Drag Illustrated Issue 148, September 2019 | Page 60
D.I. DRIVER BLOG
Megan Meyer
presented by WELD Racing
“You can be a victim, or you can be a badass. The choice is yours.” –Judi Holler
B
etween my time spent at
the Tulsa and Brainerd race-
tracks, I flew to Detroit for
a quick couple of days with my be-
loved ladies at the Women in Auto
Care Conference. I’ve talked about
this amazing group of women who
come from all sides of the automo-
tive industry, such as shop owners,
technicians, aftermarket dealers,
OEM marketing, etc. and they leave
their hats at the door and come
together to empower one another
and strategize how we can grow and
improve our voice in the male-dom-
inated industry. I always leave this
event feeling motivated and inspired
to make a difference and help pave
the way for future females in racing
and in the automotive field.
“SLAY-o-phobia”: a fear of success
that causes a person to doubt their
greatness and play it safe. This re-
sults in missed opportunities and a
mediocre life.
10. Judi’s new book, Fear Is My
Homeboy, she shares her story of
how her improv theatre background
launched her career as an author
and speaker today. Her book teaches
us to stop letting fear boss us around
so we can start leveling up person-
ally and professionally. It focuses
on helping us shut down self-doubt
so we can start taking action and
become bolder, braver and more
confident. It’s a quick, easy read and
I highly recommend it to everyone!
My Top 10 Takeaways:
1. The U.S. auto care industry is a
$405 billion industry, made up of 30
percent women in the automotive
work force.
2. 17.3 million new vehicle units
were sold in 2018, and the industry
is forecasting this to be 16.8 million
in 2019. Women make up 50 per-
cent of new vehicle sales and their
body style of choice is a crossover (I
have contributed to this stat!)
3. Kirsten Zaremba shared with us
that we do not own our vehicle data.
Our vehicle is tracking so much
information about us while we’re
driving, including how much weight
you’ve gained or lost, your favorite
locations (so they can share with
advertisers), driving behaviors and
more. Three in four consumers are
unfamiliar with vehicle data – are
you one of them? Join the move-
ment with us because you have a
right to choose! Learn more at
yourcaryourdata.org and sign the
petition.
4. Adam Frye taught us about the
empathy map to bring the human-
ity back into solving problems. Re-
evaluate how you empathize by first
asking yourself who are you empa-
thizing with, what do they need to
60 | D r a g
do, what do they see, what do they
say, what do they hear, and what do
they think and feel?
5. After developing a deep under-
standing of the challenge and asking
lots of questions, clearly define the
problem you want to solve, followed
by brainstorming potential solu-
tions. Once you select and develop
a solution, test all or part of it until
it is successful.
6. Melissa Marshall
educated us about
tools for clear con-
tent and dynamic
delivery. First you
need to master the
audience you are
speaking to, and
keep it centered on
them, not yourself.
Your audience is the
hero. Also, identify
the transformation,
based on where they are now, that
you want from your audience re-
garding your idea after your speech.
7. Dahlia El Gazzar showed us the
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
best apps for communication for
you and your team: Loom, Gram-
marly, Evernote, IFTT, Monday and
Slack.
8. The industry panel taught me
that you can’t be what you can’t see,
and we need to work more on social
media to raise awareness of women
in automotive. Shops and auto com-
panies need to create more men-
toring programs and educate par-
ents and guidance
counselors about all
of the different job
opportunities in the
auto industry – a lot
of kids want a job in
technology and this
industry is filled with
it! A technician now-
a-days will be reverse
engineering what the
engineers built to re-
pair the issues.
9. Judi Holler said to treat your
brand name like your family name.
She showed us how to develop grat-
itude for our fear, only if we cure
If you are in the automotive in-
dustry – racing, technician, shop
owner, mechanic, shop manager,
marketing, communications, prod-
uct development, ANYTHING –
this is the place for you! And, it’s
not just for women, men can join as
well! I would love to see more racers
involved with this amazing support
group. The next time we will meet
up is at the AAPEX Show in Las
Vegas for the scholarship giveaway
and small reception, and new faces
are always welcomed. This is where
I first met the WiAC group and fell
in love with all of the ladies there.
If you would like to join us, please
don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
But before then, we have some
big goals to fill. We have less than 10
races left on our schedule at Randy
Meyer Racing. I am currently sec-
ond in national standings, first in
regional (which we already clinched
the championship, yahoo!) and I
only have five races left to gain as
many points as I can to slide into
first place. This year has gone amaz-
ing for our team, and I have a really
good feeling that we can seal the
deal in the end.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Megan Meyer is the driver of
the NGK Spark Plugs/Lucas
Oil/WELD Racing A/Fuel
Dragster in the NHRA Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series.
Issue 148