Today on The Breakfast Club, Dystany Spurlock On Being The First Black Woman To Race In Nascar, Career Journey, Struggles & Staying On Track. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every day.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Up the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
You don't finish for.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Y'all dumb.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Morning.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
Everybody is DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the God we
are the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Laura Rose is here as well.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
We got a special guest in the buildings, indeed, Destiny
spur a Lock Welcome.
Speaker 5 (00:20):
Thank you. Here are you feeling this morning? I feel good.
It's not too early, so we feel good. You got
throw up? No, why would I have to throw up?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Why don't you have to throw up?
Speaker 6 (00:29):
Because the article where you were about to do your
debut your race and you turned it was like, I
think I'm about to throw up.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
That's hilarious because I was so nervous, Like that was
my debut and I've worked so hard to get to
this point. So it's like I'm here finally and it's like, okay, nervous,
but once I get in the karme good.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I thought he was trying to tell everybody was pregnant.
Speaker 6 (00:52):
Your coach, Phil Horton, he was saying, how like that
moment showed him how special you were because you you're
so accomplished, but you're still nervous in the moment.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Absolutely, People that don't know she was the first black
woman to race in NASCAR Motorsports racer And how did
you get into racing and your love.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Of cause it's my parents' fault, I would say. At one,
before I could even walk, they got me a Barbie jeep.
So I was like, okay, this is cool. I turned three,
I got on the back of the motorcycle with them,
and I'm like, yeah, I think I'm gonna do something
like this. My grandfather is the one who introduced me
into NASCAR at like an early age six twelve somewhere
up in there, and I was like, I want to race.
(01:27):
I didn't think it was really going to happen. Fast forward.
I started drag racing motorcycles because of my godfather, and
then I was like, okay, we can really take this
to the next level. All these opportunities came for me
to be able to race a Nascars, but they all failed.
But now we're here, so it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Wow, that was a fast story. I know it took
longer than that, but that was.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So let's talk about some of the pitfalls that you
had to go One being black, two being a woman.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So break those dewns.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Yes, So as you know, like you said, it's so
many things that you can say I have against me
because so superpowers they are. I love that. To be
able to get into NASCAR, you kind of have to
be born into it or you have to have a
lot of money. So I didn't have either those. So
I literally had to figure this out as I'm going.
You know, I've had teams that said, hey, come on,
(02:13):
let's do it, and then things fall through. But I'm
just glad I never gave up because I promise you
it was times where I'm like, forget it, but I
kept going. So that's was my perseverance.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Being the first is always celebrated, but does it ever
feel like extra pressure?
Speaker 6 (02:27):
No?
Speaker 5 (02:27):
I love that. Everybody asked me that do I feel pressure?
I don't because being the first was never my focus.
It was me doing something that I love. I just
happened to be the first and had a great team
with me to make it happen.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Did you ever look up to anybody in the NASCAR world,
motorsports world, anything like that?
Speaker 5 (02:43):
So when I was little, Dale Earnhardt was my go
to because that was my Poppy's favorite, you know. And
then I love the DuPont card that what's his name,
Jeff Gordon was in because it was colorful, so many kids.
I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna do that, but yeah, that's
really it. Growing up.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, you feel like people talk down to you or
feel like you don't know the business as well, especially
being in race card is that happened a lot.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
All the time, and I think they look at it
because I'm new in this space. But I've been in
the motorsports industry for over seventeen years and the first
thing that someone ever told me when I first got
into this space was learn the business and know the
business before you get into it. So I know both sides.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And you was a truck driver, yes, I.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Still got my CEO. Yeah that's right.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You could drive the big joints.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Yeah, a kW which is a Kenworth and a Peterbilt.
So yeah. I actually was a flight attendant before that.
Stop being a flight intendant because I'm like, I can't race,
so but it's good money. Then I got my CDO
so I can do both. I was with Delta Air.
I was adulta too.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
How long were you there?
Speaker 5 (03:47):
I was there for three years.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
I was only there for like nine months really, but
you don't have a sign like, but you instantly feel
because adulta training them.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Eight weeks?
Speaker 6 (03:58):
How long you were eight or ten weeks? No, we
were six weeks, six weeks. How many plans did you learn?
Speaker 5 (04:02):
All of them? And we had it was like at
that point, it's like twelve, Okay, I think we did
eight to start.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I think we did.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
We only did learn. There's different exits and it's a
whole it's the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And then you feel on a plane.
Speaker 7 (04:16):
Both of you don't really be killing because it's like,
you know, you kind of know the thing, so you
just kind of like watching here and there and you're
just like, all right, if you feel safe, you just
you chill.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Literally, you've been doing this over seventeen well you said
about seventeen years, right, craziest injury.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
None, great?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Crazy?
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Thank god? Yeah no, no, thank god. B I mean
so when I first started race, I did flip the bike,
but then I got back up. They're like, man, we
need to check you out. I'm like, I'm good, but
it's my bike, okay because I want to keep going
and the bike was fine. I was good.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Race was just yes, a race.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Yeah, damn. I know.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You talked about being a truck driver, a flight attendant.
Now NASCAR, which version of yourself for you?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Most?
Speaker 5 (05:00):
This one? Because when I look back over all the
times I should have quit, and all the things that
I had to overcome and the things I went through,
to look back now and to see that I really
made it and this is just the beginning. I'm so
proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Now.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Seriously, why do you think it's taken so long for
black women to be present in the Space Center?
Speaker 5 (05:21):
One? It takes a lot of money so to be
able to obtain the sponsorships, to be able to get
the people that truly believe in you, because you have
a lot of people that's like, yeah, we think you
can do it, but we got to see it first.
So that's first and foremost. The money and having a
team that understands your vision and they believe in you
and push that forward so that other people can see too.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
You know what I realized. You know, I sponsored Roger
Caru's car in the Darlington Race. There is a lot
of black people behind the scenes at NASCAR. I would
have never thought that if I hadn't seen it for myself.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
And that's changed over the years, because you know, years
ago you never really saw that. But thankfully we have
more people that look like us on the track and
auf the track, because some people they look at us
and look at people like myself and Roger and they're like,
I want to be a racer, but I really don't.
But then we're able to show them that there are
other outlets in the space that they can do as well.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Do you think Motorsports has done enough to create access.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
I don't think so. They're getting to that point now,
especially with all the things that they're doing with the
pit crew members and showing them as who they are
and that they are an individual too. So we're getting there.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So are we celebrating exceptions? Are we actually building real opportunities?
