Boss Beauties/GarageXYZ Chevrolet.
“Isn’t it gorgeous? I think it’s a beautiful car,” Landauer said with excitement in her voice. "It’s a really nice way to be a little different. Part of the ethos of a lot of my sponsors is to be inclusive and to empower people to what they want, how they want to. I think it’s cool and I hope people appreciate it.”
Landauer’s goal for the weekend is to run all the laps, stay off the wall and be learning the whole time.
What does her NASCAR future hold after New Hampshire?
“I’m cautiously optimistic," she said, "but we’re planning to try to get a few more races in this season.”