Laura Ely is an Albuquerque-born sports car racer who traded software entrepreneurship for the cockpit, proving that championship-caliber racing careers don’t have to start in childhood—they just have to start with commitment and a killer Porsche.

EARLY YEARS

Growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Laura Ely developed her love affair with cars the old-fashioned way: through her father’s Buick dealership. While most kids were collecting baseball cards, she was following IndyCar racing and idolizing the Unsers, Albuquerque’s own racing royalty. The dealership wasn’t just her dad’s business—it was her introduction to a world where machines and speed mattered, where performance was something you could measure and improve.

But unlike many racers who start karting before they can legally drive on public roads, Ely’s path took a different route entirely. She became a lifelong sports car enthusiast from the sidelines, building a successful career in business rather than burning rubber on track. The racing bug was there, lying dormant, waiting for the right moment and the right nudge to emerge.

OTHER INTERESTS

In 2008, Ely founded a business analytics software company specifically designed for automobile dealers—a perfect marriage of her business acumen and her lifelong passion for cars. The venture proved successful enough to eventually fund what would become an entirely new chapter in her life. While the software company kept her mind sharp and her bank account healthy, it also kept her connected to the automotive world in a way that would eventually lead her back to the track, this time not as a spectator but as a competitor.

EARLY SUCCESS

Ely’s racing story doesn’t follow the conventional script, and that’s exactly what makes it compelling. In 2016, after her software company was thriving, she purchased a Porsche Cayman GT4. A colleague’s track day photos sparked something visceral. “Wow, you can do that? I didn’t even know you could do that,” she recalled. The revelation was simple but transformative: regular people could actually race these cars. She started attending high-performance driving events, working with coaches to develop proper technique from the ground up.

Just one year later, in 2017, she wasn’t just doing track days anymore—she was racing. Ely jumped into Porsche Club racing with a 2016 GT4 Cayman Clubsport, competing against other Porsches in various classes and spec Boxsters. What happened next was remarkable: she didn’t just participate, she won. By 2018, she had already claimed her first Porsche series class championship. Success came fast because when you start racing later in life, you bring something younger drivers often lack—discipline, business strategy, and the financial means to do it right.

Laura founded Black Sheep Racing and became Team Principal, building not just a race program but a community. She created a team culture centered on shared resources and garage space, making the notoriously expensive sport slightly more sustainable. In 2019, she added another GT3 Porsche championship to her resume. The woman who discovered racing in her middle years was now consistently beating competitors who’d been at it since childhood.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2018: GT4 Porsche class championship[2].
• 2019: GT3 Porsche class championship[2].
• 2021: Yokohama Drivers Cup GT4 Bronze Class Champion[2]; World Racing League GTO Class P4 finish at 24 Hours of Sebring inaugural event[2].
• 2022: World Racing League GTO Class P1 finish at 14 Hours of Daytona[1][2]; Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West 991.2 GT3 Cup Class championship with overall P5 finish[1][2].
• 2023: Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West 992 Am class, 2nd overall with 567 points[1]; podium finish at Miami F1 race weekend, 3rd place[2][3].
• Career: Three Porsche series class championships since 2018[2]; 20 wins, 5 poles, 127 races, 31 podiums, 7 fastest laps across all competitions[1].

INSPIRATIONS

Ely’s earliest racing heroes were the Unsers, Albuquerque’s IndyCar dynasty. Growing up in the same city that produced multiple generations of racing legends planted the seed that motorsports wasn’t some distant fantasy—it was something that happened to people from her hometown. Her father’s Buick dealership provided the automotive foundation, but it was that unnamed colleague who showed her track day photos who deserves credit for the crucial push. Sometimes all it takes is someone showing you the door exists before you realize you can walk through it.

REPUTATION

In the Porsche racing community, Laura Ely has built a reputation as both a fierce competitor and a dedicated mentor. As Team Principal of Black Sheep Racing, she’s created a model that prioritizes sustainability and community over individual glory. Her approach to the sport is refreshingly pragmatic—she shares garage space and resources, making racing more accessible for her team while keeping her own program viable.

What sets Ely apart is her commitment to bringing more women into motorsports. She actively mentors female drivers and participates in outreach efforts aimed at inspiring young women who might not realize racing is an option for them. “The car doesn’t recognize gender,” she’s said, cutting through the noise with the kind of straightforward logic that defines her approach both on and off track. Her late start in racing has made her an inspiration for aspiring racers who worry they’ve missed their window. Her message is clear: “Start your motorsports journey today.”

She’s vocal about the realities of the sport—the costs, the challenges, the financial considerations that determine whether you can keep racing or have to step back. There’s no sugar-coating in her interviews, just honest assessment from someone who’s funding her own dream and making it work through smart business decisions and strategic resource sharing.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

As of 2024, Ely continues competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West 992 Masters class while maintaining her role as Black Sheep Racing’s Team Principal. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she’s navigating the same questions every self-funded racer eventually faces: how long can the money and the passion sustain the program? She’s been candid about hoping to continue racing but realistic about the costs involved. If the numbers don’t work, she’s open to transitioning into other roles within the sport—coaching, team management, or mentoring the next generation of drivers who, like her, discovered racing later than the rulebook says you’re supposed to.

What’s certain is that Ely isn’t done contributing to motorsports, whether that’s from behind the wheel or behind the scenes building the kind of supportive racing community she wishes had existed when she started. She’s proven that you don’t need to start karting at age six to win championships—you just need a Porsche, some coaching, and the willingness to show up and do the work. The rest, as they say, is just driving.

References:

DriverDB – Laura Ely
Black Sheep Racing – Team
Women’s Motorsports Network Podcast – Episode 16757413
YouTube Interview – Laura Ely