Samantha Jansen's pink car goes well with Victory Lane at Berlin Raceway

(Photo Courtesy of Tom DeVette)

Samantha Jansen's pink car goes well with Victory Lane at Berlin Raceway
By Steve Ungrey
The Grand Rapids Press MLive.com

MARNE -- Samantha Jansen doesn't need a pink car to be noticed anymore.

The 24-year-old resident of Guelph, Ontario, stands out just fine at Berlin Raceway, thanks to two appearances in Victory Lane.

Jansen will get the chance to shine a little more at the track this season thanks to an increased number of visits by the Vintage Racing Organization of America. The VROA made its first visit to Berlin on Saturday and will return for eight more visits, the next one May 28.

Jansen, a project manager in her hometown, won the VROA championship in 2009 and currently is the winningest female in the circuit's history. Her 1933 Plymouth coupe has gotten a lot of mileage on the track and a lot of recognition off of it.

"It was my choice to make the car this color," Jansen said. "They always announce my name as Sam so everyone thinks I'm a boy. This way there would be no confusion."

Sam or Samantha, the driver is still a winner.

Jansen, Terry Byrne and Max Wirebaugh were triple-wide at one point during the race, but early caution flags narrowed the field and helped Jansen secure the lead seven laps into a truncated 16-lap feature. The race was stopped due to reaching its time limit, and Jansen was given the checkered flag since she led at the time.

"I like the speed and I like the banking of the track, and the fans are amazing," Jansen said. "I started 11th in this race and the first three laps were pretty crazy. I prefer going around the track on the outside lines and that helped me move up (in the standings)."

Jansen won last year in dramatic fashion when she passed a car on the last lap to take a VROA feature. This time, she had a bit more breathing room.

"Usually when they stop a race I'm the one in second," said Jansen, who raced go-karts at the age of 14. "I've been racing for a long time because I had a paper route and I was too lazy to walk through it, so I asked my dad to buy me the go-kart. He said he would on the condition that I race it."

A mechanic who races vintage cars and works with Jansen's dad got Jansen turned on to the vintage circuit, and she has been successful ever since.