Speaker 5 (06:37):
I think we're definitely building real opportunities, especially for myself.
I feel like me being a woman that shows those
other little girls and boys boys that hey, like, if
she can do it, I can do it too, and
do it effortlessly and unapologetically.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
How personal does it get?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
You know, because sometimes I'm watching these races and I'm saying,
people cut each other off, they tapping the back of
the car, and I'm like, after the race, you just
feel y'all want five minutes like personal, Oh it gets personal.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
You what you see on TV when they're in your face.
Oh no, that's very much real. I don't do any
of that because I don't got time for it, Like
I'm focused on my racing. But oh yeah, people be
ready to fight for real.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
What's the what would you say is the most challenging
part of the race, like the physical part or the
mental part.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
I would say the mental, because you got to think,
we're in this car for two plus hours. You have
to make sure you're constantly hitting your lines, meaning racing
where you're supposed to each round, each lap around the track.
You also have to worry about the people around you.
You have to worry about tired maintenance, making sure you're
not wearing your tires out. It's so many aspects. You
(07:39):
have to think of all that and continue to race
and stay focused.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And then y'all don't even get the pe No listen.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
So people they were like, what you gotta deal when
you gotta pay, you better hold it. But some people
wear it like depends too, So I know that's right.
Yeah I'm not but yeah, okay.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
As your personal question has nothing to do with this,
But you just just mentioned something I had. I gotta
think about racing my sunny the other day in the
gold cost spot, right, I gotta ask you.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Right, so when you hit the curves, they.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Like, it's not to say this, but he beat me.
He beat me the other day, right, And I thought
maybe because he's a lot lighter than me and his
car lighter.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
When you hit the turns, you hit the break or
gas or do you swerve to the turn? How do
you swerve?
Speaker 5 (08:19):
It depends because the apex, the banking, all of that
makes a difference. But to what you were talking about, Yes,
your son being lighter will definitely help that. All right, No,
that's true.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
That's my story. I'm gonna go racing to day now now.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Logan, Yeah, Logan, Loganga.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Is like not lighter in you. It's no way.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
He just got muscles.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I don't believe when did you realize you wanted to
start navigating male dominated spaces? Because I read somewhere that
you used to play organized football, tackle football and middle
high school.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yes I did.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I do.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
It's funny because it's like I never looked at it
as being a male dominated thing. I just knew it
was something I wanted to do, so I did it.
So once I got into these spaces, They're like you,
you're a girl, You're not supposed to do this, like
this is a boy's sport. And I'm like, maybe to y'all,
but to me, this is something I love. So I
never looked at it any different. Corner and safety.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Wow, they didn't give you.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
No slack, No, they didn't.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I love the fact that your parents put you in
it and push you to do that. That's that's amazing
because most parents be like, no, you don't play that,
this boy sport. But the fact that they push you
to do that, that means everything.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
My family has been super supportive no matter what I
want to do. They've always said, destiny, if it's something
you want to do, do it. Yeah, I did. I
Actually I didn't. I never started, but I did get
play time.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Somebody laid you out.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Oh in practice. This was after we made the team.
You know, we have two days. Went out there that morning.
I definitely got my bell rung. I definitely got a
concussion when I got back up, and you know.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
What, his daddy's during that time when you get when
you see you on the floor knocked out and you're
looking at stars.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So I didn't lay there. I got up and then
I started seeing the stars. So they didn't know at
the time, but I mean they know I'm tough, I'm rugged,
I'm a girly.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Girl, but I'm They didn't want to do that though,
like you just saw it, Like I want to play football.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
I love football. So my dad's a huge Cowboys fan.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Oh my goodness, family, Howard you got.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
So we just grew up watching football all the time
and they had so I was like, I'm gonna do it. Yes,
I'm from Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
You didn't have the Panthers when I was coming. I
was born in nineteen hundred and seventy eight. So my
daddy was a Cowboys fan as well.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That's how.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That's how you become a Cowboys fan down south.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Yeah, literally, I don't know how he started that.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And the lifestyle, the whole cocaine, the women. You know
what I'm saying, what my daddy.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
What is the love like when you when you're back
at home Richmond. I know it's just a small city,
but it's like, yeah, it's huge, yeah, and which you
have accomplished is so big being the first black woman
yes a NASCAR.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
It's so cool because a lot of them, they've seen
me go up through the rinks. They've seen me race motorcycles,
they seen me race arena cars. So now that I'm
actually here and I grew up two miles from the racetrack,
they love it every time I come there, like, let
us know we're gonna do something. So the little kids
her like like, You're such an inspiration to them. Yes,
And I've done so much like in the community too
(11:27):
before I eve got to this point. So now that
I'm here, I've really got to give back like I wanted.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
But what would you tell young girls? I was talking a
lot or a couple of days ago. She was drag
racing as a kid. So what do you tell young
girls that want to get into it? How do they
get into it?
Speaker 1 (11:40):
What do they need to do? What you know? How
do they know practice? How do they jump into it?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
So for what I did and what I would give
to them is go to your local drag strip wherever
it is that you want to, you know, race at
you can get a car, a junior drag stre because
that's what Lotto did for like five grand and just
find somebody, a team or someone that you try us
to go out there with you and just show you
all the ranks. But I love that you asked that
because I have a foundation called What's Your Destiny Foundation,
(12:06):
and it's to help kids get into motorsports on and
I want to teach them things on and off the track.
So I, like you said, creating these opportunities, that's what
it's all about.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
How can they how can they get more information about that?
Speaker 5 (12:19):
So it's on my website Destiny spurlock dot com.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
But yeah, what do the all your pictures, not all
of them, but a lot of pictures on your Instagram.
You have the stars and your interviews. I've watched what
is the significance of the Stars under your eyes?
Speaker 5 (12:31):
So we cannot wear jewelry when not in drag races,
so also drag race in NHR too. And the first
time they told me that, I was like, ill, I
feel naked. I need something that's pretty. So I found
my stars. But the stars are also from Avatar, so
I'm like it brings the little materia out in me.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
But yeah, you feel like Avatar when you drive car
all the time.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Yes, you have to. Yeah, you have to find something
inner that's bigger than you, that's gonna bring you through
for sure.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Now, when you ride regular on the road, are you
still like I gotta get to what I gotta get
all You're like, no, especially when you're in traffic.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
We got to get to where we gotta go. But
you know we go to speed livings.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So you're a medial strip type girl, because yes, I
think a menial strip real question.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
No, no, no, no, no, I mean I gotta keep my life.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And people must pull up to you all the time
when they see you in the car, especially back home.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
So I don't. I don't. I don't live in Virginia anymore.
