The Indy NXT racer has launched ‘The Jamie Chadwick Series’ with a year-long commitment to find new female driving talent or assist those already in the system.
In a partnership with karting chain Daytona Motorsport, complimentary karting will be available at all three venues for girls aged eight and over on International Women’s Day (8 March).
This will be followed by the launch of Chadwick's eponymous all-female series, which will be held exclusively at Daytona-run venues, with participants mentored by the Williams Racing Driver Academy member.
Chadwick won all three editions of the all-female W Series in 2019, 2021 and 2022 before it ceased due to financial problems.
Explaining the thinking behind the karting initiative, Chadwick told Autosport: “When I look back to how I started in the sport, I just really did fall into it by accident.
“I started at this kind of arrive-and-drive set-up and I never thought that it was ever going to go beyond that. But I enjoyed it and really was lucky enough to have my older brother to follow through.
“I never really knew what possibilities there were in the sport beyond that, and even just going from arrive and drive karting to karting at a higher club level without a racing family, or being from a racing family, we didn’t really know how it worked.
“I like to think that there are a lot of female drivers that have had the possibility to go to these kind of places like Daytona and experience karting for the first time but don’t know what possibilities there are, could potentially have the talent and now have the opportunity to feed through to the next step.”
While other initiatives such as the F1 Academy focus on girls and young women that are already in racing, Chadwick is focused on identifying untapped talent at the earliest stage.
Source: Autosport