Nicole Lyons! In-Depth with the Nascar and NHRA Driver - The Downshift Ep. 70 - video Dailymotion

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On this weeks episode of The Downshift

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:10 When I'm in the car, it's very quiet, even though the motor is super loud.

00:17 I'm in the zone.

00:19 I don't wanna talk to people, and I kind of sit there, and

00:22 I focus on what the race is actually going to look like.

00:25 I focus on seeing me win.

00:27 I want the best reaction time.

00:29 I've got to come off the line first.

00:31 I just kind of go, okay, Nicole, we're gonna get ready.

00:34 This is what this race is gonna look like.

00:36 This is what you're gonna look like winning this race.

00:38 [MUSIC]

00:48 [SOUND]

00:58 >> Out of Tynesville, Florida,

01:03 his 89 Chevy Camaro, a new matchup here with Bruce Gurt.

01:07 >> Gurt, Auburn, Florida.

01:09 [MUSIC]

01:18 >> Well, of course, I'm a big muscle car fan.

01:21 So anything from your SS 396 Chevelles to 69 Camaros to Novas.

01:27 I just think that they have so much character and so much stomp down

01:31 horsepower that a lot of our cars, of course, today don't have.

01:35 Your Ferraris, paddle shifts, and you do all that.

01:37 Now, I wanna actually shift gears, pushing that clutch and

01:41 actually have to pull that, her shifter down.

01:44 And I'm big on that, so I like those, those cars are my favorite.

01:48 [SOUND]

01:55 My top sportsman, an HRA car, is a beef, I'm gonna tell you.

01:58 It's a Jerry Bickle built car.

02:00 It is the only car out there in top sportsman racing or in drag racing that

02:06 I've seen that's painted by West Coast choppers and

02:08 Jesse James when he still had West Coast choppers.

02:11 So it's really sick.

02:12 It has this tricked out paint with flakes and it looks like a motorcycle.

02:16 It definitely doesn't look like a girl's car and that's what I love about it.

02:19 [SOUND]

02:22 It's got a Steve Schmidt motor in it.

02:24 It's got about roughly 1,700 horsepower, six second, a quarter mile car.

02:29 It's incredible and the way it's built and

02:32 four link system on it, Mark Williams rear end.

02:36 It's just an incredible, incredible piece and I'm so proud of it.

02:39 Every time I get out there on the track, she makes me proud.

02:43 [SOUND]

02:53 I got into NASCAR actually this year.

03:00 My decision to move over to NASCAR really was a hard decision cuz I love

03:04 drag racing and I grew up drag racing, but the dollars [LAUGH]

03:09 just don't equate that well in drag racing and

03:13 I've always wanted to branch over to NASCAR.

03:16 And I kind of figured since I moved to the south and

03:19 made this big push in racing, it just kept coming at me.

03:22 Then I finally decided, you know what, I'm gonna make that switch.

03:24 I'm gonna do it.

03:25 I tried it.

03:26 I loved it.

03:27 The competition in it is so fierce and it's just, it's incredible how many

03:32 factors go into just even qualifying in the top ten and even actually winning a race.

03:37 [SOUND]

03:47 Both teams are just exceptional and we both are like families.

03:59 We could hang with each other for 24 hours in a day.

04:03 We all take pride in what it is that we're doing and

04:05 I think that's what makes us such an incredible team.

04:08 And we're crazy.

04:10 We're not your normal type of individuals.

04:12 We like to have fun.

04:14 My team pulls a lot of pranks on me.

04:16 They tell jokes all the time and because I'm so into the hip hop stuff and

04:20 just so west coast on them, they like to go back and research.

04:24 If I'm listening to a certain song and it's a hip hop song,

04:27 then next week they'll come out and on my radio set they'll be like,

04:30 you know like Jay-Z said in that song?

04:32 And I'm like, did you really go back and

04:34 research what Jay-Z was talking about in that song?

04:37 They're like, and when we come into turn one and two,

04:39 we need to ride out like Jay-Z would ride out.

04:41 I'm like, okay, here we go.

04:43 [SOUND]

04:47 When I suit up, I feel like I'm ready for work.

04:49 People always ask me, Nicole, you still have your suit on?

04:53 And it'll be all day that I wear my suit.

04:56 And it's like, it could be hot as ever.

04:58 I still have my suit on.

04:59 But I'm like, yeah, I have my suit on.

05:01 I'm at work, right?

05:02 Like we're here to work, right?

05:03 I don't go taking my suit off.

05:05 I leave it on the whole day.

05:07 I wanna feel like a race car driver the whole day that I'm at the track and

05:11 that's just me.

05:12 [MUSIC]

05:15 It's crazy kind of being a woman in a male dominated sport,

05:18 especially being a black woman in a male dominated sport.

05:22 You come against your guys that are like, hey, it's great that you're here.

05:27 We support you, we like you.

05:29 Then you come across people that are just like, she can't drive or

05:34 I don't know why she's out here or why don't you go stand by the car and

05:37 look pretty or whatever it may be.

05:40 At the end of the day though, I wouldn't have it any other way.

05:43 [MUSIC]

05:53 If you like me, you like me.

05:53 If you don't, you don't.

05:55 But that's one thing about being around guys is for the most part,

05:59 they're kind of give you how they feel about you straight up.

06:02 And women, when you're a bunch of women, it's like, hey girl.

06:06 And then they turn around like, I can't, yeah, I can't stand her.

06:11 So I kind of enjoy the fact that guys,

06:14 they keep it way more 100 than women do.

06:17 I like to stick out.

06:19 I like being that pink elephant amongst the room, have that wow factor.

06:23 And I think it's something that's really rewarding to my sponsors as well,

06:26 cuz I do stand out.

06:28 And there isn't a lot of women out there.

06:30 [MUSIC]

06:38 I'm just thankful, really.

06:40 I keep saying that, but I'm just thankful to be in the car and

06:42 thankful to be racing.

06:44 And I've had so many people tell me no, that you shouldn't be driving, or

06:48 you shouldn't do this, or whatever it may be.

06:51 That it's just like, for the most part,

06:53 most people are negative about it than positive about it.

06:56 And for me, it's just so rewarding to be in the car and to be able to stage up and

07:00 do what it is that I'm doing and get the car from A to B and win races and go rounds.

07:05 It's just, my family's very thankful for that.

07:07 We've sacrificed a lot to be there.

07:09 [MUSIC]

07:10 I hardly eat when it comes to race day.

07:13 I always feel like I get lethargic or I'm gonna weigh the car down.

07:16 I know it sounds extremely crazy, you weigh 110 pounds,

07:19 how are you gonna weigh the car down?

07:21 But it just feels like if I have that burger, [LAUGH] we're gonna go a little

07:25 slower, and my reaction time.

07:28 So I'm always trying to feed the other drivers.

07:31 Don't you want a burger?

07:33 Don't you wanna eat?

07:33 Isn't it lunchtime?

07:34 Shouldn't you be eating something?

07:36 I'm hoping that I can maybe gain some traction on having a better reaction time

07:40 than them, but it hardly ever works.

07:43 The guys out there are so competitive.

07:44 you

Nicole Lyons! In-Depth with the Nascar and NHRA Driver - The Downshift Ep. 70

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