I'm in North Carolina now, so I'm kind of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So when they pull up to you the light and
they see they want to race you all the time. No,
they don't know.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
No, I a chilling, be chilling.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I have my hat on my hoodie like all incognito.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I have no idea why regular cars go up to
one hundred plus miles. I we're never able to limited
fifty five in most places.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So you have no idea.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Well, if you go Midwest and stuff, you can go
seventy five eighty out there. But you can also go
to the racetrack.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, I think it should be based on you tell
your regular car race, yes, track, I can take a
hundred to the race.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
You can? People do it the one yes?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Wow, most people ain't doing that.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
A lot of people do that for the people that
want to.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I guess what what do people just understand about women
in racing? Becase there's always a stereotype that women can't drive?
Speaker 5 (14:17):
What was that?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
A stereotype that I'm sorry for real? Usually they say.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Don't context. I don't want people to stereotype. It's not
true women as well.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Just a lot of people they just feel like women
aren't strong enough. You know, we're small, we're fragile, we
can't do the things that men can do in a
car and in life in general. Yes, that is true
to some extent, but that doesn't mean that we can't
do it and we can't do it well. So yeah,
they just need to understand we can do this.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Do you ever feel like you got to just spell
that stereotype?
Speaker 5 (15:04):
No, I just continue to focus on what I'm doing.
Because everybody has an opinion, but it's not going to affect.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Me, what's your take on like the conversation like can
women have it all? Because your career is so physical
and so like very different than any other woman that
is not competing in a sport like yours, right, so
love family all that stuff, like do you yeah, no, no, no,
I'm just wondering, like how you what your thinking is
(15:32):
around stuff like that because you're a race car driver,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Like it's it's such a different life. Absolutely, no, we
can have it all. But for me, my focus is
my career. I work so hard to get to this point,
like nothing is going to get in my way of
stopping this progression and where I've gotten and so that's
my focus.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I understand that you.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Have the type of confidence I hope my daughters have,
Like have you have you always been fearless or it's
just something that you just had to learn.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Always been fearless. My mom has always told me destiny, like,
don't be that little kid that sat in the back
of the classroom that said, dang, I wish I'd ever
raised my hand, Dang, I wish I would have tried that.
So from that point at four, I've always been a
go getter, I'm like, I can do it.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You jumped off the roof, put a towel on your
aund your neck.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
I haven't, but I did take my little tights wagon
to my neighbor's driveway which was super hot and drove
down it. So I did crazy stuff with age six seven. Yeah,
that was gonna ask.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
You know watching NASCAR, right, and a lot of people
don't really know much about it.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
It's kind of like soccer now, like you you watch it,
but you don't know what it means. When I noticed
when people race and they get in like the fourteenth place,
they're excited and they're happy. So how does that work
when it comes to that, because I've seen somebody the
other day they were like in the twentieth place and
they were excited about I'm like twenty five mad, But
I guess time.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
So it's not yes enough. So you have teams like
big teams, so they're able to have all the great equipment,
you know, a bunch of research and development on their car.
Then you have some teams that are lower level or
lower tier, so they're just happy to be in top
twenty because that doesn't happen too often. So that's what
that comes from.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
And then also I wanted to know, like when you
do build out a car, is there a cap like
you know how in certain basketball as each team has
a cap might be thirty million. But if I have
more money than you, and I can, you know, make
my car as fast as possible because I can afford it.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Is there a cap when it comes to the NASCAR
racing or no?
Speaker 5 (17:29):
When you say like as far as money, yes, not really,
you still have to stay within the guidelines of the rules. Yes,
but if you have all this money where you can
get a bunch of air tunnel time or you know,
research enveloped to try to make a part as great
as you can, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's one of the coolest things that I was seeing, man,
when I went to go see Rogers, because it's like
they got the control room, then they got the the
I guess another control room on the sideline. Then you
got the team that fixes the car. Would it has
to do the pitch. There's so much that goal into
that one car that people don't see.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
They don't they just see the driver and maybe the
pit people. But it takes so much, like the whole
week to make sure everything is together.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And then somebody talking to you while you're racing.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Yes, so you have earbuzz in and your spotter is
talking to you.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So you have to trust them a thousand masts. So
what do he goes?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Move?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
You move, and you gotta trust him not to look
and nose.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
He's your eyes and is absolutely and sometimes you got
to make a move without even asking him or you know,
him saying something to you. If you see an opening,
you know you can get it. You gotta go.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Have you ever gotten to an argument with your spider
like you missed something or he didn't want you to
do something?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Now?
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Nah, nah, my spotter is really good. Yeah, he's cool.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Have you heard of that though? Like some spotterer is
missing the marks and things like that.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Why it happens all the time. And then I feel
like you have to also get a spotter that works
for you. They may be the best, yes, but they
you all may not communicate the same.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
So that is a big Are you interviewing them like
a personal interview like an assistant? Like how is how
do you get the spotter?
Speaker 5 (18:52):
So right now, my team, they have brought me some
people and we've tried different people out and that's pretty much.
How you have to do it.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
That's a damn like live with you because he has
to know you, right, we have to live. You have
to know somebody so well you're playing with their life.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, essentially, but a couple of conversations to day.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Yeah, no, not at all, Like we'll do a pre race,
at the race and post Maybe I couldn't imagine that.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Oh god, what is the benefit of staying physically fit
or being physically fit as a racist?
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Okay, because we are athletes, I'm so glad you said that. Yes,
I'm in the gym six days a week literally for
four hours minimum. Yeah, we're doing all the agility training,
heavy lifting, we do reaction stuff. I get on the
sim I'm watching film, so you have to when I
say it's like football camp, that's the type of study. Yeah,
(19:56):
that's how it is.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Incorrect me if I'm wrong, because I don't know the
technical way to say it. But it's like almost like
phone memory in your seat type thing. Yeah, it shapes
to you when you sit in.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
It, so it's a seat poor So well, they'll pour
the stuff in we sit in it. It gets like over
one hundred degrees and it molds to you. So that
is prime for a race car driver.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So you can't you really do. Got to watch your
way because you gotta stay within.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
The Yeah, but no, because it's funny. I got into
my old car the other day and I can't fit
my seat anymore. So you just call the people up.
They'll come out there. Poor You're done in a day.
