A third-generation racer who rebuilt her career from the oval tracks of her California childhood to the summit of Pikes Peak, Laura Hayes became the fastest woman ever to race a car to the top of America’s most famous mountain in 2024 — and she’s just getting started.

EARLY YEARS

Born on March 15, 1990, in Wilton, California — a small, semi-rural community in Sacramento County — Hayes grew up in a household where motorsport wasn’t a hobby, it was a way of life [7]. Her parents met at a racetrack while competing against each other, and both sides of her family were involved in racing, making her a third-generation competitor in a sport that often rewards exactly that kind of deep-rooted exposure [7]. She began racing quarter midgets at age eight, essentially following tire tracks that had already been laid by the people raising her [7][59].

Her father, believed to be Bill Hayes, was himself a Pikes Peak competitor who raced under the number 21 [9][18][62]. Laura chose 22 — literally adding one — as her own number, a small and deliberate act of tribute that says something about how she carries that lineage [9][18]. Growing up in the Sacramento region, the family followed NASCAR closely, and she has cited Jeff Gordon as her primary racing hero, framing her childhood ambitions firmly within stock car culture rather than open-wheel or sports-car tradition [15][25].

From quarter midgets, she progressed into karts, then midgets and sprint cars, building the kind of varied oval-track experience that the American grassroots racing system is specifically designed to produce [7][59]. The goal was always NASCAR. She pursued USAC competition and eventually made it into NASCAR’s development infrastructure, but she has been candid about the financial realities involved. In a video interview filmed at the BMW Performance Center, she put it plainly: “It just takes a whole lot of money to make it big time” [20]. That honesty — and the career pivot it forced — turned out to shape everything that came next.

OTHER INTERESTS

The research doesn’t offer an extensive window into Hayes’s life outside motorsport, but what surfaces is consistent with someone who has made racing her profession in the fullest sense — not just competing but teaching, coaching, and advocating. She has participated in community speaking engagements and outreach events [1][30], and was among forty Upstate leaders selected to join Furman University’s Diversity Leaders Initiative [43]. Based in Greenville, South Carolina, she works out of the BMW Performance Center in nearby Greer, where her daily professional life and her passion for driving are, by design, the same thing [15][30].

EARLY SUCCESS

Hayes’s first significant national-level exposure came in 2008, when she was profiled by Fox Sports as part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, competing in late model stock cars in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series at South Boston Speedway [7]. Drive for Diversity, which aims to bring women and drivers of color into NASCAR’s pipeline, was a logical landing spot for a young woman with oval-track experience and genuine ambitions toward the Cup Series. She was, at that point, exactly what the program was designed to support [7].

When the path to a full-time NASCAR career proved financially out of reach, Hayes made a move that would redefine her career entirely: she transitioned into road racing and endurance competition. By 2015, she was competing in endurance formats, and she eventually became a resident coach and driver for Thunder Bunny Racing in the World Racing League and American Endurance Racing [25][29][46]. That role combined driving with mentorship, and she excelled at both. Championship wins in WRL followed, as did growing recognition in the sports car community [39][41].

In 2021, she won the Mazda Women in Motorsport scholarship in the MX-5 Cup — a competitive selection process that opened a full season in the Mazda MX-5 Cup series and brought her to wider attention in road racing circles [5][35][36]. RACER Magazine profiled her during that season under the headline “Inside Mazda MX-5 Cup: Laura Hayes Is Making Opportunity Count,” a title that captured precisely how she approached it [54]. A difficult weekend at Mid-Ohio didn’t stop her from collecting a scholarship award; she finished the year with her best MX-5 Cup result at Road America [36][14].

Pikes Peak entered her story in stages. She first competed at the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2019, and the mountain clearly made an impression [59]. She returned in 2024 for the 102nd running of the event, driving a Toyota GR Supra GT4, and posted a time of 10:20.487 — winning the inaugural Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama and surpassing the previous all-time female record for a car up the mountain [2][4][18][15]. It was the kind of result that travels. Coverage came from DirtFish, the Greenville Journal, Yokohama, and eventually Apple TV+, which produced a film centered on her run [4][15][24][25].

