WCW Series: Look Out for Hailie Deegan

Making her rise in the racing world, 18-year-old Hailie Deegan is making herself known as an up and coming driver to watch.

When you come upon a Woman Crush Wednesday, there may be a young woman who captures your attention from behind the wheel. If you’re looking for a woman to follow and admire, this young lady is ready to be the role model you’re looking for as she races to victory.

Who is Hailie Deegan?

Ms. Hailie Deegan is the daughter of Brian Deegan and is a professional American stock car driver. She’s 18 years old and has been racing for several years, giving her a great start to her chosen career. Currently, she competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series while driving the Number 4 Ford Fusion for the DGR-Crosley team. She currently drives for Ford Racing Development after driving for the Toyota Racing Development team.

Deegan began her racing career driving off-road and dirt-track vehicles. She made the transition to competing on asphalt tracks in 2016 and found her way into the NASCAR circuit in 2018 at the K&N Pro Series level. She is currently the only female to have won races in the K&N Pro Series with wins in 2018 and 2019.

Racing Began Early

As you often find in the racing world, Hailie Deegan began her racing career on dirt bikes at the age of eight. She competed in an off-road series that early in her life and competed in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series where she became the first female to win a championship. This championship was won in 2013 and it was the Junior 2 Karts season.

In 2015, Deegan became the Modified Kart Regional Champion and the Modified Kart National Champion in 2016. That year, she was also named as the Lucas Oil Off Road Driver of the Year. She continues to drive in the Pro Lite division full-time into the 2017 season.

Driving on Paved Tracks

Beginning in 2016, Hailie Deegan began her move to driving on asphalt tracks. She did this by driving legends cars for Rev Racing. She made her late-model debut with a pair of CARS Super Late Model Tour starts at Tri-County Motor Speedway and then again at the Hickory Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Experience

Deegan was a NASCAR Drive for Diversity member in 2016. When the 2017 year came around, she was awarded with the NASCAR Diversity Young Racer award. She was only one of nine drivers named to the 2017 NASCAR Next class which is a list of drivers to watch. She was both the youngest member on this list and the only female to be included. Hailie also became a member of the Toyota driver development program in 2017.

Her First NASCAR Victory

2018 was the start of a new career and a new driving experience for Hailie Deegan. She was named the full-time driver in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West for Bill McAnally Racing (BMR). This team had won the West Series Championship each of the three previous seasons.

She was also listed as a part-time driver for the Pro Series East for the BMR team. Deegan was the only female driver to compete full-time in either of the K&N Series seasons in 2018Throughout the season, Deegan finished in a number of positions, but the race at the NAPA Auto Parts Idaho 208 race at the Meridian Speedway in Idaho she scored her first victory. This race took place on September 29, 2018.

To finish the race, Deegan passed her BMR teammate Cole Rouse on the final lap. This was the only lap she led, but it was the most important one. Her win at the Meridian Speedway marked the first for a female in NASCAR since Shawna Robinson in the NASCAR Dash Series. This first win is the beginning of what is sure to be a special career for Hailie Deegan as she makes her mark on the NASCAR world.

A Special Ceremony for Deegan

Most high school seniors receive their diplomas with their classmates at a designated location, but that wasn’t the case for Hailie Deegan. Similar to many famous youngsters who take on a career while balancing school, she spent a lot of time away from school for races. During the 2018 season, she received her high school diploma during driver introductions at the Sonoma racetrack. She did qualify third for the race and ended the race in seventh place, which gave her six top-ten finishes at this time in the season.

Another Win in 2019

The 2019 season saw Hailie Deegan begin the year strong with a pole win after having the fastest qualifying time at New Smyrna. Unfortunately, she would finish 16that this race after leading the first six laps. Her second career K&N Pro Series win would come later in the year at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which was the opening race of the West Series season.

Later in the year, Deegan announced she would compete in six races for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Menards Series. She did well in some of these races but found her way to the Winner’s Circle for the third time at the K&N West race at Colorado National Speedway. Her first ARCA top-five finish came in October at the Indianapolis Raceway Park. The following weekend, she found her way to second in the K&N West race. It’s pretty clear that Hailie Deegan is on her way to the top of the NASCAR racing list.

Changing Colors

At the end of 2019, Hailie Deegan switched from the Toyota development driver program to Ford. She has signed a full-time ARCA Menards Series contract with DGR-Crosley. For the 2020 season, Deegan’s father stated the focus for his daughter would be on ARCA to prepare her for the higher levels of NASCAR driving. She went on to open the race at Daytona International Speedway with the fastest lap time and finished the race second even though she had a mid-race incident that could have cost her many positions.

If you’re looking for a young woman to represent your WCW posts and to look at as a good role model for young girls, take a look at Ms. Hailie Deegan and get excited about her current and future success.