Oh yeah, wow.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
How has like the business and branding side of it
been for you? Like you know on one and it's
like first black woman to do all these things. But
do you feel like on the business side they're as welcoming,
open open to you.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
So yes. So first I gotta say thank you to
Fox Techa. They are the reason I'm here. They I've
met them six years ago. They always believed in me,
so they are a huge part of it because they,
like I said, they see my vision like I see it.
So when they're talking to people, they like who I am,
but they want to see me in the car first.
So now that I'm here, they're way more welcoming than before.
(21:03):
I love that for you.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
So you got the YouTube series Driven by Destiny. What
do you want people to learn? You know, not just
about the sport of racing, but about you. Are you
just trying to introduce yourself to the personality.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
So I want them to see what it looks like
behind the scenes, because a lot of people that just see, oh,
you're a race car driver, they don't understand all the
things that it took for me to get to this point,
and the hardship and all that good stuff. So I
want them to come into my world. Gives me a
chance to be vulnerable and show them who I am.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Was there ever a moment where you almost gave up
because you feel like doors weren't opening.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Yeah, a ton of times. A ton of times. I
can't even count on both my hands. There's been things,
like I said, a lot of overpromising under delivering has happened,
and I just wanted to say forget it. But something
would happen where I see a little girl she's like, oh,
I love what you're doing. I'm all right, I guess
I'll keep going. So scared, not no, not scared, nervous,
(21:58):
Not scared because inspect what I do and I know
what can happen. But once I get in the car
or on the bike, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I love what you said about the little girl, right
because I always you pray to God to just show
you signs. Right, you ask God showed me if I
should be doing something like so, was that a thing
like you saw this little girl and she actually told
you like, hey.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yes, oh what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
I just all the time, and I pray a lot,
and I'm like, hey, God, let me know what you
need me to do. I'll see a one one one,
I'm like, all right, let's keep it moving, like you know.
Or I'll meet somebody in the grocery store and they're like, hey,
are you destiny? And I'm like, all right, let's keep going,
you know. So I've always known that it's bigger than me,
regardless of the things I go through. I'm going through
them to help the next generation when i'm kids.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So you're not call you probably a superhero old of them.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
I know I am.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
That's when you Have you ever asked your parents why
they named you?
Speaker 7 (22:49):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (22:49):
I know that story. So my mom didn't know. First
of all, my dad wanted to name me Shaquille because
he loves Shaquille O'Neill. Right, yes, my mom said absolutely not.
We gonna figure this out. And she was at my
mom my grandparents house sitting in her kitchen and she
said she just heard the word destiny, and she said,
that's what I'm the nameing.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I actually like sugar. I like destiny and how you
spell it very significantly. But I can see Shaquille for
a girl, not for me, but Ki Shaquilla. Shaquille Shaquilla
is my father one to name me Kevin Cray's no.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Get Kevin Kevin.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
This is why I nothing.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
What they play when you when you.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Were younger, did you realize what destiny was?
Speaker 5 (23:45):
No? I had no clue until I got older. I
was probably about high school and I really started digging
into the meaning of my name, and I'm like, this
is wow. I get to really create my own destiny
every day, and that's my name.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Like, okay, so what did you think your original destiny was?
Are you still.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
I thought my original destiny was to do something out
of the ordinary, which I've always done. So to answer that, yeah,
I'm still doing it so much more to come.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
When is your next race so people can follow you?
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Okay? So next race is this Friday, which will we
will have the juneteenth livery thanks to Fox tech Us.
So yes, that's gonna be a Pocono. And then I
have another race coming up which I want to make
a great announcement about. Okay, so on July twenty four,
thank you so much to miss Emily Sussman. She is
(24:40):
also the co owner of Gotham FC and the New
York Giants. So she has a podcast called She Pivots Podcasts,
and she is coming along with me on this journey
because she believes in me, and she's going to sponsor
my race. Wow, Indianapolis, amazing, congratulations. Yes it's old, yes, yes, yes,
(25:04):
let me see.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
And is it you like you? This is all your
creative control.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
So it's my team. And and when I say my
team is like that, they like that. Okay, my phone
is turned off, so okay in the moment, yes, y'all
have right, I don't have hers on my phone. Okay, perfect, Yes,
y'all gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
And then so I'm really big into my ancestors because listen,
they didn't get these chances that I have. So I
always say I am my sister's wildest dreams come true.
And we got that on the car, So I'm really.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
I got to see Okay, oh wow, that's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Which one is that, Okay, I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Fire, oh my god.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And you look at this yo. This you do a
lot of colors.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
I saw another picture before the numbers or something like.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Yeah, that was my avatar. That was when I did
my truck baby.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah, you do a lot of like color.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
This is dope. That's the same one.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
That's yeah, hold on, let me pull that that for you, right?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
I love that so colorful, vibrant.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
You know, yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I'm not one of my favorite things to do, sponsoring
Rogers call. I'm gonna do more of that. But that
was that. It's like going to NASCAR period. That was
my first time going. But I'm like, I can see
why people like enjoyed. When I was young, my dad
to take me to the racetrack of Cooper River Dragon
Way in South Carolina. But that and Darlington was different.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Yeah, way different. We get to some races.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yes, if I was, I say, I would go to win.
The Poconos is close.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It's very close, but that's your that's the weekend. Your
car show.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
July twenty fifth is my car show.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, herge, the last twenty four you.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Know, I went, I went to Hampton, So I'm always
in Hampton. Yeah, no, touch Richmond every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Dope.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
I definitely got to come to one of your car
shows because I've been seeing it on my feet.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
One day when you're not racing, we would love to
get one of your car Carr.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
He's Dominican, but still I am.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
A lot of black people events.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Thank you so much for.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Destiny. When you're eighty years old and you're looking back,
what do you hope people say? Destiny spur a lot changed.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
The face of motorsports because when I grew up in
motors versus, you didn't see a lot of people that
look like me. Maybe you did in drag racing, but
definitely not in NASCAR spaces. So yeah, that's what I
want them to say.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Tell them how to follow you.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Follow me on Dessie Spurlock everything except Facebook. That's Des
Spurlock Official and it's d Y and I d E.
There we go, it's d Y S t A n Y.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Well, it's dj M V Little keV Charlemagne. That was
violent for no reasons.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I don't condone that.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Destinies Burl, I thank you so much for joining us.
It's the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Good morning, Joe, Keviny was crazy. That was unnecessary. I
was completely understand I don't know why you don't know.
