A Summerland stock car racer stands on the verge of kicking her career into a higher gear.
Depending on how Sarah Cornett-Ching does in her July 23 race at Vernon Motoplex Speedway, she could find herself becoming a more permanent part of A & W Cruisin’ the Dub NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, a more senior circuit which she hopes to permanently join. Cornett-Ching currently races on the ARCA OK Tire Sportsman Series and recently competed in Quesnel.Cornett-Ching currently sits in 11th out of 25 racers with 72 points, according to the ARCA’s web site.
If Cornett-Ching does well Saturday in Vernon, she will be back on the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, the following Wednesday when it moves to Saskatoon.
Cornett-Ching has fully appreciated the significance of the opportunity which has presented herself as she plans to establish herself on the Canadian Tire tour.
“It’s going to be pretty big for my career,” she said.
Cornett-Ching’s plan sounds simple. Do well enough to draw the attention of the racing and sponsorship community. While Saturday’s race represents a major step in this agenda, Cornett-Ching will have to take it under perhaps less the perfect circumstances.
Even the most superficial survey of stock car racing reveals a series of complex relationship between the actual driver, the pit crew and the vehicle. These relations will undergo a test this weekend as Cornett-Ching will find herself steering a vehicle with which she is not familiar.
“It is completely different,” she said. And with the race just days away, she will not have much time to get practice it.
This inevitably means that Cornett-Ching’s minimal goals include keeping the car “clear,” in other words, not hitting anything as she navigates the packed field.
Cornett-Ching will be in the area towards the end of the month when she races in Penticton during the Gordie Mannes Memorial Weekend July 30 and 31.
While this event will give her a chance to race in very familiar circumstances, Cornett-Ching will also have the chance to do more fund-raising for the B.C. Children’s Hospital, which she recently visited to meet with young children who receive care for long-term illnesses.
As part of the visit, she brought along the hood of her car for children to sign their names on it.
Locals will also get a chance to sign when she and her car will be at Penticton’s WalMart Friday, July 29.
She has also partnered with a fast food chain to raise funds for charity on August 25.