“The comeback is always bigger than the setback,” says Emma Britt! She has been on a roll this summer winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway during Thursday Thunder, and racing in the Cook Out Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which Emma holds dear to her heart. If you ever see her around she is sure to be surrounded by her friends and family with a big smile on her face and if you see her in sunglasses, you might hear people call her "Slim Shady."
Hometown: Hampton, Georgia
Car Number: 38
Division: Outlaws
Favorite Ice Cream: Chocolate Vanilla Swirl
Favorite Movie: Days of Thunder
1. How old were you when you started racing?
I was about 12 when I first got in the car. I started when COVID hit, so it's really hard to pinpoint when I first actually started.
2. What sparked your interest in racing?
What definitely sparked my interest in racing was that I've been around race cars ever since I was born. My dad used to race but he had to stop because of his stroke, and he couldn't race anymore. He decided he wanted to take on a racing team, so I've been around it since I was little. One day he came in and he gave me the opportunity because one of his drivers had an old bando they kept for memories. Once I tried it I never stopped.
3. What is your favorite racing memory?
Probably my first time coming to Charlotte Motor Speedway and my first win here. Apparently, I was the first woman to win their first time at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first time I've ever seen my dad cry, he was so happy.
4. Who is your biggest inspiration?
Definitely my dad and his love for racing. I would also say Mr. Rusty Clinton who works on my car. He is very articulate with the work he does on my car. He always makes sure everything is perfect and checks everything before every race. It is always nice to know that everything is going to be good. I love those different things about both of them and will always look up to them.
5. If you pulled into victory lane right now, who would you thank?
The first person who I would thank would be my dad for thrashing to make sure I made it to the race. I would also thank Mr. Rusty Clinton, Speed U, Synergy SpeedLab, all of my teammates, and everyone who made it possible. Everybody who ran and got my cars together, Mr. Lenny, Mr. Jason, they have worked so hard for me to get here and I cannot thank them enough.
6. Outside of racing do you have any other interests or hobbies?
I actually just started a homeschooling program called Speed U, so now I’ll be back-to-back racing all the time. I love to hang out with my friends, but what makes it even better is that my best friend races Legend cars, and my other best friend wants to intern in racing so it's nice to get to hang out with my friends and be at the race track. I love having quality time with my friends and going swimming in the pool. I don’t really have another hobby outside of racing except going to watch different races. Since my dad still owns a team, every weekend I am not racing we are going to a late model race. I love those so much.
7. Do you have any pre-race rituals or things you must do on race day?
I always, always, always pray before going out to a race. I will say the awesome thing about Charlotte is that they do have people who will come up and pray with you before your race. I remember I was so nervous going out the first race I was here, and they came and prayed with me and it just put peace on my mind, and it really calmed me down. I really think that's how I won. After yesterday, I think I want to start eating Cook Out before a race. I just tried it kind of for the first time and had a really good meal there and a banana pudding milkshake.
8. Where would you like to race one day?
The one track that I wanted to run just started running Bandos and Legends which is Lanier Raceway. But one that I definitely want to race at would be Five Flags, I love going up there and watching. I’ve been going to the Snowball Derby ever since I started racing, and it would just be something that's on my agenda that I'd really love to do.
9. What advice do you have for other young female drivers who are just starting to race?
I would say to never give up and to never let what anybody says get to you. Always remember that every time you may have a hard or tough race or every time you wreck, you are always learning more than when you win. Every time you learn something that is going to live with you forever, your entire career you will remember that this doesn’t work or this works. The comeback is always bigger than the setback. You will always get better every time. I would say to never give up because when you fail, you're only getting closer to greatness.
10. What's an interesting fact about you that not a lot of people would know?
A fun fact that a lot of people don’t know is that I can draw. I love drawing, I can draw Legend cars and Bandos and would say I’m pretty good at it.
11. What's your ultimate racing dream?
I really, really want to make it to NASCAR, but if that [isn’t] an option I would love to be like a Bubba Pollard or a Stephen Nasse doing that type of racing with the super [late model] series. I just want to go as far as I can go. It's just so awesome to be in the short track racing though, because of the back-to-back racing with the Bando and Legend [that] is what I love.
12. If you were to have a walk-up song what would it be?
So, I have these prescription sunglasses that I wear all the time when I race. Everybody always calls me "Slim Shady," so I guess it would have to be “The Real Slim Shady” by Eminem.
13. If you weren't at the track right now, where would you want to be?
One place I'd rather be if I wasn’t racing would be somewhere with my family, going out to eat or something like that. I love being around all of them. We make home-cooked meals and everybody sits around and hangs out and goes to the pool. Those are definitely some of my favorite memories.
14. Run me through what's going through your head while driving.
One thing I really like to live by is make this a race that you will never look back on and be like, ‘I wish I would've done this.’ I don’t ever want to have a race that I will regret, so I always tell myself do what you don't ever want to look back and regret [not doing]. I want to look back on this race when I get out of this race car and say, ‘I don’t regret anything I did, and I tried my absolute best.’ So, I always think about the after-effect before I even do it. I want to push myself as hard as I can go so I can get out and say I did my best and there's nothing I regret.
15. What's your dream street car?
A GMC Denali.
16. You talked about your homeschool program, how do you manage schoolwork, social time, and racing?
The school I went to is called Skipstone Academy in Griffin near Atlanta Motor Speedway. The owners' kids race Legend Cars, they’re older but they raced Bandos when they were younger. Anyways, they knew how school was and how it was hard to manage the schoolwork so they decided to excuse racing as “football and baseball” as long as we maintained good grades. I probably had over 70 absences because I would miss so many Fridays for practices, but because it was for racing they excused them as long as I had good grades, which I always have. Now they have realized so many kids had the same problem as me, they decided to make a homeschool program specifically for racers. We are going to make field trips around the races, for example at Winter Nationals, Citrus has manatees so we will go there the Sunday before Winter Nationals. We will also go to Trackhouse before the Summer Shootout or Bando Nationals. So, I am going to sit down with the employee who does the field trips and help plan them around the race schedule. It's nice to have these field trips so we can learn what we are learning off of, and that they include the racing as part of the schooling. I always feel like I learn more when it's something I'm interested in, so I'm so glad they make it around things we are interested in. They are just an amazing learning program. They are very lenient and also make sure we completely understand what we are learning. It's called Speed U and the owner of my school created it. It's just awesome and we are putting it in the works so it’ll be up this year.
17. What's the best piece of advice somebody has given you?
The best advice somebody has ever given me would probably have to have been from Rusty. When I first started in Outlaws my first year I really took off and did better than anybody expected. I had a lot of Facebook posts made about me and just a lot of things that were hard to not let bother me. He really came through and worked with me and told me, “We’re gonna make sure that you get better, and we’re not gonna let this get to you. We’re gonna show them your worth.” That's the advice, always know your worth, and don’t ever let anybody make you second guess yourself, because at the end of the day all that matters is what you think about yourself.