BARRE, Vt.
In a historic victory for grassroots motorsport, 23-year-old racer Taylor Hoar captured the Maplefields/Irving Late Model feature victory at Thunder Road International Speedbowl on Sunday, August 9, 2026. The win makes Hoar the first female driver in 23 years and only the second in the track’s 67-year history to take the checkered flag in the track’s premier division.
Hoar, piloting the No. 48VT EastRise Credit Union Dodge Charger, broke a drought dating back to July 31, 2003, when trailblazer Tracie Bellerose last claimed a Late Model feature win on the famed quarter-mile asphalt oval.
A NEW ERA FOR WOMEN IN MOTORSPORT
For decades, a woman in the pit lane was treated like an anomaly—a rare headline framed as an exception to the rule. But look across the grid today and that outdated narrative isn't just fading; it’s being left behind in a cloud of race fuel and tire smoke.
It is no longer about simply showing up or making the field. It’s about setting the pace, hitting the apex, and taking the checkered flag on pure merit. When Hoar strapped into the No. 48VT, she didn't put on a helmet to make a point, she put it on to win. On that final restart, hanging her car out on the high groove, she proved what every true racer already knows: horsepower doesn't care about gender and neither does the stopwatch.
Women aren't just breaking into grassroots motorsport; they are actively shaping its future. Every time a driver like Hoar stands atop the roof of her car under the stadium lights, trophy in hand, the ripple effect reaches far beyond the front stretch. The glass ceiling didn't just crack at Barre, Vermont—it got run over by 400 horsepower of relentless grit.
Photo Credit: Alan Ward / Big Al's Photos – Racing Photography
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