Every day I wake, click your glass up, the breakfast club.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You don't finish for.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Y'all done it.
Every day.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Up the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
You don't finish for.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Y'all dumb.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Morning.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
Everybody is DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the God we
are the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Laura Rose is here as well.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
We got a special guest in the buildings, indeed, Destiny
spur a Lock Welcome.
Speaker 5 (00:20):
Thank you. Here are you feeling this morning? I feel good.
It's not too early, so we feel good. You got
throw up? No, why would I have to throw up?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Why don't you have to throw up?
Speaker 6 (00:29):
Because the article where you were about to do your
debut your race and you turned it was like, I
think I'm about to throw up.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
That's hilarious because I was so nervous, Like that was
my debut and I've worked so hard to get to
this point. So it's like I'm here finally and it's like, okay, nervous,
but once I get in the karme good.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I thought he was trying to tell everybody was pregnant.
Speaker 6 (00:52):
Your coach, Phil Horton, he was saying, how like that
moment showed him how special you were because you you're
so accomplished, but you're still nervous in the moment.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Absolutely, People that don't know she was the first black
woman to race in NASCAR Motorsports racer And how did
you get into racing and your love.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Of cause it's my parents' fault, I would say. At one,
before I could even walk, they got me a Barbie jeep.
So I was like, okay, this is cool. I turned three,
I got on the back of the motorcycle with them,
and I'm like, yeah, I think I'm gonna do something
like this. My grandfather is the one who introduced me
into NASCAR at like an early age six twelve somewhere
up in there, and I was like, I want to race.
(01:27):
I didn't think it was really going to happen. Fast forward.
I started drag racing motorcycles because of my godfather, and
then I was like, okay, we can really take this
to the next level. All these opportunities came for me
to be able to race a Nascars, but they all failed.
But now we're here, so it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Wow, that was a fast story. I know it took
longer than that, but that was.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So let's talk about some of the pitfalls that you
had to go One being black, two being a woman.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So break those dewns.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Yes, So as you know, like you said, it's so
many things that you can say I have against me
because so superpowers they are. I love that. To be
able to get into NASCAR, you kind of have to
be born into it or you have to have a
lot of money. So I didn't have either those. So
I literally had to figure this out as I'm going.
You know, I've had teams that said, hey, come on,
(02:13):
let's do it, and then things fall through. But I'm
just glad I never gave up because I promise you
it was times where I'm like, forget it, but I
kept going. So that's was my perseverance.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Being the first is always celebrated, but does it ever
feel like extra pressure?
Speaker 6 (02:27):
No?
Speaker 5 (02:27):
I love that. Everybody asked me that do I feel pressure?
I don't because being the first was never my focus.
It was me doing something that I love. I just
happened to be the first and had a great team
with me to make it happen.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Did you ever look up to anybody in the NASCAR world,
motorsports world, anything like that?
Speaker 5 (02:43):
So when I was little, Dale Earnhardt was my go
to because that was my Poppy's favorite, you know. And
then I love the DuPont card that what's his name,
Jeff Gordon was in because it was colorful, so many kids.
I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna do that, but yeah, that's
really it. Growing up.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, you feel like people talk down to you or
feel like you don't know the business as well, especially
being in race card is that happened a lot.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
All the time, and I think they look at it
because I'm new in this space. But I've been in
the motorsports industry for over seventeen years and the first
thing that someone ever told me when I first got
into this space was learn the business and know the
business before you get into it. So I know both sides.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And you was a truck driver, yes, I.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Still got my CEO. Yeah that's right.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You could drive the big joints.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Yeah, a kW which is a Kenworth and a Peterbilt.
So yeah. I actually was a flight attendant before that.
Stop being a flight intendant because I'm like, I can't race,
so but it's good money. Then I got my CDO
so I can do both. I was with Delta Air.
I was adulta too.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
How long were you there?
Speaker 5 (03:47):
I was there for three years.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
I was only there for like nine months really, but
you don't have a sign like, but you instantly feel
because adulta training them.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Eight weeks?
Speaker 6 (03:58):
How long you were eight or ten weeks? No, we
were six weeks, six weeks. How many plans did you learn?
Speaker 5 (04:02):
All of them? And we had it was like at
that point, it's like twelve, Okay, I think we did
eight to start.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I think we did.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
We only did learn. There's different exits and it's a
whole it's the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And then you feel on a plane.
Speaker 7 (04:16):
Both of you don't really be killing because it's like,
you know, you kind of know the thing, so you
just kind of like watching here and there and you're
just like, all right, if you feel safe, you just
you chill.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Literally, you've been doing this over seventeen well you said
about seventeen years, right, craziest injury.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
None, great?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Crazy?
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Thank god? Yeah no, no, thank god. B I mean
so when I first started race, I did flip the bike,
but then I got back up. They're like, man, we
need to check you out. I'm like, I'm good, but
it's my bike, okay because I want to keep going
and the bike was fine. I was good.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Race was just yes, a race.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Yeah, damn. I know.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You talked about being a truck driver, a flight attendant.
Now NASCAR, which version of yourself for you?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Most?
Speaker 5 (05:00):
This one? Because when I look back over all the
times I should have quit, and all the things that
I had to overcome and the things I went through,
to look back now and to see that I really
made it and this is just the beginning. I'm so
proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Now.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Seriously, why do you think it's taken so long for
black women to be present in the Space Center?
Speaker 5 (05:21):
One? It takes a lot of money so to be
able to obtain the sponsorships, to be able to get
the people that truly believe in you, because you have
a lot of people that's like, yeah, we think you
can do it, but we got to see it first.
So that's first and foremost. The money and having a
team that understands your vision and they believe in you
and push that forward so that other people can see too.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
You know what I realized. You know, I sponsored Roger
Caru's car in the Darlington Race. There is a lot
of black people behind the scenes at NASCAR. I would
have never thought that if I hadn't seen it for myself.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
And that's changed over the years, because you know, years
ago you never really saw that. But thankfully we have
more people that look like us on the track and
auf the track, because some people they look at us
and look at people like myself and Roger and they're like,
I want to be a racer, but I really don't.
But then we're able to show them that there are
other outlets in the space that they can do as well.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Do you think Motorsports has done enough to create access.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
I don't think so. They're getting to that point now,
especially with all the things that they're doing with the
pit crew members and showing them as who they are
and that they are an individual too. So we're getting there.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So are we celebrating exceptions? Are we actually building real opportunities?
Speaker 5 (06:37):
I think we're definitely building real opportunities, especially for myself.
