Hi everyone! My name is Chrissi the current Marketing Communications Intern here at Pocono Raceway.
To tell you about myself, by birth I am a Georgia Peach but grew up in Northeast PA along with my 2 older sisters. I come from a multicultural background of being half Mexican, half Polish. Both my parents formally serving as US Marines.
Sports have always been a huge part of my life whether being an athlete or spectator, sports are what I know. With that being said, I chose to follow my passion of sports throughout college. I am a current Senior at East Stroudsburg University majoring in Sport Management with minors in Economics and Management.
Ever since High School I always had a clear vision of what my career goals would be, ironically none of them involved being a part of the racing industry. Growing up I was never exposed to the sport, never really cared for it. I had the stereotypical thought, nothing was special about cars going in circles for hours. Well, that all changed as of April of last year.
Pocono Raceway does an annual event called the Pocono Raceway College Tour where they challenge multiple colleges and universities to host a promotional event, at their respective campus, for Pocono Raceway. The intent is to target college-aged individuals to check out what Pocono Raceway has to offer. As incentive, the winning school gets an awesome experience at one of the races. Well man, did they get me!
My first race ever was on May 4th, 2018, the truck race in Dover, Delaware. Funny story, the race was on the last day of finals week and I convinced my professor to take my final early so I could take the venture down to Dover during the day on Friday. By that point, I knew I was hooked.
My eyes were widened to all facets of the sport, the very things that I grew to love about it. There’s an invigorating feeling the moment the flag goes green, the sound of the rpms increasing, the passing breeze of the cars, the atmosphere created by the fans. This sport embodies the values of family, religion, teamwork. Things I hold dear to me.
Unlike most sports where one person is challenging another, these athletes are pushing themselves to new limits and a machine that is built from the ground up. Everyone putting everything on the line.
I quickly learned, no matter the outcome, there is no “I”, only “we”.
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