The quality department at Roush Yates is broken into two parts: quality control and quality assurance. Quality control is about inspecting the parts as they arrive before they are used to assemble the engines. Quality assurance is more preventative, anticipating issues before they become problems.

LaFever, a native of San Jose, California, has grown the quality assurance department and oversees five people.

"We do teamwork activities where engineering, purchasing and quality all get together," LaFever said. "We go after one issue that we might find with a certain supplier or a certain part, working before a problem occurs."

To understand how LaFever’s career has flourished in the high-tech, high-speed world of Roush Yates Engines just consider her passions: motorsports and engineering.

"I grew up with my dad racing at local tracks (San Jose, Antioch and Ocean Speedways)," she said. "I always had a pretty good mechanical aptitude. I understood math and how things went together and how they came apart; I always wanted to take things apart."

That mechanical aptitude led her to the University of California-Davis where she earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering with a minor in managerial economics. After college she was hired as a quality engineer at Ceres Integrated Technology, a company that manufactured equipment for semiconductor processing.

"I loved my job," LaFever said. "It came naturally to me, but in the back of my mind I felt like I wanted to work in motorsports. I was in California and there just wasn’t anything for employment in motorsports there."

Along the way, LaFever’s father saw an advertisement for Universal Technical Institute (UTI) and more specifically NASCAR Technical Institute (NTI).

"In 2010, right after the economy tanked I quit my high-paying job and moved to Los Angeles and started at UTI and did my automotive core classes there," LaFever said.

"About halfway through I decided that if I wanted to be in motorsports I needed to get to North Carolina, so I signed up for the NASCAR elective and moved to North Carolina in March of 2011."

She qualified for The UTI Foundation Brienne Davis Memorial Scholarship, named after a young woman who fulfilled her dream of working in NASCAR. When Davis tragically lost her life in an automobile accident in 2008, NASCAR officials established the scholarship program in her memory. Each year, $10,000 scholarships are awarded to four young women who wish to attend a UTI school of their choice. The program is funded by the NASCAR community and fans via a series of fundraisers.

"The scholarship allows Brienne’s legacy to continue by inspiring other young women with the same dream to reach their educational and career goals," said Jennifer Maher, Vice President & Executive Director, Universal Technical Institute Foundation. "It also helps to fill the technician pipeline with qualified and motivated women."

Jennifer LaFever working with her Roush Yates teammates (Photos by Scott Hunter/NASCAR Productions).

LaFever’s passion for motorsports and engineering hit high-gear with the move to North Carolina. Within a short period of time she was in an engine building elective, which led to an interview with Roush Yates Engines and days later an internship there.

"When I graduated, they called me in and asked if I would run the department," said LaFever of her transition from internship to employment.

"To be here for a few short years and to rise to that level shows her talent," said Doug Yates, CEO of Roush Yates. "She just has a passion for it. You get people who are interested in racing, but they don’t have that desire to succeed."

"That coupled with her engineering talent," continued Yates, "is just something really special and we are blessed to have her in our company."

"I started off just inspecting parts to the drawings," LaFever said. "Then I started running the coordinate measuring machines and learning how to program the software. Then I started supervising and helping other people with their tasks."

And while the engineering oversight of those 600-plus parts is monumental, the reward is a matter of turning on the television on Sundays.

"There is nothing like being able to turn on the TV on Sunday and watch the product of your work driving around the race track," concluded LaFever. "To be able to compete for a living and be able to see your work every Sunday on national television is something you can’t put a monetary value on."

Know a deserving young woman who wants to pursue a career in automotive or motorsports? The UTI Foundation begins accepting Brienne Davis Scholarship applications March 1. Visit utifoundation.net and click "Get Support."