Gracie Trotter Reveals She Had No Idea About Creating History in ARCA Series

19-year-old North Carolina-native Gracie Trotter created history this past weekend. She became the first female driver to win an ARCA race and just the second female to win in the ARCA Menards Series West, which was earlier under the NASCAR banner.

Trotter’s results so far this season suggested that a win was going to come sooner rather than later for the youngster. However, the achievement still hasn’t sunk in for the driver herself. She had no idea what she was about to achieve, even while she led during the race.

“I didn’t know I was going to be the first female ARCA winner while I was racing. So it all kind of just blew up as soon as I got out of the car. So it didn’t really hit me,” Trotter said a few days after the win. “I don’t think it still has really hit me. Especially in my first year in ARCA, I think after eight starts its been. It still hasn’t hit me yet, but it’s pretty damn cool.”

Gracie Trotter exceeded her own expectations

What makes Trotter’s win even more special is the fact that this is just her first year in ARCA racing. Trotter made everyone take notice of her arrival right away and is already third in the ARCA standings. Trotter did not see these quick successes coming. Her first year was all about learning. “This year, I knew, like I was saying, it’s my big learning year for me… I just wanted to go out there and learn as much as I can. I knew it’s my first year. I want to learn all the fundamentals to these cars,” she said. “I didn’t expect to go out there and have finished top-3 a lot this year. It kind of just all came together for us. It was a lot of excitement.”

The learning process

While the win and the results came as a surprise to Trotter, she knew she was going to be racing in the ARCA Series one day. The Bill McNally Racing driver said she had come to a couple of ARCA races in the past and listened in on the radio to grasp all that she could.

With three races to go this year, Gracie Trotter will hope to catch up to the top two drivers in the standings.

19-Year-Old Gracie Trotter Creates History With a Win in NASCAR-Acquired ARCA Series