I feel like me being a woman that shows those
other little girls and boys boys that hey, like, if
she can do it, I can do it too, and
do it effortlessly and unapologetically.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
How personal does it get?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
You know, because sometimes I'm watching these races and I'm saying,
people cut each other off, they tapping the back of
the car, and I'm like, after the race, you just
feel y'all want five minutes like personal, Oh it gets personal.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
You what you see on TV when they're in your face.
Oh no, that's very much real. I don't do any
of that because I don't got time for it, Like
I'm focused on my racing. But oh yeah, people be
ready to fight for real.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
What's the what would you say is the most challenging
part of the race, like the physical part or the
mental part.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
I would say the mental, because you got to think,
we're in this car for two plus hours. You have
to make sure you're constantly hitting your lines, meaning racing
where you're supposed to each round, each lap around the track.
You also have to worry about the people around you.
You have to worry about tired maintenance, making sure you're
not wearing your tires out. It's so many aspects. You
(07:39):
have to think of all that and continue to race
and stay focused.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And then y'all don't even get the pe No listen.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
So people they were like, what you gotta deal when
you gotta pay, you better hold it. But some people
wear it like depends too, So I know that's right.
Yeah I'm not but yeah, okay.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
As your personal question has nothing to do with this,
But you just just mentioned something I had. I gotta
think about racing my sunny the other day in the
gold cost spot, right, I gotta ask you.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Right, so when you hit the curves, they.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Like, it's not to say this, but he beat me.
He beat me the other day, right, And I thought
maybe because he's a lot lighter than me and his
car lighter.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
When you hit the turns, you hit the break or
gas or do you swerve to the turn? How do
you swerve?
Speaker 5 (08:19):
It depends because the apex, the banking, all of that
makes a difference. But to what you were talking about, Yes,
your son being lighter will definitely help that. All right, No,
that's true.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
That's my story. I'm gonna go racing to day now now.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Logan, Yeah, Logan, Loganga.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Is like not lighter in you. It's no way.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
He just got muscles.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I don't believe when did you realize you wanted to
start navigating male dominated spaces? Because I read somewhere that
you used to play organized football, tackle football and middle
high school.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yes I did.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I do.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
It's funny because it's like I never looked at it
as being a male dominated thing. I just knew it
was something I wanted to do, so I did it.
So once I got into these spaces, They're like you,
you're a girl, You're not supposed to do this, like
this is a boy's sport. And I'm like, maybe to y'all,
but to me, this is something I love. So I
never looked at it any different. Corner and safety.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Wow, they didn't give you.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
No slack, No, they didn't.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I love the fact that your parents put you in
it and push you to do that. That's that's amazing
because most parents be like, no, you don't play that,
this boy sport. But the fact that they push you
to do that, that means everything.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
My family has been super supportive no matter what I
want to do. They've always said, destiny, if it's something
you want to do, do it. Yeah, I did. I
Actually I didn't. I never started, but I did get
play time.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Somebody laid you out.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Oh in practice. This was after we made the team.
You know, we have two days. Went out there that morning.
I definitely got my bell rung. I definitely got a
concussion when I got back up, and you know.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
What, his daddy's during that time when you get when
you see you on the floor knocked out and you're
looking at stars.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So I didn't lay there. I got up and then
I started seeing the stars. So they didn't know at
the time, but I mean they know I'm tough, I'm rugged,
I'm a girly.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Girl, but I'm They didn't want to do that though,
like you just saw it, Like I want to play football.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
I love football. So my dad's a huge Cowboys fan.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Oh my goodness, family, Howard you got.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
So we just grew up watching football all the time
and they had so I was like, I'm gonna do it. Yes,
I'm from Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
You didn't have the Panthers when I was coming. I
was born in nineteen hundred and seventy eight. So my
daddy was a Cowboys fan as well.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That's how.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That's how you become a Cowboys fan down south.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Yeah, literally, I don't know how he started that.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And the lifestyle, the whole cocaine, the women. You know
what I'm saying, what my daddy.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
What is the love like when you when you're back
at home Richmond. I know it's just a small city,
but it's like, yeah, it's huge, yeah, and which you
have accomplished is so big being the first black woman
yes a NASCAR.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
It's so cool because a lot of them, they've seen
me go up through the rinks. They've seen me race motorcycles,
they seen me race arena cars. So now that I'm
actually here and I grew up two miles from the racetrack,
they love it every time I come there, like, let
us know we're gonna do something. So the little kids
her like like, You're such an inspiration to them. Yes,
And I've done so much like in the community too
(11:27):
before I eve got to this point. So now that
I'm here, I've really got to give back like I wanted.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
But what would you tell young girls? I was talking a
lot or a couple of days ago. She was drag
racing as a kid. So what do you tell young
girls that want to get into it? How do they
get into it?
Speaker 1 (11:40):
What do they need to do? What you know? How
do they know practice? How do they jump into it?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
So for what I did and what I would give
to them is go to your local drag strip wherever
it is that you want to, you know, race at
you can get a car, a junior drag stre because
that's what Lotto did for like five grand and just
find somebody, a team or someone that you try us
to go out there with you and just show you
all the ranks. But I love that you asked that
because I have a foundation called What's Your Destiny Foundation,
(12:06):
and it's to help kids get into motorsports on and
I want to teach them things on and off the track.
So I, like you said, creating these opportunities, that's what
it's all about.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
How can they how can they get more information about that?
Speaker 5 (12:19):
So it's on my website Destiny spurlock dot com.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
But yeah, what do the all your pictures, not all
of them, but a lot of pictures on your Instagram.
You have the stars and your interviews. I've watched what
is the significance of the Stars under your eyes?
Speaker 5 (12:31):
So we cannot wear jewelry when not in drag races,
so also drag race in NHR too. And the first
time they told me that, I was like, ill, I
feel naked. I need something that's pretty. So I found
my stars. But the stars are also from Avatar, so
I'm like it brings the little materia out in me.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
But yeah, you feel like Avatar when you drive car
all the time.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Yes, you have to. Yeah, you have to find something
inner that's bigger than you, that's gonna bring you through
for sure.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Now, when you ride regular on the road, are you
still like I gotta get to what I gotta get
all You're like, no, especially when you're in traffic.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
We got to get to where we gotta go. But
you know we go to speed livings.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So you're a medial strip type girl, because yes, I
think a menial strip real question.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
No, no, no, no, no, I mean I gotta keep my life.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And people must pull up to you all the time
when they see you in the car, especially back home.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
So I don't. I don't. I don't live in Virginia anymore.
