This article first appeared in the October, 2016 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.
For 19-year-old Jenna Grillo, the only way through life is to follow her dream
Of all the young SCCA members we’ve profiled in this column, as well as in Speed Freakz its predecessor, over nearly two decades now, 19-year-old Jenna Grillo may have, by far, the most intriguing day job.
Grillo, who this year began competing in the SCCA Pro Racing-sanctioned F2000 Championship Series with K-Hill Motorsports, pilots a two-seat Indy car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy Racing Experience organization, giving rides around the 2.5-mile track to motorsports fans who want an up-close and personal view of the facility. It’s a job she has relished for nearly a year and a half now.
“I work with the Victory Laps program, giving rides in two-seater Indy cars and NASCAR stock cars around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and on the streets around the Dallara IndyCar factory,” she explains. “Most people don’t even realize that I’m a girl until they thank me for the ride and they’re welcomed by a female voice. If they do realize I’m a girl, I usually have all of the women begging to go in my car.”
That Grillo works at the Speedway with the Indy Racing Experience is perhaps appropriate, because it was a trip to the 500 a decade ago that spurred her interest in racing.
“When I was 10, my parents took me to the Indy 500. I immediately fell in love with racing. We had a 12-hour drive back to Minnesota following the race, and on that drive I told my parents I wanted to be a racecar driver.”
At the time, she was a competitive dancer, Grillo adds, so “my dad was immediately intrigued by the idea of tires and gears as opposed to tap shoes and rhinestones.”
About a month later, dad and daughter visited a local kart track, acquired a go-kart, “and I started racing the following weekend,” Grillo recalls.
Once acclimated to kart racing, Grillo followed a familiar path for young racers – local events, regional events, and finally shifter karts and national events. Along the way, she won two Midwest titles in shifter karts and tested in Porsches at Putnam Park and Sebring. She began her F2000 career last fall with an ArmsUp Motorsports test at Blackhawk Farms.
“One of the things I love the most about racing is the feeling I get when I put on my helmet and get into the car,” she says. “I start the engine and the entire world screeches to a halt. The only thing on my mind is the task at hand. I’m thinking about mastering every braking point, hitting every apex, and getting on the throttle as quickly as possible once the car settles down. I absolutely love looking over data and seeing exactly where I can improve and getting out on the track making the corrections and being able to see the improvements when I look at the data again.”
Although she is new to the F2000 series, Grillo says she has quickly fallen in love with it. “All of the other drivers are amazing,” she says, “and I can’t wait until I’m battling for positions on the podium.”
To get to this point in her career, both on and off the track, a lot of people – beginning with her family – have been helpful in ways big and small, Grillo explains.
“When I first started racing go-karts, I was extremely slow,” she admits. “There was a kid in my class who won pretty much every single race. His name was Alex Kardashian, and he and his father, Chris, helped me become competitive. When I moved to shifter karts, I met Josh Lane, who taught me how to drive shifters. To this day, he and his father, Lance, have been a huge help. Chris Enderlein was my tuner during two of the years I competed in the SKUSA ProTour.”
In fact, Grillo notes, she and Enderlein spent so much time together “that he was part of my family. He helped shape me into the driver I am today.”
Now with the move to the SCCA and F2000, “John Walko has been one of the people who has helped me in my transition,” she adds. “Whether it’s engineering advice or moral support before races, he has been a huge support for me.”
As for her F2000 season so far, Grillo recorded a 12th and a sixth at Road Atlanta and a ninth in a deluge-shortened race one at Watkins Glen. In the second race at Watkins Glen, she was collected in a lap two incident after a driver in front of her spun in Turn 1. The accident put an end to her day.
“It was a terrible way to end the weekend,” she says, “but all in all, I was pretty happy with the weekend. I got a lot of experience that will help me for future races, and I’m pleased with my progress so far this season.”
As for that day job, “It’s an unbelievable experience to go around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” says Grillo. “I can just imagine myself driving around the track at 230mph during the month of May a few years down the road.”
Words by James HeineImage Courtesy of Jenna Grillo
