After spending a season on the CARS Tour pro late model trail with Anthony Campi Racing, Katie Hettinger will switch to her family-owned team next year.
She will pilot a late model under the Hettinger Racing banner in 2024.
“I’m going to drive for my dad. We’ll run CARS Tour pro late model and late model stocks, and then race in Michigan a few times,” Hettinger said.
The blossoming short-track talent has a bold vision for her future and it starts with earning her first CARS Tour wins in both the pro late model and late model stock car classes.
“One big goal is just to have a lot of success next year,” Hettinger said. “Get some good points, maybe some national points and then just hopefully get some ARCA opportunities at the end of the year and maybe some (NASCAR) Trucks.”
Still, her latest season is nothing to gloss over.
The 16-year-old proved to be quite a force behind the wheel of Campi’s No. 81 pro late model.
In February, the Michigan native became the first woman to win a pro late model feature at New Smyrna Speedway during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
In May, Hettinger quietly took the points lead in the CARS Tour pro late model division, and became the first woman to top the standings on the Southeast touring series.
Over the course of the CARS Tour season, Hettinger logged seven top-five finishes and ultimately finished second to Caden Kvapil in the championship during the season finale at North Carolina’s Caraway Speedway on Nov. 3.
Hettinger was also named the Bilstein Pro Late Model Rookie of the Year.
“We definitely had a solid season. Obviously, we wanted the championship, but unfortunately we fell one spot short. But it was still a good season — rookie of the year, second in points,” Hettinger noted. “We broke a lot of records this season.”
Notably, her title run was marred by a one-race suspension she served in October for “retaliating and intentionally wrecking title rival Caden Kavpil (at Tri-County Speedway),” according to the CARS Tour penalty report.
Nonetheless, Hettinger added another historic triumph to her list when she won a Carolina Pro Late Model Series feature at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Nov. 11, wheeling the No. 71 Chevrolet for Hettinger Racing.
She was the first woman to win a race in the CPLMS.
“It was cool to get that win at Hickory, because it’s one of my favorite tracks and we’ve had such good success there,” Hettinger said. “But it was also cool because it was the first race with my dad’s team.”
As the 16-year-old explained, it was a brand-new team, their first competitive start and they didn’t have the best car.
“We were a little worried at the beginning. So to be able to be in the right spot and make smart decisions and be there at the end was just amazing,” Hettinger said. “I definitely needed that win.”
She finished .453 seconds ahead of Max Reaves at Hickory to earn her seventh win at the famed .363-mile facility — the “Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars.”