Eight year-old racer gets national exposure.

The driver of the No. 33 Bandolero race car is not the only eight year-old to compete in the tiny 550 pound race vehicles, after all this driver races in the Beginner Bandits Division for boys and girls ages 8-12.

Macy Causey is not even the only girl to compete in the Bandolero cars. Macy is, however, likely to be the only eight year-old racer to have an article about her first season of racing in the New York Times.

The New York Times article appeared in the Monday May 4, issue and by noon of that day Macy’s family had received multiple calls from numerous media outlets and TV shows asking for an appearance.

Writer Bill Konigsberg met Macy while she was practicing at Langley Speedway in Hampton VA.

Konigsberg was so interested in this little girl race driver that he was successful in getting the Times print an article about the small driver.

Young Girl Racer

As you might suspect Macy Causey is the daughter of a racer, her dad Rette Causey, drives a Legends car built by the came company that makes her Bandolero.

The Legends cars are small cars that are designed to be small enough to be transported in the bed of a pick up truck, and are powered by a motorcycle engine.

Legends cars are designed to develop drivers and hold down costs, so the engines are, by rule, sealed to allow the competitors to learn how to set up suspensions and become better racers, if they have a desire to move to bigger cars.  

Bandolero cars, look vaguely like a miniature version of an enclosed sports car such as might be seen at Le Mans or on the Daytona road course, while the Legends sport bodies that look like the stock cars of the 1930’s and 40’s.

On Tuesday May 5, Macy and her parents were on the “Today” show on NBC and she was later interviewed for a segment of "Dateline NBC" that will air on Sunday May 10 2009 at 7 PM.

Macy was interviewed by Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker on the “Today” segment, and Curry was stunned when she found out that this girl was driving a car that could go 60 mph. When Curry asked Macy’s mom if she was scared, mom said “Not at all,” leaving Curry speechless.

On Saturday May 9, Macy was the headline story on the front page of the local paper, the Daily Press of Newport News VA.

The Best Girl Racer

Macy may be a racer but she is still a typical eight year-old girl, as she is shown in photos accompanying both newspaper articles wearing her favorite pink sunglasses, which she got as a prize in a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

Macy started helping her dad, working on his car when she was five.

But Macy is more than just a typical ‘kid of a racer’ as her maternal grandmother is Diane Teel.

Macy’s grand mother is described at the Causey Racing website thusly: “Diane Teel was the 1st woman to win a NASCAR Sanctioned race in 1978 in the Limited Sportsman Division at Langley Speedway in Hampton Virginia.

“Diane went on to win a Championship later that year and ultimately competed in the Late Model Sportsman and Busch Grand National Divisions of NASCAR.”

What the website doesn’t mention is that Teel is believed to be the first woman to ever win a track championship in NASCAR, and when she was offered a full-time ride in the Busch Series, she turned it down, electing to stay at home and raise her family while continuing to drive a school bus for the York County (VA) school system.

Will Macy follow in her father’s footsteps, winning races and being a championship car owner? Race karts like her mom? (Mom and dad met when they were both racing karts.)

Perhaps Macy will win track championships like her grandmother.

It’s too early to know how this youngsters’ racing future will turn out, but she has expressed a desire to move into NASCAR when she gets older.

Macy has run few races at this point, but she took second place in a big event in Orlando FL this past February.

Macy does not know about female racers before her, like Sara Christian, Lyn St. James or even Danica Patrick.

She does however know about speed, as her favorite driver is local motorcycle racer Larry McBride who holds the world record for the quarter mile at 5.793 seconds.

However we all can hope that she will continue race for the same reason she races now: "Because it's fun."

[Photo above from the Causey Racing website]