How Building Speed Came to Be

For many years, our Chief Executive Officer, Amanda Perez, saw a problem in the motorsports industry. The problem? A gap, and a big one, between the education and career phases for young women looking to enter the industry. She had a business proposal written for many years- something that would later become Building Speed. Unbeknownst to Amanda, Megan Pron, our Chief Marketing Officer, saw the same problem. Amanda, Megan, and our Chief Communications Officer, Catalina’s, paths crossed for the first time in 2024 at the fourth annual Women in Motorsports North America conference. They were competitors, but you may have never known it. The day before the conference began in early December, WIMNA put on a Speed Networking competition in which seven collegiate women would be interviewed in seven-minute increments by seven professionals from across the industry. Megan and Catalina were the first to meet as they were the first to arrive. Their connection was instant, and as the other competitors arrived, the camaraderie between them all was palpable and reassuring. Throughout the remainder of the conference, the competitors networked together, shared tables, and communicated outside of that through a newly- formed group chat. Amanda, Megan, and Catalina did not know it, but that connection was about to become something so much bigger. 

On January 11th, 2025, the Building Speed instagram was created. Megan and Amanda, through conversations after the conference, discovered their shared solution to the problem they saw. With each other's help, their vision could finally come to life. Just a few weeks later, at the Daytona Rolex 24-hour race, the full team would be realized. The former competitors, including Emily Bell, had stayed in touch since the conference and attended the race together. (For more about their experience in Daytona, click here. Megan and Amanda invited Catalina on to the team after she expressed interest in being a part of something bigger for women like herself who want to get into the industry. She recalled that upon changing her major to Sports Management, she had only met two other people looking to get into motorsports, both of them men. 

The road has not been easy. There have been a lot of rejections or just plain indifference to the team’s vision. However, for all the struggles, there have been just as many successes. The industry seems to truly want more women to get involved, and, until now, it was only a matter of time. Beyond getting women into the industry, the team hopes that more women will realize that is an option in the first place. More than an option, it is an opportunity: women belong in motorsports, and Building Speed is here to make women and the industry-alike to recognize and champion this idea.