About five years ago, teenager Mady Stichal decided she wanted to try racing.
No one in her family had ever raced before; it was just something she saw that looked like fun, and she wanted to try it.
“My dad, when I first told him I wanted to race, he was like, ‘I don’t know,'” Stichal said. “But he saw how committed I was, and he’s every step of the way looked into it, done so much research for me, found so many set-ups and sat me down, read me books after books, articles after articles. Like, ‘Here, look at this, look at this.’ So he’s definitely someone who helped me throughout the way.”
Not only did Stichal want to try racing, she wanted to try everything in racing. After spending the first few years of her career competing on dirt tracks, this season she added an asphalt track to her resume, competing at Alaska Raceway Park.
Stichal ran in the track’s Late Model class full-time, and she competed in the Bandolero, Asphalt Sprint and Legends classes while also competing at three different dirt tracks on her off weekends.
“It was pretty crazy,” Stichal said of her busy season.
Behind the scenes: Alaska Raceway Park in photos
The recent high school graduate finished fifth in the GCI Late Model class at Alaska Raceway Park, a NASCAR-sanctioned 0.333-mile track in Palmer, Alaska. She was the highest finishing rookie in the field.
More than anything, 2022 was a learning season for Stichal.
“It was definitely a challenge. I learned a lot,” she said. “In the very beginning I was kind of skeptical of what to do, because I’ve always been on dirt, and I’ve mainly done sprints, so getting into a bigger car, I was like, ‘What could happen?’
“We figured out a lot with me, because my team was like, ‘We usually like setting up for a tighter car,’ and I was like, ‘OK, let’s try it.’ And it ended up not working for me, and we ended up battling setups until we figured out I’m more into loose cars. So it was pretty interesting to learn that each driver is different when it comes to setups.”
Prior to this season, Stichal, who dreams of one day racing in the World of Outlaws, said she had never considered racing on asphalt. That was until her car owner, Stu, reached out.
“He hit me up and was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been watching you race for some time. I really want to step back, and I really want to get a younger driver into the car. Would you be interested?’
“I thought about it and said, ‘This is going to grow my racing career, so why not?’ So I took it.”
In addition to learning how to drive a late model, it took some time for Stichal to adjust week-to-week when going from dirt to asphalt.
She reached her goals in each discipline, getting into the top five among sprint car racers in Alaska while also getting faster every week in a late model.
“It was pretty great for me to be able to jump to all those cars and learn and explore how each car is on this track,” she said. “I was blown away with myself, and I was really proud of my team for getting me back up there. It was awesome.”
Stichal said she’s learned a lot thanks to the help of her family. Even though none of the Stichals have a racing background, while she has learned how to drive, her family has learned with her to help her get better.
“With my whole family, they’re all super supportive,” she said. “They’re all there with me like, ‘Hey check this out, let’s try this set up,’ and I’m like, ‘Yea, let’s try it.’
“It helps me a lot to know that my family is right here by my side. If something goes wrong, if an accident happens or I end up failing or not doing my best, I know that they’re right there still supporting me saying, ‘Hey you have the next race.'”
And there will definitely be a next race. Stichal has talked with her car owner about possibly traveling outside of Alaska to race late models and sprints next season.
She plans to race as many different cars as possible for as long as she can.
“I feel it grounds me to say I can do different things,” she said. “It definitely made me more humble about which car I’m driving.
“I think it’s just the adrenaline rush, for sure, and the speed. Just wanting to be better and be faster every single lap I take for myself.”