Dina Parise

I have to say my husband is the biggest reason for my success, both in racing and as a hairdresser, because I was a very successful hairdresser. I met my husband when I was in a bad time - I had gotten divorced from my first husband - and I kind of had given up on things. He's actually always been the one to push me, especially in these last 20 years when I'm like, I don't know if I can do it, and he's like, yep, you can. You can. He's really been a force since we've been together almost 30 years, and he's been a driving force in keeping me going. And then there was my mom. My mom was one of the strongest people that I knew. She was 5 feet tall, but would take on a 6-foot 300 pound man in a split second. I've got my chops and my street smarts from my mom, and my husband has definitely been my biggest cheerleader, I can't say any more than that.

One of the things I always say is, yes, sometimes being a female racer works to our advantage, but I don't think we need to hang our hat on that. The industry is predominantly male, but there are a ton of women, and I think we need to learn as much as we can and go with our skills. Utilize your skill set, don't utilize the fact that you're the first woman or whatever to do XYZ. I've been shying away from that for the last few years, and I do think it's something that we need to - it's great to highlight women when it's needed, like a woman named Angie Smith just won the 200th race for women, that highlight is great, but I don't think we need to put our first foot forward as a woman coming into this type of industry. Just have your skill set, and go on your skill set.

I do find that I have had comments made regarding my age, which is very funny because the car doesn't know how old I am, the car doesn't know if I'm a woman, so that doesn't matter. And I am very good at promoting the companies that I work with, so when it comes to sponsorship, I actually was turned down by a couple of companies because they said, we love you, we love what you do, but it's your age. And I'm like, what does my age have to do with it - they were products that could be used by anyone from young to old. So what does my age matter? I think that's why I'm trying to change the narrative so much, because people are focusing on age when they don't need to. Instead, focus on what this person can do for you when it comes to marketing and sponsorship. And I think that's one of the biggest things for me right now. It's been a little bit of a hurdle, and of course, sponsorship is difficult in this game, so I'm trying to just keep myself out there, that's about the best that I can do.

This is going to be so cliche, but integrity and respect. I feel like that is something that really has kind of gone by the wayside. And loyalty. Those are kind of three big things for my husband and myself, actually. I feel like people have forgotten how to be loyal, you know, they're always on to the next best thing, rather than sticking with something if it's a little bit hard. And people just not respecting each other for whatever reason. And, you know, I try to live, and look, I'm not perfect, of course nobody is, but I do try to live by honoring those three things, for sure, because I think we're lost without that.