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2008: Selected for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, competing in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series at South Boston Speedway [7].
• 2021: Won the Mazda Women in Motorsport scholarship, earning a full season in the Mazda MX-5 Cup series [5][35].
• 2024: Set a 10:20.487 at the 102nd Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in a Toyota GR Supra GT4, becoming the fastest woman ever to race a car to the summit and winning the inaugural Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama [2][4][15][18].
• 2024: Subject of an Apple TV+ film documenting her record-setting Pikes Peak run, with support from Yokohama Tire [4][24].
• 2025: Clinched maiden class podiums in GT4 America at Sebring [19].
• 2026: Signed as a driver for Dome Motorsport in the SRO GT4 America series [28][47].

INSPIRATIONS

Jeff Gordon was the racer Hayes looked up to as a child — an understandable choice for a kid growing up in NASCAR country in the 1990s, when Gordon was the sport’s dominant and polarizing figure [15][25]. More fundamentally, though, her inspiration came from inside her own household. A family where both parents raced, where motorsport was generational rather than accidental, and where a father’s car number could be honored simply by adding one to it — that’s a specific kind of motivation that outside heroes can’t fully replicate [7][9][18][62].

REPUTATION

Within the motorsport community, Hayes has built a reputation that spans disciplines and roles. She is recognized simultaneously as a competitor, an educator, and an advocate — someone whose presence in the sport is professional in the most complete sense [20][25][29]. As a BMW Performance Center driving instructor based in Greer, South Carolina, she works daily with drivers at all levels, and her coaching role with Thunder Bunny Racing has made her a visible figure in the endurance racing community well beyond her own results [20][29][46].

The Pikes Peak record elevated her profile considerably. DirtFish ran a feature titled “Getting to Know the Fastest Woman Up Pikes Peak,” and regional outlets like the Greenville Journal framed her achievement in terms of local pride as much as motorsport history [15][25]. The Apple TV+ film brought her story to an audience far beyond the usual race-weekend crowd [4][24]. Through Shift Up Now, the women-in-motorsport advocacy organization, she has been featured as both a competitor and a role model [29][32].

She was also among forty Upstate leaders selected for Furman University’s Diversity Leaders Initiative — recognition that her influence extends beyond the pit lane [43]. Across all of it, the consistent impression is of someone who takes the platform seriously without performing it.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

Hayes is signed with Dome Motorsport for the 2026 SRO GT4 America season, an announcement made official through GT4 America and Dome Motorsport press releases [28][47]. Her 2025 campaign, which included maiden class podiums at Sebring in GT4 America, has been part of the build toward that commitment [19]. The trajectory from endurance racing to professional GT4 competition is clear, and the Dome Motorsport deal represents the most structured platform of her career to date [28][47].

References:

Instagram: @laurahayes22
YouTube: Laura Hayes Video
Instagram: @misslaurahayes
The Shop Mag: Yokohama Tire-Sponsored Laura Hayes Apple TV Film
Racers Behind the Helmet: Laura Hayes Wins MX-5 Cup Scholarship for 2021 Women’s Initiative
Instagram Post: DV7XhDckRk7
Fox Sports: Drive for Diversity Profile – Laura Hayes
Facebook: Shift Up Now
PPIHC: Behind the Wheel – Laura Hayes (2019)
IMDB: Laura Hayes (actress)
Instagram Post: DWHEYb7iQ9B
YouTube: Laura Hayes BMW Performance Center
Facebook: DirtFish – Laura Hayes Fastest Woman Up Pikes Peak
Facebook: Females in Motorsport – Laura Hayes at Mid-Ohio
Greenville Journal: Laura Hayes Claims Queen of the Mountain Title at Pikes Peak
Facebook: Behind the Helmet
Mazda MX-5 Cup: Shootout Finalists Announced
PPIHC: Behind the Wheel – Laura Hayes 2024
Racers Behind the Helmet: Laura Hayes Clinches Maiden Class Podiums in GT4 America at Sebring
YouTube: Scaly Adventures – Laura Hayes
Instagram Post: Cra8FaxuNBJ
Instagram Post: C87SxeBtytY
YouTube: Laura Hayes at Pikes Peak
Tire Review: Yokohama Pikes Peak Film Laura Hayes
DirtFish: Getting to Know the Fastest Woman Up Pikes Peak
Facebook: Sandlapper BMW Group Post
YouTube: Laura Hayes BMW Q&A
Racers Behind the Helmet: Laura Hayes Returns to GT4 America, Joins Dome Motorsport
Shift Up Now: Laura Hayes Profile
Facebook: Greenville BMW Performance Center – Laura Hayes
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