I'm in North Carolina now, so I'm kind of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So when they pull up to you the light and
they see they want to race you all the time. No,
they don't know.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
No, I a chilling, be chilling.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I have my hat on my hoodie like all incognito.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I have no idea why regular cars go up to
one hundred plus miles. I we're never able to limited
fifty five in most places.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So you have no idea.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Well, if you go Midwest and stuff, you can go
seventy five eighty out there. But you can also go
to the racetrack.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, I think it should be based on you tell
your regular car race, yes, track, I can take a
hundred to the race.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
You can? People do it the one yes?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Wow, most people ain't doing that.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
A lot of people do that for the people that
want to.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I guess what what do people just understand about women
in racing? Becase there's always a stereotype that women can't drive?
Speaker 5 (14:17):
What was that?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
A stereotype that I'm sorry for real? Usually they say.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Don't context. I don't want people to stereotype. It's not
true women as well.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Just a lot of people they just feel like women
aren't strong enough. You know, we're small, we're fragile, we
can't do the things that men can do in a
car and in life in general. Yes, that is true
to some extent, but that doesn't mean that we can't
do it and we can't do it well. So yeah,
they just need to understand we can do this.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Do you ever feel like you got to just spell
that stereotype?
Speaker 5 (15:04):
No, I just continue to focus on what I'm doing.
Because everybody has an opinion, but it's not going to affect.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Me, what's your take on like the conversation like can
women have it all? Because your career is so physical
and so like very different than any other woman that
is not competing in a sport like yours, right, so
love family all that stuff, like do you yeah, no, no, no,
I'm just wondering, like how you what your thinking is
(15:32):
around stuff like that because you're a race car driver,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Like it's it's such a different life. Absolutely, no, we
can have it all. But for me, my focus is
my career. I work so hard to get to this point,
like nothing is going to get in my way of
stopping this progression and where I've gotten and so that's
my focus.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I understand that you.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Have the type of confidence I hope my daughters have,
Like have you have you always been fearless or it's
just something that you just had to learn.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Always been fearless. My mom has always told me destiny, like,
don't be that little kid that sat in the back
of the classroom that said, dang, I wish I'd ever
raised my hand, Dang, I wish I would have tried that.
So from that point at four, I've always been a
go getter, I'm like, I can do it.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You jumped off the roof, put a towel on your
aund your neck.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
I haven't, but I did take my little tights wagon
to my neighbor's driveway which was super hot and drove
down it. So I did crazy stuff with age six seven. Yeah,
that was gonna ask.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
You know watching NASCAR, right, and a lot of people
don't really know much about it.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
It's kind of like soccer now, like you you watch it,
but you don't know what it means. When I noticed
when people race and they get in like the fourteenth place,
they're excited and they're happy. So how does that work
when it comes to that, because I've seen somebody the
other day they were like in the twentieth place and
they were excited about I'm like twenty five mad, But
I guess time.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
So it's not yes enough. So you have teams like
big teams, so they're able to have all the great equipment,
you know, a bunch of research and development on their car.
Then you have some teams that are lower level or
lower tier, so they're just happy to be in top
twenty because that doesn't happen too often. So that's what
that comes from.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
And then also I wanted to know, like when you
do build out a car, is there a cap like
you know how in certain basketball as each team has
a cap might be thirty million. But if I have
more money than you, and I can, you know, make
my car as fast as possible because I can afford it.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Is there a cap when it comes to the NASCAR
racing or no?
Speaker 5 (17:29):
When you say like as far as money, yes, not really,
you still have to stay within the guidelines of the rules. Yes,
but if you have all this money where you can
get a bunch of air tunnel time or you know,
research enveloped to try to make a part as great
as you can, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's one of the coolest things that I was seeing, man,
when I went to go see Rogers, because it's like
they got the control room, then they got the the
I guess another control room on the sideline. Then you
got the team that fixes the car. Would it has
to do the pitch. There's so much that goal into
that one car that people don't see.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
They don't they just see the driver and maybe the
pit people. But it takes so much, like the whole
week to make sure everything is together.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And then somebody talking to you while you're racing.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Yes, so you have earbuzz in and your spotter is
talking to you.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So you have to trust them a thousand masts. So
what do he goes?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Move?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
You move, and you gotta trust him not to look
and nose.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
He's your eyes and is absolutely and sometimes you got
to make a move without even asking him or you know,
him saying something to you. If you see an opening,
you know you can get it. You gotta go.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Have you ever gotten to an argument with your spider
like you missed something or he didn't want you to
do something?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Now?
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Nah, nah, my spotter is really good. Yeah, he's cool.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Have you heard of that though? Like some spotterer is
missing the marks and things like that.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Why it happens all the time. And then I feel
like you have to also get a spotter that works
for you. They may be the best, yes, but they
you all may not communicate the same.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
So that is a big Are you interviewing them like
a personal interview like an assistant? Like how is how
do you get the spotter?
Speaker 5 (18:52):
So right now, my team, they have brought me some
people and we've tried different people out and that's pretty much.
How you have to do it.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
That's a damn like live with you because he has
to know you, right, we have to live. You have
to know somebody so well you're playing with their life.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, essentially, but a couple of conversations to day.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Yeah, no, not at all, Like we'll do a pre race,
at the race and post Maybe I couldn't imagine that.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Oh god, what is the benefit of staying physically fit
or being physically fit as a racist?
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Okay, because we are athletes, I'm so glad you said that. Yes,
I'm in the gym six days a week literally for
four hours minimum. Yeah, we're doing all the agility training,
heavy lifting, we do reaction stuff. I get on the
sim I'm watching film, so you have to when I
say it's like football camp, that's the type of study. Yeah,
(19:56):
that's how it is.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Incorrect me if I'm wrong, because I don't know the
technical way to say it. But it's like almost like
phone memory in your seat type thing. Yeah, it shapes
to you when you sit in.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
It, so it's a seat poor So well, they'll pour
the stuff in we sit in it. It gets like over
one hundred degrees and it molds to you. So that
is prime for a race car driver.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So you can't you really do. Got to watch your
way because you gotta stay within.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
The Yeah, but no, because it's funny. I got into
my old car the other day and I can't fit
my seat anymore. So you just call the people up.
They'll come out there. Poor You're done in a day.
