Meet Ashley Afdahl | Racecar Driver & Social Media Influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Afdahl and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
When I think about risk I think about how short life is. Meaning, your time on this planet isn’t guaranteed so to not take risks during the duration of time that you are here, seems unfair. For me, driving a race car is all about risk. Every time you strap into the car you truly are risking it all. Racing is a very dangerous sport and so the role of risk plays very heavily in my career path. I think a lot of people wonder why risk it? Why not play it safe and not make your odds of risking things become greater? Well its a simple answer. Imagine getting to the end of your life and realizing because you never took that risk, that you never stepped out of the “safe” zone of your day to day life, and that you never chased what truly makes you happiest on this planet you now never fulfilled your deepest achievement. For that reason, now it’s too late and you chose not to risk it from the start. I refuse to get to the end of my life and regret not “risking it.” Plus lets be honest, a life without a little risk isn’t a life that sounds fun to me but then again that might just be the adrenaline seeking race car driver in me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I grew up around the racetrack and ever since I stepped foot at our local dirt track, I knew its what I wanted to do when I got older. As years went on I spent countless weekends observing other racers and racetracks to learn about how to get into the motorsports world. If you are familiar with racing at all, its VERY expensive. For that reason, I didn’t get the opportunity to start racing until I was 18 years old. When I was a little girl I remember very vividly the very few females that went head to head against men each race weekend. Seeing other women compete in a male dominated industry fueled me to chase the same dream. I was inspired by how empowering it was to see other women prove that girls can too. Not to mention how cool race cars are.. especially 410 Sprint Cars and Pro 4 Trophy Trucks.

Since I couldn’t start racing from a young age due to lack of funding I actually was a beauty guru on YouTube for around 4 years. From there I transitioned into doing video and photo full time for a few years. I did everything from portraits to documentaries for race car drivers. Thats actually how I got my foot in the door in the motorsports world again. Our local track closed here and so I went many years without getting to see any race cars so when I was reintroduced you know that bug to go racing was back bigger than ever. From there I worked other small jobs, including being a barista and social media manager for a company to help raise money to get my own race car. At the end of 2017 I was able to purchase my very first dirt go kart for $500 and man was I stoked. I wheeled with 30-45 other men each race weekend and competed as one of the only females in the field. I did this for a few years, won some heat races, kart dashes, etc. As well as being the first female to set the fasted time around our track here, Adobe Mountain Speedway, in a champ kart.

After competing at our local track, I got the opportunity to move up to micro sprints in 2021 for Tony Morris at Hamblen Morris Racing. I dreamed of racing a micro sprint ever since I saw them at 8 years old. It never seemed like a feasible goal because of how expensive it was but Tony took a chance and let me live that dream. I have been racing for him ever since! To be honest, it all feels unreal. I have wanted this for so long and never thought it would be possible but I never gave up. I have spent countless hours working on my race car to long nights working to secure sponsorship funding to be able to keep my racing program going and even though some days are tough I wouldn’t trade any of this for the world.

My main goal aside from racing was to inspire other females that they can do it too. No matter how hard something seems or how out of reach your dream may be, NEVER GIVE UP. You never know what’s possible or what can happen if you don’t just try. To this day having fans reach out saying I inspire them is truly what the most rewarding thing is aside from actually racing. Even if I don’t get to wheel a sprint car or trophy truck one day, I am content knowing all my hard work helped empower other women and younger generations to follow their dreams.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Arizona is filled with many awesome hot spot areas to visit but if you wanted to get the full race weekend experience while in town this is my go to: 1. Start your morning off with a nice cup of coffee, preferably from Americano Ammunition Coffee in San Tan Valley. Great new place here that is family owned and all their coffee beans are locally roasted here in the valley.
2. Once the afternoon hits and you are drained from the heat I always recommend hitting up an IV Hydration place. There is one called, Prime IV here in the valley that’s great for pre gaming your weekend or post hydrating after the weekend fun
3. Next its race time so of course you’d have to come out to Adobe Mountain Speedway, located in Glendale. Its a neat local track here where you can find Micro Sprints, Midgets, Karts, Flat Track Bikes, Etc, on a weekly basis, Plus if you are into RC Cars they just built a new RC track right on the property.
4. Lastly now that the races are over and its late, you now MUST hit up In-N-Out burger. AKA my most favorite fast food here in the state. Double Double and animal fries!? YES PLEASE.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Id like to dedicate my journey of becoming a race car driver all to my dad and my car owner/crew chief Tony Morris. If it wasn’t for the two of them, I wouldn’t have the drive and determination to chase my dreams the way that I do. They consistently push me to be the best version of myself and truly make me believe in my potential of becoming a successful person on and off the racetrack.

Website: https://www.ashleyafdahl.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleyafdahl/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleyafdahlracing42/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyx-XNBQsxvARZKRlQAnFsw?view_as=subscriber

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashleyafdahl

Image Credits
Christopher Silva Photography Maxwell Patrick Imagery