These days, Heckenast is trying to apply her business savvy to Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway. She longs to re-create the appeal of the old Santa Fe, with bigger purses, crowds, and sponsors. "I want to take the leap I took with A-Reliable," she says. "I've always been the kind of person who wants to do something big, or I don't want to do it." According to NASCAR, there are about 900 short tracks in North America, and many struggle to make money. Just as not all baseball fans follow the minor leagues, not all 75 million NASCAR fans follow short track.
Heckenast has some advantages, though. Kentucky Lake sits on 600 acres and is considered a miniature NASCAR-caliber speedway. The founders spent more than $5 million to build the track, which is centrally located within three hours of St. Louis, Nashville, and Louisville. Heckenast hopes to put Kentucky Lake back on the map with a race in May called The 99. The purse, to be divided among the drivers, is $99,000 -- three times the typical payout. She believes the money will attract the best drivers, who will attract sponsors, fans, and TV cameras. "I'm going out on a limb and putting on a big spectacle," she says.
Chalk it up to some timeless racing advice her father once passed along: Drive your own race, not anybody else's.
Chuck Salter is a Fast Company senior writer based in Chicago.
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