Grey Leadbetter

Gray Leadbetter is a professional American race car driver who made history as the first woman to win both a Pro class race and a Pro class championship in Championship Off-Road, accomplishing both milestones before her 19th birthday.

EARLY YEARS

Gray Leadbetter grew up in Morganton, North Carolina, with racing fuel in her veins from the start. Her parents, Steve and Polly Leadbetter, supported their daughter’s racing ambitions despite being first-generation motorsports participants themselves—no family legacy, no racing dynasty, just pure encouragement and a willingness to let their kid chase something dangerous and expensive.

She started on two wheels, ripping around on dirt bikes from early childhood. At age seven, she learned a hard lesson about focus when she got “cross started” during a dirt bike race and plowed straight into a dirt berm. “I got pissed at myself because I was so far ahead,” she later recalled. When her dad ran up to check on her, young Gray knew immediately something was wrong. “I was just like, ‘I can’t ride.’ I was like, ‘I’m hurt.'” Most kids would’ve hung up their helmet after that. Gray shook it off and kept going.

Around age 11, she made the transition from two wheels to four, diving into the world of closed-course off-road racing. She cut her teeth running go-karts, then progressed through legend cars on pavement and mini-outlaw sprints on dirt ovals. She became a regular at Millbridge, racing weekly and building the kind of seat time that separates weekend warriors from actual competitors. By age 15, she already had over a decade of racing experience—a fact that sounds impossible until you remember she started before she could probably do long division.

OTHER INTERESTS

When Gray isn’t strapped into a race vehicle, she’s a self-described “average girl”—though “average” is doing some heavy lifting there. She’s a huge animal lover and enjoys traveling and exploring new places, which works out nicely when your racing career takes you from frozen lakes in Sweden to desert tracks in Nevada. “My happy place has always been at the race track,” she’s said, which is the kind of thing that sounds like a sponsorship quote until you watch her race and realize she absolutely means it.

In 2024, she formed Gray Leadbetter Racing with her boyfriend Banksy, a Nitro Circus FMX star, to campaign a Pro Turbo SXS in Championship Off-Road. So yes, her idea of a couple’s activity is starting a professional racing team. Totally average.

EARLY SUCCESS

Gray’s early racing résumé reads like someone hitting fast-forward on a career. In 2017 and 2018, she competed in the UTV World Championships in Laughlin, Nevada—the kind of event where you either prove you belong or get chewed up by the desert. She proved she belonged.

In 2018, racing a Yamaha SXS for Johnny G Motorsports in Short-Course Off-Road, she continued building her reputation. But 2019 was when people really started paying attention. At just 14 years old, she became the youngest and only female driver competing in Americas Rallycross (ARX) with Dreyer-Reinbold Racing—yes, the same Dreyer-Reinbold from IndyCar. She finished fifth in the championship. “It was so much fun,” she later said. “It’s still to this day… doesn’t feel like it actually happened because it was such a dream and then it became a reality.”

To sharpen her skills, Gray sought out world-class training. She worked with Swedish rally champion Patrik Sandell, training on a frozen lake in Sweden because apparently North Carolina doesn’t offer enough extreme driving conditions. She also received personal instruction at the Bondurant School from Buddy Rice, the 2004 Indianapolis 500 champion. When you’re a teenager getting coached by an Indy 500 winner, you’re not dabbling—you’re building a career.

In 2021, she joined Greaves Motorsports to race in Championship Off-Road’s Pro class, piloting an SXS Pro Mod. That season, she became the first woman ever to win a Pro class race in the series. She backed it up with enough consistent performance to finish third in the championship. She also started racing sprint cars with Marc Dailey Racing that year, and it was love at first green flag. “There was nothing to compare to the raw performance of a sprint car,” she said. “I was in love.”

Her sprint car debut at a USAC race showed exactly why people were taking notice. With no practice and terrible weather conditions, she qualified sixth out of 24 cars and finished ninth. Later, she qualified seventh and ran as high as fifth in another event. At the Racing World Finals, she went wheel-to-wheel against some of the biggest names in sprint car racing. “Just to think that I am on the same track as them was insane,” she said—the kind of humility that makes you root for someone even harder.

