Mary Katharine has been dreaming about racing since the age of 5.

Growing up outside Milwaukee in a family of 10, she found herself collecting Matchbox cars with her brothers rather than playing with Barbie dolls. She had always thought about what it would be like to drive a race car over 100 miles per hour, a fire that she fanned by watching races on television and attending two Indianapolis 500's in her teens. Her visions of ever becoming a race car driver took a back seat when she married at 19 to her high school sweetheart. She and her husband moved to Arkansas tofarm cotton on family land. Mary learned to drive a tractor and practiced "Rockford spins" in the turnrows. "There was nothing like pitching that giant piece of equipment into maneuvers like that", she laughed, "it was just slightly less nimble than a Firebird."

Mary, now 39, has become a professional race car driver, signing with Tindol Motorsports in February, '06. "The Tindol Motorsports team has given me an incredible opportunity to represent them in a pro series where there are no other women drivers. I hope to draw in women and young girls to the excitement of watching World Challenge racing." Her daughters, Nancy, 13; Maggie, 11; Lane, 10; Mia, 6; and Helen, 4, are her biggest fans at the track. "They are my most ardent supporters."