Growing up in a racing family, where her father was a
former go-kart winner and was an active Late Model crew chief, Tracey attended
most races at Orange County Speedway as a little girl. Her brother Mike soon
started racing in go-carts and then to stock cars. After being around racing her
whole life, it was only natural for Tracey to decide she wanted to race, also.
In 1998, Tracey decided to try her hand at driving
competitively.
After spending the winter helping to build a Pure Stock Four-Cylinder Racecar,
Tracey strapped into the driver's seat and brought
the car home in 3rd her first race and was hooked from then on. That
season proved to be a success as Tracey earned eight runner-up finishes and ten
top threes out of ten starts. She secured the third position in the points race,
even after missing the first race of the season due to the car not being race
ready.
Tracey decided she was ready for the next step, so she
decided to make the jump to
the
Modified 4-Cylinder Division in 2000. After adjusting to a car that was a couple
of seconds quicker on the track, Tracey collected four top fives and 11 top tens
out of 13 starts. She earned co-rookie of the year honors as well as being tied
for fifth in the points rankings. She was also honored as the recipient of the
Bobby Gullie Memorial Award for Sportsmanship in the Modified Four-Cylinder
Division. 2001 proved to be a banner year for Tracey. She racked up seven pole
positions and two wins, becoming the first female to win at
Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC. She placed in the top two six times and
in the top three eight times. She cracked into the top five ten times and never
finished outside the top six. She narrowly missed capturing her first
championship by a mere four points after leading them for over half of the
season. After earning the nickname "The Queen of Orange County Speedway," the track named Tracey the 2001 Mack Lamm Sportsmanship Award winner at
the Awards Banquet.
With so much success, Tracey felt the need for a greater
challenge and decided to step up to the Limited Sportsman Division. The year was
much of a learning curve, as Tracey had to adjust to a car weighing over 1300
lbs. more with twice as much
horsepower. Bad luck was a factor early in the season as she missed
approximately four races due to the car not being ready and then having two
blown engines. Once the season got going, she came home with one top five and
five top tens, while rounding the year out eighth in the final points standings
and runner-up for Rookie of the Year honors. Tracey was also the runner-up for
the Most Popular Driver Award for the Limited Sportsman Division, after a
competitive battle for it with the eventual champion of the division. In 2003,
Tracey collected one top three, four top fives, and eleven top tens in fifteen
starts in the highly competitive Limited Sportsman Division at Orange County
Speedway. This earned her the eighth position in the final points
standings.
With the closing of Orange County Speedway, Tracey decided
to make her Late Model debut in 2004 to
allow her a larger choice of tracks to race. Due to a lack of sponsorship,
Tracey only ran one race at Southern National Speedway in Kenly, NC and six
races at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, NC. Tracey collected six top fifteens
including two eleventh place finishes. In 2005, Tracey returned to Ace
Speedway to run entire season in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Late Model Stock
Car Division. Bad luck and handling issues plagued the team a majority of the
season. She did manage to pull out seven top tens of 22 starts. Tracey finished
10th in the final points standings at Ace and 9th in the Budweiser Challenge
Series points, a separate points system based on the second race of each twin
event. Tracey was asked
to participate in
the 2006 NASCAR endorsed Drive for Diversity Testing Combine held at South
Boston Speedway in October 2005, and she
was honored at the 2005 banquet when she was named the Most Improved Driver in
the Late Model Stock Division at Ace.
With the reopening of
Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC, 2006 saw Tracey return to her home
track to compete in the Late Model Stock Car Division at the track dubbed “the
fastest 3/8 mile in America.” Of three starts, she secured two top tens. Tracey
made her touring series debut in August when she started a race in the ASA Late
Model South Series Division race at Orange County bringing home a top 15 finish.
Tracey got the opportunity to test a NASCAR Grand National (Camping World East) car at
South Boston Speedway in October 2006 when she was invited to participate in the
NASCAR endorsed 2007 Drive for Diversity Driver Combine.
Tracey
Chambers graduated from the prestigious Lyn St. James Invitational Driver
Development Program held at Phoenix International Raceway in 2004. In addition,
Tracey was personally invited by Funkmaster Flex to participate in the
Funkmaster Flex Super Series Invitational Late Model Stock Car race in
Waterford, Connecticut that was televised by Spike TV. When not racing, Tracey
serves as a crewmember and the spotter for her brother's Late Model Stock team.
She also does all the vinyl work for the Tech Racing team cars and for a couple
of other local teams.
Tracey
hopes to advance up the racing ladder, securing success at every step. In the
future, she hopes to race a touring series such as the NASCAR Camping World East Series, the USAR ProCup Series,
or the ASA Late Model Series eventually leading her to the upper echelons of NASCAR.