GETTING TO KNOW: DAWN EAGENS

Family, Kids and Going Fast the Secret Ingredients to Life for this 29-year-old

by Meghan Dillner

Racing Legends Cars or Bandoleros in the Carolinas is a great way for many young drivers to make a name for themselves in the racing world.  In addition to many tracks around the area, the annual Summer Shootout Series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway provides an added spark to youngsters’ resumes since it is aired every winter on SPEED Channel and is sure to have a packed crowd of fans each week.  Yet, most often people in the industry sometimes forget that there are other drivers who don’t come for the lights or cameras; they simply want the action.

Dawn Eagens is one of those people.  She drives the number-9 Bandolero Outlaw and does it each week for the love of the sport and the competitive nature that it brings.  She is one of the few women in a male dominated sport and has placed herself in the even slimmer minority of being a female “adult” racing a Bandolero car.  So how did someone like Dawn start racing in the first place?

“This is my fifth year racing.  I started when my parents moved down (from the Northeast).  They met a friend who lived near Hillsboro, North Carolina, who had a car and an extra Bandolero.  My dad asked if I could try it out,” Dawn explains.  “He had raced all his life, so I grew up at dirt tracks in New York and sort of fell into it once we got here and realized what a big sport it was and there were tracks so close to where we lived that we could race competitively.”

It is easy to catch the racing fever when you are brought up at tracks all your life like Dawn has been.  North Carolina’s many tracks also play a big part in drivers’ racing careers.  It makes things easier on the whole family with so many tracks within a close proximity.  After all, racing is a huge family sport.  And, take it from Dawn, your family’s support means the most when it comes to racing.

“My father has, by far, made the biggest impact in my racing career.  He’s had the most influence and has been the most supportive.  When it comes to funding, the effort, and picking up where we weren’t able to get sponsorship, my dad has been there for me,” remarks Dawn.  “My mother and sister have been very supportive as well, but my father goes above and beyond to be at all the races and cheer me on.”

Having people at the track who you know will be supporting and cheering you on no matter how you do always makes it easier on the driver.  Nobody can do that better than your family.

It is also great to have people at the track to celebrate with after reaching your goals.  It doesn’t matter how little or big these goals are.  Simply driving around the track can be a huge accomplishment for many new drivers.  Dawn knows from experience.

“About five years ago I would have said not spinning out and just driving around the track would be my biggest accomplishment,” admits Eagens, who races at other tracks other than LMS when time permits.  “Now I would say that it is my win here at Lowe’s.  I won here a couple of years ago and that was a huge accomplishment because it was against really tough drivers who made a name in the Outlaw series and won national championships.  So to win here was definitely my biggest accomplishment.  Hopefully we can do it again.  I don’t want to say it was a one-time thing.  We are definitely striving to win more just because it is fun for me and it is not something I am looking to pursue a career in; I am really looking to win more races.  I have that competitive nature to win, so hopefully we can get another win soon.”

A driver with that desire for victories would normally be seen trying to work their way up the ranks and attempting to get their spot in series such as the NASCAR Busch or the Craftsman Truck Series.  So will Dawn be the first female winner in NASCAR?

“I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to take racing to a higher level of competition, but I think at this point, I am 29 years-old; I need to focus more on a realistic career.  If something was presented to me I would by far run with it, but at this point I am in commercial real estate at Wachovia (Bank), and I think that I am just going to stick to following that career path,” says Dawn.

For Dawn, racing is a major part of her daily life, but she is out there for the fun of it.  That doesn’t mean that the people she is racing against have the same views.  Kids like Christopher McKinney and Kendall Sellers, also in the Outlaw division, may want to take this sport to higher levels and therefore have a different outlook on racing.

Eagans may not be as young as some of the other Outlaws, but she is still quite competitive with the teens.

“Sometimes I do have to remind myself that other drivers are looking to go to the next level and I am just out here for fun, because I get upset or disappointed at something that they’ve done on the track and then I think, well they’re trying to be the next star; they are trying to make a career out of this and I am just out here having fun.  They have a different perspective and I do often have to remind myself of that,” Dawn admits.

Dawn and some of the other drivers at the Shootout may have different views on where they want to take racing, but they are similar in the fact that they are serious about what they do.  And racing isn’t the only thing Eagens is dedicated to.  She has been keeping her schedule full by maintaining her job at Wachovia, racing and playing volleyball weekly, and mentoring children.

Dawn does a job similar to those of the owners of racing development programs at the track such as BDI Racing, NPR, Clay Hair, Hurricane Racing and DSR; except for the fact that she isn’t helping raise kids to become better drivers.  She is helping them become better people through a program called Faith, Hope and Love.

Eagens is an intense competitor in a tough Outlaws division.

“I started mentoring about six years ago.  I heard about the organization through Wachovia.  It is a church based program.  They have four or five locations now.  It’s for inner city underprivileged kids that are struggling not only with school and other basics, but are looking for help at home as well.  They don’t have the best home life and there are issues there.  They just need to learn the basics and understand that there is more to life than what they are exposed to on a daily basis,” Dawn explains.  “So I’ve been involved and have taken on three children who really mean a lot to me and I hope to see them really develop into good people.  At the time they are no longer part of the program, but I still work with them in hope that they will turn out to be good.  Right now I am working with one child who is still part of the Faith, Hope and Love program and she is just as sweet as she can be, and this is my second year working with her.”

No matter what people do in life there is always a lesson to learn.  Dawn learns a lesson every time she works with these children.  She is

not only working to help these children have better lives, but also to spread the message she has received by mentoring to other people.

“You learn that situations like this are not diverse specific.  People associate these issues with a certain race and that’s not the case.  This is a world-wide problem and it is in every city in the United States,” states Dawn.  “That is what I have learned and I hope that more people can see that there is an issue.  We need to really focus on our children.  Like they say, they are our tomorrow, and we need to fix and help them now so they can lead us to tomorrow.”

Dawn really believes in bringing up the children of our world in the right way.  She simply enjoys working with children all she can.  So you might not be all that surprised when you hear her mention yet another activity she enjoys with children. 

“I do baby-sit a lot.  And it’s funny because I don’t really have a lot of spare time, but when I do, I love children and I don’t have any of my own, so I enjoy hanging out with kids and having a good time with them.  So I do baby-sit for a lot of co-workers and a lot of friends who all seem to have kids at this point.  And it’s a great second income,” Dawn jokes.

In a garage filled with emotion, money and equipment, Dawn’s outlook is refreshing on both her life and her time behind the wheel; go fast, but take the time to enjoy every minute.

Dawn Eagens   (LN Photos)