The idea took hold late last year after Bridget Burgess completed her first full season in ARCA Menards West Series competition. Why not race against her mom on her own turf?
Sarah Burgess has been Bridget’s crew chief since the 20-year-old took to racing on asphalt. Before that, Sarah played a mentorship role as Bridget forged her own path into professional motorsports. And even further back, the two raced against one another in off-road competition.
Now, the duo is set to make history on Friday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring as they will be the first mother and daughter to race against one another in a NASCAR-sanctioned event.
“Honestly, it’s completely breathtaking in terms of where we came from,” Sarah Burgess said. “It’s an amazing opportunity, to be a part of this and be making history in so many different ways.”
In 2008, the Burgess family was moving from their home in Brisbane, Australia, to the United States in order to pursue their dreams in the motorsports industry. At the time, Bridget was “just a tiny person in the airplane seat,” Sarah Burgess added with a smile.
But as Bridget grew up, she gradually became more involved in her family’s parts fabrication workshop — BMI Racing — and explored the off-road racing industry, both as an honorary member of her mother’s pit crew and later as a driver.
From 2015 to ’19, Sarah was making her mark in Global Rallycross and the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series while Bridget began to discover where her passion truly lied.
“She came to both Adam and I and was like, ‘I want to race,’” Sarah said. “To see her take on asphalt racing the way she did … that wasn’t her following in my footsteps, that was her taking her own lead and making that opportunity for herself.”
Bridget made her stock car debut in the ARCA Menards Series West division in 2019, running the series part-time in 2020. Throughout the past three seasons, Bridget has stacked up nine top-10 finishes and currently holds seventh in the standings — a career-best.
The Burgess family continues to participate in Bridget’s budding career, with Sarah being both crew chief and team owner while Adam, Bridget’s father, works as a spotter on race day.
“They’ve taught me so much outside of racing about being dedicated and committed to a job that you love,” Bridget said. “We’re a very competitive family.”
It was that competitive nature that brought them to where they are today as Sarah and Bridget prepare to line up against one another at The Bullring.
“I’m not just going out there to circulate,” Sarah clarified. She’s going out there to give her daughter, and the rest of the field, a run for their money.
She’ll be behind the wheel of the No. 97 eBay Motors Chevrolet, which was originally brought on board the BMI Racing team earlier this year as a backup car for Bridget. Having the No. 97 car, along with Bridget’s No. 88 HMH Construction Chevrolet, was essentially what made their historical run possible.
Once the car was physically sitting in their workshop, Sarah and Bridget agreed there was nothing logistically holding them back from battling it out on the race track again.
“We’re a family that never gives up. If we want to achieve something, we do everything we absolutely can to make that goal happen,” Sarah said.
When eBay Motors came on board as the primary sponsor for the No. 97, Sarah was given the green light to strap in the car in Las Vegas. What began as a “cool idea” in the BMI Racing workshop will become part of NASCAR history at The Bullring on Friday night.