CONCORD, N.C. — It’s been more than a year since Sarah Cornett-Ching last climbed behind the wheel of a race car.
The 29-year-old driver who hails from Penticton, B.C., revealed Thursday she’ll be returning to racing behind the wheel of a pro late model in the Carolinas this season. Cornett-Ching will be the owner and driver of the car, which will carry sponsorship from House of Raeford Farms.
“It’s been too long. I’m really excited over the partnership,” said Cornett-Ching, who has relocated from her native Canada to Rose Hill, N.C., and opened her own sign shop. “It’s kind of cool to be able to partner up with someone in your hometown. People with the same work ethic and they go to the same grocery stores that you do, so it’s been really, really cool.”
Cornett-Ching has plenty of experience behind the wheel of a race car. She ran the full ARCA Menards Series schedule in 2015 and ran a partial schedule of ARCA and NASCAR K&N Pro Series events the following year before she was sidelined after suffering a concussion in a crash during an ARCA event at Kentucky Speedway in 2016.
She’s done a little bit of late model racing in the years since but hasn’t raced full time in any particular series since her 2015 ARCA program.
“There was never a plan to quit racing,” said Cornett-Ching, who has six top-10 finishes in 28 ARCA starts. “It just wouldn’t work out for whatever reason at the time. I’ve always been very self-sufficient. When I wanted to race, I worked as a welder and I made the money to race. So I just went back to that sort of mentality and went to work and tried to make things happen.
“Now, thankfully, things are coming back together and I think that everything always falls into place at the right time.”
She admitted that when she last stopped racing, she felt frustrated because she felt she was performing better than she ever has, but the opportunities simply dried up. She said she wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to go race ARCA or higher, but the funding and equipment needed to be right.
“It was frustrating to not be able to continue, but I think that everything happens for a reason and now I’m more prepared than ever,” Cornett-Ching said. “I want to be competitive in whatever I do. If the funding is there to go and compete at that level, then I would never turn down an opportunity.
“Today, this is where we feel like where we can go and run well and tomorrow it may be another series in that direction.”
Cornett-Ching described the relationship with House of Raeford Farms, which is based in the same town she now calls home, as more of a business-to-business partnership than a traditional sponsorship. House of Raeford Farms is a family-owned business that offers its own line of chicken products in the Southeast.
More recently, the company has begun offering pre-order chicken sales in cities around the region in an effort to offer families more affordable chicken products. Cornett-Ching explained that the COVID-19 pandemic led to the creation of the program, which allows families to order bulk chicken products such as chicken breasts, chicken thighs and wings, in advance at an affordable price.
Additional details regarding chicken pre-orders and pickup locations can be found by visiting www.houseofraeford.store.
“It’s a lot more of a partnership than a sponsorship, sort of like a business-to-business deal, working through my sign shop and what they’ve got going on at House of Raeford,” Cornett-Ching said. “It’s a handshake deal, neighbors and friends and we’re all going to go together to the race track and have a really fun time.
“They’re very focused on supporting local businesses,” Cornett-Ching continued. “Being that I live here and had gone to them with some jobs and things like that, it was a natural partnership because who doesn’t love racing? Whenever you start talking about it their eyes light up. We were able to put together a little program here and go and have some fun.”
Despite being away from the race track for more than a year, Cornett-Ching believes she is as prepared as she has ever been to perform on the race track.
“I personally feel more prepared now for opportunities than I’ve ever been,” said Cornett-Ching. “Especially with the marketing side of things and the value I feel like I’ll be able to bring to House of Raeford with their initiatives with the community and everything they’re trying to do, especially during this pandemic.”
While she hasn’t settled on a particular schedule of events, Cornett-Ching said she expects to compete in multiple races with the Carolina Pro Late Model Series this year. She intends to open her season with the series at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway on Feb. 20.
“Right now we’ve got a crate motor we can run in that series,” Cornett-Ching said. “As we go forward we want to be able to run mainly the East Coast races. When I say the Carolina Pro Late Models, we’re going to focus on the races on this side of the state. House of Raeford has locations in eastern North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana, so we may end up in another series down the line in those areas. I just can’t say today what that will be.
“We definitely just want to focus on bringing awareness to what House of Raeford is doing in this area.”