She also started competing in Championship Off-Road’s Pro Spec class with Ryan Beat Motorsports in 2021, setting the stage for what would become her breakthrough season.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2019: Finished 5th in Americas Rallycross championship at age 14, becoming the youngest and only female driver in the series[1][2].
• 2021: Became the first woman to win a Pro class race in Championship Off-Road, racing for Greaves Motorsports in the Pro SXS Pro Mod class[1][3].
• 2021: Finished 3rd in Championship Off-Road Pro class championship[1][3].
• 2022: Won the Championship Off-Road Pro Spec championship with Ryan Beat Motorsports, becoming the first woman to win a Pro class title in the series—by a single point[1][3][4].
• 2022: Recorded four wins in Pro Spec class, driving the #28 Bilstein Chevy for Ryan Beat Motorsports[1][4].
• 2022-2023: Achieved 12 consecutive podium finishes in Pro Spec class across two seasons[1][3].
• 2023: Started the Pro Spec season with seven straight podium finishes[1][5].
• 2023: Recorded two wins in Championship Off-Road Pro Spec class[1][4].
• 2023: Finished 2nd in Pro Spec championship points[1].
• 2023: Received the Impact Award in Short Course from the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame[3][5].
• 2023-2024: Competed in Nitrocross SXS series, earning four podium finishes and finishing 3rd in championship points[1][4][5].
• 2024: Formed Gray Leadbetter Racing with backing from Partzilla to compete in Championship Off-Road Pro Turbo SXS class, campaigning a Can-Am built by Kyle Chaney[4].

INSPIRATIONS

Gray’s parents, Steve and Polly, deserve enormous credit for supporting their daughter’s racing career without any family racing background to guide them. They said yes when most parents would’ve said “absolutely not,” and they kept saying yes through dirt bikes, sprint cars, and everything in between.

She’s also been fortunate to learn from some of the best in motorsports. Beyond her training with Patrik Sandell and Buddy Rice, she’s tested Nitrocross Group E machinery with instruction from Travis Pastrana himself—not a bad instructor when you’re learning to drive a 1,000-horsepower rallycross supercar. She’s also competed alongside and partnered with major names like Jimmie Johnson in Extreme E, and her network includes top-tier professionals like Kyle Chaney, who built her 2024 Pro Turbo SXS.

Perhaps most telling is how she talks about opportunities: “Opportunities to drive in other motorsports presented themselves and I jumped at the opportunity.” She doesn’t wait for doors to open—she kicks them down, and when someone offers her a chance to try something new, she grabs it with both hands.

REPUTATION

Gray Leadbetter has earned a reputation as a trailblazer with an old-school racer’s heart in a young driver’s body. She’s known for precision, focus, and the kind of calm under pressure that had her qualifying sixth in her first USAC sprint car race with no practice and miserable conditions. That’s not luck—that’s skill and composure.

The motorsports community has embraced her not because she’s a novelty but because she delivers results. She’s raced for and against some of the biggest names in off-road racing, and she’s held her own. Her 12 consecutive podiums in Pro Spec class weren’t flukes; they were the result of consistency and speed. Her 2022 championship win by a single point shows she knows how to race smart, not just fast.

Media coverage has been universally positive, highlighting her humility and work ethic. One outlet noted her “decade of experience at age 15,” underscoring just how much seat time she’d accumulated while other teenagers were learning to parallel park. She’s described as having “poise and determination” that started on dirt bikes and carried through to four wheels.

Industry professionals clearly respect her abilities—you don’t get invited to train with Travis Pastrana or receive personal coaching from an Indy 500 winner if people think you’re just a marketing play. Her formation of Gray Leadbetter Racing in 2024 shows she’s not just a driver but someone building a racing operation, which suggests longevity and ambition beyond just showing up and turning left.

FUTURE PLANS

Gray returned to truck racing in 2025, as noted in a recent documentary about her career. She’s continuing to compete in Nitrocross SXS, where she’s already proven she can run up front with a third-place championship finish and multiple podiums. With her own team, Gray Leadbetter Racing, now established and backed by Partzilla, she’s positioned to keep breaking barriers in Pro Turbo SXS competition.

Given her track record of saying yes to new opportunities—rallycross, sprint cars, Nitrocross, and everything in between—it wouldn’t be surprising to see her pop up in other racing series. She’s already tested high-level machinery with top-tier instruction, and her résumé shows she’s not afraid to race anything with wheels and an engine.

What’s certain is that Gray Leadbetter isn’t satisfied with being “the first woman to” do anything—she wants to be the best, period. At an age when most people are still figuring out what they want to do with their lives, she’s already rewriting record books and building a racing empire. And she’s just getting started.

References:

Gray Leadbetter Official Website
In the Hot Seat: Gray Leadbetter – The Podium Finish
About Gray – Gray Leadbetter Racing
Introducing Gray Leadbetter Racing – UTV Underground
Gray Leadbetter 2023 Impact Award – Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame
Gray Leadbetter Racing Documentary
Destined for Speed – Dodge Garage