Oh yeah, wow.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
How has like the business and branding side of it
been for you? Like you know on one and it's
like first black woman to do all these things. But
do you feel like on the business side they're as welcoming,
open open to you.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
So yes. So first I gotta say thank you to
Fox Techa. They are the reason I'm here. They I've
met them six years ago. They always believed in me,
so they are a huge part of it because they,
like I said, they see my vision like I see it.
So when they're talking to people, they like who I am,
but they want to see me in the car first.
So now that I'm here, they're way more welcoming than before.
(21:03):
I love that for you.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
So you got the YouTube series Driven by Destiny. What
do you want people to learn? You know, not just
about the sport of racing, but about you. Are you
just trying to introduce yourself to the personality.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
So I want them to see what it looks like
behind the scenes, because a lot of people that just see, oh,
you're a race car driver, they don't understand all the
things that it took for me to get to this point,
and the hardship and all that good stuff. So I
want them to come into my world. Gives me a
chance to be vulnerable and show them who I am.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Was there ever a moment where you almost gave up
because you feel like doors weren't opening.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Yeah, a ton of times. A ton of times. I
can't even count on both my hands. There's been things,
like I said, a lot of overpromising under delivering has happened,
and I just wanted to say forget it. But something
would happen where I see a little girl she's like, oh,
I love what you're doing. I'm all right, I guess
I'll keep going. So scared, not no, not scared, nervous,
(21:58):
Not scared because inspect what I do and I know
what can happen. But once I get in the car
or on the bike, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I love what you said about the little girl, right
because I always you pray to God to just show
you signs. Right, you ask God showed me if I
should be doing something like so, was that a thing
like you saw this little girl and she actually told
you like, hey.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yes, oh what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
I just all the time, and I pray a lot,
and I'm like, hey, God, let me know what you
need me to do. I'll see a one one one,
I'm like, all right, let's keep it moving, like you know.
Or I'll meet somebody in the grocery store and they're like, hey,
are you destiny? And I'm like, all right, let's keep going,
you know. So I've always known that it's bigger than me,
regardless of the things I go through. I'm going through
them to help the next generation when i'm kids.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So you're not call you probably a superhero old of them.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
I know I am.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
That's when you Have you ever asked your parents why
they named you?
Speaker 7 (22:49):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (22:49):
I know that story. So my mom didn't know. First
of all, my dad wanted to name me Shaquille because
he loves Shaquille O'Neill. Right, yes, my mom said absolutely not.
We gonna figure this out. And she was at my
mom my grandparents house sitting in her kitchen and she
said she just heard the word destiny, and she said,
that's what I'm the nameing.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I actually like sugar. I like destiny and how you
spell it very significantly. But I can see Shaquille for
a girl, not for me, but Ki Shaquilla. Shaquille Shaquilla
is my father one to name me Kevin Cray's no.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Get Kevin Kevin.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
This is why I nothing.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
What they play when you when you.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Were younger, did you realize what destiny was?
Speaker 5 (23:45):
No? I had no clue until I got older. I
was probably about high school and I really started digging
into the meaning of my name, and I'm like, this
is wow. I get to really create my own destiny
every day, and that's my name.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Like, okay, so what did you think your original destiny was?
Are you still.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
I thought my original destiny was to do something out
of the ordinary, which I've always done. So to answer that, yeah,
I'm still doing it so much more to come.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
When is your next race so people can follow you?
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Okay? So next race is this Friday, which will we
will have the juneteenth livery thanks to Fox tech Us.
So yes, that's gonna be a Pocono. And then I
have another race coming up which I want to make
a great announcement about. Okay, so on July twenty four,
thank you so much to miss Emily Sussman. She is
(24:40):
also the co owner of Gotham FC and the New
York Giants. So she has a podcast called She Pivots Podcasts,
and she is coming along with me on this journey
because she believes in me, and she's going to sponsor
my race. Wow, Indianapolis, amazing, congratulations. Yes it's old, yes, yes, yes,
(25:04):
let me see.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
And is it you like you? This is all your
creative control.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
So it's my team. And and when I say my
team is like that, they like that. Okay, my phone
is turned off, so okay in the moment, yes, y'all
have right, I don't have hers on my phone. Okay, perfect, Yes,
y'all gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
And then so I'm really big into my ancestors because listen,
they didn't get these chances that I have. So I
always say I am my sister's wildest dreams come true.
And we got that on the car, So I'm really.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
I got to see Okay, oh wow, that's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Which one is that, Okay, I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Fire, oh my god.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And you look at this yo. This you do a
lot of colors.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
I saw another picture before the numbers or something like.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Yeah, that was my avatar. That was when I did
my truck baby.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah, you do a lot of like color.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
This is dope. That's the same one.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
That's yeah, hold on, let me pull that that for you, right?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
I love that so colorful, vibrant.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
You know, yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I'm not one of my favorite things to do, sponsoring
Rogers call. I'm gonna do more of that. But that
was that. It's like going to NASCAR period. That was
my first time going. But I'm like, I can see
why people like enjoyed. When I was young, my dad
to take me to the racetrack of Cooper River Dragon
Way in South Carolina. But that and Darlington was different.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Yeah, way different. We get to some races.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yes, if I was, I say, I would go to win.
The Poconos is close.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It's very close, but that's your that's the weekend. Your
car show.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
July twenty fifth is my car show.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, herge, the last twenty four you.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Know, I went, I went to Hampton, So I'm always
in Hampton. Yeah, no, touch Richmond every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Dope.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
I definitely got to come to one of your car
shows because I've been seeing it on my feet.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
One day when you're not racing, we would love to
get one of your car Carr.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
He's Dominican, but still I am.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
A lot of black people events.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Thank you so much for.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Destiny. When you're eighty years old and you're looking back,
what do you hope people say? Destiny spur a lot changed.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
The face of motorsports because when I grew up in
motors versus, you didn't see a lot of people that
look like me. Maybe you did in drag racing, but
definitely not in NASCAR spaces. So yeah, that's what I
want them to say.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Tell them how to follow you.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Follow me on Dessie Spurlock everything except Facebook. That's Des
Spurlock Official and it's d Y and I d E.
There we go, it's d Y S t A n Y.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Well, it's dj M V Little keV Charlemagne. That was
violent for no reasons.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I don't condone that.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Destinies Burl, I thank you so much for joining us.
It's the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Good morning, Joe, Keviny was crazy. That was unnecessary. I
was completely understand I don't know why you don't know.
Every day I wake, click your glass up, the breakfast club.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You don't finish for.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Y'all done it.
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
Jess Hilarious
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