Driving for Chad Finley Racing and Michigan Motorsports Hall of Famer Jeff Finley, a team based out of DeWitt, Michigan, 16-year-old Dominique Van Wieringen turned a lot of heads recently by winning a Super Late Model race at Spartan Speedway in Mason.
Van Wieringen, a Development Driver making only her sixth career start behind the wheel of a full-bodied race car, fought off two-time track champion Jimmy Gallagher to score her first career feature win and become the first female in the track’s long and storied history to win a Feature in the premiere division.
“This is a great feeling,” she said.
“A lot of pressure there not to mess up those last few laps. Jimmy [Gallagher] was all over me. He raced me clean though, and I appreciate that. This is just amazing to me. The car was perfect, and I just can’t thank all the guys from CFR as well as Chad Finley for his help and guidance. He has helped me a bunch with my line and what I should be doing. Also [Crew Chief] Jimmy D. Smith for his help. Man, what a great group of people they have put around me.”
Van Wieringen was inspired to get involved with racing through her father Murray, who has a road racing background.
She is considered a top-five national driver in her native Canada. She currently races karts in four classes and travels every other weekend in the summer to various locations in the United States. Races are usually 12-15 laps on tracks that are generally under one mile long. Racing hasn’t come without sacrifice, though. She broke her wrist karting in a race in Orlando in January, and it is still in a cast.
While she owns some of her older karts, many of her karts are rented and maintained by mechanic Jeff Robinson.
It was in October 2007 when things started to click for Van Wieringen. Her first pole led to her breaking through into the upper echelon of racers and the awards and recognition kept coming. The goal this year, her last year of karting, was a World Karting Association (WKA) Manufacturer’s Cup. Although still in the hunt, things haven’t gone as hoped, but she is finding success on the car racing circuit.
Eventually, the goal is to hit the NASCAR circuit and surpass what Danica Patrick has done in racing. While she respects Patrick for her racing accomplishments, Van Wieringen wants to do better.
“It’s my goal to beat what she has done and do a lot better,” said Van Wieringen. “I want to beat her rather than follow her.”